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Facebook, Google Battle To Bring Internet To Remote Locations

Posted by samzenpus on Monday March 31, 2014 @02:13AM from the spreading-the-net dept.

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."

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Re:Stupid by Missing.Matter · 2014-03-31 02:20 · Score: 4, Interesting

I told my wife about the Google balloon idea and she said to me "What, you mean like in Gossip Girl?"

Apparently there is a story line in Gossip Girl (circa 2008) where one of the main characters is convinced to invest in a project to bring internet to Africa via balloons. In the end it turns out he's a scam artist and it was all a hoax. But I guess someone at Google saw it and said "Now wait a minute..."