2014年8月30日 星期六

Google Drones Lift Industry Hopes

Google Drones Lift Industry Hopes

Internet Giant's Entry Brings Financial and Lobbying Clout to Fledging Field

Google's advanced-research lab said it is developing a system of drones to deliver goods with its Project Wing prototype. Photo: Google
When Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.29% CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled a plan in Decemberto deliver packages by drones, it was widely viewed as a public-relations stunt during the holiday shopping season. Less than nine months later, Google Inc.GOOGL +0.35% 's similar drone initiative is landing in a different climate.
The changed atmosphere reflects Google's financial and lobbying heft, which should help overcome technical and regulatory obstacles. But it also reflects growing confidence in technology until now more often associated with missiles than packages, and surging interest in potential uses.
Since June, the Federal Aviation Administration has fielded 31 requests to fly drones commercially, from companies involved in agriculture, pipeline inspection, aerial surveying and movie production. BP BP.LN -0.15% PLC won clearance in June to operate drones in Alaska. Walt Disney Co. DIS -0.39% has applied for three drone patents. And dozens of others are flying the devices commercially without permission.
"I'm thrilled to see big companies like Google get into the game precisely because they can help effect policy change," said Russ Tedrake, a robotics expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "People have had time to get more comfortable with the idea since the Amazon announcement. Many of us think it's almost inevitable at this point."...
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Google Tests Drones; Not Welcome in the U.S.?

2014年8月28日 星期四

Google To Open Campus For Startups In Seoul

Google To Open Campus For Startups In Seoul
Called a Campus, it will include co-working spaces, programs like Campus for Moms, CampusEDU, and office hours with Googleemployees.
Google今天宣布,明年上半年將在南韓首爾成立全球第3個新創園區(Campus),支持新興科技公司發展。2012年3月Google在倫敦成立第1個新創園區,同年12月在以色列的特拉維夫開設第2個。
 
Google在新聞稿中表示,作為在東亞建立的第1個新創園區,大小將與倫敦園區相當,成立主要目標與倫敦及特拉維夫一樣,希望能建立一個充滿活力的創業社區。

Google指出,倫敦園區光在第1年就提供許多新創計畫給7萬名參與者,增加247家新創公司並帶來3400萬英鎊(16.87億台幣)的投資。
 
雖然確切日期尚未確定,不過新園區預期2015年上半年會在首爾市中心的江南區正式開幕。(陳冠穎/綜合外電報導)

2014年8月27日 星期三

演算法主宰世界?


