【】

Alphabet's Loon is no more.
Loon was launched in 2013 as one of Google's moonshot projects — experimental ventures which try to solve big problems — and was turned into an independent company in 2018. The idea was to provide internet access to areas that are remote or have poor infrastructure using balloons that sail at about 65,000 feet of altitude. And though Loon did have some success in those nine years — mostly in providing emergency access to areas that were struck by catastrophe — it is now shutting down.
In a blog post on Friday, the company said it made some "groundbreaking technical achievements," even managing to launch commercially in Kenya in 2020. Sadly, it wasn't enough to keep the company afloat.
"The road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped," the blog post says.


According to the blog post, a small group from the Loon team will stay behind to wrap things up and wind existing services down. The rest are being helped to find alternative roles at either Alphabet, Google, or one of Alphabet's other experimental ventures.
It was not all for nothing, though. Google said some of the technology developed by Loon is already used in Project Taara, which aims to bring affordable, fast internet to Sub-Saharan Africa.
相关文章
Balloon fanatic Tim Kaine is also, of course, very good at harmonica
You know the old saying: the people want a president they can drink a beer with and they also want a2025-04-03- Growing up, Lisa Brennan-Jobs felt that, to her father, Steve Jobs, she was a "blot on a spectacular2025-04-03
'The Banner Saga' series is a beautiful journey of struggle and loss
A mysterious darkness is sweeping across the land. Long-dormant enemies are on the move. Families, v2025-04-03Google's Android One program is an evolution of the Nexus initiative
As great as Google's Pixel phones are -- the Pixel 2's have arguably the best smartphone cameras and2025-04-03Plane makes emergency landing after engine rips apart during flight
A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Orlando, Florida, made an emergency landing Saturday morning d2025-04-03Overly Attached Girlfriend: A retrospective
It’s 。Viral Market Crash 。week on Mashable. Join us as we take stock of the viral economy and in2025-04-03
最新评论