Google Chooses Kansas City, Kansas, as Broadband Mecca

via wired.com

Sorry Rochester that Google did not choose you for their experiment.
If Google can make internet access cheaper, I'm all for this. Go Google.

 

There’s no place like home — especially if you live Kansas City, Kansas, where houses will soon be connected to the net by fiber-optic cables that Google promises will deliver 1-gigabit-per-second internet connections — roughly a hundred times faster than a typical 10-Mbps cable connection.

With that fast a connection, it becomes possible to download a full-length feature film from iTunes in seconds.

More than 1,100 cities and town applied to be the testbed, highlighting the dismal state of broadband connections around the country. The Tuesday announcement came after more than a year of deliberations and a change of leadership in the project.

MORE via wired.com

 

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

What makes Vitaly Borker behave? Answer Amazon

The nortorious internet eyeglass store operated by Vitaly Borker harassed his buyers and was finally arrested. His internet store DecorMyEyes garnered media attention when the NYT exposed his M.O. in a recent article.

Its interesting to note that Borker gamed Google, MasterCard and EBAY to sell his wares on unsuspecting buyers. However, as an Amazon seller, Borker always behaved and never abused his customers. The NYT wrote "He handles those transactions like a Boy Scout because Amazon doesn’t mess around, he says — the company just kicks you off its site if you infuriate customers."

So what we learn from this bad internet merchant is that MC, Google and MC can be gamed and unsuspecting buyers acting on good faith can be victimized with little recourse. However the same merchants will not act badly when selling on Amazon because they keep a tight lid on the bad players.

Good for Amazon, Others take note and learn.