While #Sandy and recovery from Sandy may have taken central focus this month for small businesses in NYC, I wanted to remind Maker businesses of the current challenge being offered by Mayor Bloomberg and the NYCEDC for small and medium-sized businesses to make a case for getting free fiber build-out for high-speed broadband in the ConnectNYC Fiber Challenge:
Small and medium-sized commercial and industrial businesses across the five boroughs are invited to compete for free fiber wiring.
Contestants demonstrating the highest potential impact of fiber connectivity – on their own business, nearby businesses, and underserved areas – will become finalists. Finalists will have a chance to win a free build-out of fiber internet connectivity to their place of business, an overall value of up to $7M for all winning businesses.
To enter, all contestants must obtain a signed landlord agreement providing ISPs with access to the building if they win. If selected a winner, contestants will be required to sign a one-year service contract with a participating ISP at negotiated market rates before they are eligible to receive a free fiber build-out.
This is a particularly useful challenge for displaced and now permanently resettled businesses to take this opportunity to get an internet infrastructure leg-up for themselves and their neighbors by taking the extra effort to get an application in on time. And take a moment to look over the resources here, including the Industrial Business Zones map for areas that are offered a special track in the challenge.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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