Google Fiber is the new internet access service 75-100 times faster than cable

April 18, 2013

Google went to Kansas City last year and began trialing an Internet access service called Google Fiber that is 75-100 times as fast as cable Internet service.

Now they plan to roll it out in Austin, Texas.

Hunter Walk, an ex Google exec, explains why:

When the Internet is this fast you do one more search per session, watch one more video per session, send one more email per session. A connected population benefits Google. Period.

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Margaret Thatcher: did she really turn around the British economy?

April 9, 2013

It’s a question economists in Britain are wrestling with today.

Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman has an interesting take. If you compare per capita GDP in the UK with that of France  (see chart below) you can see a long decline turned into a revival.

And here is a chart comparing unemployment rates in the UK and France over the same period.

Given that the big improvement in British performance doesn’t really show in the data until the mid-1990s – the Tony Blair years – does Thatcher  deserve credit for a reward “so long delayed?” asks Krugman.

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