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Google will pay Louisville $4 million to repair roads after Fiber exit
Google Fiber service ended in Louisville this week following a number of issues, including exposed cables. As it departs, Google is paying the city $3.84 million over 20 months to cover the costs of removing cables and sealant from roads; milling and paving where needed; and removing above-ground infrastructure. Google is also making a $150,000 donation to the Community Foundation of Louisville, which supports digital inclusion efforts such as refurbishing old computers for low-income individuals.
Google Fiber to shut down in Louisville after ongoing service issues
Sixteen months after it switched on its Fiber network in Louisville, Google is ending its high-speed internet service there. It tried a different method of installing its Fiber infrastructure in the Kentucky city by placing its underground cables closer to the surface than it has elsewhere. But Google faced a number of problems, such as exposed cables and service issues.
Louisville wants a fleet of drones to survey areas after shootings
Earlier this week, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky told reporters that he wants the city to field a fleet of drones that automatically survey areas after guns are fired. The city would detect firearm discharges using its existing ShotSpotter system, WDRB reported, and immediately send the UAVs to the scene, potentially before emergency responders are even called. But this isn't coming out of nowhere: Louisville could just be the first of over 300 cities that have applied to a federal program that provides funding for local governments that are trying to start their own drone programs.
Google Fiber won’t offer TV in San Antonio and Louisville
It's no secret that Google Fiber is struggling. Its CEO George McCray stepped down in July, only five months into his term, and parent company Alphabet has yet to announce a replacement. On top of that, Fiber's rollout hasn't gone as planned, with the company reportedly running up the budget and having to compromise on the products it offers consumers. And things don't seem to be getting much better. Google Fiber has now revealed that when it launches in Louisville, Kentucky and San Antonio, Texas, it will only focus on providing high-speed internet and not a TV add-on.
Louisville turns your smart lights red when air quality suffers
Citizens of Louisville, Kentucky just got a way to make their smart homes even smarter, thanks to IFTTT and the local city government. According to an announcement from Mayor Greg Fischer, the city has launched its own IFTTT channel that can tie public air quality data directly to smart home devices and other connected gadgets. With the city's home-baked applets, residents can get push notifications for days when the air quality reaches a certain level or, if it gets particularly bad, the air quality can actually be displayed in the colors of a Philips Hue connected lightbulb.
Inside UPS' Worldport: How a shipping titan moves 2,000 packages every 17 seconds
Online shopping seems like a straightforward process: hunt down the perfect item, trudge through the checkout pipeline and await a package's inevitable arrival. The trip between a warehouse and your doorstep, however, involves meticulous organization on a massive scale. In order to pull off such a feat, United Parcel Service (UPS) relies on Worldport in Louisville, Ky.: a 5.2 million-square-foot processing facility that's capable of sorting up to 416,000 packages an hour. Within Worldport, 70 aircraft docks and 155 miles of conveyor belts await the arrival of packages from over 220 countries and territories. So, what happens when UPS gets ahold of those parcels destined for air delivery? The folks clad in brown took us inside their largest sorting hub to find out.
Verizon's next big LTE push coming July 21st
You can't stop Verizon's nationwide LTE push -- and even hoping to contain it seems like a bit much to ask these days. The company made its last major 4G service rollout just under a week ago, and now it's looking to do the same next month, adding a slew of new markets to its coverage umbrella and expanding in a few existing locales on July 21st. New markets include Portland, OR, Toledo, OH, Winston-Salem and Raleigh-Durham, NC, Maui, HI, Wichita, KS, and Knoxville, TN, to name a few. Coverage will be expanded in Seattle, Louisville, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. The full list of high-speed recipients can be found in the link below.
Paralyzed man can stand and walk again, thanks to spinal implant
Here's an amazing story to end your week on a high note: a 25-year-old paraplegic is now walking again, thanks to a groundbreaking procedure developed by neuroscientists at the University of Louisville, UCLA and Cal Tech. The Oregon man, Rob Summers, was paralyzed below the chest in 2006, after getting hit by a speeding car. This week, however, doctors announced that Summers can now stand up on his own and remain standing for up to four minutes. With the help of a special harness, he can even take steps on a treadmill and can move his lower extremities for the first time in years. It was all made possible by a spinal implant that emits small pulses of electricity, designed to replicate signals that the brain usually sends to coordinate movement. Prior to receiving the implant in 2009, Summers underwent two years of training on a treadmill, with a harness supporting his weight and researchers moving his legs. This week's breakthrough comes after 30 years of research, though scientists acknowledge that this brand of epidural stimulation still needs to be tested on a broader sample of subjects before any definitive conclusions can be drawn. Summers, meanwhile, seems understandably elated. "This procedure has completely changed my life," the former baseball player said. "To be able to pick up my foot and step down again was unbelievable, but beyond all of that my sense of well-being has changed." We can only imagine.
