Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, NBC getting heat for its coverage of the 2012 Olympics, Amish people giving it a go in Manhattan, or overdosing at a churrascaria, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
I would kill for Google Fiber. Maybe not kill…but I’d punch someone really hard to get it. Part of it is the 1Gb/second Internet speeds, not having to worry about data caps, the 1TB of Google Drive storage, and the included Nexus 7 that serves as a remote control. The thought of downloading a 1080p movie in five minutes or less sounds…amazing. Google Fiber is the stuff nerd dreams are made of.
Another reason I dream about Google Fiber is the lovely thought of being able to give cable and telephone companies a big FU. I’m tired of the Internet duopoly held by AT&T and Time Warner Cable in my part of Los Angeles. I hate that my two choices for Internet service are “mediocre” and “worse”. I hate that my apartment building only has one (woefully overpriced) choice for television. There are times when I wish that Time Warner Cable were a person so that I could him in the face.
Right now, Google Fiber is only available in Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO (I have no idea which one has the baseball team). I can’t imagine living in either city and I sincerely doubt that Google Fiber is coming to Los Angeles (or any large city) in the immediate future. It’s great the Google is showing people what Internet service could be like, but I don’t see this happening in big cities any time soon. I’m sure I’ll spend several nights over the next year or two dreaming that I’m wrong.
What do you think of Google Fiber? Is it the kind of Internet and television service you dream of? What would you do with that godly amount of bandwidth? Would Google Fiber significantly change your gaming habits? Share your Google Fiber dreams in the comments section (please)!
Kauffman Stadium in Missouri and that’s where the Royals play.
Arrowhead Stadium (where the Chiefs play) is also in Missouri.
In the actual state of Kansas… there’s pretty much nothing… except Google Fiber.
So that state of Kansas is just a portal to Oz?
When you think of Oz as in “HBO’s man-raping Oz”… That question is hilarious.
How about Kevin Nash’s WCW character?
http://youtu.be/fy7S–YuPOY
I really hope this creates a muni fiber rush in the US. That could be a double edged sword if muni fiber feels a need to censor to protect the children though.
The deal Google is offering seems to good to be true and I don’t see how they are making money on this unless they aren’t expecting ROI well into the future.
In the longrun, think of the ad-targeting potential when Google has your television and web-surfing information to use in addition to the other info it has on most of its customers.
As for Kansas in particular, I found this in a FAQ:
“Google gets free central office space for 10+ years; free power; no charge for access to the City’s assets and infrastructure; no charge for rights of way, permits and inspection fees; settlement-free interconnections with anchor institutions; free marketing and direct mail, and even free office space for Google employees.”
http://www.netcompetition.org/conflict-of-interest/questions-to-ask-at-google-fiber-announcement
Psst… on a completely unrelated note:
http://www.1up.com/features/unrelatable-narrators-gaming
Read #3. 4 and 5 are also pretty funny.
-M