SAN ANTONIO XYZ

From AI and virtual reality to self-driving cars and solar mapping, Google’s reach extends well beyond the search engine—now, even in housing.

Alphabet hasn’t ruled out the possibility of developing a city “from the Internet up,” confirmed one of the Google parent company’s executives recently. “Technology,” the exec said, “ultimately cannot be stopped.”
 
Google is not the first to attempt to deliver the homes of the future. Epcot—the famed theme park at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.—originated from an idea for a master-planned community, with Disney himself envisioning a wind tunnel metropolis that would inform the planning of future cities.

San Antonio is one of a handful of cities across the U.S. getting the high-speed fiber-optic network that promises gigabit speeds, about 100 times faster than basic broadband service. Though the company did not provide an estimate of how long construction would take, Ramon said that “over the coming months, we’ll bring fiber into customers’ homes or businesses.” The Mountain View, California-based tech company’s engineers have just about completed the design phase, having mapped out the specifics of the network, being built from scratch.