DISH Network adds HD locals in Louisville, Kentucky
Residents of Louisville, Kentucky have been begging and pleading for HD locals for what seems like ages now, and at long last the yelling and hollering can subside. As of now, residents of the city with DISH Network can receive three of their local broadcast stations in high-def: WHAS-TV (5170), WLKY-TV (5171) and WAVE-TV (5172). As expected, they're being delivered via MPEG-4, so you'll need a receiver compatible with that format in order to tune in.
Insight comes clean with 33 HD channels for Louisville market
Back in October, we heard that Insight Communications was fixing to carry 56 high-definition channels by early next month in the Kentucky region. Now, we're being treated to a delicious dash of confirmation. The Courier-Journal is reporting that 33 new HD channels will be added in and around Louisville, KY by December 18th as part of an upgrade program dubbed Digital 4.0. Wondering about what will be added? Try HD versions of A&E, AMC, The History Channel, USA, SciFi, Bravo, Sundance, National Geographic, FX, ESPNews, ESPNU, Disney, ABC Family and The Weather Channel -- and that's not counting the ten new HD on-demand options. Unfortunately, all this HD love won't be arriving as a gift for all, as fees for new subscribers to Insight's digital packages will be boosted around $2 to $3 per month. Ah well, at least you folks are getting something from your increase.
Insight testing 100Mbps high-speed internet in Kentucky
Details are exceptionally vague at the moment, but Insight Communications is currently testing an internet service capable of hitting (theoretical) download speeds as high as 100Mbps. Not that we haven't seen similar services offered from fiber providers or anything, but generally speaking, 50Mbps is the high-end of what DOCSIS 3.0 provides. Then again, the article never specifically mentions said protocol, so we're left to wonder exactly what's going on and when it'll expand from this so-called "trial" stage. Can you tell we're tense with anticipation?[Via DSLReports]
NBC affiliate brings local HD news to Louisville, KY
No longer will Louisville residents have to sit around and wonder when their local news will finally be in HD, as NBC affiliate WAVE-TV has just made the long-awaited transition. This station becomes the first in the city to deliver local newscasts in high-definition, and we're told that three HD cameras will be used in the studio in order to capture anchors in stunning detail. Unfortunately, WAVE won't be replacing the field cameras just yet, so live-on-location reports will still be seen in grainy SD. Oh, and these folks also brought in a makeup consultant in order to handle the whole "now you can see my wrinkles" situation. Sigh.
Not one but three new Apple stores
Apple is heading out on a store-opening spree in the next few days (hopefully populated with brand new iPods). If you're in Louisville, San Jose, or Boston, here's three new places you can hang out with Geniuses and play with the iPhone. As Dave noted yesterday, the store at Oxmoor in Louisville, KY has a grand opening scheduled on Thursday at 6pm. Los Gatos, CA, just south of San Jose, is cutting the ribbon at that same time. And the store at the Natick Collection in Natick, MA (which our readers have actually voiced a need for-- Apple is listening!) opens Friday morning at 10 am. Remember that dude who's going around to visit every Starbucks? I'd bet visiting every Apple Store would be a much more fun (albeit more expensive) trip. How come no one's done that yet?Thanks to everyone who sent these in!
Louisville, KY Apple Store opens this weekend
Kentucky's very first Apple Store will open on Thursday, September 6th - Not Saturday the 8th, as previously reported. Kind of makes you even more eager for Wednesday's announcement, doesn't it?The store is located at 7900 Shelbyville Road in Louisville, on the lower level near Macy's. You can get full travel directions here.As usual, the first 1,000 visitors will receive commemorative T-shirts and a special opening day giveaway will feature very nice prizes. If you visit the store on opening weekend, please send us your stories and photos.Thanks, pseudoSAMpson!Update: While the Oxmoor store's map page lists Sept. 8th as the opening date, the main page lists Sept. 6th. If anyone working at the Shelbyville Rd. mall can confirm the proper date for us, we'd appreciate it.
