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Google's Barge Is a Marketing Showroom

Dave Knott writes "The mysterious barge docked in San Francisco Bay that has been fueling intense speculation the past week will serve as a luxury showroom for Google products and a floating, modular venue for the company's private events. The large structure built out of shipping containers that sits on top of the barge will be used to market Google Glass, the much-hyped augmented reality headgear Google unveiled this year, and other products and to host invitation-only events and parties for clients. The structure is constructed of interchangeable 12-metre high shipping containers that can be assembled and disassembled and transported by road, rail or ship anywhere in the world."

59 comments

  1. Correction by Finallyjoined!!! · · Score: 3, Informative

    The structure is constructed of interchangeable 12-metre high shipping containers

    12 metre long shipping containers.

    --
    If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
    1. Re:Correction by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 2

      Everything's relative, man.

    2. Re: Correction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe the way you stack them

    3. Re:Correction by Megane · · Score: 1

      Way to go, eh, CBC?

      To be fair, although there aren't really good reference objects for size in the pictures, it does look like the whole thing is indeed four stories tall. But the individual containers sure aren't 12 meters high, or there would be trouble trying to transport it "by road".

      --
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    4. Re:Correction by mirix · · Score: 1

      Well, technically they're 40' long.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
    5. Re:Correction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      " But the individual containers sure aren't 12 meters high, or there would be trouble trying to transport it "by road"."....

      Simple... lay them on their side.... ;-)

    6. Re:Correction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, like an american is going to notice the difference...

  2. doesn't make sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stacks of containers to make a showroom?

    Seems a bit of a stretch. Maybe it all looks better through Glass?

    1. Re:doesn't make sense by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see them demonstrate the Glasses' ability to interact with the Internet from inside a structure made of metal shipping containers.

    2. Re:doesn't make sense by Bazman · · Score: 1

      Never mind that, what about the human's ability to breathe inside shipping containers?

    3. Re:doesn't make sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WiFi router or pico-cell inside, connected to the world outside by wire? There is this thing called drills that can make holes, suitable to påull wires through, even in metal... seems like magic, but that's technology these days.

    4. Re:doesn't make sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never mind that, what about the human's ability to breathe inside shipping containers?

      Unless it's filled with water it isn't a problem breathing inside a shipping container - in the short term. For longer term there's this thing called ventilation. Just because it's made of shipping containers it doesn't have to be hermetically sealed. Try searching for 'container house' on youtube...

    5. Re:doesn't make sense by dottrap · · Score: 1

      Maybe you're on to something. Since this is invitation-only, presumably VIP guests, maybe the real purpose is to build a "tin foil barge" to prevent snooping from the NSA and even Google itself. (nah)

    6. Re:doesn't make sense by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      that's surprisingly not a problem.

      but what they need is rooms that have been crafted to show ar possibilities...

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  3. The limit of any company far enough up its own ass by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 1

    ...is probably Apple. But Google are getting there.

  4. 12-metre high shipping containers by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

    Just the thing when you need to move a 30' smurf.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  5. My God, It's Full of Stars! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Obelisks. Google fucked with Europa while making EuropaMaps.Google.com

  6. A showroom? Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Out of all the things a mysterious Google barge could be, I have to say a marketing platform has got to be one of the most boring options imaginable. Unless they're using these to demonstrate somehow illegal hardware in international waters, I hope I never hear about this Glasshole ad campaign again.

  7. That's the cover story by gijoel · · Score: 2

    They're actually trying to raise a Russian sub.

    1. Re:That's the cover story by intermodal · · Score: 1

      Oh, come on. Glomar Explorer aside, It would be cheaper to just buy one from Russia.

      --
      In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  8. hahaha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hahahahahahahaha! whoahhahahahahahahahaha, ohw ha, sniff, sniff, hihihihahahaha hahaha hahhahahaha

  9. So, It's a Mobile Launchpad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They probably decided to be shy about the (intentionallly) submersible part. Just the thing as a mobile post to control .... kaiJu-killer Sharks with Lasers on their heads? It does seem to be scalable, at least as a hypothesis. I'd be guessing modular, interactive, and networked.