【蛤?臉書演算法統治世界,看完後我沒有驚呆】
前兩天,我在「懶人時報」轉貼一則關於臉書演算法的文章(http://goo.gl/MC9Mnl ),原本以為會很冷門,結果觸及人數超過十萬人,雖然,還不到「看完我驚呆了」的地步,但這確實是值得討論的題目。
(揭露:敝小報每則訊息接觸人數平均在四千到八千之間,最高紀錄約三十萬人。)
該篇文章始自Wired網站編輯的一個實驗,他在塗鴉牆每則動態訊息上都按讚,以下引述內文( http://goo.gl/GA3swD ):
僅僅一個小時之後,他發現他的臉書上的動態已經「煥然一新」。他的臉書上再也沒有朋友、或是朋友的朋友的訊息出現。有的內容只剩下品牌推廣以及廣告訊息,再來就是一些新聞或是貼圖網站的訊息。當天晚上他睡前看自己的臉書動態,這種情況只變得更多,沒有朋友的訊息,都是新聞網站的消息。
在臨睡前,他又想到,自己該對一些加薩戰爭的消息按讚,於是他點了一條內容是支持以色列的新聞。
第二天早上醒來,他發現自己的臉書內容成為極右派。現在他的臉書跑出了第二修正案、反移民法案的相關訊息。當然,他又持續對這些消息點讚。
Mat從這個小實驗中注意到,過去我們說媒體的「守門人」理論,媒體會決定大眾看到什麼東西,影響大眾的想法。但是現在守門人轉移到社群網站上,而社群的守門人機制就是這些演算法機器人。
你對一個訊息按了讚,這個機制會給你更多同樣觀點的文章,進而強化你原本的立場。也許你按第一個讚的時候,對一件事情還只是半信半疑,但是當後面四個、八個、十六個更多相關的文章出現後,你就成為堅貞的信徒。
====================
臉書以演算法控制塗鴉牆訊息,此事並非新聞,例如,最近臉書官方宣布,將拿「標題黨」開刀,也會調低「以圖片夾帶連結」的曝光機率( http://goo.gl/jONvNC ),這對於內容農場及媒體社群「小編」,會是另一波考驗。
演算法如何影響我們的訊息內容?華盛頓郵報記者Gail Sullivan上週寫了一篇文章( http://goo.gl/0LMRlh ),她舉例指出,當許多人的Twitter帳號上,大量出現「佛格森衝突」的新聞與照片,他們的臉書卻只有「冰桶挑戰」的訊息。
Gail Sullivan的報導分析,Twitter的時間軸排序,較少介入濾除朋友的訊息,臉書則大量以關聯性、偏好度、互動程度等變數,大幅操縱塗鴉牆的曝光訊息,換言之,比較熱門、比較討好、比較能吸引按讚或留言或分享的訊息,將更容易曝光在更多人的塗鴉牆上。反之,相對冷門或具爭議性的內容,即使或許更重要,會被臉書演算法自動濾除。
文章結論是,這種「演算法審查」,是一種人權議題。
(關於「佛格森衝突」,台灣媒體的著墨也不多,推薦卞中佩此文:http://goo.gl/AVZ1Uu )
====================
然而,臉書以關聯性為演算排序的邏輯,並非一無是處,例如,當我點完Wired編輯實驗那篇文章,下方自動推薦Eli Pariser三年前的TED演講( http://goo.gl/oZLznB ),Eli Pariser是網路運動組織MoveOn的主要推手,他當時就提醒大家,臉書及Google的演算法,極可能造成資訊偏食,我們最後只在自己的小泡泡裡吸收訊息,他甚至寫了一本書「過濾泡泡」。
Eli Pariser極力鼓吹,臉書及Google的演算法不應只顧及個人偏好、人脈連結與關聯性計算,而應加入公民意識、社會責任與挑戰性觀點,強烈推薦這則演講影片,但中譯有些錯誤,最好搭配英聽(笑)。
====================
更有意思的是,那場演講的隔年三月,Eli Pariser與友人創辦了熱門網站Upworthy,該站算是近年「標題黨」的祖師爺,專門搜尋網路上的影音或文章,加上標題、摘要或引言,經由社群媒體傳布。
該站強調「透過議題包裝與病毒傳播,傳遞真正有意義的訊息」,因此,網站主要類目包括社區、性別、槍支與犯罪、移民、LGBT等等,似乎希望彌補社群網站演算法「有利於貓狗或小孩照片」的缺失,而初期投資者,就包括臉書創站合夥人之一Chris Hughes。
====================
關於演算法的技術類型,這裡有篇「統治世界的 10 大演算法」(http://goo.gl/0oDHIh ),坦白說,我只能讀懂十分之一。
不過,最近有本淺顯易讀的中譯書《演算法統治世界》(http://goo.gl/7bHxuk ),深入淺出告訴我們,除了搜尋引擎與社群網站,演算法如何深入影響我們的生活,包括股市期貨交易、新聞稿寫作、推薦餐酒、下棋或撲克牌博弈、電影票房預測,甚至能拿來編寫交響曲或歌劇。
(附註:本來還想寫「對抗臉書演算法的五大方法」,例如善用Twitter與G+,不過此文已經太長,請容日後再補。)

Google Images Hacked? China targets own operating system to take on likes of Microsoft, Google



Times of India
China targets own operating system to take on likes of Microsoft, Google
SHANGHAI: China could have a new homegrown operating system by October to take on imported rivals such as Microsoft, Google and Apple, Xinhua ...

