As you’ve probably heard in the national press, cities across the country are pulling out all the stops to get Google’s attention in the company’s search for communities interested in participating in “Google Fiber“.

Thus far, the most successful way to get noticed has been to temporarily change the name of your city to “Google”.  Topeka, Kansas was the first to roll-out this eye-rolling, but eye-catching idea.  And Sarasota just renamed its “City Island”, “Google Island“.  Here’s a piece of Sarasota’s strategy…

A proclamation creating Google Island may be a little nutty, but the overall attempt to include Sarasota in the network is deadly serious. The Ringling College of Art and Design coupled with Sarasota’s eclectic collection of well-heeled snowbirds are key assets to the proposal, layered on top of a budding Net-oriented entrepreneurial sector that includes Inc. 500 growth leader IntegraClick and other vibrant technology companies.

But while a Google-renaming will get the attention of the press, what will ultimately sway Google?

Decatur has said it is looking into submitting an Request-For-Information form to Google on the project, but we’ve yet to hear the city’s decision.

If it does, the city has some tough competition, as evidenced by this unofficial list compiled on zettaphile.  Additionally, Google’s RFI states they’re looking to “offer the service to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people”.  Will Google entertain a small Georgia city of just 18,000?

And if that wasn’t enough, after the jump, read an excerpt of PC World’s David Coursey’s argument AGAINST jumping on the Fiber bandwagon.

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UPDATE: City Manager Peggy Merriss confirms in a comment that the city is looking into the application.

“City staff downloaded the application yesterday (Wednesday) and will be evaluating it to determine whether to apply. The deadline is March 26, 2010.”

Andrew and Kristian wrote in this morning and pointed out that Google has put out an request-for-information (RFI) to local communities across the country who are interested in participating in the Google Fiber experiment.

What’s it all about?

Cities looking to fill out an RFI and residents looking to nominate their community and should CLICK HERE.

If it does, I haven’t figured out how to make it work with an iPod Touch yet.

I can get to the Decatur Wi-Fi access page, but then I can’t click any of the buttons.  Has anyone ever had success connecting to Decatur Wi-Fi with ANY mobile device?

Is it just an issue with the free access?  Do I need a monthly subscription?

OK, so I feel like there are still a lot of open questions out there about Decatur Wi-Fi, not least of which is “why do so many people think I’m Decatur Wi-Fi tech support?”  So using the power of the internets, let’s answer some of the questions I’ve been hearing as of late.

First, I’m curious to know how many people have even tried the service.

Secondly, how many people have tried one of Get the Speed’s wireless modems to improve their signal? (like InDecatur recently did with marked improvement)

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Click over to the Decatur Minute and read how the city is helping 15 Decatur Housing Authority families online.

I love when the city toots its own horn.  They should do it much more often.  Lots of great things going on behind the scenes that we never hear about.

Full disclosure: this story is about two-weeks old.  On top of that, Taylor emailed it to me two weeks ago and I lost it in the shuffle.  This morning, Lump reminds me.

Along with “Hello Kitty Online” and a couple other truly NSFW MMOs, Virtual Decatur recently earned the dubious distinction of “Most Disturbing MMO” by GameSpy.

After pointing out the proposed game’s unfortunate acronym, the article restates much of what we’ve already discussed…

Specifically, you want to start an MMO where the admins physically live in the same town as the players? Really? Do you have no self-preservation instincts? Have you not seen the Internet? It is a place notorious both for its disproportional rage, and the horrors perpetuated behind its pseudo-anonymity. And nobody is more hated than the people in charge.

Forget fruits and vegetables.  Online rage is the elixir of life.

Here’s another really great example of a local business looking to give back to its community.

Justin at Onyx Consulting writes in about their new foundation, which sells “OCF Certified” used Mac and PC equipment through its web-store at a discounted rate (around 25%) and gives all proceeds to the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center on Church Street in Decatur.

To find out more info about this new Foundation click here.  Or jump directly to Onyx’s web-store and see what’s currently for sale.

If you have computer equipment you no longer use and would like to donate, click here to find out Onyx’s minimum requirements and to fill out a donation form or click here to read about potential tax benefits from donating.

Not to be confused with community blogs, hyperlocal websites like EveryBlock, Outside.in, Placeblogger and Patch, aggrigate content for city neighborhoods across the country.

A profile in this morning’s NY Times shows that each of these sites takes  a unique approach to news creation/gathering.  Everyblock (not currently in ATL), Outside.in and Placeblogger all are powered mainly through aggregation of local blogs and news media.  Everyblock actually goes one step further and also collects and posts things like police reports and restaurant inspections.  Patch is more “community bloggerish”, with more original content of three NJ neighborhoods.

In Atlanta, Kim’s CommunityRadar.com is a good example of a “hyperlocal” aggregator/site.  WABE is also working on a model called Lens On Atlanta, which will focus heavily on promoting discussion (with many of the same “rules” that apply on DM interestingly enough!)

Time will tell whether these sites can fill the metro area news gaps.  As always, money is an issue.  A couple of the sites profiled by the Times sites are sponsored by grants and foundation money, but ultimately they will need to prove profitable.  Additionally content will prove challenging for those sites which don’t produce any of their own, if local newspapers keep folding.

This is certainly a trend worth watching.  My major concern about these sites, in addition to the more universal ones stated above, is the ability to create a loyal, passionate online community.  I think things like site origination  (who created it and why?) and coverage area work against a larger site’s possible success.  Many, spurred by dreams of torrents of ad revenue, try to be too many things to too many people.  As a result, any sense of community is lost.

Can this deficit be overcome?  Probably.  We’ve sacrificed much at the alter of conveinence and profit in the past century.  But I still think that the most valuable sites are the ones that sprout from within existing communities.

But does valuable = enduring?

Thanks to Judy for pointing out this article!

The AJC did a little leg (aka phone) work and found out how local Decatur businesses dealt with yesterday afternoon’s power outage.

Sounds like the area banks were the most put out.

Click for full-sized image

According to an update to the city’s Wi-Fi page in January, our extensive wi-fi network is finally finished!

After two years of network design and construction, the City’s wireless network is complete. The network consists of 190 wireless mesh radios over approximately 4 square miles within the City limits. The radios are attached to a variety of structures including Georgia Power utility poles, traffic signal poles, city-owned poles, and government and commercial buildings.

The network provides outdoor, high-speed Internet access to devices with wireless networking capabilities. For indoor access, most users will need a device called a CPE (consumer premise equipment) or wireless modem to strengthen the signal.

There’s also a new map (above) that shows more specific signal strength along our streets.  From the looks of it, I seem to have some of the worst signal strength on our street.  Oh well, all’s fair in love and wi-fi distribution.

If most indoor users will need an extra “CPE” to have a chance of accessing the wi-fi network, I still think it would be a good idea for “Get the Speed” to have neighborhood “fairs” or something so interested residents can test it out in their homes without having to order one, find out it doesn’t work for them, and then have to return it in the mail.  That’s just too much effort for most people.

In terms of comparison shopping, if you signed up for the 12-month high-speed access plan and needed a CPE, your total monthly cost would be somewhere around $30.  That’s about 12 bucks cheaper than my current Comcast.