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Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#31

Post by agarden »

darren0 wrote: post #26
aejnsn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for noting this! I am from (real) SW Virginia. While this looks great as a headline--because everyone knows of SW Virginia's impoverished situation due to coal economy dependencies--Montgomery is definitely NOT the poorest county in SW VA. That's on the border of barely qualifying as "SW VA" in my opinion. I'd rather see this impact in the coalfield counties of Buchanan, Wise, Dickenson, Russell, Lee, Tazewell…

Is 4G/LTE connectivity also an issue? You've seen internet access brought to people through smart phones but I'm curious if the geography poses even more problems with that approach.

I live just a couple miles from town and have no cell phone service at my house. And it isn't even down in a valley. Forget LTE; cell service in general is really spotty in this region.

Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#32

Post by BenjiWiebe »

eganist wrote: post #20
aejnsn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for noting this! I am from (real) SW Virginia. While this looks great as a headline--because everyone knows of SW Virginia's impoverished situation due to coal economy dependencies--Montgomery is definitely NOT the poorest county in SW VA. That's on the border of barely qualifying as "SW VA" in my opinion. I'd rather see this impact in the coalfield counties of Buchanan, Wise, Dickenson, Russell, Lee, Tazewell…

> It's a more poverty-stricken area than some realize, nearly third world. This is immensely true of Appalachia in general ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_and_economic_stratifica... ). Having done quite a number of roadtrips up and down I-81, the amount of destitution I've seen has never failed to break my heart. Nothing's ever changed for these people, and the foundational building blocks (infrastructure, edu…

Wouldn't 4G be a far better choice for low/medium density population, in a rural setting, with lots of hills/trees/mountains? If it's like central Kansas (probably far worse), there's areas that don't even have 3G.

Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#35

Post by dragonwriter »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #2

I can’t help but think a car would have been a better delivery mechanism but then Google wouldn’t get much press from it. Doing “good things” just for better optics really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

> I can’t help but think a car would have been a better delivery mechanism but then Google wouldn’t get much press from it.

i can see a pretty obvious way that could get even more press for Google’s corporate parent, since it would be an Alphabet firm doing it directly and not merely an outside but Google-supported firm.

> Doing “good things” just for better optics really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Dissing people for doing good things just because you've ascribed to them optics as their motive leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#36

Post by andrewzah »

suifbwish wrote: post #19
yardie wrote: post #4

This is in the county, Montgomery, where Virgina Tech is based. They have a very large UAV program there. So much so that they applied for a campus-wide FAA exemption. I think it's cool if a bit useless. But if you have a hammer, everything else is a nail. Books have been delivered electronically for decades. Electronically flying a physical book doesn't look to be our future.

Electronic books are also not our future. Until there are ebooks with physical pages I can turn, I can’t be bothered with them and I am not alone. Ebooks will never be mainstream except for audio purposes and for reference material.

> Ebooks will never be mainstream

Sorry, but I really doubt this. Ebooks take zero space, are instantly shareable, and are somewhat* easy to search.

I hate reading on regular phone/laptop screens, but my kindle paperwhite is actually pretty nice for regular text. I like my bookshelf, but not accruing hundreds of pounds in books is also very nice.

We'll likely continue to see updates to e-ink/similar screens that make them more palatable.

* Actually for referencing material, I find physical books + bookmarks/tabstops are way easier than navigating stupid UIs. When I was learning Rust I had several sections of O'Reilly's Programming Rust bookmarked for quick reference. At least for separate software like amazon's app, etc. With a PDF indexer/parsing tool like Paperless searching is pretty painless, but you need to set it up and convert everything to an indexable format like pdf. Unless I'm doing something wrong.

Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#37

Post by cloudwalking »

wsetchell wrote: post #34

That packaging looks incredibly expensive. Even if the other components/service was free, that alone would make this price uncompetitive. That makes me think this is a long long way from being a self sustaining business.

It's paper.

Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#39

Post by cat199 »

cmdshiftf4 wrote: post #23
mabbo wrote: post #17

Why is this a great idea, but Amazon delivering packages via drones crazy? Technologically, it's the exact same thing.

Because it's for "good. The cynical side of me, and I'm particularly cynical when it comes to Google, is that this kind of thing is nothing more than PR to try to normalize filling our skies with drones ("Look at the good they do!") so they can inevitably then fill the skies with crap to boost the consumerist appetite without much protest.

came here to say just that.. this is basically 'think of the children' spun positive as concerns drone normalization impact

Re: Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia

#40

Post by fma »

agarden wrote: post #5
kayodelycaon wrote: post #2

I can’t help but think a car would have been a better delivery mechanism but then Google wouldn’t get much press from it. Doing “good things” just for better optics really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Today, sure, using a van would be much more efficient. But this is probably a way to test and improve the technology, working towards making it more efficient than a van. More importantly, the optics here are not just about you and me and other adults. Think about it how it looks to a kid. You can have your library books show up in a van, and that might be fun, but if you could have a drone drop off your library book…

I think we should get kids excited about reading a book through the experience the book provides, not the experience the delivery provides.

In the past they used to have book mobiles, and probably still do in some areas. It's a library in a van...not like a UPS delivery where you pick a book out online and you only get that book. A book mobile is where kids can go in the van, physically touch and feel books and choose one that excites them. They can talk to other kids, talk to the librarian...

At some point when drone delivery of books get boring, someone will need to invent teleportation just to get kids to read.

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