Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Project Loon

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 299 posts

Re: Project Loon

#101

Post by dannyr »

temp453463343 wrote: post #51
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #19

It's fascinating to see how well Google has branched out. It started as just a search engine competing with Lycos, AltaVista, & Yahoo and yet they didn't just stop, they kept going. They built all these new services & products around their core product (search) and it's paid off tremendously. It's definitely something to model future companies off of. When you win the race, don't stop, keep running.

Almost everything they're done is centered around ads and getting more data on their users to sell more ads. Even this project, in the end it's about getting more people online to look at their ads. (not sure how much ad revenue you can get from poor places, but whatever) EDIT: To those saying they're playing the long game; Playing the long game doesn't make sense. The long game is being fully wired. By the time poor…

I feel bad for people like you.

I fee bad that you can't believe that some people or company with money just wants to make the world a better place.

You said it yourself. Google probably won't make money. Maybe, just maybe, they just want to do something good.

Re: Project Loon

#103

Post by wmf »

cheeseprocedure wrote: post #86
marcamillion wrote: post #80

Wow....this is mind-blowing. The potential impact of a globally connected internet is crazy. No longer can a country fully filter/control all internet traffic. This could be a major boon to democracy. I wonder if Google did this, partially to piss China off. This seems like an awesome way to get around the 'Great Firewall'.

I wonder how long it'll be before reports surface of authoritarian countries deploying anti-Loon lasers. In all seriousness, I'm curious how difficult it would be to jam this network.

It's low power in known bands, but coving a very large area. Maybe somebody could launch their own jamming balloons. In the short term Google says they'll abide local laws so I suspect no jamming will be needed.

Re: Project Loon

#104

Post by vinceguidry »

eaurouge wrote: post #72
temp453463343 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost everything they're done is centered around ads and getting more data on their users to sell more ads. Even this project, in the end it's about getting more people online to look at their ads. (not sure how much ad revenue you can get from poor places, but whatever) EDIT: To those saying they're playing the long game; Playing the long game doesn't make sense. The long game is being fully wired. By the time poor…

The long game is being fully wired. No, the long game is wireless communications (and renewable energy). One of the reasons for fast growth in some developing countries is the fact that they don't have to make the same investments in infrastructure that developed countries made in the past.

Wireless is a hack, it will never replace wired. Sure, in Africa they get online with mobile phones, but that's only because it's not profitable _yet_ to run landlines. Even 56K would be better than mobile, but since it's Africa they don't even have that.

Give it a few more decades and they'll be wired just like everyone else.

Re: Project Loon

#105

Post by venantius »

I find stuff like this awe-inspiring, particularly w/r/t how it could be used to protect internet access for not only those who are underprivileged but also for those being denied internet access by autocratic governments. Think back to Egypt, Libya, Syria - how different could those have gone if the authorities had been unable to shut down communication networks?

Re: Project Loon

#106

Post by tantalor »

krasin wrote: post #89
marcamillion wrote: post #80

Wow....this is mind-blowing. The potential impact of a globally connected internet is crazy. No longer can a country fully filter/control all internet traffic. This could be a major boon to democracy. I wonder if Google did this, partially to piss China off. This seems like an awesome way to get around the 'Great Firewall'.

>I wonder if Google did this, partially to piss China off. Clearly, not. China has enough air power (including drones) to shut down any amount of the balloons.

I don't think conventional drones can fly that high.

Re: Project Loon

#107

Post by gaadd33 »

vinceguidry wrote: post #104
eaurouge wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The long game is being fully wired. No, the long game is wireless communications (and renewable energy). One of the reasons for fast growth in some developing countries is the fact that they don't have to make the same investments in infrastructure that developed countries made in the past.

Wireless is a hack, it will never replace wired. Sure, in Africa they get online with mobile phones, but that's only because it's not profitable _yet_ to run landlines. Even 56K would be better than mobile, but since it's Africa they don't even have that. Give it a few more decades and they'll be wired just like everyone else.

How is 56K better than 4G or at least 3G?

Re: Project Loon

#108

Post by zhemao »

When you've taken over the internet, what's your next move? Make the internet bigger of course.

I for one welcome our new Google overlords.

Re: Project Loon

#109

Post by sounds »

untog wrote: post #71
nostromo wrote: post #46

I've always wanted a near-live satellite image for Google maps. If this takes off that'll be possible. I could find a parking spot from the sky. :)

So the government seeing your data is bad, but a private company filming your every move is good...

Look at it this way: if I wanted the government to put a CCTV camera in front of my house and snap photos once a year, it would mean I thought the best way to publish pictures of my house was to take tax dollars, enforce it through legislation, submit it to the whims of politicians, suffer the fruits of their corruption as they sell me out, and on and on.

Me? If I want to publish pictures of my house, I would likely use some sort of internet service to do so... therefore:

The laws around private companies photographing private property are both (1) very restrictive and (2) well known and well tested in court. Compare that to warrantless spying only reviewed by a secret court – and even then the government fails to (1) keep it secret, (2) abide by their own court's rulings, or (3) successfully apply the intel to the stated cause of terrorist threats.

Basically, there aren't really very many things the government does well at all.

When Google wants to send a car down my avenue or fly a balloon over my house, they'll be regulated by laws that literally follow the Streisand effect... in other words, if I don't want you to see my backyard, I might have to put up a roof.

It'll be uncomfortable, yes. And maybe Google isn't the best company to publish live video of an entire continent to the internet. But if someone else doesn't beat them to it, I imagine Google is going there. What's your contingency plan?

Re: Project Loon

#110

Post by gaadd33 »

sicxu wrote: post #97
selvakn wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The balloons are not going to move in one direction though. The video also mentioned you can steer the balloons, which means, there is way to keep them above the ground and not the ocean.

Just cover the continent will require a lot of balloons. The world has 148,429,000 sq km. If you cover 1600 sq km per balloon, that is 92768 balloons. Just cover Africa will require around 20k balloons. It will only work out, if Google can increase the coverage area per balloon.

20K ballons doesn't seem like that many unless each one costs a ton of money. From an industrial production point of view it barely seems like a drop in the bucket given how many cars/phones/planes we produce.
Post reply on HN