Google today announced the acquisition of Titan Aerospace, the creator of high-altitude drones that could bring Internet access to remote locations, as noted by The Wall Street Journal. The vehicles are expected to reach atmospheric heights, run on solar power, and fly continuously for years at a time. “We're hunting for awesome startups” Run an early-stage company? We're inviting 250 to exhibit at TNW Conference and pitch on stage! Earlier reports had suggested that Facebook was interested in buying Titan Aerospace, but it decided to pick up rival drone-maker Ascenta instead. Google told the Journal that the Titan Aerospace team will collaborate with the balloon-powered Internet access efforts from Project Loon to solve the global connectivity issue. The drones could also assist products like Google Maps by providing images from above. ➤ Google Buys Drone Maker Courted by Facebook [WSJ] A brief history of brand love: The evolution of viral advertising

Google buys Titan Aerospace and joins Facebook in the drone wars Google has agreed to acquire the drone-maker that Facebook was reportedly courting earlier this year. The company, Titan Aerospace, will continue to operate from its New Mexico office. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal reports that Titan Aerospace's drones will be used to improve Project Loon, the company's attempt to use aerial vehicles to deliver Internet connections in far-flung corners of the world. They will also be able to take high-resolution images, offer access to voice networks, and carry other atmospheric sensors. The acquisition comes shortly after reports that Facebook also expressed interest in Titan's drones but ultimately chose to create a team of engineers who used to work at NASA and the Ascenta drone startup. It intends to use drones the same way Google does. I wrote about Facebook's drone-in-the-sky ambitions when they were first reported in March: Drones wouldn’t simply allow Facebook to bring Internet connectivity to more people;

they would also allow the company to gather information about its users in even more ways. Considering the ease with which that information could be intercepted by intelligence agencies and the fear with which many regard drones, that will be easier said than done. If it looks like a government drone, spies like a government drone, and transfers information to the same intelligence agencies as a government drone, chances are it will be viewed with the same fear as a government drone. Many of the same principles would apply to a Google drone. Both companies seek to gather as much personal information as possible to sell to as many advertisers as possible to continue building their war chests. Both companies wish to connect more people to the Internet and say that it's for altruistic reasons when others would argue it's really about making sure that they can exert even more control over those Internet users than they do over people already addicted to their products. And both companies plan to use drones in parts of the world where "drone" is more synonymous with "flying death machine" than either Facebook or Google would like.

Indeed, Facebook refused to refer to its drones as drones when it announced Connectivity Lab: Now it seems that Facebook also recognizes that announcing its own personal drone program might not endear it in the hearts of all the people it’s trying to connect to the Internet and subsequently convince to sign up for Facebook for the purpose of selling their personal information to advertisers. storm drone 6 priceThat leaves us with this game of Euphemism Bingo, where Facebook avoids referring to its drones as drones while everyone else wonders what they’re supposed to call an unmanned aircraft that hovers above the clouds for months at a time.ar drone 2 resetten At least Google is willing to thumb its nose at its own efforts by dubbing them "Project Loon."ar drone 2 transport

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti venture to connect the entire world to the Internet, at least if the rumors are true that Facebook is going to buy drone maker Titan Aerospace for $60 million. Titan Aerospace makes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, and Facebook would most certainly be interested in the devices’ ability to carry networking equipment that could provide Internet access for all.ar drone motors geblokkeerd Titan’s Solara 50 and Solara 60 models appear to be the main target here. ar drone parrot costoThe UAVs can be launched anytime powered by an internal battery, and when the sun comes up they’ll rely on solar power to climb to a height of 20 kilometers (over 65,000 feet) and remain in flight for up to five years without ever having to land.ar drone parrot fight

The UAVs offer a variety of potential uses from weather applications to imaging, but the key feature that has Zuckerberg’s appetite whet is the ability to carry communications equipment. Facebook reportedly wants to launch 11,000 of these drones over areas without Internet access, starting with Africa. TechCrunch was informed about the deal by a source outside the company and since confirmed with Titan Aerospace that it is indeed in acquisition talks with Facebook. It’s worth noting that although the rumored $60 million price tag for Titan Aerospace is nothing compared to the $19 billion that Facebook just dropped on WhatsApp, the two could be used together. Facebook could easily leverage WhatsApp to provide an efficient communications app that works on drone-enabled Internet. blog comments powered by Titan Aerospace was an American aerospace company based in Moriarty, New Mexico. They developed and manufactured special drones. Since 2013, the company was run by Vern Raburn, former CEO of Eclipse Aviation, and prior to that, Symantec.

Raburn was also an early employee of Microsoft during its start-up phase.[2] In April 2014, Titan Aerospace announced its acquisition by Google Inc.[3][4] Google planned to use Titan Aerospace to develop unmanned aerial vehicles capable of bringing Internet connectivity to remote parts of the world. In January 2017, Google announced that it was abandoning the project. The company manufactured unmanned aircraft under the designation AtmoSat logo. The so-called "atmospheric satellites" or Solar Powered Atmospheric Satellite Drones travel up to 20 kilometers high, can have satellite typical functions, take for example weather and fire monitoring or space photography. Equipped with a solar drive they can, according to the company, fly continuously up to five years and thereby cover four million kilometers. The Solara AtmoSat platform offered customers around the world real-time images of the earth, voice and data services, navigation and mapping of services and monitoring systems of the atmosphere.