5 ms·

I've always wanted a near-live satellite image for Google maps. If this takes off that'll be possible. I could find a parking spot from the sky. :)

EFruit 13y ago
You act like that's a good thing. I don't want some Google balloon watching me every step of my day. Even less so if what it's seeing is published near-instantly
- mynameisvlad 13y ago
  I hate this line of thinking. Nobody is watching you. Nobody is monitoring you. Even with PRISM, it's a massive amount of data, and unless you are on some watch list, nobody gives two shits about you specifically.
rgovind 13y ago
Skybox is working on it
untog 13y ago
So the government seeing your data is bad, but a private company filming your every move is good...
- sounds 13y ago
  Look at it this way: if I wanted the government to put a CCTV camera in front of my house and snap photos once a year, it would mean I thought the best way to publish pictures of my house was to take tax dollars, enforce it through legislation, submit it to the whims of politicians, suffer the fruits of their corruption as they sell me out, and on and on. Me? If I want to publish pictures of my house, I would likely use some sort of internet service to do so... therefore: The laws around private companies photographing private property are both (1) very restrictive and (2) well known and well tested in court. Compare that to warrantless spying only reviewed by a secret court – and even then the government fails to (1) keep it secret, (2) abide by their own court's rulings, or (3) successfully apply the intel to the stated cause of terrorist threats. Basically, there aren't really very many things the government does well at all. When Google wants to send a car down my avenue or fly a balloon over my house, they'll be regulated by laws that literally follow the Streisand effect... in other words, if I don't want you to see my backyard, I might have to put up a roof. It'll be uncomfortable, yes. And maybe Google isn't the best company to publish live video of an entire continent to the internet. But if someone else doesn't beat them to it, I imagine Google is going there. What's your contingency plan?
Kilo-byte 13y ago
Loon has no such capability. http://www.google.com/loon/faq/#tab=technology http://www.google.com/loon/faq/#tab=technology Q: WILL THE BALLOONS HAVE CAMERAS OR CAPTURE ANY IMAGERY OF THE GROUND? A: No.
- sicxu 13y ago
  It does not have it now, because they want to focus on the basics. Once that is done, adding a camera is not a big deal.
  - dag11 13y ago
    But I feel like that would make the media -- followed by average people -- go crazy. Consider the current NSA news combined with "Google puts hundreds of cameras in the sky".
    - Heliosmaster 13y ago
      And what happens when "Google puts thousands of cameras on our faces" ?
      - icebraining 13y ago
        It's different, since people will actually have to buy and use those cameras, the pushback will probably focus less on Google and more on the wearers.
      - TeMPOraL 13y ago
        Well like if you didn't have a camera in your pocket for years. Or like cameras hidden in pens weren't available cheaply for years. Seriously, the time for people to be scared of others recording things is has already passed (mostly unnoticed).
    - _pmf_ 13y ago
      > But I feel like that would make the media -- followed by average people -- go crazy Yes, that will be a two uncomfortable days of online nerd rage.
lesedilino 13y ago
Google could just buy some of those awesome drones that get realtime multi-gigapixel video for a 15km radius.
soheil 13y ago
Oh they could also use them like bombs and drop them on the "bad guys". They just need to make sure they explode with enough intensity, imagine a shit ton of these "cheap" balloons (economy of scale + ad-supported) just falling out of sky, and exploding everywhere lolz

EFruit 13y ago

You act like that's a good thing. I don't want some Google balloon watching me every step of my day. Even less so if what it's seeing is published near-instantly

mynameisvlad 13y ago
I hate this line of thinking. Nobody is watching you. Nobody is monitoring you. Even with PRISM, it's a massive amount of data, and unless you are on some watch list, nobody gives two shits about you specifically.

rgovind 13y ago

Skybox is working on it

untog 13y ago

So the government seeing your data is bad, but a private company filming your every move is good...

sounds 13y ago
Look at it this way: if I wanted the government to put a CCTV camera in front of my house and snap photos once a year, it would mean I thought the best way to publish pictures of my house was to take tax dollars, enforce it through legislation, submit it to the whims of politicians, suffer the fruits of their corruption as they sell me out, and on and on. Me? If I want to publish pictures of my house, I would likely use some sort of internet service to do so... therefore: The laws around private companies photographing private property are both (1) very restrictive and (2) well known and well tested in court. Compare that to warrantless spying only reviewed by a secret court – and even then the government fails to (1) keep it secret, (2) abide by their own court's rulings, or (3) successfully apply the intel to the stated cause of terrorist threats. Basically, there aren't really very many things the government does well at all. When Google wants to send a car down my avenue or fly a balloon over my house, they'll be regulated by laws that literally follow the Streisand effect... in other words, if I don't want you to see my backyard, I might have to put up a roof. It'll be uncomfortable, yes. And maybe Google isn't the best company to publish live video of an entire continent to the internet. But if someone else doesn't beat them to it, I imagine Google is going there. What's your contingency plan?

Kilo-byte 13y ago

Loon has no such capability. http://www.google.com/loon/faq/#tab=technology http://www.google.com/loon/faq/#tab=technology Q: WILL THE BALLOONS HAVE CAMERAS OR CAPTURE ANY IMAGERY OF THE GROUND? A: No.

sicxu 13y ago
It does not have it now, because they want to focus on the basics. Once that is done, adding a camera is not a big deal.
- dag11 13y ago
  But I feel like that would make the media -- followed by average people -- go crazy. Consider the current NSA news combined with "Google puts hundreds of cameras in the sky".
  - Heliosmaster 13y ago
    And what happens when "Google puts thousands of cameras on our faces" ?
    - icebraining 13y ago
      It's different, since people will actually have to buy and use those cameras, the pushback will probably focus less on Google and more on the wearers.
    - TeMPOraL 13y ago
      Well like if you didn't have a camera in your pocket for years. Or like cameras hidden in pens weren't available cheaply for years. Seriously, the time for people to be scared of others recording things is has already passed (mostly unnoticed).
  - _pmf_ 13y ago
    > But I feel like that would make the media -- followed by average people -- go crazy Yes, that will be a two uncomfortable days of online nerd rage.

lesedilino 13y ago

Google could just buy some of those awesome drones that get realtime multi-gigapixel video for a 15km radius.

soheil 13y ago

Oh they could also use them like bombs and drop them on the "bad guys". They just need to make sure they explode with enough intensity, imagine a shit ton of these "cheap" balloons (economy of scale + ad-supported) just falling out of sky, and exploding everywhere lolz