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Google will have offices and data centers in 24 states by the end of 2019
Google is still closely associated with California to many people (and to a lesser degree New York), but it's determined to change that reputation. The company is launching a $13 billion expansion in 2019 that will give it a total US footprint of 24 states, including "major expansions" in 14 states. The growth includes its first data center in Nevada, a new office in Georgia, and multi-facility expansions in places like Texas and Virginia. This is on top of known projects like its future New York City campus.
Big Ten Network adds 'League of Legends' to its tournament lineup
The Big Ten Network announced on Thursday that it's adding a less conventional sport to its conference title coverage. Now, in addition to everything from baseball and basketball to football and field hockey, subscribers will be able to see their favorite schools compete against one another in League of Legends. Yeah, the video game.
ICYMI: Holograms for the home and a drone to plant trees
Today on In Case You Missed It: A company has developed a 'personal volumetric display" which is apparently science-sounding for a Princess Leia machine in your very own home. Looking Glass is marketing its Volume machine for $1,000, though so far, they're only available for pre-order.
ICYMI: Fire-starting drone, Stanford bird studies and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-287454{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-287454, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-287454{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-287454").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A prototype for a fire-starting drone was deployed in Nebraska last week, dropping small balls of accelerant to create a controlled burn over grasslands. The idea is that future firefighters could use UAVs like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln model to stop an out of control wildfire with drone-created fire breaks, or for other uses.
Gigabit internet finds a new home in Omaha, Nebraska
When it comes to gigabit internet, the headline buzz usually involves Google and some mid or south western American locale. But not today. No, today, the ridiculously high-speed internet spotlight falls on Omaha, Nebraska where local provider CenturyLink is poised to launch a pilot service. Starting Monday, the telco's Lightspeed Broadband package ($150 a month for standalone service or $80 a month as a bundle) will go live for nearly 10,000 subscribers and continue to rollout to a footprint just shy of 50,000 residential and enterprise subs by October. Further expansion plans for the greater metro area all hinge upon whether CenturyLink can turn a profit on the service, but the company will continue to sign-up enterprise subs outside of this pilot zone for the next two years. The path forward -- at least, to us -- is pretty clear, Omahans: vote with your wallet if you want to preserve the gigabit bragging rights.
Verizon finally introduces iPhone to areas with no AT&T coverage
Up until yesterday, mobile phone customers in vast parts of Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska had no way to get an iPhone. Why? There simply wasn't any AT&T coverage in these areas, so the customers -- who were mostly on Verizon -- had no access to the popular smartphone. The addition of Verizon as a U.S. carrier opened up doors for a lot of potential iPhone owners, and it appears that many formerly iPhone-less Verizon customers are now embracing the Apple mobile phone. According to an AP news report carried in the Huffington Post, many Verizon stores opened early yesterday in flyover country and were greeted by enthusiastic groups of buyers. While crowds weren't huge -- most Verizon store managers chalked that up to the freezing temperatures in most of this part of the country -- the stores reported brisk sales of the iPhone 4 during the day and many expected to run out of stock by the weekend. The AP report cited a 20 year-old woman in Fargo, North Dakota who said her Android-based Verizon phone had been the "next best thing in Fargo." The young woman blew her paycheck on the iPhone and said that she had been waiting "so long" for the iPhone to actually arrive in frigid Fargo. Welcome to the world of iPhone, Fargo!
Coolest librarians EVER in trouble for playing Rock Band
Imagine, if you will, that you have entered a library. Imagine further that a librarian approaches and, upon meeting you, asks, "Would you like to play Rock Band?" Would you think that this librarian was A) the greatest librarian in the history of librarians or B) wasting taxpayer money? If you chose B, you appear to agree with Omaha, Nebraska's Action 3 News, which recently filed a report about a group of local librarians using state funds to purchase Rock Band for its gaming workshops. Worse still, the librarians even had the audacity to film themselves assembling and playing the game -- during work hours -- and then uploaded the results to YouTube.Indeed, the offense was so egregious that Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley launched an investigation into the matter, the results of which will be looked over by a group appointed by Governor Dave Heineman. To think that a library would purchase video games in order to attract more young people -- something many libraries are starting to do -- and then promote it via YouTube, where plenty of young people are likely to see it, boggles the mind. It's practically unconscionable.Check out the incriminating YouTube video after the break (which also includes a little DDR action).
