Google isn’t the only one with a thing for balloons. The company announced a partnership with France’s space agency Thursday that will…
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Sheep farmer finds downed “Google Loon balloon” in South Africa
According to local reports, the balloon had Google [X} markings on it.…
Read MoreGoogle partners with Telstra to test Project Loon in Australia
Having already conducted tests in New Zealand, Google will test its connectivity-spouting Project Loon balloons in Australia next month in partnership with…
Read MoreGoogle begins its satellite push, buying Skybox for $500M
Google kicked off what could be a big satellite technology investment spree with a $500 million bid for startup Skybox Imaging. Skybox takes hi-rez images of the Earth's surface, but Google has broadband plans for the company.…
Read MoreGoogle weighed buying spectrum for Project Loon, but opted to rent its balloons to carriers instead
Instead of using its own spectrum, Project Loon will partner will carriers around the world. They'll use their own spectrum to transmit from Loon balloons.…
Read MoreGoogle trains a Loon balloon to surf the air currents, avoiding the “polar vortex”
Here be sea monsters... As Google tries to find the fastest air routes around the earth for its Project Loon balloons, it deals with seasonal wind changes and a maelstrom near the South Pole.…
Read MoreDrones vs. balloons: Zuckerberg explains why wings are better for the internet than helium
Google wants to blanket the stratosphere with free-floating internet balloons. Facebook wants to place internet drones over specific population centers. Which approach is better? Mark Zuckerberg makes Facebook's case.…
Read MoreGoogle: Project Loon balloons will circumnavigate the globe 3 times
Three laps around around the world will mean the balloons need to stay aloft for 100 days. According to Google materials engineers, that's a much more difficult task than you might think.…
Read MoreWith Project Loon, Google is engineering a mobile network in reverse
Building a balloon-based broadband network is nothing like designing a satellite constellation, Google explains. You can think of Loon as a cellular network where the towers are moving instead of the subscribers.…
Read MoreAs Google’s revenue grows 12 percent, Page says he’d love to spend more on moonshots
Google had a great Q3, with revenue growing 12 percent. Google CEO Larry Page would love to spend more of that money on moonshots.…
Read MoreGoogle partners with international development agencies to make internet cheap
Internet access may not seem like a huge expense to U.S. consumers, but in many countries it costs more than rent. A new organization called the Alliance For Affordable Internet wants to reduce those costs dramatically.…
Read MoreGoogle-backed O3b is working with Kymeta to build a next-gen satellite antenna
O3b and Kymeta are trying to build a self-steering non-mechanical satellite antenna using metamaterials. Such an antenna could make O3b's satellite broadband links mobile, helping further it and Google's goal of connecting billions of people.…
Read MoreThe fascinating backstory of Google’s Project Loon
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/08/googlex-project-loon/ Wired tells the story of Rich DeVaul, Project Loon’s first leader, as he and Google engineers try to tackle the problem…
Read MoreThese American balloons are powering Google Loon
Google's Project Loon is getting some serious practical help from a plastics company in developing their internet balloons.…
Read MoreGoogle’s other plan to connect the unconnected: satellites
One of Google's earliest investments O3b is set to launch its first satellites into space. The orbiting network targets the rural and remote areas of the world, making it a perfect complement to Project Loon.…
Read MoreProject Loon: Google’s biggest obstacle isn’t technology. It’s politics
Mesh networking and dirigibles have been around for decades. What truly makes Project Loon a difficult -- if not impossible -- undertaking is getting the world's governments to agree to it.…
Read MoreBringing the Internet everywhere will need clean power
Connecting the ends of the Earth with internet access will require tapping into various types of clean power. Google's Project Loon is just the latest wacky way to use renewable energy to connect the world.…
Read MoreGoogle’s balloon-based internet dream: loon or loony?
Google has always had a thing for balloon-based Internet, blimps and connecting the unconnected. Five years after it first started talking about it, Google is finally launching a seemingly loony project called Project Loon in New Zealand. Will balloon-based Internet finally fly?…
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