NextGenWeb recently attended Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) annual conference in Washington DC. The Center for Aging Services Technologies is leading the charge to expedite the development, evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies that can improve the aging experience. CAST has become an international coalition of more than 400 technology companies, aging services organizations, research universities, and government representatives. After the event, NextGenWeb caught up with Majd Alwan, Director of CAST, and Larry Minnix, President and CEO of AAHSA, to discuss how they are using broadband technologies to provide first-rate care while reducing health care costs.

Click here to see the interviews

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NextGenWeb recently traveled to Capitol Hill to attend a briefing hosted by the National Grange.  The briefing encouraged legislators to include rural broadband initiatives in the Farm Bill currently before Congress.  Presenters stressed the economic benefits broadband brings rural economies, as well as how broadband can expand educational opportunities and increase access to healthcare in underserved areas. 

Click below to see highlights from the presentations.

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NextGenWeb recently attended a press conference on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Business Roundtable. The press conference gathered Senators and CEOs in an effort to urge Congress to pass a Health IT Bill titled the “Wired for Health Care Quality Act.”  The event’s presenters included Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts; Senator Michael Enzi of Wyoming; Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications, Inc.; and Ronald Williams, Chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc.  As the presenters shared, Health IT applications could provide annual savings of $81 billion, prevent thousands of annual deaths from medical errors and make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for populations who have been left out of routine care.

Click here to see highlights from the press conference

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On April 15, NextGenWeb was in Minneapolis for the National Consumers League LifeSmarts competition.  The National Consumers League is the nation’s oldest consumer and worker advocacy group.  NCL’s LifeSmarts program is a national consumer education competition for some of the nation’s savviest high school students.

NextGenWeb was on-site to live-stream the final round of the contest between Arizona and Illinois.  Both teams did a fantastic job answering questions about a variety of consumer topics such as economics, health care, telecommunications and energy.  It was close, but the team from Arizona took the gold!

After the competition, NextGenWeb caught up with the five winning students on the Arizona team.  These students, who are all home schooled, had great ideas about broadband’s benefits to their generation.  Since much of their education is conducted in the home, these students are already familiar with the many benefits of e-learning.  They also stated that broadband access will be an integral part of daily life in the future.    

Click Below to See Highlights from the Competition 

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NextGenWeb recently attended an event hosted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies about minorities and broadband access and usage at the National Press Club.  The Joint Center is one of the nation’s premier research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color.

U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) and technology experts discussed how Internet technology is touching the lives of minorities and the policies that can ensure increased broadband access.   As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure and Protection of the House Homeland Security Committee, Representative Jackson-Lee spoke to the power of the Internet and its impact on areas such as education and health.  She also spoke about her commitment to protect broadband as an essential national infrastructure.  She is also a member of the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Click Here to See Highlights from the Panel discussion.

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Connected Nation, Inc., today announced the launch of Connect!, a new campaign to promote the critical need for expanding broadband to all communities throughout the Nation.  A key element of the campaign is a series of public dialogues. Brian and I also briefed reporters on the economic impact of accelerating broadband deployment in various states and the broadband mapping bills that Congress is now considering.

We’re hoping to build on the success of initiatives like ConnectKentucky, a public-private partnership that helped boost broadband availability in the state to 95 percent of Kentucky households last year, from only 60 percent in 2004.

Click Here to Read More and See Coverage of the Announcement

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NextGenWeb recently attended an event hosted by the Internet Innovation Alliance titled “Closing the Broadband Gap in Rural and Underserved America”.  During the discussion, panelists explored where the broadband gap occurs, who it affects, and what can be done to remove obstacles that inhibit greater broadband adoption.  The panelists included Dr. Rob Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Mark McElroy, Senior Vice President of Communications at Connected Nation, Emily Parker, Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Alec Ross, Executive Vice President of External Affairs at One Economy.  Emily Parker specifically discussed the initiatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to bring broadband to libraries in rural America.

Click Below to See Highlights from the Panel and an Interview with Emily Parker

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NextGenWeb recently attended a Health IT Now coalition event where members of the coalition called on Congress to pass health information technology legislation this year.

In a briefing for Members of the House and Senate and their staff, former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson was joined by representatives from coalition member groups the American Diabetes Association, the Genetic Alliance, Consumers for Competitive Choice, and the Whitman-Walker Clinic.

Click Below to See Highlights from the Event

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NextGenWeb.org was onsite in Chicago today to continue its wall-to-wall coverage of this year’s NXTcomm conference in Chicago. One of the broadband panels today featured an interesting cross-section of industry experts. The “Broadband Mind Bender Session” included Tony Bates, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Service Provider Technology Group at Cisco. Joining Mr. Bates on the panel was someone you may not immediately associate with the importance of broadband deployment. Dr. Henry Marcy, Vice President for Food Streaming Solutions at Whirlpool was there to explain why Moms and kids have as much to gain from broadband technology as anybody.

 Click here to see his interview with NextGenWeb

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One of the more compelling panels at this year’s NXTcomm conference in Chicago was the “Rhetoric versus Reality: Putting the Broadband Debate into Perspective.��? The panel was well-attended by industry leaders, but one of the more interesting testimonials came from Theresa Davis, the outpatient care director at iNOVA. Ms. Davis spent some time with NextGenWeb.org after the panel to discuss the role telemedicine and broadband play in improving the efficiency and quality of patient care. Click below to see her comments.

To Watch Her Interview Click Here

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