    It would be neat as a mobile AWS base for marine radiation monitoring. ... hm. But that would actually be in the public interest and (possibly) for the public good. So, naaah, that's not it! :-/

    1. Re:So, It's a Mobile Launchpad? by JustOK · · Score: 1

      Google wouldn't use sharks. They always use Betas.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
  10. Creepy Uncle Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Pssst! Hey, kid! Yes, you! Wanna see something awesome? Come with me into this shipping container! You'll like it, believe me."

  11. Cool idea, too bad it's so ugly by davide+marney · · Score: 1

    I love the idea of modular, transportable structures, but do they have to look like a pile of garbage bins with pins sticking out of the top? That's not industrial-cool, or retro-cool, that's just plain ugly. Makeover!

    --
    "We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
    1. Re:Cool idea, too bad it's so ugly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just need to wear your Google Glasses, citizen. It's true beauty will then be revealed as you become a True Believer, unlike the followers of the False Prophet, Job.

    2. Re:Cool idea, too bad it's so ugly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kinda like this, backwards?

  12. Do they need to go metric on this ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Standard size of shipping containers are 20ft and 40ft, yes, imperial feet, not meters.

    Is there a need to stick to metric system no matter what ?

    1. Re:Do they need to go metric on this ? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Standard size of shipping containers are 20ft and 40ft, yes, imperial feet, not meters.

      Is there a need to stick to metric system no matter what ?

      How many cubits is that?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Do they need to go metric on this ? by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      20 x 40 ft. 13.33 x 20.67 cubits. 6.10 x 12.19 meters.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Do they need to go metric on this ? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2

      Standard size of shipping containers are 20ft and 40ft, yes, imperial feet, not meters.

      Is there a need to stick to metric system no matter what ?

      How many cubits is that?

      Mycenaean? Or Old Kingdom?

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    4. Re:Do they need to go metric on this ? by contrarywise · · Score: 1

      Feet and inches were Borged by the metric system a long time ago. Look up the US definition of an inch.

    5. Re:Do they need to go metric on this ? by Zanadou · · Score: 1

      That's what she said.

  13. Fill it with hipsters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...tow it out to sea and sink it. Nothing of value would be lost.

    1. Re:Fill it with hipsters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. That means they would lose the container and can only do it once. Use poison gas, push the dead hipsters out into the sea, then wait for the next batch to show up.

  14. It will be great for the California traffic cops! by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

    They can just hang out around the barge, and pass out tickets in the barge parking lot!

    http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/tech/mobile/google-glass-driving-ticket/

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  15. Google's Barge = Traveling Salesman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So they're trying to recreate one of the classic problems in computer science...lol...

  16. It would make for some unnerving footage... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...should this thing ever sink during a Glass presentation.

  17. My bet is on a telco competitor. by deviated_prevert · · Score: 1
    Combine these barges with tethered balloons and presto you have one hell of a great ground plane for a wifi and high speed phone communication tower device that can sit in any harbor. Bring it up the Mississippi and you can cover most of the central US. Put a few on the Great Lakes and boom you cover huge populations in both Canada and the US. Put smaller versions of the same thing in strategic places and you can have a North American wide network that is not dependent upon the telcos or the cable companies like commie cast and the likes.

    The first ones logically will be experimental but my bet is Google has already done all the logistics and it will just work. Que the anti Google lobbying in Washington and why the hell else would Microsoft be so hot to sponsor Rockstar right now to take out the Android platform with patent lawsuits unless they knew that Google was about to change the game? My bet is also that these barges will double as data centers using HP tech Moonshot servers so that the power consumption will make them viable as well. Notice also that HP, Oracle and IBM are conspicuously absent from the blood hungry zombie list of of contributors to the Rockstar patent troll consortium. Though I doubt very much that there is any love between Oracle and Google considering Oracle's failed attempts to torpedo Android. I just wonder how much Microsoft and Apple were involved in the original move to push Oracle into a law suit against Google.

    This guy might say that the Annunaki are behind the Google barges but floating showrooms are about as sensible an explanation as using these barges for that purpose. It has to be something revolutionary otherwise Google would have leaked it already.

