Items tagged with San-Francisco
It looks as though Google Fiber’s next destination is hitting quite close to home, as it was announced today that the high-speed Internet service is coming to San Francisco. Like its announcement for the city of Huntsville, Alabama, Google won’t be using its considerable resources to lay down fiber throughout the city (which is quite a daunting task given the city’s topography) and will instead rely in existing infrastructure to get the job done. Unfortunately, that will limit the scope of Google Fiber in San Francisco, with Director of Business Operations Michael Slinger writing that the service will come “to some apartments, condos, and affordable housing properties.” “To date, we’ve focused...
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Video game broadcaster and community-builder Twitch is poised for big things. The company is rumored to be working a billion-dollar acquisition by YouTube, making it a Google-owned entity, and in the meantime it’s building a studio in San Francisco to take its enterprise to new level. According to Reuters, Twitch COO Kevin Lin said that the company wants to find better ways to help “everyday streamers” develop greater quantity and quality of content. Twitch on Xbox The purpose of the studio is manifold. It will give Twitch’s partners a top-notch space in which they can produce the highest-quality content while at the same time offering an incubator of sorts for budding...
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The mysterious barge that Google has been renovating in San Francisco Bay is now without a home. There was an earlier report indicating that Google could be kicked out of its space for a smattering of regulatory reason, and according to CNET, that has indeed occurred. Further, although initial reports indicated that the barge was going to move to a port in Stockton, the San Francisco Chronicle found that to be untrue. “There would have to be an agreement negotiated in advance of any vessel arriving at the Port of Stockton and that hasn’t happened,” Stockton port Executive Director Richard Aschieris told the paper. “We have many potential users or representatives of users...
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Google has been building a secretive barge/showroom/interactive/art installation out of what amounts to giant LEGOs in San Francisco Bay for months, but the company has reportedly been told to move it or lose it. The issue at hand is that Google did not acquire the right permits for the work its been doing. Larry Goldzband of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission told the AP that nobody filed any permits for construction at the barge’s location, and the Treasure Island Development Authority, which has leased the space to Google for $79,000 per month, could face fines and other “enforcement proceedings”. Artist rendering (Credit: By and Large LLC via SFGate)...
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Levi Strauss & Co. may have secured naming rights the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium (aka “The Field Of Jeans”) by forking over something on the order of $220 million smackers, but Intel will be inside, as it were. The company announced today that it will be the stadium’s “preferred technology partner”, bringing loads of technological solutions and fan-facing features starting in 2014. Intel will also get naming and branding rights for the Northwest Plaza pedestrian area, which will be renamed “Intel Plaza”. Artist rendering of Intel Plaza (Credit: Intel) Intel solutions will include in-stadium client, server, embedded, and even security technology,...
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As it is now, the mysterious Google-owned barge sitting in San Francisco Bay is decidedly barge-like, which is to say that it’s blocky and ugly, and the presumption is that when the company eventually finishes converting it to a tech showroom to display wares such as Google Glass to high-end clientele, it would be gussied up a bit. That presumption, it appears, falls far short of what Google is actually planning. According to SFGate, documents filed with the Port of San Francisco indicate that Google is going to create an "unprecedented artistic structure" out of the thing, replete with “sails” that sort of look like fins. Judging from an artist rendering that was submitted...
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Google has deep pockets--so deep that the company can drop $600,000 to set up free WiFi hotspots in 31 San Francisco parks, just because. Google will also throw in two year’s worth of maintenance costs, which look to be about $25,000 per year. Before San Francisco accepts Google’s gift, the city has to decide if it’s willing to pay for the annual maintenance; officials are likely more than happy to have the WiFi service, as it’s very much a hot tech city these days and would surely prefer to offer up that level of Internet access at popular places. Mission Dolores Park Reuters says that proposed areas to get the free WiFi include Mission Dolores Park, Alamo Square, Washington...
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In a one-city crusade, San Francisco attempted to pass an ordinance requiring retailers to post warnings to consumers about the potentially dangerous levels of radiation coming from their cell phones. It didn’t get far, as a judge blocked the 2011 ordinance before it could take effect, and now, Reuters reports that the city has backed down from the measure. The city had already lost in court against the CTIA, and the permanent injunction against the ordinance was part of a settlement. The CTIA had posited that such an ordinance would violate its free speech rights and would mislead consumers about an issue that currently doesn’t appear to have consensus among the scientific community....
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