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by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio

June 4, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS Payments to a little-known fund intended to expand Internet access in Minneapolis have all but dried up.

The company that created the citywide Wi-Fi network was required to establish the fund as part of its contract. USI Wireless was expected to replenish the fund every year as profits grew. But that hasn't happened, and critics say it's just one example of how the Wi-Fi network has fallen short of early hopes.

The Minneapolis Digital Inclusion Fund was set up five years ago to help low-income people, seniors, displaced workers, and others harness the power of the Internet.

And for a couple of years, the fund doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to dozens of community organizations that applied for grants. The programs taught digital literacy to immigrants at libraries and built a computer lab at a center serving homeless youth. A half-million dollars from USI Wireless gave the fund its early momentum.

But more than a year ago, the Twin Cities-based company stopped annual payments to the fund. Critics, including Chris Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, say the lack of support for the fund has been disappointing.

"The problem of digital inclusion, to make sure everyone has access, is a very hard problem," Mitchell said. "I don't think the digital inclusion fund was ever going to solve all of these problems, but it was a tiny step in the right direction, and it's frustrating that even that tiny step turned out not to be a tiny step."

The Wi-Fi network was meant to give Minneapolis residents a low-cost option to access the Internet. It also aimed to provide service to roaming city workers, from the drivers of sanding trucks to police officers in squad cars.

When the city decided to invest in public Wi-Fi, it promised some collective perks for the community, including the digital inclusion fund. Minneapolis is paying USI Wireless $12.5 million over 10 years.

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Payments to Minneapolis digital fund dry up

by Philip Wain

With two days and three races held so far at the Isle of Man TT races, James Hillier and the Bournemouth Kawasaki Pr1mo Racing team have been excelling and with three top seven finishes, the 27-year old has posted his best ever TT results, including a brilliant fifth in Monday's Supersport TT. After being on the leaderboard in all his classes during practice week, particularly the Lightweight where he was second quickest, race week got underway for James on Saturday with the 6-lap Superbike TT. Fifth through Glen Helen, the first timing point, James completed the opening lap in sixth place with a lap of 127.811mph and although he got shuffled back to seventh a lap later by William Dunlop, he was still comfortably ahead of eighth placed rider Ian Hutchinson. Consistently lapping in excess of 126mph, James was able to consolidate his position for the remainder of the race to claim a strong seventh. The week got even better on Monday with his best ever TT result, fifth in the first Supersport TT race and again the first Kawasaki rider home. Despite not getting many laps on the bike during practice week, a strong opening lap of 121.829mph placed James in ninth place. Although he dropped back to 12th on lap two, he was still only two seconds off ninth such was the closeness of the race and combined with Michael Dunlop retiring, Daniel Kneen crashing (fortunately without serious injury), and his own strong lap he moved up to seventh. The gap he now held over Dan Stewart, Roy Richardson and Ian Lougher was up to eleven seconds and with the final lap seeing Ryan Farquhar and Gary Johnson both retire, James took a brilliant fifth at the chequered flag. Later that same evening, there was the 4-lap Superstock race and a fantastic start saw James lie in second place at Glen Helen, nine miles into the lap, just half a second behind John McGuinness. At the end of the lap James had slipped back to sixth but it was again very close with just a handful of seconds covering the riders in third to eighth. For the remainder of the race, James enjoyed a good dice on the roads with Michael Rutter and Dan Stewart and the battle meant that James closed in on Bruce Anstey and Guy Martin who were battling for fourth. At the end of over 150 miles, James finished in a very strong sixth place, just four seconds behind Martin and five behind Anstey. Speaking on Tuesday, team owner Pete Extance said; "What can I say, the week's going really, really well and after being strong throughout practice week, James has carried that good form into race week. A solid seventh got the races underway in fine style and even though the Supersport race is our weakest class, it's ended up giving James and the team our best result so far. Due to only having one engine left, James didn't get many laps on it during practice and although there were a few retirements in the race, the name of the game is to get to the finish and that's what James did. He was always in the top ten and the lap times were good so we were delighted with the result and also being the first Kawasaki home." "It set us up for the evening's Superstock race and James set off at a fantastic pace, running in second at Glen Helen. The gaps between the top half dozen riders was always close and the second half of the race saw James comfortably in the top six and right on the tail of Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey. He was able to consolidate his position and had a great dice on the roads with Michael and Dan and the end result was another good sixth place. Even more pleasing was the fact that he was just five seconds off fourth place and multiple race winner Bruce Anstey. That made it three top seven finishes out of three starts and we're all now really looking forward to the rest of the week, especially the Lightweight TT race on Friday where James has a really good chance of a dream debut victory." The next race is Wednesday's second 4-lap Supersport race with Friday seeing the 3-lap Lightweight and 6-lap Senior races. Picture by Paul Woodlock.

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Manx Telecom Ltd 2012

Manx Telecom Ltd, Isle of Man Business Park, Cooil Road, Braddan, Isle of Man IM99 1HX Registered in the Isle of Man Reg no.5629V Vat Reg no GB 003-2919-12

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Hillier enjoying superb week on the Island

29 May 2012 Last updated at 09:15 ET

The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

The island is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union, but is a possession of the British Crown with an independent administration. Its inhabitants are British citizens.