谷歌搜索出現問題 被疑遭黑客攻擊
周二早間,一個軟件漏洞令谷歌部分搜索功能中斷了約八小時,搜索結果顯示的似乎是俄羅斯一起車禍的圖片,此事引發外界猜測谷歌遭到了網絡攻擊。
谷歌收購視頻及特效初創公司Zync








Wall Street Journal

Google Images Hacked? Searches Bring Up Images of Russian Car Accident
TIME
People searching Google Images Tuesday morning are noticing an apparent glitch in the system. Innocuous searches are resulting in repeated ...
Google image search glitch shows one car crash, over and over again - Washington Post (blog)
Google Images Has Been Hacked - MTL Blog (blog)
Are Google image results broken for you? You're not alone - ZDNet
Full Coverage
Reuters

Google buys Zync for large scale cloud rendering
PCWorld
To beef up its cloud platform with more specialized packages,Google is acquiring Zync for its large scale rendering service for movie special effects, ...
Google Acquires Zync To Bring Visual Effects Rendering To Its Cloud Platform - TechCrunch
Google Buys Visual Effects Firm Zync - Variety
Full Coverage
Flag as irrelevant



Android Central

Google Chrome 64-bit arrives for Windows 7 and Windows 8
The Next Web
Along with the 32-bit release of Chrome 37, Google today released the 64-bit version of Chrome for Windows 7 and Windows 8 in the stable channel.

7 Things You Need to Know About Google Calico
Huffington Post
Not immortality per se (though, it is Google after all, so I'm not going to rule it out) but a more broad spectrum approach to looking at all aspects of ...










2014年8月26日 星期二

Google's fact-checking bots build vast knowledge bank



自動化取代人力,Google 建全球最大知識庫

作者  | 發布日期 2014 年 08 月 26 日 分類 Google , 網路
14082601-01
搜尋引擎巨人 Google 正建立一個自動化的知識庫(Knowledge Vault),透過演算法自動爬梳網路上的資訊,並利用機器學習將資訊整合成知識,兼具廣度與精度,讓電腦與智慧型手機了解人類的提問,未來有望改進 Google 回答問題的方式,從原本列出一連串的搜尋結果,進化到一目了然的答案。
Knowledge Vault 的前身是 2012 年 Google 所發表的「知識圖表」(Knowledge Graph),一個將資訊結構化的資料庫,透過群眾外包的力量擴大訊息量,內容取自維基百科、CIA 的世界概觀(World Factboo)與協作知識庫 Freebase,內容包羅萬象,有名人、事件等,總共彙整了 5 億個條目及 35 億種事實描述。但最終 Google 發現人的力量還是有限,知識量的擴增出現停滯,於是 Google 改弦易轍,決定以自動搜集的過程取代人力。
到目前為止,Knowledge Vault 已建置了 16 億種事實描述,其中 2.71 億被評比為可信賴的事實,Google 將新事實與已掌握的知識進行交叉比對,發現準確性達 90%。雖然目前 Knowledge Vault 的知識量還未達到知識圖表的水準,但它能自動擴充增加知識,超越的時間指日可待,很快的將成為全球最豐富的知識資料庫。
Google 除了能從網頁上分析文本找尋事實,來餵養它的資料庫,也能抓到一般檯面上看不到的資料,例如 Amazon 的產品銷售數據,或瀏覽某項產品的人數等。Garntner 的技術分析師奧斯丁(Tom Austin)表示,幾家世界上最大的科技公司如 Google、微軟、Facebook、Amazon 和 IBM 等,都在打造類似的知識庫,並處理極為龐大複雜的問題。他表示:當機器能掌握全人類的知識,它的智力將遠遠超過現有的語音助理軟體,在不久的將來,我們會看到能判斷優先順序的電子信箱問世,它能夠找到最重要的 10 封郵件,然後在不用人類的幫忙下,自動處理完剩下的郵件。
(首圖來源:Robert Scoble CC BY 2.0)

