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Facebook To Start Testing Internet-Beaming Drones In 2015
Zothecula writes There was an understandable amount of skepticism when Amazon announced its grand plans for delivery drones last year. But if the last twelve months are any indication, Jeff Bezos and his fellow tech heavyweights are actually kinda serious about the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles. Speaking at the Social Good Summit in New York on Monday, engineering director at Facebook Connectivity Lab, Yael Maguire, has further detailed the company's vision of internet-carrying drones, with plans to begin testing in 2015.
That's totally true, but Facebook has been making numerous attempts to get out of the "being facebook" game recently. I think that they're executives know as well as we do that individual social networks don't last forever, and they're trying to find long-term high tech areas to operate in too.
It'd take more than my 10 fingers to count all the major tech companies that could be counted as "social networks" that are now mostly defunct.
Does the internet shut off at night, then?
You know that's a very good question along with what wireless technology are they going to use? At more than 10 miles up there are no consumer grade wireless technologies that will work that far unless it's direct point to point, not omni. If you look at how ranges for WiFi tech have not improved with their speeds over time, I don't see this happening. Even going LTE or some cell tech you could get, at most, 2-5 km, or about 3-3.5 miles max. They want to start field testing this in at most five years. I just don't see it happening and I think that to assume nothing goes wrong and these things will always stay at 60k-90k altitude is folly as well. The first one of these to stray into a commercial airline route and collides with a passenger jet and the whole concept goes crumbling down. And Google and Balloons! OMG, if one of those fell into a plane, what a mess! I think this is a good idea on paper that has no chance of becoming reality.
Anyone who uses faecesbook is a moron.
Isn't that what business on the Internet is all about: Making money from morons . . . ?
As to Internet with Drones . . . it won't be a serious business until the porn providers start offering it. Porn is the bellwether of any Internet technology.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!