    --
    This message was not sent from an iPhone because Peter Sellers really was a deviated prevert without a dime for the call
    1. Re:My bet is on a telco competitor. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_ship of the coastline to avoid "constitutional" interference.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  18. Rich dude party barge by globaljustin · · Score: 1

    will be used to market Google Glass.....and to host invitation-only events and parties for clients.

    /. friends, this is how billionaires party these days...they buy a boat and sail it into international waters and do w/e they want

    these are probably Brin's old models...he upgraded to a bigger party barge & decided to sell his old one to his company

    --
    Thank you Dave Raggett
  19. The Spy Boat by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Surveillance, exciting and new
    Contractors Aboard. We're rewarding you.
    Data, life's sweetest via a telephone cord.
    Let it split, it tunnels back to you.
    The Spy Boat soon will be making another splice
    The Spy Boat promises to link every optical telco device
    Set a course for legality,
    Your mind on a new locality.
    Domestic spying won't be illegal anymore
    It's on open source offshore.
    Yes Surveillance! It's Surveillance!

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  20. Was there ever any doubt? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google with a comical false mustache and trenchcoat: Hey press, what's that mysterious barge over there?
    Press: OOOOOOO What is it?????
    Google: We're not tellllllling you! It's totally not important and it isn't Google Glass related.
    Press: But wouldn't the Port Authority have to be aware of it?
    Google: Yes, but if you go and say that right away, then it's not MYSTERIOUS!
    Press: So what you're looking for is a fluff piece to so how cool and unique you are?
    Google: like.... our....
    Press: PRODUCTS!
    Google: Thank you!
    Public: OOOOOOOO What is it???
    Google: candy... from... a... baby

  21. Re:The limit of any company far enough up its own by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...is probably Apple. But Google are getting there.

    If earning billions of dollars in profits counts as having your head up your ass, count me in any day!

  22. Fancy that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the raft.

  23. I've got an idea by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    We should invite all the google glass enthusiasts to it on one day and then sink it.

    1. Re:I've got an idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not very sporting of you. Beating them up is much more fun.

  24. Not intense speculation by gelfling · · Score: 1

    Outside of the small circle of bloggers and 'journalists' who were hoping it was an antigravity battle station. Because they're morons.

  25. Maybe... by jbwolfe · · Score: 1

    Google's first attempt at a holodeck?

    --
    Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
  26. Virtual Light again? by kheldan · · Score: 1

    I realize this may be only me, but whenever someone mentions Google Glass, I think Virtual Light glasses from the Gibson series of novels -- where the Bay Bridge was no longer used as a bridge, and squatters were living on it instead, which for some reason I was reminded of again by having Google's floating structure in the Bay..

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  27. Makes no sense by Animats · · Score: 1

    Why build a demo space out of shipping containers? The dimensions are awful.

    The floating data center isn't a great idea, either. You have all the headaches of salt water corrosion. It's hard to get bulk power and data offshore. It's not cheaper than building on low-value land. The only justifications would be political. It might be useful if you had to bring up a big data center in a primitive area with little infrastructure.

    1. Re:Makes no sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't believe the /. crowd's BS meters aren't going off the scale with this lame cover story.

      Putting on my tin foil hat: with the level of secrecy and red herring PR it smells of something more along the lines of Project Azorian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

  28. An obvious front for something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is obviously a trial project for something else they want to build in shipping containers, to see if it will work. Just another dot-com company burning money doing something silly! In a year or two, they'll be working on whatever it really is that they want to purpose this stuff for.

  29. The Modern HOPE Ship? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Affordable Health Care Barge. A wireless connectivity travelling software center version. A Travelling Signup Center Version. And a Hospitality Version. No one likes to mention the Disposal, er, Unplanned Rescision Version.

    Comparatively, the local armed forces in the Amazon (Forest) Region usually carry out yearly health campaigns, aided by student volunteers from universities. The navies usually send hospital ships up the Amazon and a few major tribitaries.

  30. Glass isn't augmented reality by riffzifnab · · Score: 1

    It's a heads up display, totaly different.

  31. Oh that can't be right!! by Nov8tr · · Score: 1

    This has to be fake! Google would never use anything massive and over bloated!

    --
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