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cities

Google Fiber spawns startup renaissance in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The modest two-story bungalow on State Line Road looks like the typical twenty something, post-college "share house."

The house is old; the decor is very basic. Like most homes to post-college grads, it's furnished with second-hand furniture. Several fake leather recliners line the walls in the living room and a big oversized sectional couch sits in the corner, offering plenty of room for geeks with laptops to comfortably park themselves while writing code. A big white board on the wall displays the email addresses and Twitter handles of the many hackers who have … Read more

NYC Google Street View now includes 9/11 memorial

Those who haven't had the opportunity to visit New York City and see the Memorial at the World Trade Center now can tour it via Google Street View.

Users can zoom in and out and "walk around" to view the memorial from different angles. Images from the north and south memorial pools feature the engraved names of the victims of the terrorist attacks in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pa. The zoom feature is precise enough to read each person's name.

Google also has expanded its coverage of New York's famed Central Park. … Read more

A cheaper iPad Mini 'expected,' says Citi

The iPad Mini is already cheap at $329. But Apple is expected to go even lower, according to a report out Tuesday from Citi Research.

Ciit's Glen Yeung said in a note to investors that Apple is shifting toward more inexpensive products.

"Supply chain checks by Citi's Asia-Pac Technology Team suggest a mix shift surprisingly toward Apple's older iPhone4/4S," he wrote.

Then added. "And with our expectation of a low-end iPhone slated for September launch, followed by a sub-$250 iPad Mini, we expect this trend to persist."

While there has been … Read more

Nokia brings LiveSight to Here Maps on Windows Phone 8

LAS VEGAS -- You won't see a new phone from Nokia at CTIA, but the company did reveal it was expanding its already impressive Here Maps for Windows Phone 8 devices.

Available today is an update that will integrate the company's LiveSight augmented reality feature. Previously available only through the CityLens app, LiveSight pulls up nearby locations and displays relevant information like the type of business or attraction, the hours, the address and phone number, and customer ratings.

You access LiveSight mode through a dedicated control in the Here interface. Once activated, you'll see the points of … Read more

Review: Dragon City Mobile lets users build cities and hatch dragons

Combined with notifications and a powerful processor with online connectivity (meaning social sharing), games like Dragon City Mobile are ripe for explosive popularity.

Dragon City Mobile is one of the finer made city management games on the App Store. While not wholly different from many of its contemporaries, it is fun to play and incredibly deep in terms of content. The goal of the game is to generate resources, build habitats and buildings, and then hatch and grow dragons. Players must feed their dragons, which requires the creation of farms to grow food. Every resource in the game is limited … Read more

Google expands Fiber to Grandview, Mo.

Google Fiber is hitting another Kansas City, Mo., suburb, the online giant said Tuesday.

Grandview, Mo., will become the latest location to snag the super-high-speed Internet, joining other cities such as Austin, Texas; Provo, Utah; and Shawnee, Kan.

However, Google said in its blog post that it will still be "awhile" before it can build Fiber in Grandview as it needs to plan and engineer its network there first.

Google, which announced the Fiber project in February 2010, began construction of the network backbone in February 2012. The idea behind Google Fiber is for the company to build … Read more

Sims 4, due in 2014, to ditch need for Net connection

A newly unveiled Sims sequel will arriving in 2014, giving gamers yet another chance to take control of tiny virtual humans for some ruthless life management.

The Sims 4 will be published by Electronic Arts, with EA subsidiary Maxis once again taking the reins when it comes to bolting the new title together, EA said Monday in a blog post. In a case of a corporation learning from its mistakes, EA has confirmed that the next Sims installment won't require an Internet connection for gameplay.

The publisher said the game will be a "single-player offline experience." Taking … Read more

Lego book does world landmarks in plastic (Q&A)

Lego fans! If you can't get over to Legoland Malaysia to gawk at its plastic architecture, here's the next best thing. A new book titled "Brick City" looks at Lego re-creations of global landmarks and shows you how to build them.

The 256-page manual has more than 400 illustrations of architectural icons such as the Taj Mahal, Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Chicago's Tribune Tower, and Westminster Abbey, as well as 46 instructions and two posters. Author Warren Elsmore and 13 other builders constructed the 100 models in the book, which includes vehicles such as New York cabs -- check out the eye-popping creations in "Brick City" in the gallery below. … Read more

Uber taxi-hailing service returns to NYC streets, without payments

After an eight-month absence punctuated by legal battles, Uber taxi's service is returning to the streets of New York City.

Uber launched its taxi-hailing pilot program on Tuesday night, just days after a State Supreme Court judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to put a stop to the program. Passengers will be able to hail a cab with a smartphone app, but the app won't accept payments, at least initially.

"The way New Yorkers hail yellow cabs fundamentally transforms today, and we're proud that it's Uber who gave the Big Apple this option," Uber … Read more

Check the weather in style with the Yahoo Weather app

Yahoo Weather is a weather app that displays stunning Flickr photos as a backdrop to a wide range of weather information on your iPhone -- more than you get with Apple's weather app. There are certainly other options with more weather information, but for a quick look at what's happening in your area, Yahoo Weather is a good-looking and well-made app.

When you launch Yahoo Weather, you'll be asked immediately if the app can use your location so it can give you information on the weather around your area. From there you'll be presented with a … Read more