Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet access

[Luke]

Google has today announced Project Loon, giving people Balloon Powered Internet Access all over the world.

Check this video out for a basic explanation:
[youtube]m96tYpEk1Ao[/youtube]

And this one goes more indepth for those interested in how this will actually work:
[youtube]mcw6j-QWGMo[/youtube]

What do you guys think of this? To be honest, it's epic that things like this are happening!

 

[Venom]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Not so sure about the name. 😛

 

[Luke]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Pretty cool though!

 

[iPhonefreak]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Wasting money, as usual Google does!

This won't work at all

 

[Luke]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Wasting money, as usual Google does!

This won't work at all

It does work, people are already testing here in Christchurch New Zealand and they're sitting around flying around the globe!

It's not a waste of money. Just because you're fortunate to get internet access doesn't mean that 2/3rds of the world should miss out. Google are trying to make it so everyone can access the internet. They're the most innovative company around, with companies like Samsung right behind them.

 

[USHost247]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

These other huge billionaire companies are not doing things Google is. At least Google is trying to help everyone get internet. Other companies are "loonatics" for having so much money, but not following Google's path.

 

[Justin]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Wasting money, as usual Google does!

This won't work at all

Money google does have to waste lol but at least they're trying 😛 They are almost always the first at trying something different or innovative to help everyone
http://www.google.com/green/

On topic: This looks pretty cool, however I do see too many downsides to it. Good effort though

 

[iPhonefreak]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Are they gonna give away computers? If you do not have the technology to access the network, then like I said, it is no good.

 

[Luke]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Are they gonna give away computers? If you do not have the technology to access the network, then like I said, it is no good.

:roll:

This is meant for everyone, Google are trying to take one step out of the equation and you'd be surprised to know that some schools in really poor areas actually have computers. A lot of companies refurbish computers, tablets and printers and actually send them off to developing countries.

There's people here in NZ who are so far away from cities that it costs them $1,000 a month in internet fees and if they wanted speeds like fibre it would cost them $XX,XXX to get it installed.

Google are actually doing something here which is actually interesting and could work very well for developing nations and people who live very far away from cities etc. I don't see other tech giants trying to give developing nations internet access.

 

[Geoffrey]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Are they gonna give away computers? If you do not have the technology to access the network, then like I said, it is no good.

This lol.

I don't understand all the science and all connecting stuff, but it is neat. I just don't think they'll get this to be as widespread as they're hyping it up to be. A lot of the people without internet connections need food, shelter, etc. to survive - not twitter.

 

[iPhonefreak]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

 

[Quacker Jack]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

Good thing Google Fiber is available in my Metro. 😉

This actually looks super awesome, but I see a fatal flaw: What is the point of internet if you don't have a computer, tablet, or any internet-enabled device?

 

[mav3n]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

Yeah, like other people brought up, it's an excellent idea, it truly is. However, you need the technology to use it. I do like the idea of the little antenna that attaches to your house; it looks like the size of Verizon's Home Fusion's antenna.

 

[Luke]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

Good thing Google Fiber is available in my Metro. 😉

This actually looks super awesome, but I see a fatal flaw: What is the point of internet if you don't have a computer, tablet, or any internet-enabled device?

It can still be used for other things though. For example here in Christchurch (where they're testing the balloons) we had a massive earthquake which killed almost 200 people. We didn't have internet for days and days after it because of power cuts. With these little balloons floating around, we would've been able to get onto the internet and tell our family members that we are alright 🙂

 

[mav3n]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

Good thing Google Fiber is available in my Metro. 😉

This actually looks super awesome, but I see a fatal flaw: What is the point of internet if you don't have a computer, tablet, or any internet-enabled device?

It can still be used for other things though. For example here in Christchurch (where they're testing the balloons) we had a massive earthquake which killed almost 200 people. We didn't have internet for days and days after it because of power cuts. With these little balloons floating around, we would've been able to get onto the internet and tell our family members that we are alright 🙂

Valid point you bring up Luke! I like the idea of it being there for emergencies and what not, however, you'd still need the antenna for it to connect to the balloons.

 

[froggyboy604]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

I think this is a good idea since free Wi-Fi is so hard to find, and 3G, 4G, and 2G cellular internet can cost a lot for a few GBs of bandwidth.

 

[Justin]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

The point is to help those with exsisting internet to get better coverage and faster service everywhere and anywhere 😛 It's not meant as a game changer. They're taking a whack at an idea

 

[Sam]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

It's certainly interesting. I would love to know how much it will cost for customers. 🙂

 

[Darthmaul]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

Judging by your name, I assume your animosity comes from your devotion to apple products. Nothing wrong with that, we all have an opinion, yadda yadda yadda. However, straight up denying google is doing something at least interesting here seems a bit of a stretch.

Your first point: Google is wasting money, as they always do. What? If you were a multi-billion dollar company, I'm sure you would be doing similar projects. And honestly "waste" is such a loosely defined word, at this juncture it does really substantiate any kind of point.

Next you discuss how since computers aren't free, google fails. This is like attacking any industry trying to make things cheaper. Let's go with a department store. They are having a sale! But the clothes aren't free, so they suck. Right? Same path of reasoning. It is a valid concern, however not really something you can attack google for, because they have made advances in this area(chromebook for one) at making affordable tech solutions for all.

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

1) Google fiber is an ENORMOUS undertaking; very hard to grasp how impossibly careful google has to be. So, while I too wish for google fiber now, I would rather wait and have an awesome and stable product as opposed to google rushing things and messing up.

2)A 33% success rate on new projects is pretty amazing for such a vast company. Think about all the projects you've done, maybe in school, maybe in business. Think about their success rates, as opposed to the amount of energy you had to put behind it. If google devoted their entire workforce to a project, it would be done very quickly, and have a much higher success rate. But since google tries new things often and is trying to make tech in this world better, they have vast numbers of teams working on vast numbers of projects. I'm honestly surprised it's a 1/3 success rate!

Honestly, think about this kind of thing before you make blind accusations.
The benefits of this product alone are at least worth hearing more about it.

 

[Quacker Jack]

Re: Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet acces

They should build out more google fiber. 🙂

I read somewhere that like 1/3 of googles projects fail.

I'd ask you more questions, but I'm sure you don't know as Googke hasn't said much.

Good thing Google Fiber is available in my Metro. 😉

This actually looks super awesome, but I see a fatal flaw: What is the point of internet if you don't have a computer, tablet, or any internet-enabled device?

It can still be used for other things though. For example here in Christchurch (where they're testing the balloons) we had a massive earthquake which killed almost 200 people. We didn't have internet for days and days after it because of power cuts. With these little balloons floating around, we would've been able to get onto the internet and tell our family members that we are alright 🙂

Valid point you bring up Luke! I like the idea of it being there for emergencies and what not, however, you'd still need the antenna for it to connect to the balloons.

Indeed, valid. It is a really interesting idea. I love Google's little projects like this.