Check out this article for Wired, Facebook Will Build Satellites and Drones to Beam Internet Around The World by Cade Metz. Yes, you read that correctly. Facebook has set up a lab dedicated to developing solar powered, unmanned drones (in a similar article by NBC News, they said that these drones could be as big as 747s) that can fly above the earth for months and beam down WiFi to people who don't have it. The main target of these drones would be suburban areas The article didn't say anything about rural areas, but I'm assuming that these drones could get Internet to those places too (and it's sorely needed, as some people in our school could tell you.) They also plan to build satellites to reach even more remote areas. This all is part of a future plan to expand Facebook's business even further. After all, what's the best way to sell lots of a product? Offer it to a wider audience.
My first thought when I read this article was "Since when is Facebook in the aviation industry?" It seems ludicrous to me, but I guess it's not that strange for large corporations to be in the business of industry (and potentially world) changing technology. Google is working on a similar project except using weather balloons. In the past Facebook had another project dedicated to making a faster computer server. In the past corporations have been sources of life-changing innovations, so I suppose I'm just behind on the times.
I also wondered how exactly this thing was going to work. So let's say Facebook does send these drones up. Now there's WiFi signals all over the place for people to connect to. Would this WiFi be free? I can't see that being the case. After all, solar powered drones need maintenance and people flying them need to be paid. I imagine you would have to pay Facebook for access to the Internet if you used their signal. This might be profitable for them if they're beaming WiFi down to rural areas where they have no other choice, but what about in cities and neighborhoods where there's WiFi all over the place? People aren't going to pay for Facebook's WiFi if there's free coffee shop WiFi two feet away. People also aren't going to change from their regular WiFi routers to Facebook's WiFi unless it's cheaper, faster or more reliable. Personally, I'm not convinced that it would be. Just look at the satellite based WiFi used by cruise ships (hint: it's slow and super spotty.)
On the other hand, Internet connection that wasn't cable based could be a serious boon to people operating on dial-up or similarly slow connections. If Facebook could make their connections faster than dial-up, etc. then I imagine people in rural areas would be really excited to have it. I don't, however, think it would be very beneficial right now to Third World countries. Right now the Third World has spotty connections to electricity and few computers, so WiFi satellites and drones wouldn't be very helpful to them. If it got to the point where more people had connections to electricity, computers, and other technology, then I think WiFi drones could be helpful for them.
Bottom Line: WiFi drones could be really helpful for rural people with dial-up connections, but for the rest of us, our current methods of finding WiFi probably work just fine. Keep working on it though, Facebook. Practical or not, it's still a cool idea.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
C-SPAN bus rolls into town, but reporters still keen on misrepresenting students
We all know about the C-SPAN article, and we all know that it did an awful job of representing our school. It also made the three of us who were quoted look pretty unintelligent, so I would like to explain what I meant by my quotes.
My quote saying that Congress was "just a bunch of white dudes fighting" was taken from the tail end of a much longer string of content which Ms. Colias chose not to include. The quote she put in the paper was tacked on at the end of this content as a half-joking summary of what I said. What I meant was that Congress today is full of senators and representatives who don't appear to care much about solving issues or getting things done. How often on the news do we hear about proposed bills getting shot down or votes that go nowhere? In 2013 the government shut down for two weeks in order to discuss the federal budget and what they were supposed to do about the massive amount of debt we're in. After two weeks it appeared that no meaningful, long-term solution was reached.
Why, after two weeks of debating and trying to figure things out, did we not see any progress? Why are bills constantly getting blocked in either the House or the Senate? How come there's so much debating and campaigning going on even though the next presidential election isn't for another two years? It's because politicians are so divided along party lines. They are more concerned about keeping their party in power and making sure only bills that go along with their party's beliefs as a whole get to become laws. This means that almost nothing is getting done because both sides's voices are equally loud. They drown each other out and bring everything to a stand still. From my point of view, it looks like a miracle when they agree on anything, and when you watch news coverage about politics, it looks like just a bunch of old, white guys fighting.
I am concerned about politics and I do want to learn more about how our government functions so I can understand why nothing is getting done. When I turn 18 it's my full intention to vote in elections, but I can't right now. Right now all I can do is watch the news and try to follow what's going on, and I don't like what I'm seeing. Frankly I've become pretty disenchanted with the government and what it's doing, but that shouldn't be mistaken for apathy. If I could do something about it, I would, but until then all I can do is focus on graduating and hope for the best.
(Also, I am fully aware that there are many Senators and Representatives who are women and minorities. A full third of the Senate if I'm correct.)
My quote saying that Congress was "just a bunch of white dudes fighting" was taken from the tail end of a much longer string of content which Ms. Colias chose not to include. The quote she put in the paper was tacked on at the end of this content as a half-joking summary of what I said. What I meant was that Congress today is full of senators and representatives who don't appear to care much about solving issues or getting things done. How often on the news do we hear about proposed bills getting shot down or votes that go nowhere? In 2013 the government shut down for two weeks in order to discuss the federal budget and what they were supposed to do about the massive amount of debt we're in. After two weeks it appeared that no meaningful, long-term solution was reached.
Why, after two weeks of debating and trying to figure things out, did we not see any progress? Why are bills constantly getting blocked in either the House or the Senate? How come there's so much debating and campaigning going on even though the next presidential election isn't for another two years? It's because politicians are so divided along party lines. They are more concerned about keeping their party in power and making sure only bills that go along with their party's beliefs as a whole get to become laws. This means that almost nothing is getting done because both sides's voices are equally loud. They drown each other out and bring everything to a stand still. From my point of view, it looks like a miracle when they agree on anything, and when you watch news coverage about politics, it looks like just a bunch of old, white guys fighting.
I am concerned about politics and I do want to learn more about how our government functions so I can understand why nothing is getting done. When I turn 18 it's my full intention to vote in elections, but I can't right now. Right now all I can do is watch the news and try to follow what's going on, and I don't like what I'm seeing. Frankly I've become pretty disenchanted with the government and what it's doing, but that shouldn't be mistaken for apathy. If I could do something about it, I would, but until then all I can do is focus on graduating and hope for the best.
(Also, I am fully aware that there are many Senators and Representatives who are women and minorities. A full third of the Senate if I'm correct.)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)