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Jan 14, 2013

Marketplace Tech for Monday, January 14, 2013

Is this a regular flu season or one for the record books? It depends a bit on whether your metric is the official numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Google. One thing’s for sure, a lot more people are Googling the flu, but it’s still unclear whether that means a lot more people are getting it. In China, a lot more people are getting high speed internet into their homes. Why? The country’s government is requiring that each new home close to the necessary infrastructure must get a fiber optic cable hookup. But while this makes U.S. standards look pitiful by comparison, it’s important to remember that better bandwitdth doesn’t always mean better internet — especially in a country known for censorship. 

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Is this a regular flu season or one for the record books? It depends a bit on whether your metric is the official numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Google. One thing’s for sure, a lot more people are Googling the flu, but it’s still unclear whether that means a lot more people are getting it. In China, a lot more people are getting high speed internet into their homes. Why? The country’s government is requiring that each new home close to the necessary infrastructure must get a fiber optic cable hookup. But while this makes U.S. standards look pitiful by comparison, it’s important to remember that better bandwitdth doesn’t always mean better internet — especially in a country known for censorship.