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Cupertino Planning Commission approves Apple's 'spaceship' campus
The countdown has started and the new Apple "spaceship" campus in Cupertino, Calif., is one step closer to launch. Last night, the Cupertino Planning Commission approved Apple's plans for the campus. Tuesday evening, the company provided a slick video presentation to the commission and the public featuring lead architect Norman Foster and others who have had leading roles in the design of the circular structure. On October 15, the Cupertino city council will put the new campus to a vote, with a final vote expected on November 19. The project has grown in scope since first being announced by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2011, growing from initially housing 6,000 employees to the current 14,000 employees. The campus is expected to cost close to US$5 billion at completion, much of that going into premium construction materials including six square kilometers of curved glass, stone-infused floors and ceilings made of polished concrete. [via MacRumors]
Clearwire's San Francisco WiMAX launch was a bureaucratic nightmare
It seems awfully odd that San Francisco -- you know, San Francisco, part of America's technology nexus -- had been left out in the 4G cold for so long while over 70 other networks have been brought live in Clearwire's WiMAX footprint. Well, turns out there's a good reason... or maybe not a "good" reason, but a reason nonetheless: the city's notoriously brutal cell antenna approval process had ensnared Clearwire's efforts, leaving both Clear and Sprint customers out in the cold. The company apparently successfully navigated eight months' worth of approvals in and around SF's Planning Commission before getting slapped with an appeal over concerns that an earthquake could dislodge the antennas and blast residents with excessive levels of radiation; of course, it seems like it'd be a simple matter for technicians to go out and fix anything knocked loose after a tremblor, but what do we know? Regardless, looks like this is all behind us -- but it certainly serves as a sobering warning to all future networks that dare launch in and around the bay. [Thanks, Serge]
