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Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th
Seems like Sprint wants to get every last lick of 4G coverage in before Verizon flips the switch on LTE -- today, its joint venture with Clearwire is launching WiMAX in the City of Angels a day ahead of schedule. Lest you think Los Angeles is getting special treatment, five other cellular markets can now also get a taste of 5Mbps to 7Mbps download speeds, including Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and our nation's capitol, Washington D.C. That brings the total number of regions where you'll get some mileage out of that $10 surcharge up to 68, in case you're keeping track. What's next? If the press release after the break is correct, San Francisco will finally satisfy its need for speed on December 28th. Not that any of these locales haven't been secretly enjoying 4G already, of course.
Better Place's electric taxis coming to SF Bay Area, thanks to $7 million grant
San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto, California were all too happy to endorse Better Place's electric vehicle infrastructure two years ago, but now the powers that be have invested some cash to get this show on the road. The Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission has dropped $6.9 million to purchase and build 61 electric taxis and four robotic battery swap stations to put freshly juiced cells in place -- just like Better Place has been doing with Tokyo taxis since April 26th. Yellow Cab Cooperative and Yellow Checker Cab will operate the zero-emission vehicles, though CNET reports that they've yet to choose a particular type -- perhaps we'll finally see Mitsubishi's i MiEV with a steering wheel on the left-hand side? PR after the break.
San Francisco Bay Area gets $5 million for EV chargers, Detroit will charge $40 per month
Electric vehicles are inching closer, with several already priced and rearing to go, but so far would-be owners won't have to pay for the devices to charge their cars. Free charging stations are popping up at every red dot on this map, and apparently not satisfied with the 1,600 that Coulomb's installing in California and the three at City Hall, San Francisco and neighboring cities have just approved $5 million for over 5,000 more chargers -- of which only 50 will appear along public highways, for some reason. Meanwhile, the state of Michigan has approved the first standardized rate for EV charger use -- a pilot program by provider DTE Energy will see 2,500 customers paying $40 per vehicle per month (or a variable off-peak rate) through December 2012. Gotta wonder how those grey states are feeling right about now.
