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Facebook Gets Into The Drone Business
First it was Amazon, now it's Facebook's turn. As was reported previously, hot on the heels of its $19 billion purchase of Whatsapp, Facebook announced the purchase of New Mexico-based Titan Aerospace for $60 million. Who is Titan? It is a maker of solar-powered drones which can reportedly stay airborne for five years and which many have suggested can help Facebook achieve its goal of providing global Internet access, especially in places where the "organic" growth of its audience may be otherwise limited by the lack of infrastructure.
Facebook is in negotiations to buy a drone manufacturer with the aim of using its high-altitude autonomous aircraft to beam internet connections to isolated communities in Africa, according to reports. The social networking company is one of the main backers of the internet.org project, which aims to connect the large parts of the world which remain offline.
Today, only 2.7 billion people – just over one-third of the world's population – have access to the internet, according to Facebook. Other founding members include Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.
Now TechCrunch reports that Facebook intends to buy the maker of advanced solar-powered drones which can remain in the air for up to five years at a time, in the hope that they can be modified to provide internet connectivity for those on the ground.
Titan Aerospace's drones fly so high – up to 65,000 feet - that they can effectively operate as satellites with far lower operating costs, which the company calls "atmospheric parking". The Solara 50 and 60 models can carry up to 100kg of equipment.
TechCrunch reports that Facebook intends to build 11,000 of the drones to provide blanket internet coverage to parts of the world that currently have patchy or non-existent connections.
The project would be in direct competition with Google’s Project Loon, which will see 30 balloons launched into the stratosphere where they would form a network and programmed to use varying wind currents at different altitudes to remain in a geostationary position.
If successful, the project would provide 3G-like speeds to isolated parts of the world. But the lifespan of the balloons would be just 100 days, after which they would return to Earth and have to be replaced.
So between Google balloons, Facebook's drones, and Amazon's instadelivery service, any hope of seeing the stars unobstructed in about a decade can be laid to rest. But at least everyone will have internet connectivity and same day delivery, even if it is goods that were never ordered in the first place.
The good news: it will make passage for the US military's remote controlled death machines somewhat more problematic with countless airborne objects flying to and fro across the increasingly unfriendly skies. What it means for commercial air traffic is unknown but will surely be spun as bullish for the stocks of public airlines.
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I thought they had 138 million drones on site , already?
At least Amazon has something for the drones to drop off. What are Facebook drones going to deliver? Fake advertising?
Don't you want a drone-delivered like from your favorite virtual friends?
Titan is the company you see with the Israeli dudes at your local mall flying those rubber band & plastic helicopters up 35 feet into the air next to Cinnabon.
I realize that fraudbook is desperate for growth... but this is ridiculous.
I'm sure this info is out there for those with time to waste looking for it, but these aquisisitons are all stock swaps, right? FB doesnt really have the cash to do this, so they offer shares to "buy" these companies, and their investors/shareholders are either thinking: A) Sweet! we're grabbing some FB shares while they are set to skyrocket... or B) We'll dump these FB shares as soon as the restrictions expire...
Airborne for 5 years?
Get back to me after a couple good hurricane seasons, or after the locals decide they're good for target practice...
I think I'm gonna invest in hard hat companies since there will be a big market for them as people try to protect themselves from falling drones and parts.
Now the kids thinking, follow the path of Google and Apple kid, start turning fack ass virtual money into REAL shit, and you might survive this after all!
They have a long way to go and a short time to get there, but this is at least the first moment of awakening for them, to the reality that fake shit doesn't last, real shit does!
(still dont buy facebook stock)
But the move is interesting from an evolutionary perspective to me!
Facebook: monetizing the penniless. Like.
Rent Seeking 101.
cool. I won't need to use the camera on my phone anymore, facebook will have the pictures taken and cued up already for me.
I so look forward to reading about the "Fall of Facebook" and Zuckerberg selling insurance at a strip mall.
oh, I think some of them will be employed right here in the US of A.
SkyNet growing closer and closer each day to being a reality
Everyone I know has already quit Facebook. Their days are numbered.
On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. Or, in the case of Facebook/Google+ etc, a bot.
While there are billions of pictures of people to pull from the internet, and while there's myriad ways of automating profile creation and updating on Facebook, Facebook can continue to have increasing numbers of users because "look how many people signed up this month!". They'll fake it until they make it.
Interesting. I wonder if the Gov will even bother with its own drones in the skies. Why not just use the various types that would already be in the sky, and give the businesses who own them even more preferrential treatment?
And this is what happens when you have to answer to shareholders. Whatsapp, drones, whats next? I'm sure it will be just as amusing. Perhaps they can buy IBM, and with everyones personal data, they can just call the company Hollerith Death Machine 2.0
..the Titan drones covered with solar arrays and promoting "net connectivity" is just a cover story to get the recon drones over the populace.
Just a bunch of hooey. Scary hooey. Laser weapons can be retrofitted.
3 Unfriends and you're droned...
I had balsa wood flyers that looked a lot like that when I was a kid.
This one is way cooler though. It's blue! And it's got that carbon fiber look!
This is why Facebook doesn't pay taxes. Intel and surveillance in Africa via Facebook drones. Fascism works.
Hello down there. Do you have a Facebook Page?
Well guess what, you do now.
Click farms everywhere.
No guns allowed! Not even the thought of guns at Facebook!
http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/03/facebook-to-announce-policy-changes-on...
Zucks ever developed a unique thought or product on his own.
I remember back in the day when he would imitate Steve Jobs' new product announcements...standing up on stage mimicing new software enhancements that could have been handled with a simple press release or blog post..."we changed our privacy policy".
Keep your fingers crossed for Facebook Labs, Facebook Cloud Storage, Facebook Auctions, FaceBook Electric Cars...
Facebook will fade as quickly as myspace and bell bottom jeans did.
Back in 2008, I would have said yes, but MySpace, Livejournal, Friendster, Bebo and the like didn't have the opportunity to put themselves onto phones with the capabilities available today. Go somewhere where a lot of people are, and watch how many of them are using their phones without even looking up. That's how many people are using Facebook at any one time. That's why it's not going away any time soon.