Inside Kansas City’s Google Fiber Space

This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to tour Kansas City’s newly-established Google Fiber Space. Located at 1814 Westport Road, right in between KC’s Wesport and Plaza areas, the Fiber Space is a ridiculously awesome, nerd drool-educing neat, techy place that allows Kansas Citians to experience Google Fiber before it becomes commercially available.  The space is open to the public by reservation, which can be made here. I highly recommend checking it out.  The technologies on display are remarkable and exciting to say the least. If you can’t make it however, I took plenty of pictures and some video for your enjoyment.  Take a look: 

"Let's do this for..." is the rallying cry to encourage visitors to pre-register.

The stage doubles as a waiting room and event speaker space.

Inside the Fiber Space, glass walls carry the theme of "100 times the..." to get patrons to think of all possibilities. 

Speed test shows just how fast Google Fiber really is.

This small toy car world serves as an analogy to show how the internet has evolved and where it is going. 

(Top) The 2 terabyte storage box. (Bottom Left) The network box that provides fiber to the home. (Bottom Right) The TV box that will provide endless hours of entertainment.

This was the “Nerd Bot” art piece—an ode to Google’s Android platform. 

This live map keeps track of how many people have pre-registerd per Fiberhood.

A fiber space rep shows how you are able to mimic a laptop screen via in-home wireless.

The OnLive cloud gaming system's full potential can finally be exploited finally (thanks to Fiber!).

This cool mosaic is comprised of Chiefs and Royals player cards. 

A display from Sporting KC shows how Kansas City's soccer team will use Fiber when it becomes available.

Nerding out on so much tech can make a person hungry!  Refreshments and treats are provided by Mud Pie Vegan Bakery. 

Watch the video above for even more Fiber sneak peeks!

What Will Google Say on Thursday?

We are just as excited as the next person about Google Fiber's launch in Kansas City.  And we're even more excited that Google has announced that the launch will happen on Thursday. But is the launch really happening, or should we just expect another ambiguous announcement from the search engine giant?

According to The Kansas City Star, Google plans to fill in some blanks on July 26th.  The video (above), which was released last Wednesday, unveils what might be part of the marketing rhetoric for its coming service: 100 times faster Internet, 100 times the possibilities. 

The video also proclaims that the service "arrives on July 26th."  Will it really?  According to The Star and Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres, "We haven't elaborated on what arriving means." 

So what can we expect on Thursday?  If Google has anything to do with it, we will have to simply wait to find out.  

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