Google's fact-checking bots build vast knowledge bank

The search giant is automatically building Knowledge Vault, a massive database that could give us unprecedented access to the world's facts
GOOGLE is building the largest store of knowledge in human history – and it's doing so without any human help.
Instead, Knowledge Vault autonomously gathers and merges information from across the web into a single base of facts about the world, and the people and objects in it.
The breadth and accuracy of this gathered knowledge is already becoming the foundation of systems that allow robots and smartphones to understand what people ask them. It promises to let Google answer questions like an oracle rather than a search engine, and even to turn a new lens on human history.
Knowledge Vault is a type of "knowledge base" – a system that stores information so that machines as well as people can read it. Where a database deals with numbers, a knowledge base deals with facts. When you type "Where was Madonna born" into Google, for example, the place given is pulled from Google's existing knowledge base.
This existing base, called Knowledge Graph, relies on crowdsourcing to expand its information. But the firm noticed that growth was stalling; humans could only take it so far.
So Google decided it needed to automate the process. It started building the Vault by using an algorithm to automatically pull in information from all over the web, using machine learning to turn the raw data into usable pieces of knowledge.
Knowledge Vault has pulled in 1.6 billion facts to date. Of these, 271 million are rated as "confident facts", to which Google's model ascribes a more than 90 per cent chance of being true. It does this by cross-referencing new facts with what it already knows.
"It's a hugely impressive thing that they are pulling off," says Fabian Suchanek, a data scientist at Télécom ParisTech in France.
Google's Knowledge Graph is currently bigger than the Knowledge Vault, but it only includes manually integrated sources such as the CIA Factbook.
Knowledge Vault offers Google fast, automatic expansion of its knowledge – and it's only going to get bigger. As well as the ability to analyse text on a webpage for facts to feed its knowledge base, Google can also peer under the surface of the web, hunting for hidden sources of data such as the figures that feed Amazon product pages, for example.
Tom Austin, a technology analyst at Gartner in Boston, says that the world's biggest technology companies are racing to build similar vaults. "Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and IBM are all building them, and they're tackling these enormous problems that we would never even have thought of trying 10 years ago," he says.
The potential of a machine system that has the whole of human knowledge at its fingertips is huge. One of the first applications will be virtual personal assistants that go way beyond what Siri and Google Now are capable of, says Austin.
"Before this decade is out, we will have a smart priority inbox that will find for us the 10 most important emails we've received and handle the rest without us having to touch them," Austin says. Our virtual assistant will be able to decide what matters and what doesn't.
Other agents will carry out the same process to watch over and guide our health, sorting through a knowledge base of medical symptoms to find correlations with data in each person's health records. IBM's Watson is already doing this for cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York.
Knowledge Vault promises to supercharge our interactions with machines, but it also comes with an increased privacy risk. The Vault doesn't care if you are a person or a mountain – it is voraciously gathering every piece of information it can find.
"Behind the scenes, Google doesn't only have public data," says Suchanek. It can also pull in information from Gmail, Google+ and Youtube."You and I are stored in the Knowledge Vault in the same way as Elvis Presley," Suchanek says.
Google researcher Kevin Murphy and his colleagues will present a paper on Knowledge Vault at the Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining in New York on 25 August.
As well as improving our interactions with computers, large stores of knowledge will be the fuel for augmented reality, too. Once machines get the ability to recognise objects, Knowledge Vault could be the foundation of a system that can provide anyone wearing a heads-up display with information about the landmarks, buildings and businesses they are looking at in the real world. "Knowledge Vault adds local entities – politicians, businesses. This is just the tip of the iceberg," Suchanek says.

Knowledge vault

Richer vaults of knowledge will also change the way we study human society "This is the most visionary thing," says Suchanek. "The Knowledge Vault can model history and society."
Google already has a way to track mentions of names over time using historical texts, measuring the popularity of Albert Einstein vs Charles Darwin, for instance. By adding knowledge bases – which know the gender, age and place of birth of myriad people – historians would be able to track more in-depth questions, such as the popularity of female singers over time, for example.
Suchanek has already carried out a version of this kind of data-driven history. By combining a knowledge base called YAGO with data from French newspaper Le Monde, he was able to show how the gender gap in French politics changed over time. This was only possible because YAGO knows the gender of every French politician, and can apply that knowledge to names mentioned in Le Monde. He will present the work at the Very Large Databases Conference in Hangzhou, China, in September.
It might even be possible to use a knowledge base as detailed and broad as Google's to start making accurate predictions about the future based on analysis and forward projection of the past, says Suchanek.
"This an entirely new generation of technology that's going to result in massive changes – improvement in how people live and have fun, and how they make war," says Austin. "This is a quantum leap."
This article appeared in print under the headline "Welcome to the oracle"

2014年8月23日 星期六

Google Buys Gecko Design for Google X Hardware Projects

4:56 pm ET
Aug 22, 2014

APPLE

Google Buys Gecko Design for Google X Hardware Projects

Gecko Design, acquired by Google on Aug. 22, 2014, helped design the cheap computer distributed by the One Laptop per Child initiative. The laptop is shown here being used by a child in Uruguay.
 
