Users can log on at terminals in the library, a bank, a coffeeshop, the regional hospital and the state agricultural center. So far 150 homes and 50 businesses have signed up for HomeLAN, which eventually will allow residents to program household appliances to run at the times of day when rates are lowest. N.M. With the help of two financial grants, the La Plaza Telecommunity Foundation provides free public access to everyone in the region. Almost 25 percent of the area's 10,000 residents have signed up. For those without computers, the La Plaza Telecommunity Center, with 15 computers, is open 12 hours a day.
Residents use the program for e-mail, research and home schooling.
Palo Alto is the birthplace of Silicon Valley. So it's fitting that the city of 56,000, more than half of whom have access to the Internet at home or at work, was the first to have full presence on the World Wide Web. In early 1994 Palo Alto set up a home page and auxiliary pages providing everything from real estate listings to crime statistics. This site provides links to wired communities across the country. Visit these communities and learn how the WWW has affected their lives.