4 ms·

Project Loon balloons over Peru

34 points by tonylemesmer 7y ago

celias 7y ago
Part of Google's Project Loon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_(company) https://loon.com https://loon.com
TomasD 7y ago
More info at https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/keep-your-eye-on-the-hbal-tracking-project-loon-balloons/ https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/keep-your-eye-on-the-hbal... (2016)
dsl 7y ago
Here is one wandering over Souix Falls: https://www.flightradar24.com/HBAL0296/214e375c https://www.flightradar24.com/HBAL0296/214e375c
clydethefrog 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_colonialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_colonialism
- LudwigNagasena 7y ago
  Overuse of “colonialism” is so tiring. At least they didn’t name it “electronic nazism” to drive the point home.
  - alexgmcm 7y ago
    I agree - my SO is from Peru (and the Andean area as well, which is considerably more isolated than say, Lima) and we speak a lot about how different life is there. I think proper internet access could really improve their lives. It'd be great just if her grandparents could speak with all their grandchildren let alone the use that local farmers and businesses will have for it.
  - hrktb 7y ago
    What would be your preferred term ? To put things in perspective, Australia or Hong Kong for instance were colonies that overall benefited from the relation with England, so I don't really get the parallel you draw with nazism.
    - AlanSE 7y ago
      The word colonialism is a pejorative. The tone of the word in modern language is extremely negative. The point being made is that the word is so negative that the commenter had to go as far as nazis to find another word that is worse.
      - fit2rule 7y ago
        Colonialism is negative for the aborigines. It is a form of totalitarianism. It is not a positive thing, unless you actually are a 'colonialist' and thus privileged to its advances - not to be confused with the lesser 'colonist', which are more often than not the ones chopping all the lumber, i.e. doing the work of it. There are certain religious groups for which the colony is everything...
      - hrktb 7y ago
        The word is pejorative because it’s a bloody move. But I think when people compare colonialism to nazis, they should really separate the economic/political/military move of taking over another country, and what happened from there in some countries which was religious/moral/ethical deeds (I mean by that the slavery, objectification of humans, genocides, cleansing, intentional famines, drug trades etc.) I personally care about that distinction because the later part didn’t stop when colonialism was over, and it didn’t happen that wildly either in a lot of colonies through history. What was done by Belgians in Congo was not “colonialism”, I see it as something way more ethically evil and proper to the Belgian culture of the time. To get back to the balloons, the concept that was described was giant companies using their resources to capture whole captive markets in developping countries and grab mindshares+ad revenue on relatively untouched population. I could totally see the parallel with european companies getting a foot in Asia and extensively use their resources and technology advantage to take over whole markets and become large enough to get the governments under their feet.
FR10 7y ago
This is a joint effort between our government and the biggest telcom Telefónica (and project Loom), in response to a series of floods that affected last year (mainly) the northern parts of the country due to El Niño phenomenon.
rasz 7y ago
Did they resolve lawsuit over stealing tech after NDA demonstrations? lets google ... https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/google-loses-bid-to-delay-lawsuit-in-project-loon-patent-fight-1 https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/google-loses-bid-to-del... guess not

34 points by tonylemesmer 7y ago

Part of Google's Project Loon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_(company) https://loon.com https://loon.com

TomasD 7y ago

More info at https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/keep-your-eye-on-the-hbal-tracking-project-loon-balloons/ https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/keep-your-eye-on-the-hbal... (2016)

dsl 7y ago

Here is one wandering over Souix Falls: https://www.flightradar24.com/HBAL0296/214e375c https://www.flightradar24.com/HBAL0296/214e375c

clydethefrog 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_colonialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_colonialism

LudwigNagasena 7y ago
Overuse of “colonialism” is so tiring. At least they didn’t name it “electronic nazism” to drive the point home.
- alexgmcm 7y ago
  I agree - my SO is from Peru (and the Andean area as well, which is considerably more isolated than say, Lima) and we speak a lot about how different life is there. I think proper internet access could really improve their lives. It'd be great just if her grandparents could speak with all their grandchildren let alone the use that local farmers and businesses will have for it.
- hrktb 7y ago
  What would be your preferred term ? To put things in perspective, Australia or Hong Kong for instance were colonies that overall benefited from the relation with England, so I don't really get the parallel you draw with nazism.
  - AlanSE 7y ago
    The word colonialism is a pejorative. The tone of the word in modern language is extremely negative. The point being made is that the word is so negative that the commenter had to go as far as nazis to find another word that is worse.
    - fit2rule 7y ago
      Colonialism is negative for the aborigines. It is a form of totalitarianism. It is not a positive thing, unless you actually are a 'colonialist' and thus privileged to its advances - not to be confused with the lesser 'colonist', which are more often than not the ones chopping all the lumber, i.e. doing the work of it. There are certain religious groups for which the colony is everything...
    - hrktb 7y ago
      The word is pejorative because it’s a bloody move. But I think when people compare colonialism to nazis, they should really separate the economic/political/military move of taking over another country, and what happened from there in some countries which was religious/moral/ethical deeds (I mean by that the slavery, objectification of humans, genocides, cleansing, intentional famines, drug trades etc.) I personally care about that distinction because the later part didn’t stop when colonialism was over, and it didn’t happen that wildly either in a lot of colonies through history. What was done by Belgians in Congo was not “colonialism”, I see it as something way more ethically evil and proper to the Belgian culture of the time. To get back to the balloons, the concept that was described was giant companies using their resources to capture whole captive markets in developping countries and grab mindshares+ad revenue on relatively untouched population. I could totally see the parallel with european companies getting a foot in Asia and extensively use their resources and technology advantage to take over whole markets and become large enough to get the governments under their feet.

FR10 7y ago

This is a joint effort between our government and the biggest telcom Telefónica (and project Loom), in response to a series of floods that affected last year (mainly) the northern parts of the country due to El Niño phenomenon.

rasz 7y ago

Did they resolve lawsuit over stealing tech after NDA demonstrations? lets google ... https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/google-loses-bid-to-delay-lawsuit-in-project-loon-patent-fight-1 https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/google-loses-bid-to-del... guess not