DISH Network expands MPEG-4 delivery, adds HD locals in six markets
Just a few short days after DISH Network transitioned 11 of its East Coast markets to MPEG-4, in comes word that it has added 21 more (all classified as "East Coast") to bump the grand total to 52 regions. In somewhat related news, we've also learned that six more DMAs can look forward to HD locals today. In no particular order, we've got Columbia-Jefferson City, Missouri; Des Moines-Ames, Iowa; Lincoln and Hastings-Kearney, Nebraska; Omaha, Nebraska; Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk, Illinois; and Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas joining the fray. The half dozen new additions means that DISH now serves up HD locals in 76 markets across the US, and it hopefully also means that the next wave isn't too far behind.Read - DISH Network MPEG-4 expansionRead - DISH Network HD locals expansion
DirecTV launches HD locals in Rochester, NY and Lincoln, NE
No surprises here, but we figured you'd be interested in knowing that DirecTV is indeed keeping its promise of rolling out HD locals in a few new markets this summer. According to an attentive local in Rochester, New York, high-def locals have been fired up in his area, and according to official verbiage from the satcaster, Lincoln, NE can say the same. With 44 DMAs on tap, we suspect this will be the first two in a long, long list that will unfold as the months progress.[Thanks, Jim]
Nebraska Cornhusker baseball seeing lots of HD this season
For fans of Big Red and baseball alike, get ready for quite the baseball season -- from the comfort of your couch. Reportedly, a minimum of eight Cornhusker baseball games will be televised this year, with the vast majority in HD. The team's first TV appearance will be a showing on FSN on March 29th, while five others will be carried across the state on NET-1 and NET-HD (Nebraska Educational Television). Nationally, supporters of the team can catch their April 8th tilt with Iowa on the Big Ten Network, and we wouldn't be surprised to see more games added in the future.[Image courtesy of CollegePublisher]
DirecTV beams HD locals to Omaha, Nebraska
Just a week after DirecTV enabled subscribers in Cedar Rapids / Waterloo, IA, Wichita, KS and Louisville, KY to celebrate by gifting them with HD locals, the satellite provider is now showing its love for Omaha, Nebraska. Effective immediately, customers in the The Cornhusker State can now check out KETV / ABC, KMTV / CBS, KPTM / FOX, WOWT / NBC and KXVO / The CW in beautiful high-definition. For those keeping count, the addition of Omaha brings the grand total of cities that DTV is blanketing with HD locals to 77, and just as soon as this whole D11 launch is completed, we fully expect that number to increase substantially.
Time Warner Cable adds A&E HD, History Channel HD in Nebraska
For those who call Nebraska home, Time Warner Cable (partly owned by Time Warner, parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget) is giving you two more reasons to stay on the couch this New Year's Day. Reportedly, the operator has added A&E HD and History Channel HD to its digital lineup, but we've no idea if any others are slated to follow suit. Anyone else notice the newcomers? If so, drop your location in comments.[Thanks, Cody H.]
RIAA lists top 25 universities handing out piracy notices
The "good guys" have tried to tempt college kids with free legal music for far too long to no avail, and after continuous failed attempts at gaining traction here in the US, it's no surprise that the RIAA would devote precious man-hours to concocting a most-wanted list of pirating schools. It should be noted that the top 25 is based on the amount of warnings sent out from the university to its students, and some schools may be omitted simply due to a lack of response on the administration's end. Nevertheless, it's reported that over three times as many infringement notices have been sent out during the 2006 - 2007 school year versus the year prior, but the RIAA did attribute some of that boost to its heightened awareness and tracking capabilities. Interestingly enough, the top spot holder doesn't seem to be overly concerned about its position, as Purdue feels the "service provider" shouldn't be the one lashing out at "criminals," essentially brushing that RIAA grief right off its shoulder. Still, we all know what you're here for, and that's to see if your alma mater made the dubious cut (full list after the jump), and while some here at Engadget can proudly proclaim to be in the top ten (ahem), drop us a comment and let us know where you stand.[Via TWW]