The Isle of Man was permanently settled by Celts and fell under Viking control in 1079. The Viking legacy is seen in many place names and the title of the Tynwald parliament, although the Celtic Manx language predominated until the 19th century.

Man passed to the Scottish crown in 1266, and then to the feudal lordship of the Stanley family under the English crown. The British crown acquired the lordship in 1764, but never incorporated the island into the United Kingdom.

Profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

The Tynwald parliament was granted autonomy in 1866, and steadily advanced to democracy in step with the United Kingdom. Established no later than 979, it is one of various assemblies that claim to be the oldest parliament in the world. The Tynwald elects the Council of Ministers, presided over since 1986 by a chief minister. Most members of the Tynwald are independents.

Native-born people make up 47.6 per cent of the population, with the rest almost entirely accounted for by immigrants from the United Kingdom. People born in England make up 37.2 per cent alone.

As a Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union. The Tynwald passes its own legislation with the assent of the Crown granted in the Privy Council. The Crown is responsible for defence and diplomatic representation, and acts on the advice of the UK Ministry of Justice. The Isle of Man has its own controls on immigration and housing.

The Isle of Man has relatively low taxes and this has encouraged a major offshore financial sector that accounts for most of GDP. Over recent years the Manx government has made a concerted effort to cast off the island's reputation as a tax haven, signing tax information exchange deals with over a dozen countries.

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Isle of Man profile

By Mia Lamar

Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Tuesdays session are Amazon.com, Google and FedEx.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) acquired publication rights from Avalon Books for more than 3,000 of its books, mostly in the romance, mystery and western genres.

Google Inc. (GOOG) agreed to buy privately held ad platform provider Meebo Inc. for an undisclosed sum, adding more developers to the Internet search giants social-media team.

FedEx Corp. (FDX) said it will permanently retire some of its widebody jets and take an $84 million charge against net profits in its latest quarter as its reconfigures its fleet in the face of sluggish domestic demand and still-high fuel prices.

Central European Distribution Corp.(CEDC) said it plans to restate its financial results for all periods from the past two years due to accounting errors related to retroactive trade rebates at the companys main subsidiary in Russia.

Galena Biopharma Inc. (GALE) said its treatment to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer improved survival rates in preliminary results from a long-term study. Shares were up 4.4% to $1.41 premarket.

Israel-based biopharmaceutical drug developer BioLineRx Ltd. (BLRX) said it has moved a step closer to receiving patents on its treatment for neuropathic pain. Shares jumped 12% to $2.60 premarket.

Opnext Inc.s (OPXT) board has determined that a technology-focused private-equity firms unsolicited offer to acquire the optical-components maker for $1.40 a share was not superior to Opnexts proposed merger with peer Oclaro Inc. (OCLR). Opnext shares were 13% to $1.10 premarket while Oclaro shares were unchanged at Mondays $2.31 close.

Layne Christensen Co.s (LAYN) fiscal first-quarter profit sank 71% as the drilling-services provider saw continued difficulties in its waterinfrastructure business.

Link:
Stocks to Watch: Amazon, Google, FedEx

Todays mobile news roundup features plans for the Samsung Galaxy SIII to hit the US this month, Microsofts latest domain buys, Asus unveiling of a new Windows 8 tablet, and Apples iOS Security revealed.

Samsung Galaxy SIIIs US launch

Samsung Electronics Co., before they revealed their US plans, clarified that the Samsung Galaxy SIII will be known only as the Samsung Galaxy SIII even if various network carriers sell them unlike its predecessor, the Galaxy SII, which was called by various names depending on the network.

As for the US launch, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular, will start selling variants of the Samsung Galaxy SIII this June, though the exact release date and price of the said device hasnt been announced. It was noted though that instead of the 1.4GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processorused in the international release, the US version of the Galaxy SIII will be equipped with a 1.5 GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. The slight downgrade is said to be due to the 4G/LTE incompatibility with the Exynos processor.

Microsoft shops for domains related to the Smart Glass

Microsoft is said to be scooping all the domain names related to the Xbox Smart Glass a technology that is yet to be revealed but some believe that it is similar to how the Wii U Gamepad functions like a secondary screen in some games or as a TV remote even when the console is turned off. While some are saying that the Smart Glass is the Xbox Companion Live which is a system that allows developers or gamers to stream content from their console to their laptop, PC or smartphone.

The Xbox Smart Glass is rumored to be unveiled during the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 the largest gaming expo which will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 5-7, 2012.

Heres the list of the domain names Microsoft nabbed:

Asus shows off Windows 8 tablet

Asustek Computer revealed their Windows 8-based tablet, the Asus Tablet 600, complete with an ARM processor and featuring a 10-inch display, a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU, an 8-megapixel camera in the rear with LED flash, a 2-megapixel camera in the front, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. It weighs 1.15 pounds (520 grams), and is .33 inches (8.35 millimeters) thick. It will come preloaded with Microsoft Office 15. No news yet as to when the tablet will be available in the market.

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Galaxy SIII On Sale Soon from 5 US Carriers