Riley and Casey explore technology and society in rural communities. Today's focus: Community Tech & Governance.

NEWS ROUNDUP: We break down [Williams Lake Tribune] Trans Mountain begins assessment work in North Thompson and [Lifehacker] You Can Turn an Old Android Phone Into a Wifi Extender for Your Home Network, plus 1 more stories, and explore what these developments mean for communities like ours.

RURAL CONNECTIONS: Deep dive on Community Tech & Governance Topics include: broadband, satellite, connectivity, AI, infrastructure.

Hosts: Riley (Tech optimist with an engineering background) and Casey (Community-first skeptic of tech promises).

Sources discussed:

• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] Trans Mountain begins assessment wor...
• Lifehacker: [Lifehacker] You Can Turn an Old Android Phone Into a Wifi E...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] Williams Lake Mustangs stun Quesnel ...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] Motorist dead after logging truck cr...
• NYT Top Stories: [NYT Top Stories] U.S. Says Anthropic Is an ‘Unacceptable’ N...
• TechRadar: [TechRadar] This simple ChatGPT trick forces the AI to poke ...
• CNET: [CNET] Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Ris...
• 100 Mile Free Press: [100 Mile Free Press] Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School Gra...
• 100 Mile Free Press: [100 Mile Free Press] 100 Mile House hosts International Wom...
• Hackaday: [Hackaday] Zip-Drive Emulator Puts Big Disks Back on LPT
• TechRadar: [TechRadar] 'No one asked them to': Security experts warn ma...
• CNET: [CNET] Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster Sue OpenA...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] Williams Lake city council approve o...

Additional sources provided:

• The Tyee: [The Tyee] BC’s Auditor General Offers Reasons for the Lack ...
• The Tyee: [The Tyee] Inside BC’s Plan to Fast-Track Environmental Asse...
• ZDNet: [ZDNet] I replaced my router with a Wi-Fi 7 mesh model, and ...
• Hackaday: [Hackaday] Testing Whether Heated Chambers Help Brittle Fila...
• XDA Developers: [XDA Developers] I built a cheap music-controlled RGB LED st...
• XDA Developers: [XDA Developers] If you're 3D printing with supports, this t...
• How-To Geek: [How-To Geek] How I replaced Audible with a self-hosted alte...
• How-To Geek: [How-To Geek] Linux phones could get even better with postma...
• Business Insider: [Business Insider] The Army's $87 million deal with Anduril ...
• Hackaday: [Hackaday] Testing a Soviet 1000 Volt Insulation Tester from...
• Gizmodo: [Gizmodo] Amid AI Agent Boom, the Tech Industry Makes It Cle...
• Boing Boing: [Boing Boing] The "unhackable" Xbox One has been hacked — an...
• Seeded Content: 150 people died in B.C. in January from toxic drugs: Coroner...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] B.C. Conservative leader candidate t...

Credits
Theme Song: Cariboo Signals by Suno
Content Curation & Script: Claude (Anthropic)
TTS Voices: OpenAI TTS API
Cover Art: ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Podcast Coordination: Erich Zirnhelt
© 2026 Erich Zirnhelt. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.