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The IFTF Blog
The city as laboratory
Another data-point in my and Anthony Townsend's ongoing study of how R&D is turning into an urban enterprise-- and often turning cities into hothouses and laboratories:
Google's Latest Laboratory: The City of Mountain View
Google, known for its innovative hiring practices and research-based worked environment, unveiled its most interesting laboratory to date: a wireless network in Mountain View, CA, that covers "11.5 square miles and has 380 access points in the city with a population of about 72,000, 35 miles south of San Francisco," according to this Bloomberg article.
The company insists it has no desire to roll out a nationwide wireless service; instead, it plans to use its hometown as a test bed for consumer interest in wireless products.
Bloomberg adds,
Google engineers attached antennas to lamp posts in Mountain View, which approved the project in November. headquarters.
Consumers need to sign up for a Google account to use the network that offers connections of about 1 megabit per second, more than 15 times the speed of most dial-up services.