Here’s a fun one to think about. What’s cheaper than building a boat-load of cell towers to spread signal? How about putting balloons about 20 miles up in the sky? Somewhere between tower-based radios and satellite signals, a box can be attached to a ‘space balloon’ that has components acting as a radio tower. Signal could be sent out over thousands of square miles without the worry of mountains, trees, and ridiculously tall people. So why bring this up? Read on.
Google is considering a contract with Space Data, a company that launches 10 balloons a day in the southern parts of the US. Helping truckers and oil companies stay in touch, one of their balloons could replace the need for 40 cell towers. And if a contract with them doesn’t appear to be in the stars, perhaps Google will just outright buy them. According to one source, Google is pondering both options right now. And not surprisingly, neither company wanted to comment on the matter.
Check back for more on this one, as we’re just hitting you with some of the basic details. Look for more tomorrow!
February 20, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Not noted/cited in this post: This material was all taken from a front page Wall Street Journal story today (Feb. 20)
February 21, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Whereas the WSJ article was the basis for this post, it was not lifted word for word. Besides that, we did credit the source within hours of posting. If you’ve followed our site for any length of time, you’ll see a track record of us giving tons of credit to sources.
I could have just deleted the comment, but I figured our readers deserve to see us ‘make it right.’
The very next article on the page that was done also referred to WSJ.
February 21, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Yeah! Next time, strap on a pair of hairy boys and leave your real name or contact info.