Date set for Kentucky Apple Store
A couple of months ago, TUAW operative Kelly noticed listings for Apple retail positions in her home state of Kentucky. Then, reader Chris sent in this spyshot of the barricade in front of the future store.Today, the Courier-Journal.com has announced an opening date for this store: September 8th. This will be Kentucky's very first Apple Store, so expect long lines and excited shoppers. You'll find it on Shelbyville Road near Mall St. Matthews and Oxmoor Center.If you attend this opening, let us know! It should be fun.[Via ifoAppleStore]
WoW Insider interviews WSVG President Matthew Ringel
This Sunday afternoon, July 29th, the WSVG is coming to network television. Starting at noon, CBS is showing an hourlong special of WSVG events, including their recent tournament in Louisville, as well as other events in this, their second season, leading up to the December finals in Sweden.WoW Insider got to chat with WSVG President and Commissioner Matthew Ringel about how he's trying to turn videogames into a spectator sport, what the real standard for Arena combat is, and how you can explain a fight between six people with different specs and different classes to an audience who's never seen this game before. No easy task, to be sure. The entire exclusive interview starts right after the jump.
Spyshot: Louisville, KY Apple Store
Back in March, TUAW operative Kelly made us aware of what would become Kentucky's very first Apple Store. While browsing Apple's jobs boards, she found several postings for retail positions at Louisville's Oxmoor mall.Today, reader Chris sent in this spy shot of the subtle barricade that's in front of the store. No hints there.We still don't have any information on when this store may open, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out. Get ready, Louisville, you're closer every day!Thanks, Chris!
Curse interviews HUKs, WSVG kicks off in Louisville
Just in time for the WSVG's kickoff of the Louisville event this weekend, Curse has a video interview up with THE HUKHUKHUKHUKHUKS of Flow Gaming, the US Regional 5v5 Champions. The interview itself isn't really that gripping unless you really follow this arena tournament stuff (I like that they do fit in at least one sports interview cliche: "I feel really good about our win today"). There one complaint about the way WSVG handles gear-- apparently, they give everyone standard gear to make sure things are balanced, but HUK's Shaman says that he gets resilience gear rather than the stamina and crit that he usually uses.Unfortunately Curse doesn't ask about the disqualifications that happened recently (when players were found to be using each other's accounts, against the ToU), but they do ask about another problem I have with WSVG, and that is commentating the matches for spectators. As the players say, "they don't even have a good system to really view the matches as they're happening." So there's a nice goal for some would-be entertainment mogul: figure out a way to make watching players play videogames both understandable and interesting.Meanwhile, the WSVG is in Louisville, and their sparse schedule says they've got WoW on the menu for all four days. If you can't make it down there, Curse will have streaming video all weekend (if you can get it to work-- I couldn't) right here.
Kentucky engineers build a 27 foot x 15 foot seamless display
Are you ready to finally assemble your home theater? You've got all the elements picked out: the screen, the sound system -- and a big projector. Well, if you really want the most awesome projector out there, you may want to head on down to Kentucky, where two university engineers, Christopher Jaynes and Stephen Webb have just built a 27 foot x 15 foot projected seamless display that shows 60 million pixels. As The Courier-Journal reported: "Building such a high-resolution display would normally cost millions of dollars, but Jaynes and Webb crafted the device from $100,000 in computers and projectors available at Best Buy and Circuit City." The alleged "world's highest resolution seamless display" is currently on public exhibition at the Galt House Conservatory in Louisville, Kentucky through Saturday (it's free, so bring the kids), where there will be a rotating collection of images. These will include photographs from inside the space shuttle cockpit (you'll be able to read the instruments), to snaps from the Hubble Space Telescope, to even extremely high-resolution imagery from the National Weather Service. Jaynes and Webb will also be on hand taking questions from visitors, so if you want to proposition them to see if they can incorporate one of these screens into your home -- just remember to bring as much cash as you can carry.[Thanks, Travis F., photo courtesy The Courier-Journal]
