When Google said that it will build broadband networks that zip 1 gigabit of data per second to users’ computers in a handful of regions in the United States, the search engine touched off quite the competition for its experiment. Google asked communities interested in being its guinea pigs for the test to volunteer for the test by March 26. With that deadline hurtling near, counties are ratcheting up the rhetoric, making their cases for why they should be among the chosen few. Mayors in Sarasota, Fla. and Topeka, Kansas renamed their cities Google and pulled wacky stunts to draw attention. Others just built Web sites. Check them out.
– When Google last month
pledged to build and test ultra high speed broadband networks, it touched off
quite a competition among city leaders from the East coast to the West coast who
want their municipalities to be among those to go Google.
Google Feb. 10 said that it will build broadband netw…