In Pictures: The 31 weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2012

What do you get when you mix access to Google's ultra-fast fiber network and old fashioned grass roots business ideas? Well, in this case you'd get someone living on your couch for free for three months. In August a group calling itself the "Kansas City Hacker Homes," launched a program that calls on the good folks of Kansas City to open up their homes to entrepreneurs and developers who would live and work there for a period of three months, rent and utility free. They have to buy their own food. The idea is to lure startup businesses and entrepreneurs to Kansas City while utilizing the high-speed, high-capacity Google Fiber service, which by the way doesn't offer business service just yet.