Hong Kong Broadband Network just introduced fiber-to-the-home service at a speed of 1,000 megabits a second -a “gig” - for about US$26 a month.
Verizon FiOS “fastest” residential service is 50 megabits down, 20 megabits up. It costs US$139.95 a month.
via johnfitzpatrick:
What Matters: In the markets of the meta city | McKinsey
But as fast as Lagos is growing, it’s actually just a part of a larger urban complex. The world is moving beyond mega-cities to meta-cities. According to the United Nations’ 2010/2011 State of the World’s Cities report, these cities of the future will not be single political entities but will sprawl across geographic, regional, and national boundaries. Consider: Ibadan-Lagos-Accra: This jagged 600-kilometer (373-mile) growing agglomeration of cities snakes through four countries—Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana—and comprises the economic engine of West Africa. Bangkok: The UN predicts that it will sprawl an additional 200 kilometers (124 miles) from its current center over the next ten years. Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou: This region in South China is already home to 120 million people and a massive manufacturing base. Mumbai-Delhi: A 1500-kilometer (932-mile) Indian industrial corridor is now developing between these two cities.
As it is now just one month away from the launch of Social Media Week February 7-11 2011, we are pleased to announce that today pre-registration will open for select events taking place in Social Media Week cities all across the world. To register, simply visit socialmediaweek.org, pick a city and click on schedule. There are nine cities participating in Social Media Week–powered by global headline sponsor Nokia–this February. Registration will be going live over the course of today in New York, London, Paris, Rome, Hong Kong, Istanbul, and São Paulo. Please note that Toronto and San Francisco will be going live with registration later in the week and in each city, more events will be added over the coming weeks.
The latest generation of wireless Internet that will allow people to watch a crystal clear movie or live sporting event on the street or atop a hill is being deployed throughout Hong Kong. The Long Term Evolution (LTE) network will give super high speeds across the city and could mean the end of computers ever needing to be plugged into a wall for a connection to the net.
Owen, a staff writer for The New Yorker, makes a convincing case that Manhattan, Hong Kong and large, old European cities are inherently greener than less densely populated places because a higher percentage of their inhabitants walk, bike and use mass transit than drive; they share infrastructure and civic services more efficiently; they live in smaller spaces and use less energy to heat their homes (because those homes tend to share walls); and they’re less likely to accumulate a lot of large, energy-sucking appliances. People in cities use about half as much electricity as people who don’t, Owen reports, and the average New Yorker generates fewer greenhouse gases annually than “residents of any other American city, and less than 30 percent of the national average.”
How cities are good for science, and vice versa | Grist
This week’s issue of the journal Nature is all about the connection between cities and science. They’ve put a terrific package together, with lots of great graphics (want to know where the next megacities will emerge, or where the most scientific papers are published?) and feature articles on the synergy between urban areas and scientific innovation. Some of the articles is behind a paywall, but there’s a lot that’s available to non-subscribers as well.
“Cities are … home to considerable scientific capital; they hold most of the world’s top universities and the vast majority of its researchers…. The resources that cities offer can stimulate outstanding science for reasons that researchers are just starting to explore. On the other side of the equation, scientists can assist cities in tackling their biggest problems.”
Hub Culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hub Culture Zeitgeist Ranking is a city ranking produced annually since 2007. The most recent rankings were released in January 2010:
1. São Paulo 2009 Rank 7
2. Berlin 2009 Rank 2
3. San Francisco 2008 Rank: 12
4. Los Angeles 2009 Rank: 3
5. Shanghai 2009 Rank: 10
6. Zürich (New)
7. Sydney 2009 Rank: 5
8. New York 2009 Rank: 9
9. London 2009 Rank: 10
10. Hong Kong 2009 Rank: 8
11. Beijing 2009 Rank: 3
12. Washington DC 2009 Rank: 1
13. Cape Town (New)
14. Singapore 2009 Rank: 14
15. Tokyo 2009 Rank: 5
16. Copenhagen 2009 Rank: 20
17. Mexico D.F. 2009 Rank 19
18. Istanbul 2009 Rank: 18
19. Buenos Aires 2009 Rank: 14
20. Abu Dhabi (New)
In Copenhagen, 14 of World’s Biggest Cities Commit to EVs : Gas 2.0
Fourteen of the world’s largest cities agreed to take steps over the coming year to make their cities more electric vehicle-friendly. The announcement was made at the ‘Climate Summit for Mayors’, which is being held alongside the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Half the world’s population lives in cities that account for more than two-thirds of carbon emissions. And as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made the case in Copenhagen on Tuesday at the Climate Summit for Mayors during the UN COP15 climate summit cities and other sub-national units of government will play a critical role in implementing the kind of innovative solutions necessary to clean up our transportation infrastructure in a carbon-constrained world. In that vein, a group of fourteen of the world’s largest cities took a step in that direction in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Owen, a staff writer for The New Yorker, makes a convincing case that Manhattan, Hong Kong and large, old European cities are inherently greener than less densely populated places because a higher percentage of their inhabitants walk, bike and use mass transit than drive; they share infrastructure and civic services more efficiently; they live in smaller spaces and use less energy to heat their homes (because those homes tend to share walls); and they’re less likely to accumulate a lot of large, energy-sucking appliances. People in cities use about half as much electricity as people who don’t, Owen reports, and the average New Yorker generates fewer greenhouse gases annually than “residents of any other American city, and less than 30 percent of the national average.”
