Items tagged with Austin
AeroMobil's announcement at SXSW Interactive 2015 of the company's plans to get a flying car in the air by 2017 has been all the buzz this week in Austin. After all, it is the rare person among us who has not at some point imagined hopping into a zippy little number in the driveway, dropping foot to pedal, and taking off into the sky, giddy and content in our H.G. Wells reality (or, perhaps, "The Jetsons"). Of course, a bit closer to earth, the idea of flying cars no doubt also played into the fantasies of certain SXSWi participants, especially among the many who had to endure Austin's epically bad traffic throughout the event. But we are discussing flying cars...At SXSWi, AeroMobil CEO Juraj...
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Back in February, Google announced that it would be looking into the possibility of bringing Google Fiber to 34 cities across the United States. While hoping to reach a decision before the end of the year, Google has stated that it requires more time to determine which cities will receive the 1Gbps service. Google’s plan stated that it would be working with city officials to determine how viable it would be to bring Google Fiber to cities such as Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Portland, and Nashville. The company would look at the topography, the current condition of local infrastructure, and housing density as some of the factors that would help determine how many of the cities,...
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Good news for those of you who live in Austin. Google will be launching its fiber network in the south and southeast sections of the city starting this December. From there, the company will continue to deploy Google Fiber through other parts of the town in stages. Google’s strategy for which areas are designated for its gigabit network will be dependent on a sign-up process. Areas will be divided into neighborhoods and those that hit a certain goal, specified by Google, will gain access to the service. While neighborhoods that fail to reach the goal will not have access to it. Each neighborhood, consisting of a few hundred houses, will be served by a single fiber hut where Google’s...
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Google is shaking up the ISP field in a big way with its Google Fiber service, and some of the fruit it has shaken loose pertains to AT&T launching a competing service in Austin, which Google has slated as one of the cities to get its gigabit Internet and TV service soon. AT&T is launching a 100% fiber network that promises gigabit speeds under its U-Verse brand (with GigaPower) along with high-end TV services that include HD-ready whole-home DVR (for up to 8 TVs), which is a step toward competing directly with Google’s Internet-and-TV package. AT&T is looking to beat Google to the punch, though; the service provider says that it will launch its U-Verse with GigaPower option...
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The rollout of Google Fiber in a given location must feel like an impending tidal wave to the competition, which generally offers slower Internet speeds at higher prices (and often with frustrating customer service) than the search giant-come-ISP, and we’ve discussed before how this development has put the industry on notice. Time Warner Cable doesn’t plan to take Google Fiber’s disruption lying down, and its Director of Digital Communications, Jeff Simmermon, has taken to the corporate blog to let everyone know just what the company is doing to stay competitive. In Austin, the big news is: TWC is deploying free WiFi hotspots in the city. That’s it. Too little, too late...
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A few years ago, when Google was determining which city to launch its pilot Google Fiber program, cities all over the country went all-out trying to persuade the search giant to bring all that fantastical bandwidth to their neck of the woods. And with good reason: Google Fiber offers gigabit Internet speeds and even TV service, all at prices that meet or beat the competition. In fact, the lowest tier of Google Fiber service (5Mbps down, 1Mbps up) is free once users pay a $300 construction fee. Eventually, Kansas City was the lucky locale chosen for the Google Fiber launch, and by all accounts things are going swimmingly, and Google is slowly but surely rolling out service to nearby areas, including...
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Only a few months after Google brought Gigabit broadband to Kansas City, Google is rumored to be gearing up for its next metropolis: Austin, Texas. Google is planning a big press conference in Austin next week. The word is that Austin and Google have an announcement to make. Google and Austin officials haven’t admitted to anything yet, but with rumors flying and a Tuesday conference planned, it’s worth taking note of. So, why all the commotion about Gigabit broadband? Speed, of course. With Gigabit broadband, you’re looking at being able to watch streaming video at higher resolutions than the 720p most streaming video is limited to. Top speeds will 100 times as fast as typical...
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For the past few months, there's been a persistent rumor that AMD would sell its Austin property and lease the building back in a long-term deal that'll net the company some short-term capital. Initially, the transaction was expected to bring in between $180-$200M, but the final value is a bit below that. The company released a statement today stating that the deal will bring it an additional $164 million, which will be included in its first quarter results. AMD has spun the move as in keeping with Sunnyvale's desire to "reduce investments and capital in non-core parts of the business. In 1998, the company sold and currently leases-back its headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. In 2008, it sold and...
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It’s never a good sign when a company is trying to raise money using strategies that don’t include selling its products for a profit, but that’s where AMD is these days. The chipmaker is reportedly looking to sell off its Austin, Texas facility to generate cash; the plan is apparently to lease the facility back from the new owner, whoever that might be. AMD told Reuters that it hopes to get between $150 million and $200 million for the 58-acre property, closing a deal sometime before the end of Q2 2013. This isn’t the first time AMD has employed this strategy; the company has done the sell-and-lease-back dance with facilities in Toronto and California. AMD's Austin campus...
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