Google Fiber Draws Startups To Kansas City 123
Google's super fast internet has turned Kansas City into an unlikely incubator for startups and tech entrepreneurs. One small neighborhood where a group is working on their ideas has been dubbed, the "Silicon Prairie." From the article: "The advantage here for startups is simple: A fast Internet pipe makes it easier to handle large files and eliminates buffering problems that plague online video, live conferencing or other network-intensive tasks. Though the Kansas City location presents challenges for startups, including the ability to raise money outside the traditional Silicon Valley venture capital scene, entrepreneurs like Synthia Payne believe it's the place to be right now for up-and-coming tech companies. Payne is one of those entrepreneurs hoping to launch her startup dream — an Internet subscription service for musicians who want to collaborate online — on the cheap. She shares the State Line Road house, known as the 'Home for Hackers,' with other startups under a deal that allows them to live rent-free while they develop their business plans."
Re:One hacker space - that's all (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:That's the whole point (Score:5, Insightful)
The days of gouging the US public for Internet connectivity may soon be coming to an end.
Not as long as internet connectivity is in the hands of monopolies they won't. Monopolies don't give a toss about what the public demands.
Re:That's the whole point (Score:5, Insightful)
By making an example of Kansas City ...
Per story submission...
an unlikely incubator for startups and tech entrepreneurs
Why is Kansas City an "unlikely incubator?" Because it's fucking Kansas City (no offense intended). Putting Google Fiber there will not change that. Look, I have been to KC, and enjoyed the hip downtown district thoroughly, etc. - but putting Google Fiber in any given town is not going to make it a good place to put technology businesses! Or has everyone magically forgotten Missouri's attitude towards teaching evolution in schools [huffingtonpost.com] just because Google bought some fiber there?
There are lots and lots of other places that have fast, cheap fiber. Slashdotters love to talk about how they have 50 Gbps Internet for $5/month in Sweden or free cloud-based dick-sucking anime robots in Korea or whatever. Yeah, we all get how much broadband access in the US sucks.
And yet... none of these magical places have somehow displaced the US and its terrible, awful, no-good Internet as the center of the tech world. Silicon Valley is still what it is due to the physical proximity of employers and investors. I love what Google Fiber is doing, but it isn't going to make anywhere else the new Silicon Valley, any more than all the other places in the world with cheaper Internet displaced that region before... which is to say "none."
Google FIber is not going to magically make anywhere a Mecca for technology. What really makes a place a tech center is a.) the tech companies that are already there are form an ecosystem; b.) the universities or other talent pools to draw from; c.) the local state or country's tax policies for residents/companies + immigration/visa policies for new entrants; and d.) the quality of the cultural, educational and political environment to attract new employees and their families to the area. Sadly, Kansas City does not excel on all four, whether cheap fiber is there or not. And if Google Fiber comes to your hometown of East Dead Cow Skull Texas, it doesn't mean that you will be able to attract tech companies either - sorry but it's the truth.
Why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why do you need fiber to start your company?
You're very unlikely to be allowed to run servers off of it and when has the biggest obstacle to a startup been "dang, i have to wait 5 seconds instead of 1 to download this massive thing"?
Re:That's the whole point (Score:2, Insightful)
By making an example of Kansas City ...
Per story submission...
an unlikely incubator for startups and tech entrepreneurs
Why is Kansas City an "unlikely incubator?" Because it's fucking Kansas City (no offense intended). Putting Google Fiber there will not change that. Look, I have been to KC, and enjoyed the hip downtown district thoroughly, etc. - but putting Google Fiber in any given town is not going to make it a good place to put technology businesses! Or has everyone magically forgotten Missouri's attitude towards teaching evolution in schools [huffingtonpost.com] just because Google bought some fiber there?
There are lots and lots of other places that have fast, cheap fiber. Slashdotters love to talk about how they have 50 Gbps Internet for $5/month in Sweden or free cloud-based dick-sucking anime robots in Korea or whatever. Yeah, we all get how much broadband access in the US sucks.
And yet... none of these magical places have somehow displaced the US and its terrible, awful, no-good Internet as the center of the tech world. Silicon Valley is still what it is due to the physical proximity of employers and investors. I love what Google Fiber is doing, but it isn't going to make anywhere else the new Silicon Valley, any more than all the other places in the world with cheaper Internet displaced that region before... which is to say "none."
Google FIber is not going to magically make anywhere a Mecca for technology. What really makes a place a tech center is a.) the tech companies that are already there are form an ecosystem; b.) the universities or other talent pools to draw from; c.) the local state or country's tax policies for residents/companies + immigration/visa policies for new entrants; and d.) the quality of the cultural, educational and political environment to attract new employees and their families to the area. Sadly, Kansas City does not excel on all four, whether cheap fiber is there or not. And if Google Fiber comes to your hometown of East Dead Cow Skull Texas, it doesn't mean that you will be able to attract tech companies either - sorry but it's the truth.
Since when was "physical proximity" an issue when obtaining VC funding? What, do you think they still deliver the money by horse-drawn carriage? I suppose we'll have to wait weeks to get overseas talent, as they only travel by fucking sailboat.
A "tech center" can be built with a damn forum online. And I've probably gathered more good information that way in the last 5 years than I have in the previous 30.
We (as in the US) perhaps remain the center of the tech world regardless of our shitty internet speeds due to the talent that is driving that, not the technology itself. Perhaps pull your head out of the 90s and realize that the only way we're going to stand a chance of growing is through innovation in all aspects of the game. If the Internet has proven anything, it is that location should not mean jack shit anymore. And there's always Kickstarter if you find investors with their head stuck in the 90s too.
Re:That's the whole point (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole point of this exercise, from Google's point of view, was to intimidate the monopolies into providing real connectivity. They don't want to be in the ISP business, but they also aren't going to sit idly by when those monopolies choke progress with high prices and poor bandwidth.
Re:That's the whole point (Score:4, Insightful)
The whole point of this exercise, from Google's point of view, was to intimidate the monopolies into providing real connectivity. They don't want to be in the ISP business, but they also aren't going to sit idly by when those monopolies choke progress with high prices and poor bandwidth.
I don't believe there is any business Google doesn't want to be in.
And as much as I'd like to believe that Google will save us all from shitty ISPs, I think it will turn out much like it usually does when Google supplants an existing product/service. They bring a bizzare form of destruction that kills the competition but also radically changes consumer expectations of that type of service: i.e. they make everyone think X should be free or ultra cheap. See GMail, see Google Apps, see Google Voice, Books, Maps, etc.
Pretty much every product they put out makes it harder to convince people that type of prouct is worth paying for. Why pay dollars when you can just pay in privacy and screen-clutter? Google as an ISP is only going to convince people that a) bandwidth is limitless and b) It should cost next to nothing. Pray they don't alter that deal because there isn't anyone to supplant them.
Re:That's the whole point (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:One hacker space - that's all (Score:4, Insightful)
If I'm concerned about the data, I either encrypt it before transmitting or encrypt the pipe, both things you SHOULD BE DOING ANYWAY, regardless of who owns the last mile that happens to connect to your house/business.
Yeah, it still might not stop the NSA, but Google is NOT the NSA.
Re:That's the whole point (Score:1, Insightful)
Since the ISP market is geographically restricted, so an ISP in one location can't compete with an ISP in another location across the country. Therefore, you can say that each ISP is a geographically limited monopoly, so you have multiple monopolies.