Google Balloon Internet “Project Loon” Gearing Up For Massive Global Launch - Bidness ETC

In case you may be wondering what Project Loon might be, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has this crazy idea (if you can call it that) to provide those regions that are hard to reach or lack the required infrastructure, with Internet through floating balloons. No doubt it is still a fascinating idea and would be really great if it works out.

As sweet as the project sounds, the company has a very daunting task ahead of it. To build a massive global infrastructure in the sky and make sure the technology works right to pick up the floating hot-spots is indeed a daunting task. For those who have their doubts, the company has just posted a "behind the scenes" video for its project Loon. You can watch the video here.

After watching the video, the project does look quite promising. The project was first announced in June 2013 and has come a long way since. Previously a balloon took about 4 days to make, but now they can be made in just a matter of few hours and the balloons can stay high above ground for over a hundred days (almost 5 months). They can launch a lot more balloons into the atmosphere now rather than just one a day. There is a mission control center that keeps track of all these Internet balloon and help guide to ideal places all over the world, particularly the rural areas.

The project is still a long way off from its end as there are many countries that are much larger to cover than New Zealand. That also means the project will require more resources and manpower to do so. Google will also need to form partnerships with local telecom services in each particular country so that people can use this Internet on their smartphones.

Bringing easy Internet access all over the world is a good motive, but how effective would it actually be? Currently those people who are living in no-Internet zones probably have no use of it because they don't own the required device. The number of people owning a smartphone or a laptop, especially in the rural areas, would be pretty low.



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