Googlers? (Photo: ConferenceBike)

The bizarre tale of Google's takeover of Provo's fiber network is getting even weirder. The search giant billed the Utah city $500,000 to locate where the wires are hidden since the company that installed them didn’t keep proper records of where they were buried. [Ars Technica]

Matthew Keys, the beleaguered former Reuters deputy social media editor, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he conspired with Anonymous to break-in and attack websites of his former employer, Tribune. His next court date is June 12. [Huffington Post]

“Anytime I’m at a dinner or an event, social or business, people are buzzing about Tinder." And with those words spoken, a Times profile of the dating app was born. [New York Times]

Google houses more than 1,300 colorful bikes in a warehouse near its Mountain View headquarters for employees to use because there's no perk not offered there. Were you expecting anything less? [Wired]

PayPal said that it's "kinda thinking about" introducing Bitcoin as a form of payment in its system. [Silicon Angle]

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is officially on Twitter. No word if he's #TeamFollowback. [TNW]

Look at all that spring-fed fiber in Provo. (Source: Flickr)

All it took for Google to buy Provo, Utah's fiber-optic network was a dollar. If only you had four quarters! [AP]

Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that YouTube did not violate Viacom’s copyright--despite the fact that several of the company’s shows were being illicitly uploaded onto the site. That's because the Google-owned service is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's “safe-harbor provision.” [Los Angeles Times]

Time's very important "100 Most Influential People List" is packed with techies with fake-sounding titles, like "Internet talent discoverer" Scooter Braun. [AllThingsD]

Twitter announced it has teamed up with BBC America to offer "in-tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series." What does that mean? Your guess is as good as ours. [CNet]

Amazon, looking to expand its international operations, has opened an office in Russia. [TechCrunch]

Scenic Provo. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Oh, okay: Google announced today that Provo, Utah, is the third city to get Google Fiber. That means the Western town will soon join Kansas City and Austin, Texas in the elite gigabit club.

General Manager Kevin Lo outlined their reasoning on the project's official blog: 

"Utah is already home to hundreds of tech companies and startups, and many of them are based in Provo. In fact, the Provo area ranks second in the nation in patent growth, and is consistently ranked as one of the top places to live and do business in the U.S. We believe the future of the Internet will be built on gigabit speeds, and we’re sure the businesses and residents of Provo already have some good ideas for what they’d build with a gig."

An interesting detail: Google isn't building the fiber-optic network itself, but rather buying one the city already built. "As a part of the acquisition, we would commit to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber," Mr. Lo explained. The deal is still waiting on City Council sign-off.

Wonder whether Chattanooga, Tennessee, which has its own city-built gigabit network, has talked to the guys in Mountain View?

New York City, to date, remains Fiber-less. :(

Hot tub hackathon?

Good things come to those areas blessed with Google Fiber, and so it is with Kansas City. Last summer, GOOG the Beneficent gifted the metropolitan area with its own brand of ultra high-speed Internet. Local startups have already been taking advantage of Google Fiber's 100x speed, but there is more.

So very much more.

TechStars cofounder and Foundry Group managing director Brad Feld has been inspired to perform his own act of generosity. According to VentureBeat, on Monday he closed a deal on a three-bedroom home called the "Feld KC Fiberhouse" where startups can cowork, co-live, and experiment with all that Google Fiber has to offer:

"I’m not going to be living in it. Instead, I’m going to let entrepreneurs live / work in it. Rent free. As part of helping create the Kansas City startup community. And to learn about the dynamics of Google Fiber. And to have some fun."

TechStars kicked off the startup reality show trend that Bravo, MTV, and HBO are now chasing. So it's no surprise that there's a contest and "all-star panel of judges" (including TechStars CEO David Cohen) to win a spot and offer advice. Although if Mr. Feld is really interested in "fun," may we recommend the requisite hot tub and confessional cam?

The project will be run in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation and Startup America. But it's hardly the only friendly face in the "fiberhood" (gulp). Hanover Heights is also "quite close" to Homes for Hackers, which offers free housing and Fiber, and the KC Startup Village.

All in all, it sounds like a cheaper, more wholesome version of Silicon Valley's "hacker hostels," which can cost $1,200/month and aren't always up to code. The competition ends March 22 and you can apply for one of the five slots here.

Congratulations, Mr. Feld: You are now the Lou Perlman of Startups!

