Google snubs city that named itself Google

CNN reports: In an effort to woo a Google high-speed internet project, the Kansas capital of Topeka changed its name to Google, Kansas for a month, last year.

Like, actually changed it. By a vote of the City Council.

Apparently that wasn't enough. The search giant announced yesterday it had chosen Topeka's blandly named neighbor -- Kansas City, Kansas -- as the winner of its contest. That city, just 60 miles to the east of Topeka, soon will get some of the fastest internet connections in the country.

Topeka's mayor could be mad about all of this.

He could be embarrassed that his city -- home of soybean fields, animal research, and, let's not forget, Kansas' capitol dome -- changed its name to that of a giant corporation to court its favor, only to be rejected.

Maybe he feels like he'll lose business to Kansas City, which, by 2012, is expected to have Google-installed internet connections that are 100 times faster than the national average.

Or maybe not. As it turns out, he's really not that upset.

"I've often wondered what difference does it make if it takes you 10 seconds or one second to access information," Topeka's colorful mayor, Bill Bunten, said by phone yesterday. "My life goes a little slower than that."

Asked whether he planned to go to Kansas City -- which, by his estimation, is only a 50-minute drive away "if you break a couple of laws" -- to try out the new high-speed internet connection, Bunten said "I doubt it."

"I might go over there and see if I can find a store that sells Googles," he said, joking that the online company doesn't do retail.

A Google spokesman thanked Topeka for its interest.

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