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Project Loon

google.com

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Re: Project Loon

#251

Post by munificent »

mh- wrote: post #112
dannyr wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

without addressing the remainder of your comment.. > I feel bad that you can't believe [..] the same could be said for naiveté.

There's cynicism on one end and naivety on the other, but there's a whole spread in between. Despite what the cynic thinks, reality is almost always somewhere in the middle there.

Re: Project Loon

#252

Post by rtkwe »

sshconnection wrote: post #236
wilfra wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that is the company now known as AT&T Wireless. The company now known as AT&T was one of the 24 'Baby Bells' that were created when antitrust regulators broke up AT&T (the one that created Bell Labs) in 1984. The company used to be known as SBC Communications but changed it's name to AT&T after acquiring what was left of AT&T (mostly long-distance phone services) in 2005. Through a long series of acquisition…

Colbert explains it in detail: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/955486/

ebaumsworld is still slapping their watermark on anything that moves?

Re: Project Loon

#254

Post by [deleted] »

sshconnection wrote: post #237
vinceguidry wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a hack for the use case of basic connectivity. Your cell phone connects to a cell tower, which in turn connects to a trunk line. That's the proper way to do wireless. In the developing world, cell towers connect to other cell towers wirelessly. That's a hack. It's the reason why hotel Internet blows. Not its proper use case, engineering-wise. Service sucks but the customer base isn't discerning enough to notice…

Maybe you just had a bad experience with your provider in Atlanta. Webpass in SF is pretty awesome. 200mbps for 50/mo.

[deleted]

Re: Project Loon

#255

Post by emiliobumachar »

ptc wrote: post #24
emiliobumachar wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's very cheap, it could pay itself just with the legions of potential costumers (or eyeball pairs, to be cynical) it brings google.

Do you have some back of the envelope calculations of cost of this versus satellite or extending copper wire? I'm fairly ignorant on the subject, but would love to hear more.

No, I'm also fairly ignorant on the subject.

Re: Project Loon

#256

Post by mynameisvlad »

EFruit wrote: post #55
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. :)

You act like that's a good thing. I don't want some Google balloon watching me every step of my day. Even less so if what it's seeing is published near-instantly

I hate this line of thinking. Nobody is watching you. Nobody is monitoring you. Even with PRISM, it's a massive amount of data, and unless you are on some watch list, nobody gives two shits about you specifically.

Re: Project Loon

#257

Post by Swannie »

I wonder if Google are working with the Serval guys in Australia on this. They are turning Android devices into wireless meshes and have been sending up balloons with device + high gain aerials for quite a while... With the same project motives in mind: disaster recovery (with ground and pole based setup, including voice calls and txt messages with higher QoS over the network), and extending coverage to less populated parts of the world. Australia is a huge place. Wireless is the only sane option for large large parts of the country, and towers, with power - you have to get it there somehow , are expensive. Yes solar is often an option (though it makes the base station in the middle of nowhere a very attractive target for thieves) and I'll be very interested to see how Google will solve that one (assume balloons will be semi covered in panels plus quite large batteries, and possibly small amounts of wind generation?).

Re: Project Loon

#258

Post by Swannie »

Swannie wrote: post #257

I wonder if Google are working with the Serval guys in Australia on this. They are turning Android devices into wireless meshes and have been sending up balloons with device + high gain aerials for quite a while... With the same project motives in mind: disaster recovery (with ground and pole based setup, including voice calls and txt messages with higher QoS over the network), and extending coverage to less populate…

Doh. Reading the FAQ. Many q's answered.

Re: Project Loon

#260

Post by chii »

piyush_soni wrote: post #197
robryan wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't they do both? Make the world a better place and make a nice profit while doing so?

Exactly. That is exactly why I like Google's business model. It allows them to earn money, lots of it, while still being good, at least in theory.

except that anything they do in good faith, could be easily and mechanically turned into more profit by doing something a bit more evil. The pressure to make profit is the driving force, and so the stable norm for any profit making entity is to "turn evil".
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