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Google isn’t just a software company anymore. And as it moves deeper into cars, eyewear and other products, it needs design help.
Google added some design talent Friday by acquiring Gecko Design, a mechanical engineering and product design company. No price was disclosed.
Jacques Gagné, president of Gecko Design, said on the firm’s website that he and Gecko’s four other employees are joining Google X, the Internet company’s research lab to work on “a variety of cutting edge projects.”
In an interview, he added, “People come to Gecko because they don’t know how to turn ideas into real products, especially when it’s something that hasn’t been done before. That’s what attracted Google X.”
Google X projects include Google Glass, the connected eyewear; Iris, the smart contact lens; and Loon, the high altitude balloons that provide Internet access to remote locations.
Gecko, based in Los Gatos, Calif., and founded in 1996, specializes in developing consumer-electronic products, working with engineers early in the process before manufacturing begins. Gecko’s clients have included FitBit, Logitech LOGN.EB 0.00%, Sonos and H-P HPQ -0.43%, according to the company’s website.
Gecko worked on the One Laptop per Child project, helping design the cheap computer for kids in developing countries. The challenge there was to create a laptop that could survive being dropped on the ground by children and keep the price at $100, Gagné said.
In 2013, Gecko started working with Google X on a project that Gagné wouldn’t disclose. He said he started talking with Google X chief Astro Teller about joining the research lab at the end of 2013.
Acquisition talks “started gelling” in early 2014, although it took a while to complete the deal. “I was stubborn because I have had this business for years,” Gagné said.
Google X has already added some design expertise. In May, it named Ivy Ross, a veteran of Mattel MAT -0.82%Disney DIS +0.12% and Calvin Klein, the head of Google Glass. Mitchell Heinrich, who previously designed biomedical devices, human-powered electricity generators and even cocktail-serving robots, runs the Google X Design Kitchen, which builds many of the products the research lab dreams up and contributes new ideas.

Google Fuels Internet Access, Plus Debate




Google Fiber Is Fast, but Is It Fair?

The Company Provides Neighborhoods With Faster and Cheaper Service, but Are Some Being Left Behind?

Aug. 22, 2014 2:21 p.m. ET
In Kansas City, Google divided the region into areas of a few hundred homes it called 'fiberhoods' and asked residents to preregister for service. The Kansas City Star/Zuma Press
Frustrated by the hammerlock of U.S. broadband providers, Google Inc.GOOGL +0.02% has searched for ways around them to provide faster Internet speeds at lower cost, via everything from high-speed fiber to satellites.
In the process, it is changing how next-generation broadband is rolled out.
Telecom and cable companies generally have been required to blanket entire cities, offering connections to every home. By contrast, Google is building high-speed services as it finds demand, laying new fiber neighborhood by neighborhood.
Others including AT&T Inc. -0.40% and CenturyLink Inc. CTL -0.27% are copying Google's approach, underscoring a deeper shift in U.S. telecommunications policy, from requiring universal service to letting the marketplace decide.
As Google's model gathers momentum, it stirs up questions about whether residents of poor or underserved neighborhoods will be left behind.
U.S. policy long favored extending service to all. AT&T touted its "universal service" in advertisements more than a century ago. The concept was codified in a 1934 law requiring nationwide "wire and radio services" to reach everyone at "reasonable charges."
In exchange for wiring a community, telecommunications providers often gained a monopoly. Cities made similar deals with cable-TV providers beginning in the 1960s.
The emergence of the commercial Internet in 1990s led to a reassessment. Policy swung in favor of encouraging competition in the hope that it would bring more people online faster. Over time, Congress and regulators loosened the strings on Internet providers.
Google seized the opening in 2010, as it sought to stoke demand for bandwidth-hungry businesses, such as its YouTube online-video site. It solicited interest from cities for a new network, specifying that it sought "opportunities to experiment with deployment techniques." More than 1,000 municipalities responded.

