With all his talk of better data compression
and more efficient phone chips, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief
executive, has had a bit of trouble getting people excited about Internet.org, his ambitious plan to get everyone in the world onto the Internet.
Not anymore. The web was abuzz on Tuesday after a report in TechCrunch that Facebook was in negotiations to buy a manufacturer of drones, Titan Aerospace, for about $60 million.
If a deal is completed, it will give Mr. Zuckerberg an intriguing new technology to further the cause of Internet.org.
Titan’s drones, which resemble solar-powered
airplanes, are designed to fly as high as 65,000 feet and stay aloft for
as long as five years — essentially functioning like cheap satellites.
They could blanket large areas with wireless Internet signals, although
the signals would be slower and unable to handle as much data as
land-based Internet connections. For remote places like rural Africa,
they would be enough to provide at least rudimentary access to the
Internet through mobile phones.
Facebook would have to overcome lots of
technical and legal problems before a global Facenet would be a reality.
But the idea would allow the social network to one-up its rival,
Google, which has its own far-fetched plan to extend the Internet to
far-flung places via a network of balloons.
And it is a lot closer to reality than Amazon’s idea of drones that will deliver packages.
+Hr OldAssociates