Skip to content


A Google WiFi Network

Well it’s speculation time again.
Read this article in Business 2.0. And this is neat too. And this.
If Google did any or all of the following:
1. Provided free continent-wide broadband access?
2. Offered TV through this new network?
3. Offered movies or TV series like Lost or Sopranos on demand through the network?
4. Delivered ads to cover some or all of the costs? (Remember when movies were free on TV (covered by ads)?
5. Offered VOIP telephone and integrated it with e-commerce? (Remember when we talked to people when we bought things?)
6. Provided an iTunes on steroids service that was compliant with the law(s) of commerce and ownership? I’m old enough to remember when my 45’s costs 45 cents!
7. Expanded its alliance with Amazon and the A9 search engine to provide e-books and book access through Google Print as a finding tool?
8. And allied with Amazon and others to enhance Froogle.
9. And settled in for a strong local experience using their 3D maps of your town and defaulting to a local.google.com homepage?
Soooooo – what would this do to local libraries of any type or stripe? What are the opportunities? Where will smart libraries position themselves in their communities?
Barbara Quint and Jane Dysart have asked me to moderate the famous Tuesday evening debate at Internet Librarian in Monterey on just this topic. We have a great panel including Steve Arnold, Adam Smith from Google Print, Rich Wiggins from Michigan State U and Mark Sandler from U Mich. Maybe even bq will call in…
Look forward to seeing you there!
Stephen

0 Shares

Posted on: September 24, 2005, 6:55 pm Category: Uncategorized

0 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.