(Photo: Rex Sorgatz)

Social media is making Google search less useful. Facebook isn't ready to compete, at least not yet. Welcome to the search desert. [BuzzFeed]

If you're a PC maker who wasn't so thrilled when Microsoft launched the Surface, how exactly do you feel about news that the software maker might invest $2 billion in the deal to take Dell private? [Bloomberg]

Apple releases its quarterly earnings report today, and your guess is as good as ours. As far as what earnings mean for the company's stock, which has plummeted nearly 30 percent since September? How about something in the $1 to infinity range?[@ReformedBroker]

Two Bitcoin casinos say their businesses are minting profit. [Ars Technica]

Larry Page said that Google Fiber was not a "hobby" for his company, during a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings. Cruelly, he didn't say anything about when the company might expand the product beyond Kansas City. [Los Angeles Times]

(Photo: flickr.com/leweb3)

Congrats to Napster cofounder and former Facebook president Sean Parker, who is now a proud papa. Earlier this week he and his fiancee welcomed a little girl named Winter Victoria Parker into the world. [US Weekly]

Google's having a press conference with Mayor Bloomberg today--so of course everyone wants to know whether we'll be getting Google Fiber. (Pretty please!) And the company is hiring a New York sales rep. [Business Insider]

Eric Schmidt isn't the only Silicon Valley denizen venturing abroad this week. Apple CEO Tim Cook is currently ambling across China, meeting with the U.S. ambassador and other high-and-mighties. [TNW]

Several companies, including Logitech, have teamed up to create an "Internet of Things Consortium." Righto. [TechCrunch]

Do you share a Netflix account with five other family members? Soon you'll all be able to have your very own personalized profile--and here's what it might look like. [GigaOm]

Myspace Tom went to Hawaii; ain't you jealous? [Daily Dot]

Mr. Schmidt, laying some knowledge on us. (Screencap)

Uh-oh, here comes some holiday bad news for the cable and content incumbents: Speaking today at the Dealbook conference,  chairman Eric Schmidt insisted that Google Fiber isn't just some kooky attempt to turn Kansas into a high-speed-Internet Oz. "We're running it as a business," Mr. Schmidt told moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin.

What's more, he added that it'll be available in "hopefully more cities, if we're able to expand our service." The company is trying to decide where right now, which is why Betabeat would like to take a moment to chuck our dignity and plead for Google to expand its high-speed Internet experiment to New York City.

There are loads of reasons why we should get Fiber. Loads! For one thing, there's the boost it would give Cornell Tech--an initiative Google is currently supporting. There's the company's large presence here. And citywide fiber is already on the radar of our politicos, as Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer's Start-Up City report demonstrates. (Global warming + copper wiring = a big old mess.)

Netflix streaming will be so crystal clear, it'll be like Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy is right there in the room with you.

(h/t VentureBeat)

On set. (Photo: Collider)

It appears Google is playing nice with The Internship, a.k.a the movie where Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson dick around at Google. [AllThingsD]

Apple swears iOS 6 maps--which are so bad there's a Tumblr to chronicle the most astounding mistakes--will improve. [BBC News]

Always be targeting: Salesforce and Facebook are teaming up. Users of the cloud-for-the-enterprise company can now take their own customer contact data and instruct Facebook to send just those people tailored ads. [Business Insider]

From the CFO of Verizon: "Unlimited is just a word, it doesn't really mean anything." We're pretty sure it means without limits? [Gizmodo]

A BlackBerry outage hits Europe. The last 15 people with BlackBerries must be very inconvenienced.  [The Guardian]

What, like we're going to Google a picture of her? (Photo: Wikipedia)

Warby Parker just raised [adjusts glasses] a $37 million round, reportedly led by General Catalyst Partners. [Fortune]

Toys "R" Us plans to sell its own tablet for the kiddies. [Wall Street Journal]

If you search "Emma Watson" online, there's a good chance you'll land on malware. Also, you may very well be kind of a creep. [Boston Globe]

Turns out even Google Fiber can't magic away racial and economic fault lines. [New York Times]

Shit, remember the movie Sneakers? Oh, for the days when hackers had to leave their lairs! [Slate]

(Photo: GoogleFiber.com)

For weeks, Google has been teasing us with a landing page for "Google Fiber." With a name like that, one might picture a roughage-based breakfast (Googl-Os!) or something better left to the laxative aisle in your friendly, neighborhood Duane Reade.

But the moniker actually refers to the company's plans to offer Kansas City residents its own experimental brand of ultra high-speed Internet access. And it's finally here!

In addition to connection speed the company claims is "100 times faster than today's average broadband," it also boasts "Instant downloads. Crystal clear HD. And endless possibilities."

Lucky Kansas City dwellers can get seven years of free Internet with just a $300 installation fee, although that plan is limited to standard 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. As part of the push, Google also launched Google Fiber TV, which Engadget describes as:

"A 'real' TV service with recognizable channels and its own, fully searchable interface that mixes DVR results with Netflix and YouTube. . . Not surprisingly, there's also a major mobile component taking advantage of that 1Gbps fiber link, as users will have the option of browsing, sharing and eventually watching live TV directly from tablet apps."

Fiber TV?? You guys know people think you have problems talking to other humans, right GOOG? BRB, moving to Kansas City.