Chicago keeps trying to be super-technology-world, but it doesn't always work.

More than a decade ago, Google promised to bring free wi-fi to the entire city. The idea was to put an AP on every light pole. Lots of press. Lots of TV interviews. No internet.

It never occurred to Google that when the light on a light pole goes off, the power to the entire pole is turned off. And not just that pole, but every other pole it's connected to. Big G was counting on powering the AP's off of the light circuit, which is actually turned off miles away. Simple, reliable, century-old "dumb" technology.

But Chicago keeps plugging along. There are victories, too. But the failures are more fun.

Great example of failing, but this one isn't. I was worried tbh when I saw the detector go up in my neighborhood (the pole detectors used to only be gunshot mics in high crime neighborhoods, which mine is not!). I did some inquiring and realized it is a university project to make the city better via anonymous data. The idea is absolutely fantastic. What they ultimately do with said data is how we see if this experiment fails or not. So far, it seems to be pretty useful.

Isn't this the same city that taxes Netflix and other streaming services?