[0] http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/developments/manchelseael...
WiFi like this already exists in Union Square and Times Square.
So if they are doing this to eventually make money (and not as some sort of brand building, "look at us we're so generous" exercise) I can only imagine that they believe the data they will collect from that network will be more valuable than its cost.
There are ways to collect metrics from that sort of a network that don't freak me out. But wiring up a place of that size still sounds expensive to me (though that's admittedly just a guess). The data they collect feels like it would have to be pretty valuable to make up for it, and one sort of data that would fit the bill would be the sort of location based data you could collect from wifi. By triangulating signals using multiple routers , it wouldn't surprise me if they could get a pretty good guess as to which apartment that laptop is in. And that sort of data collection really does scare me.
Of course, there are more harmless sorts of metrics they could be collecting. And my shaky chain of reasoning based on a random tech crunch story could definitely be off. So I'm less saying this is what they're doing than there is the possibility that this is what they're doing. Please take it with a grain of salt.
Yeesh.
What would you do if you were a multi billionaire with one of the largest, if not the largest, tech companies in the world?
I would probably do things like:
1) Try to give everybody in the world free internet
2) Try to build sci fi stuff like autonomous cars, or drones that protect rhinos
3) Offer free computing resources to non-profits that align with my view of the future
4) Fund projects that I find interesting. I don't care if they make money, because I have shitloads of money.
--
Honestly, my friends and I are mostly /already/ doing these things, just on much smaller scales (we're not billionaires.
Go check out a hackerspace some time. If you're in the Bay, go to Ace Monster Toys in Oakland, if you're in Phoenix, go to Heatsync labs in Mesa. I will buy you a beer if you do :)
Because, of all the areas that is just crying out for free or subsidized internet, Chelsea, Manhattan, with a median income of $81,000 and less than 4% below the poverty line, is just at the head of the line.
http://www.qgazette.com/news/2012-12-12/Features/Time_Warner...
FYI, AOL and Time Warner have no relationship at all -- they were spun out in 2009. Time Warner Cable is yet another separate entity from Time Warner as well (as of 2009). Totally independent.
Google is interested in mobile applications that will use more than a few GB of bandwidth per month, like Project Glass maintaining a constant connection and streaming photos or live video.
Any interesting vision of the mobile future requires vastly cheaper bandwidth, one way or another.
http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/334644/google-offers-...
"The entire network has a download speed of 150Mbps, and each location will have a download speeds of about 5Mbps to 10Mbps, to be shared among all users. The project has 29 antennas affixed to lamp posts, buildings and other locations scattered through the neighborhood. Wireless service provider Sky Packets set up the network, which is connected to the Internet through Verizon and Time Warner Cable"
