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President Barack Obama launched a new initiative called ConnectED, which aims to bring similar next-generation connectivity to classrooms across America in the next five years. It’s a great idea. But Obama’s proposal leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The biggest unknown is perhaps the most important: funding.

How the money is spent and where it comes from will determine not only whether the program meets its benchmarks but also whether it really helps ensure that “every child in America’s classrooms has access to the fastest Internet and the most cutting-edge learning tools.” The Administration has indicated that it will let the Federal Communications Commission figure out those details. ConnectED would be part of the FCC’s E-Rate program, which provides subsidies to broadband providers to offer discounted service to schools and libraries. E-Rate, in turn, is part of the Universal Service Fund, which administers several programs to bring better access to telecommunications services across the country, especially in low-income, rural, insular, and high-cost areas. One challenge is that the program needs to ensure that schools upgrade to technology that won’t become obsolete in just a few years, like cable or wireless. Fiber is the only option that remains largely future-proof: It’s already capable of gigabit speeds and more readily scalable than other technologies to meet future demands.

Google has repeatedly grabbed headlines with its ambitious plan to wire more than a dozen cities with super-fast Internet service. But Google isn't the only game in town when it comes to superfast Internet connections.

A growing number of cities are creating their own so-called fiber networks or enlisting companies to install them. These initiatives generate far less buzz than Google's. Nevertheless, they are slowly increasing the reach of lightning-fast Internet service amid concerns about the United States lagging countries like South Korea in broadband connection speeds. "Google has moved the interest level a multitude of times higher than there would otherwise be," said Craig Settles, a consultant who helps cities with their fiber projects. "You wouldn't have had anywhere near the national impact without them." The question remains whether there is enough interest in the United States to make the cost of installing fiber networks worthwhile. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether the faster Internet connections will spur economic development and innovation, as many government officials have promised.

[Commentary] Technology companies may have backed the President’s executive actions to curb patent trolling. But my first thought when reading about the move was that Obama was merely paying lip service to the technology community over an issue that cuts to the heart of innovation and job creation.

Obama had failed, I thought, to go far enough. And watching White House press secretary Jay Carney hold up a picture of a crossed-out toy troll in a superhero outfit under the slogan “innovation, not litigation” didn’t help lead me to believe otherwise. Granted, I say this as someone who believes software patents should be abolished given that technology often becomes obsolete in the time it takes to be granted a patent. Nevertheless, I was convinced that others in the Valley would agree with me. This wasn’t enough, they’d tell me. The administration had to — and could — do more. I started with someone who doesn’t have proverbial skin in the patent game: my colleague at Stanford Law School, Mark Lemley. He’s among those at the forefront of the patent reform debate, and he fully disagreed with me. In an e-mail exchange, he told me the administration’s move was far more than lip service. Then he went on, praising the White House and writing that it had “done a good job of targeting real problems without attacking the patent system as a whole.” It’s little wonder a cheer is going up from the Valley for Obama’s proposals. So, let’s hope that Congress does as the President asked. If he won’t get rid of patents entirely in this fast-paced world of innovation, the least he can do is put the patent trolls out of business.

Landover Wireless, a New York-based wireless broadband company, is buying 45 low-power television stations and construction permits for seven others from Mako Communications and related companies for $46.5 million. Landover is developing a national 4G mobile broadband network.