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Google Buys Drone Maker Titan Aerospace
garymortimer (1882326) writes "Google has acquired drone maker Titan Aerospace. Titan is a New Mexico-based company that makes high-flying solar powered drones. There's no word on the price Google paid, but Facebook had been in talks to acquire the company earlier this year for a reported $60 million. Presumably, Google paid more than that to keep it away from Facebook. 'Google had just recently demonstrated how its Loon prototype balloons could traverse the globe in a remarkably short period of time, but the use of drones could conceivably make a network of Internet-providing automotons even better at globe-trotting, with a higher degree of control and ability to react to changing conditions. Some kind of hybrid system might also be in the pipeline that marries both technologies.'"
If they send up enough sats, could they make google maps realtime?
would either Google or especially Facebook be buying drone companies? These companies obviously have WAY too much money and are WAY overvalued. I suppose it is smart that rather than wait for the bubble to burst and the share price to crash, wiping out billions in value, they're trying to get stuff that is worth something while they still can. Still, this is actually kind of unsettling to me and makes me wonder if we may cruising obliviously towards the next text meltdown, sooner rather than later?
It's alluded to in the summary, and spelled out in TFA - both companies have shown interest in providing internet access in underserved areas through aerial platforms:
Both Ascenta and Titan Aerospace are in the business of high altitude drones, which cruise nearer the edge of the earth’s atmosphere and provide tech that could be integral to blanketing the globe in cheap, omnipresent Internet connectivity to help bring remote areas online. According to the WSJ, Google will be using Titan Aerospace’s expertise and tech to contribute to Project Loon, the balloon-based remote Internet delivery project it’s currently working on along these lines.
The main goal, however, is likely spreading the potential reach of Google and its network, which is Facebook’s aim, too. When you saturate your market and you’re among the world’s most wealthy companies, you don’t go into maintenance mode; you build new ones.
Mark...is that you?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
How exactly would you expect them to build a wireless network without encroaching on everyone else's spectrum? Did you even think that through?
It's cheaper to send a couple drones up to tirelessly update the aerial photography in Google Earth than manned aircraft.
Mark Zuckerberg wanted to replace Facebook's "What are you doing?" prompt with "How much will you pay us to not tell everyone what you're really doing?"
I know, don't feed the trolls but when did war driving turn into a bad thing? Was it when it stopped being internet hipster enough because 'big data' started to do it?
if paranoid = 1 {
Lock up your wifi
}
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
How exactly would you expect them to build a wireless network without encroaching on everyone else's spectrum?
The ground transmitter and drone will have a line-of-sight connection. So they could use microwave or even visible light. There is plenty of available spectrum for this type of application. Both the ground transmitter and drone could use a narrow directional signal.
One concept- on station floating wifi.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
It would be great if people could request an update on a specific location. Possible way to monetize that would be that a person could pay to climb the queue.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
he already shot down Amazon's drone plan, based on mathematics of powering electric planes, and the number that would have to be in the air.
now, if Google was going to use drones to deliver upgrades and patches...
but I bet it just looked cool, and they had cash in their pocket while window shopping.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Google at its disposal a very well funded surface drone force (AKA lobbyists) - with enough whining and dining I'm sure they can get the regulatory approval they need.
In light of the flying car vaporware weve been promised for decades, Google is going to provide Jetsons View in addition to street view, in an attempt to pacify some bitterness in the world.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Is the availability of solar power, and the low energy need to run basic wi-fi
But one needs long-term trials showing survivability during storms and inclement weather events, as well as impacts on aviation due to mobile wi-fi.
The main design choice is between mobile wi-fi repeater platforms that communicate with satellites for a period of time, and ones that have a fairly long lifespan (2-3 years) and are mobile to locate at a specific region. If you keep things up in the air, stuff happens to them. In the New Zealand trials in remote areas, the lifespan was a bit short, so the cost per day of service depends on the weather.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
It would be great if people could request an update on a specific location. Possible way to monetize that would be that a person could pay to climb the queue.
They already can, they just have to work for a 3 letter government agency.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
And I thought they wanted makani kiteplains for green energy....they probably want them for the same as the other drones?
4wdloop
Aside from Internet access, drone companies really offer something real to sell. The tech from the drone industry can be applied to smartphones (and vice versa with drones), IoT, research, space exploration (and vice versa), manufacturing, transportation, logistics and such. More than any computer graphics company or LCD nowadays when it comes to new tech.
That's compared to back in the 2001's: pets.com, Boo.com, Broadcast.com, GovWorks.com, InfoSpace, microstrategy, etc...
Now, Google buying up all the robotics companies I would be concerned, as Robotics have been a holy grail for decades. Maybe drones will make that real. It's a wise splurge if anything... but an investment.
Yeah, I'd like to order an update of Barbra Streisand's house.