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Facebook, Google Battle To Bring Internet To Remote Locations
jfruh (300774) writes "Facebook and Google only make money from people when they can access the Internet, so it stands to reason that they're working to make sure everyone has access. While Google's Project Loon seeks to use balloon-borne equipment, Mark Zuckerberg envisions a system of drones and laser beams."
No really, they are stupid ideas.
I'd be a months pay that no one at Google has any intention of using this anywhere in the real world and that this is more just something to get news hits than anything anyone actually would be stupid enough to try.
Drones and blimps are clearly much more cost effective and reliable than say ... a simple steel tower.
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What I envision is a sci-fi battle where Google laser beams are attempting to shoot down Facebook drones.
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Zuckerberg is just a reasonably bright person with a shitload of cash, he's not some kind of networking prodigy.
I think it's kind of insulting to the big community of actual engineers at Google to compare all of their efforts against some hunch thought that Mark Zuckerberg had.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Party-of-the-rich-In-Congress-it-s-the-Democrats-5363121.php
"WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are the party of the rich, right? It's a label that has stuck for decades, and you're hearing it again as Democrats complain about GOP opposition to raising the minimum wage and extending unemployment benefits.
But in Congress, the wealthiest among us are more likely to be represented by a Democrat than a Republican. Of the 10 richest House districts, only two have Republican congressmen. Democrats claim the top six, sprinkled along the East and West coasts. Most are in overwhelmingly Democratic states like New York and California.
The richest: New York's 12th Congressional District, which includes Manhattan's Upper East Side, as well as parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Democrat Carolyn Maloney is in her 11th term representing the district.
Per capita income in Maloney's district is $75,479. That's more than $75,000 a year for every man, woman and child. The next highest income district, which runs along the southern California coast, comes in at $61,273. Democrat Henry Waxman is in his 20th term representing the Los Angeles-area district.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district comes in at No. 8.
Across the country, Democratic House districts have an average per capita income of $27,893. That's about $1,000 higher than the average income in Republican districts. The difference is relatively small because Democrats also represent a lot of poor districts, putting the average in the middle.
Democrats say the "party of the rich" label is more about policies than constituents."
Sounds a lot like Google TiSP (albeit, a few days early).
They're just trolling. People living in these areas would not have the money to pay for such an access model. You can't finance something like this with banner- ads.
I think universal access to information is great, socially it is empowering and amazing... but FB and Google are not charities. As tfs says "Facebook and Google only make money from people when they can access the Internet"
The internet is only available to the the richest 30% of the world.
Advertisers currently access to the eyeballs of the top 30%
Accessing the eyeballs of the very poor or extremely remote populations does not make sense from an advertising standpoint.
Maybe first Facebook and Google can convince AT&T to actually install the equipment needed for me to get DSL, or convince the cable company to run the 0.4 miles of line down into my subdivision so that I can get real high speed Internet at my house.
In Capitalist America, a BotNet is YOU!
Because what are laser beams without them?
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Mark Zuckerberg envisions a system of drones and laser beams.
I think the USAF envisions the same thing.
But it does make sense from an arms race standpoint: facebook and google probably have the same eyeballs right now. If facebook were to have more eyeballs than google, facebook's revenue would go up and googles down.
It also makes sense for advertising for advertising. People are talking about it and not in a "Can you BELIEVE what facebook changed now? Fuck facebook! I'm going to quit it for the rest of the day!"
I live in Northern Mozambique in Africa. Our NGO pays $1000 (USD) per month for a 1Mb/s symmetrical dedicated line. It's delivered via fiber, even out here. The incumbent state-owned provider is over $2000/month for a 1Mb/s copper line. The only other option is VSAT but that's 10:1 contention or higher unless you want to pay $8k/month or more. VSAT with contention is unusable during the day.
We don't need balloons, we just need fiber terminations with reasonable fees. If we could get 10Mb/s for $500 that would transform the country.
They both have a common goal, to get a network to the masses. Just make nice, join forces, and get the job done. Enough with the story headlines and get on with it.
How about our connecting our rural areas? We got those areas electricity back under FDR, we can get them broadband now.
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
Is facebook bringing the internet, or just facebook to remote locations?
Provided you can afford the land on which to install a steel tower. It might be logistically easier to gain rights to airspace for a tethered balloon than to land space.
I'm pretty sure that the guy that owns Mexico's cell phone networks (Carlos Slim I believe) would disagree with you. Just because they aren't in the richest X% doesn't mean you can't advertise and make money from them.
These two stories were reported over a year ago.
I think universal access to information is great, socially it is empowering and amazing
Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Dr. Rasheed Nback Adulakalamar and thanks to Google Loon Project I can finally contact you regarding my last will and testament that I intend to leave to you totalling $150,000,000 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION US DOLLARS). While my many gold mines in this African nation of Congo have given me vast riches, it has left me destitute for friends. I remember when we met once in an airport once and although you probably don't remember me, I have always regarded you as a great friend to me. Your kindness was respectable. I am now on my deathbed with no family of my own, and I do not trust my estate lawyers. So I would rather deposit my enormous fortune, obtained by selling airplanes, directly into your largest checking account. International customs will only allow me to transfer a sum of this size into a checking account with at least $5,000 (FIVE THOUSAND US DOLLARS) positive balance. Please fill out the following information and reply to me so I can make this deposit to your account and God Bless. Matthew 13:7
Name:
Routing #:
Account #:
Social Security #:
Name of Childhood Pet:
Favorite Sports Team:
I'd pay to see that.
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
kinda forgot the 1,300,000,000 people in China?
who all live without Facebook as it is 'not accessable'?
Pure spin doctor BS.
And everyone thinks the NSA is bad.
Perhaps Google, Facebook, etc. should just convert their motto to the following and be done with it:
We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.
Just because they aren't charities in themselves that doesn't mean they can't do charitable work. And providing free internet access now could still have a long term payoff, if the people in the areas they provide internet access to use it to develop their economy.