Giboons

Another thing that came up in that conversation yesterday was Google Internet Balloons, which my friend seemed to think was an evil plot to take over the world and, judging by the comments after this  article, that is not a unique opinion.

I think they’re cool.  First off, in Google’s defense on the taking over the world charge, it’s just evident that an internet company would want everybody in the world to be on the internet, the same as Coca Cola wants everybody to drink Coca Cola and Hallmark wants us  to celebrate about a hundred holidays a year, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Cousin’s Day, People I See on the Bus but Don’t Really Know Day, as long as everybody is sending cards and buying boxes of chocolate for each other.  That’s capitalism.

Yesterday’s Launch in New Zealand

Of course, it’s the internetty ubiquitousness of the Google  Internet Balloons, which I am going to henceforward refer to as Giboons,  that scares people but really, as far as technical capabilities go, I can’t see how this is an improvement over satellites.  But I’m sure they’ve put some thought into it.  They’re a pretty smart bunch of people over at Google.

They also have Google Glass which, I think, could change everything.  I don’t plan to get one, and might never, unless it becomes the kind of thing everybody  has, all the time, in which  case, then, yeah, the world will have truly changed.

But, my point there is that Google is innovating and moving deliberately into the future, while facebook is dicking around with everybody’s  privacy settings and whatnot.