Tag Archives: U.S.

January 9, 2013 · 4:34 AM

Google Rolls Out Biggest Free Wi-Fi Network in New York City

Nyc-chelsea

When Google™ does good things, it’s usually an awesome achievement…also, I ♥ NY!

Mashable

Google, in an expansion of its role as an Internet Service Provider, introduced Tuesday New York City’s biggest contiguous free public Wi-Fi network in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Google’s choice of location for the giant network is no surprise: Chelsea is home to Google’s New York headquarters, meaning employees out at lunch breaks or area meetings will be able to remain productive even while out of the office. The network runs between Gansevoort St. and 19 St. from 8th Ave to the West Side Highway and in area public spaces, including the Chelsea Triangle, 14th Street Park and Gansevoort Plaza.

The secured network will also be used by businesses, residents and students in the area, and it will cover the outdoor areas of the Fulton Houses, a housing project owned by the New York City Housing Authority.

“Google is proud to provide free Wi-Fi in the neighborhood we have called home for over six years,” said Ben Fried, Chief Information Officer for Google, in a statement. “This network will not only be a resource for the two thousand-plus residents of the Fulton Houses, it will also serve the five thousand-plus student population of Chelsea as well as the hundreds of workers, retail customers and tourists who visit our neighborhood every day.”

Jordan Newman, a Google spokesman, told Mashable that the new Wi-Fi network is Google’s way of “giving back to the community that we’ve been in for the past six years or so.” He also pointed out that Google has similar W-iFi networks in Mountain View, Calif., where Google’s main headquarters are located, and also in many neighborhoods with Google data centers.

Newman said the Wi-Fi network was in no way a precursor to a New York City rollout of Google Fiber, Google’s high-speed broadband service recently introduced in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. He told Mashable there are no plans to bring Google Fiber to New York City or to expand Wi-Fi access to other parts of the city.

Despite Google’s presence there, Chelsea is not yet a hotbed of technology startups in New York City. Google’s free Wi-Fi may change that.

Google previously worked with Boingo to provide 200 public hotspots around the city, including in several subway stations — a welcome bit of connectivity in an otherwise largely disconnected public transit system.

Would you use Google Wi-Fi if you were living, working or studying in Chelsea? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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June 14, 2011 · 3:14 PM

Why Facebook lost 6 million U.S. users: 4 theories

This Week

The social networking giant reportedly lost quite a few friends in May. Market saturation, or the beginning of the end?

Facebook may be nearing 700 million users with a $100-billion IPO on the horizon, but all may not be well in Zuckerberg land. According to Inside Facebook, the social networking giant lost nearly 6 million users in the United States in May, along with 1.52 million in Canada and hundreds of thousands in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Russia. The company still managed to add 11.8 million new users worldwide last month, but its growth has been slowing significantly. What’s happening? Here, four theories:

1. Facebook has made as many friends as it can
Mark Zuckerberg and Co. may be “hitting a saturation point in key markets,” especially in the U.S., where roughly 50 percent of the population is already on Facebook, says Kent Bernhard Jr. at Portfolio. If that’s the case, the social network might not be able to reach Zuckerberg’s goal of 1 billion users without conquering China (and its strict online censorship).

2. People are sick of Facebook
“I think users are deleting their accounts because they… are burnt out,” says Lindsay Mannering at The Stir. Even Bill Gates, a Zuckerberg friend and Facebook investor, recently quit the social networking site, saying his friend requests had gotten “out of hand.” I don’t blame him. “Between the feeds and the friends, it’s too much… more of an obligation than a fun way to pass a few minutes.” No wonder people are logging off for good.

3. This is just a temporary dip
“Seasonal changes like college graduations, and other short-term factors, can influence numbers month to month and obscure what’s really happening,” says Eric Eldon at Inside Facebook. These May figures are certainly intriguing, but let’s not overreact. The long-term trends are the ones that really matter.

4. Other social networks are on the rise
It’s “worth noting” that Twitter and LinkedIn are gaining in many of the areas that Facebook saw big losses — namely the U.S. Canada, and the United Kingdom, says Robin Wauters at TechCrunch. But let’s not forget that “on a global level… Facebook is drawing more visitors than ever.”

 

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