In 2011, Google struck a deal with authorities in both Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., to build the service based on customer demand. City officials say they didn't push hard for universal coverage because they thought faster Internet service would boost the local economy and they were competing against so many other cities.
"The main point was to win and bring that infrastructure to our city," said Rick Usher, assistant city manager of Kansas City, Mo.
As phone and cable companies slowed their own expansion plans, more cities allowed the selective approach.
Mary Beth Henry, director of community technology in Portland, Ore., says broadband providers balked at covering the entire city. So Portland stopped requiring universal coverage in 2007 and this year signed a deal with Google that employs the build-to-demand approach.
Offering service everywhere is "too risky and returns are lower," she said.
In Kansas City, Google divided the region into areas of a few hundred homes it called "fiberhoods" and asked residents to pay $10 to preregister for a service that would operate at one gigabit per second, about 100 times the U.S. average. The service now costs $70 a month.
If interest exceeded a certain threshold, generally between 5% and 25% of households, Google connected the area. The threshold varied based on population density. Google also worked with local officials to speed the permitting and construction process. It skipped some areas entirely, because they were too thinly populated or because of construction challenges, a company spokeswoman said.
To date, Google has conducted preregistration in 364 neighborhoods; all but 16 hit Google's threshold for connection. Google hasn't disclosed how many homes in each neighborhood subscribe to its service.
A survey earlier this year of five neighborhoods in the Kansas City area conducted for brokerage firm Bernstein Research found that more than half of households had signed up for the service. At that rate, the service would be "very profitable" for Google, Bernstein analyst Carlos Kirjner said.
The Bernstein survey found that participation varied with income. In the Wornall Homestead neighborhood—median household income $116,000—83% of residents surveyed subscribe to Google Fiber; in the Community College area—median income $24,000—27% subscribe.
The flexibility to choose where to build, more efficient construction techniques and cheaper components mean it costs Google about 20% less to reach a home compared with Verizon Communications Inc. VZ -0.47% 's FiOS high-speed service, according to Bernstein estimates.
Kevin Lo, general manager of Google Fiber, said the build-to-demand approach is crucial for making the business work, but said Google isn't cherry-picking the best neighborhoods or ignoring poorer areas. Of the city's 20 lowest-income areas, he said 19 qualified for Google's fiber service.
Still, concerns persist that Google is exacerbating the "digital divide" because its service may be more common in well-off areas. That is more important as more day-to-day services shift online, such as applying for jobs.
Installing fiber only where there is most interest "leaves out every city's most vulnerable citizens," said Michael Liimatta of Connecting for Good, a Kansas City nonprofit that focuses on digital divide issues.
To address these concerns, local officials required Google to offer free service to schools, libraries and community centers, said former Kansas City, Kan., Mayor Joe Reardon, who worked on the initiative during his tenure. Google agreed to offer service in "economically distressed" neighborhoods and offers a slower service that is free for seven years, after a $300 installation fee.
But Mr. Liimatta and others think those steps aren't adequate. "It is too early to say whether the stuff Google is doing is enough," said Angela Siefer, who researched these issues this year for the University of Illinois's Center for Digital Inclusion. "Being friends with Google is great, but you have to go further to address these issues."
Some cities resist the selective approach. Los Angeles last year solicited plans for gigabit fiber networks to reach every home, business, education institution, government office and nonprofit in the 466-square-mile city. Sixteen companies responded last month, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable Inc., TWC -0.73%International Business Machines Corp. IBM -0.43% and Alcatel-Lucent SAALU.FR +0.24% .
Google didn't respond, said Steve Reneker, the city's chief technology officer. A Google spokeswoman said the company is focusing on its networks in Kansas City, in Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah, and the 34 others it hopes to enter.
Verizon was required by cities and some state laws to build and offer its FiOS service widely across cities. It stopped expanding to new cities in 2010; to date, it has spent more than $23 billion on the FiOS rollout. Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said in March that the company wouldn't expand to additional markets until FiOS had "finally returned its cost of capital."
If Verizon resumes expansion, the company would consider Google's build-to-demand model because it has the potential to be more profitable, said Chris Levendos, a Verizon executive overseeing the FiOS build-out in Manhattan.
Others are doing just that. AT&T said in April it would offer Internet speeds of up to one gigabit in as many as 100 cities. It is building to demand and working with local authorities to reduce construction costs, the company said. Tuesday, it said it would bring the high-speed service to Cupertino, Calif., close to Google's headquarters.
This approach "starts to make this business model look quite attractive," John Stankey, AT&T's chief strategy officer, said at an investor conference on Aug. 13.
In North Carolina, AT&T also agreed to provide free service for seven years for up to 100 community centers, though cities or outside groups will have to pay connection costs.
CenturyLink this month said it plans to offer one-gigabit Internet service in Portland, and 15 other cities. CenturyLink will choose where to offer the service based on usage patterns of existing customers.
Write to Alistair Barr at alistair.barr@wsj.com

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