When I read the announcement I had to check the date to see if it was April 1st. It is not. This is a real thing. Google the internet company wants to bring the internet to everyone. In the promotional videos they are very quick to explain that by everyone, they truly mean everyone in the world. Google has a point because as much as I(sometimes) hate my ISP when my connection hangs or lags, the reality is that I have better internet than the vast majority of the world. That I can download, stream and connect with other people almost seamlessly is a privilege that many people, even in other first world countries do not have.

So it makes sense that Google, whose income is dependent on the amount of people online searching through their service would be concerned that not everyone is online. Their idea to get the world connected is through balloons in the stratosphere sounds crazy, and while I don’t fully know if this is something that is plausible or can seriously be implemented on a wider scale it is very cool. Right now this project is just undergoing a pilot test in New Zealand and if it goes well then they’ll expand. Who knows, this might just be the first step to real connectivity around the globe.

How exciting.