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Google's high-altitude (stratospheric) balloon wireless provider system, Project Loon, has released a publicity video, including interesting shots of balloons, mission control, and a balloon factory, New Zealand mountains and all that goodness. It is a publicity video, so not much detail here. They claim the balloons now last in the air for ~100 days, and their factory can produce one balloon in a "few hours".
I'm not the biggest fan of Google but they do have some cool projects going.
Google is not putting all its eggs in the Loon basket; the company also has plans to use solar-powered drones and SpaceX-launched satellites to provide Internet services.
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Google Releases New Project Loon Video
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If bankers can count, how come they have eight windows and only four tellers?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @11:30AM
They never give up, do they?
Its another project to gather all communications. Remember when google street view cars "accidentally" gathered all wifi communications?
Whats next? All cellphone data? All radio noise? (there used to be receivers installed in toll booths somewhere that received any nearby radio receiver's oscillator's signal (used in heterodyning) to find out which station the radio was tuned to).
I heard that one can construct a basic radar by gathering radio noise passively. I believe someone from MIT did that some time ago. Google must have developed either this, or something far more advanced and intends to gather all data that can be gathered technically.
By using their surveillance technology in balloons that are so far up, they hope to keep them out of enemy hands (responsible citizens, who own the place).
...give him an inch and he will take a foot. Google wants to enter stratosphere now; they also want to send you plumbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @02:42PM
Well, it will allow the tinfoil hatters to unite with those fearing EM radiation in an initiative to cover the houses with Faraday cages. The difference being that the tinfoil hatters still will put wireless routers into those EM-protected houses.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Monday April 20 2015, @06:07PM
Remember when google street view cars "accidentally" gathered all wifi communications?
So Google accidentally listened to the public radio station you set up in your house?
I struggle with the outrage over that particular one...
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday April 22 2015, @04:04PM
Personally, I'm less offended by the fact that they collected that data than by the fact that they didn't put the list of open wifi networks in some public online database. Expecting open wifi to be private is...beyond stupidity.