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Re: Facebook buys drone technology

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On 2014-03-29, john <nospam@no.net> wrote:
> Hils wrote:
>
>> "Facebook has bought a Somerset-based designer of solar-powered
>> drones for $20m (£12m) as it goes head-to-head with Google in a
>> high-altitude race to connect the world's most remote locations to
>> the internet."
>> 
>
> Sounds 50% cool and 50% creepy to me. Facebook & Google blanketing the
> world with drones 24/7. Oh well, I guess we are already surrounded by
> satellites.
>
> I can't see this being a very reliable internet connection. I don't
> know about Africa, but the weather where I live would take those
> things out pretty easily.

I do know something about Africa - lived and worked here for almost a
decade and I'm posting from Senegal (write that down, NSA guys).

This whole ballons vs drones in Africa sounds like rich, stupid boys
with their expensive toys.  I lived in Benin, West Africa, from 2006 to
2010.  It's one of the poorest countries on earth but you know what?
It's got nearly complete coverage with cellphone service, and though the
service isn't great and the coverage isn't complete, lots of richer
Beninese have cell phones and even smart phones, and use them to connect
to the internet.

Put a drone in the skies over Benin and a lot of people will suppose
it's some evil spy technology and get pissed off.

In Senegal I've got a 3G cellular dongle I can put in my laptop and
connect to the Internet over mediocre speeds even from the center of my
construction site, which is out in the middle of the boonies.  Remote,
rural farmers don't have access, but they don't have cell phones either.
And if you put a drone over their heads it won't change a damned thing.
If these guys are truly looking for their next million customers,
they'll find them among the business and commercial class of Africans,
who live in small and medium cities, carry (nice) cell phones, and are
pretty computer savvy.  Hell, a lot of them already use Facebook and
Twitter.  I don't get it.

These 'entrepreneurs' need to wake up and drink a nice, hot, steaming
cup of wake-the-fuck-up.  They don't know anything about Africa.

This continent is never going to have land lines, but cellphone
technology is revolutionizing life in Africa.  With a lowend feature
phone capable of doing basic internet stuff and a halfway decent
cellphone network, these drone wet dreams are going to be superfluous.

I highly suspect there's something else at play here.  Hils, you say 50%
cool, 50% creepy.  I'm more at 10% cool and 90% creepy.  Something isn't
right here, and it's either something devious or something outright
stupid.

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Facebook buys drone technology Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-29 08:33 +0000
  Re: Facebook buys drone technology john <nospam@no.net> - 2014-03-29 13:30 -0800
    Re: Facebook buys drone technology RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-31 09:59 +0000
      Re: Facebook buys drone technology Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-31 15:03 +0100
        Re: Facebook buys drone technology RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-31 14:24 +0000
        Re: Facebook buys drone technology Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-31 19:11 +0200
      Re: Facebook buys drone technology Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-31 19:10 +0200
        Re: Facebook buys drone technology Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-03-31 19:52 +0000
          Re: Facebook buys drone technology Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-04-01 13:16 +0200
            Re: Facebook buys drone technology Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-04-02 09:01 +0000

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