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

NEWS ROUNDUP: We break down [Williams Lake Tribune] Redevelopment project at Jubilee Place in Williams Lake adjusted following provincial budget and [100 Mile Free Press] Air quality monitors to be installed at Watch Lake VFD, 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, renewable energy, data sovereignty, 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] Redevelopment project at Jubilee Pla...
• 100 Mile Free Press: [100 Mile Free Press] Air quality monitors to be installed a...
• 100 Mile Free Press: [100 Mile Free Press] 100 Mile House ER to be closed for six...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] Realtor nets $20K fine for false adv...
• The Tyee: [The Tyee] BC Cuts Climate Agency, Sends Some Staff to Work ...

Additional sources provided:

• WIRED: [WIRED] What You Need to Know About the Foreign-Made Router ...
• The Tyee: [The Tyee] BC’s Auditor General Offers Reasons for the Lack ...
• Toms Guide: [Toms Guide] AmneziaVPN launches AmneziaWG 2.0 – and it's a ...
• How-To Geek: [How-To Geek] This is the best Home Assistant project you ca...
• CNET: [CNET] Best VPN for Mac for 2026: Improve Your Privacy for W...
• The Tyee: [The Tyee] Inside BC’s Plan to Fast-Track Environmental Asse...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] Snow warning for Highway 1, wind sta...
• Hackaday: [Hackaday] 3D Printed Robot Arm Built For Learning Purposes
• Toms Guide: [Toms Guide] I tested Grok vs. Claude with the same 5 prompt...
• NYT Well: [NYT Well] Why a Strong Butt Is Key to Healthy Aging
• ZDNet: [ZDNet] I built an app for work in 5 minutes with Tasklet
• Hackaday: [Hackaday] Testing Expensive Graphene-Reinforced Nylon Filam...
• The Tyee: [The Tyee] Unpaid Subcontractors for Recovery Centres Say UC...
• Williams Lake Tribune: [Williams Lake Tribune] B.C. government won’t reveal DRIPA c...
• MacRumors: [MacRumors] Nuki Keypad 2 NFC Brings Aliro-Powered Tap-to-Un...

Credits
Theme Song: Cariboo Signals by Suno
Content Curation & Script: Claude (Anthropic)
Script Review Model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514
TTS Voices: OpenAI TTS API
Cover Art: ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Podcast Coordination: Erich Zirnhelt
© 2026 Erich Zirnhelt. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.