Google in a Balloon
Google has never been shy about working on a variety of “blue sky” projects, nor have they made much secret about those. Their latest venture is a blue sky project in a much more literal sense. They are testing the use of high-altitude balloons as a means of providing Internet access to the remote and in most cases really poor areas of the globe. Like many such projects (self-driving car for instance) this one makes very little sense from the purely corporate strategy level – at least on the surface. The areas they are targeting are poor, remote, and sparsely populated. It would take a lot of clicks on targeted adds (Great discount on all your sheep herding accessories!) to get any money back out of this, and even more to make a dent in Google’s gargantuan revenues. However, this looks like a project straight out of Larry Page’s list of personal interests and fixations. Ever since I had first met him over ten years ago he was always fiddling with alternative transportation methods, unorthodox flying machines, and expressing interest in Internet penetration in the third world countries. So the “Project Loon” may or may not affect Google’s business, but it’s certainly helping Larry achieve some of his own personal goals.
About the Author
Bojan Tunguz
Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts
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