Two of America’s biggest metro areas — Los Angeles and Chicago — are now on the list of potential Google Fiber sites. It seems like Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is serious about becoming a major ISP and TV provider in the US market.
Six million additional people could have access to Google’s gigabit Internet service, over which users can download a gigabyte of information in under 10 seconds. Google announced the potential expansion in a blog post that largely says city leaders need to make the next move.
“While we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to bring Fiber to Chicago and L.A., this is a big step for these cities and their leaders,” says the blog post. The post offers a link to a PDF checklist of requirements that municipalities have to meet. The list includes everything from construction, access to telephone poles, to using city-owned land for the “huts” that house communications equipment.
The message is clear. If city leaders want to bring Google Fiber to town, it’s on them to meet Google’s requirements.
“From Venice Beach to Wrigley Field, we’ll study the different factors that would affect construction — like city infrastructure and topography — and use that information to help us prepare to build a local fiber network,” says the announcement.
Google Fiber famously launched in Kansas City, and has since expanded to Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah. Six other cities have been officially confirmed to receive the service, and before today’s announcement either other cities were “potential” sites.
Some sites, such as Portland, Oregon, have been potential sites for a few years already. So residents of LA and Chicago shouldn’t expect to switch their ISPs anytime soon. Even if Google eventually commits to the cities, it could be years before the trucks get rolling. But for anyone in either metropolitan area frustrated with their current ISP, Fiber bringing some potential competition is great news.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.