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November 11, 2008 - By ANDREW VANACORE


IBM Corp. is throwing its considerable weight behind an idea that seemed to have faded: broadband Internet access delivered over ordinary power lines.

The technology has been around for decades, but most efforts to implement the idea on a broad scale have failed to live up to expectations.

Now, with somewhat scaled-back goals, improved technology, and a dose of low-interest federal loans, IBM is partnering with a small newcomer called International Broadband Electric Communications Inc. to try to make the idea work in rural communities that don't have other broadband options.

Their strategy is to sign up electric cooperatives that provide power to sparsely populated areas across the eastern United States. Rather than compete toe-to-toe with large, entrenched cable or DSL providers, IBEC is looking for customers that have been largely left out of the shift to high-speed Internet.

Signing on IBM, perhaps the highest-profile company to buy into the idea, could juice a technology that has failed to make much of an imprint.

IBM today announced plans to provide every student in North Carolina access to advanced educational resources through NC State's Virtual Computing Lab (VCL), a cloud computing-based technology. Through this cloud -- which is a set of Internet-based resources -- students at K-12 schools, colleges around the state and the University of North Carolina system campuses themselves will have access to the most advanced educational materials, select software applications and computing and storage resources.
NC State also announced that the code for its VCL technology is available through the Apache open source community for free, and is in discussions with a number of universities across the globe that wish to replicate this cloud computing model.

In support of this effort, the NC State Department of Computer Science and Office of Information Technology announced the creation of a Center of Excellence in Cloud Computing, an applied research and development facility on the NC State campus that will spearhead collaboration projects between NC State and the IBM Blue Cloud development team, helping improve the quality of education provided through the VCL platform and ensure reliability.


Spotted here

By Jennifer Jacob / staff writer

Everyday in Meridian, droves of people come downtown to the Pigford building - to eat at the Chili House, to be pampered at the Body Bar, or to shop at Dream It.

Most of them have no idea that they're also visiting what may be downtown's most haunted building.

Submitted by Brian Dunn • October 25, 2008

MEMPHIS (AP) — It can cost Helen Ford up to $700 a month to heat her small Memphis residence, and she's not the only one concerned about that

Utility suppliers are worried, too.

The Tennessee Valley Authority and Memphis Light, Gas and Water, the city's main utility company, say they're having a hard time keeping up with customer demands and are looking for ways to help homeowners conserve energy.

(Sports Network) - The San Jose Sharks will try to avoid their first loss to the Florida Panthers in over eight years tonight, as the two clubs square off in Sunrise at BankAtlantic Center.

Having recorded 12 of a possible 14 points to start this season (6-1-0), the Sharks take their hot play to Florida, where they haven't lost since February 9, 2000.

-- Federal offices and courts will be closed Monday for Columbus Day, one of 10 federal holidays.

-- There will be no home mail delivered Monday, except Express Mail.

By SHELIA BYRD


INDIANOLA, Miss. (AP) -- Translucent images of long ago, of black men and women, backs bent, picking cotton under an unforgiving sun, are artistically displayed on standing glass panels in a museum carved out of an old brick gin mill in the Mississippi Delta.

By Syantani Chatterjee

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California and Florida cities top the list of those under the risk of future plummeting home prices in the next two years, a report said Wednesday.

According to the PMI Fall 2008 U.S.

DANIA BEACH, Fla.

Twenty five dogs who were abandoned after Hurricane Ike destroyed their homes in Galveston, Texas, will soon be in South Florida, looking for a new home.

The dogs are set to arrive at the Broward Humane Society Wednesday.

They will be evaluated by the Humane Society and will then be up for adoption

»www.local10.com/news/17596142/detail.html

Florida has recovered more than $1.5 million as part of a state and federal settlement with Walgreen Co.

Walgreen (NYSE: WAG), which operates the Walgreens drug store chain, will pay the United States, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota a total of $9.9 million to resolve allegations the company falsely billed the Medicaid program, said a release from Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.

COLLIER COUNTY: Thieves are placing skimming devices on ATMs in Southwest Florida in order to scam cardholders out of cash and steal their identity, according to police. But they say telling the difference between a skimmer and the real thing can be difficult.

Florida Keys residents weigh evacuation
28 minutes ago

With Hurricane Ike on an uncertain course toward the Gulf of Mexico, many residents on Florida's low-lying Key West islands have taken a wait-and-see approach to orders to evacuate ahead of the storm that has already killed at least 48 people in Haiti.

Forecasts show Ike crossing Cuba and skirting Key West by Tuesday on a trek to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, slowly strengthening on its way to a landfall late in the week somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and the Texas coast.

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Powerful Hurricane Ike rolled down an uncertain path Sunday that may lead to the U.S.

By JESSICA GRESKO and SARAH LARIMER – 25 minutes ago

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Ike is still far out in the Atlantic, but it's getting a close look from those who weathered 1992's Andrew, the devastating Category 5 storm against which all other Florida hurricanes are measured.

By NEIL JOHNSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2008

TAMPA - Florida is trading one threat for another.

Tropical Storm Hanna looks like it will pass to the east, but Hurricane Ike could be curving near Florida's southeast coast by early next week.

By MARCUS K. GARNER - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, September 02, 2008

State officials began preparing late Tuesday to respond to the impending landfall of Tropical Storm Hanna, even as the storm seemed to stall in the Caribbean.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency led preparations as state and private agencies from the Georgia State Troopers to the Red Cross worked to ensure people living along the coast can cope with the storm

Spotted here

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov.

By REBECCA SMITH
September 1, 2008 1:14 p.m.

Utilities rolled into action Monday as Gustav marched west from Louisiana and Florida toward Texas, leaving behind downed power lines from high winds and flooding.

By Lilla Zuill

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hurricane Gustav, which came ashore southwest of New Orleans on Monday morning, is expected to trigger significant insurance claims but far less than record-setting Katrina did three years ago.

"This is a significant, catastrophic event but insurers anticipate these, and Gustav will be manageable from a financial perspective," said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, an industry-funded nonprofit organization in New York.

By Brian K. Sullivan

Aug.