Sunday 30 March 2014

NDM: Facebook reveals plans for solar-powered drones to boost internet access

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/28/facebook-plans-solar-powered-drones-internet-access

This article focuses on the issue of Mark Zuckerberg working on solar-powered drones to deliever and improve internet access across the world. Zuckerberg revealed details of his Connectivity Lab, a team of people, including experts from Nasa, which are working on new aerospace and communication technologies with the aim of expanding internet access worldwide. Significantly, Zukerberg stated: "In our effort to connect the whole world with Internet.org, we've been working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky. Today, we're sharing some details of the work Facebook's Connectivity Lab is doing to build drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone". It could be suggested that this new approach could be useful to many countries which do not have access to Facebook and therefore this would increase the connectivity globally.

Furthermore, Yael Maguire of Facebook exposed the different ways in which the company are looking to increase internet connection globally. He claims: "We're looking at a new type of plane architecture that flies at roughly 20,000 metres, because that's a point where winds are at their lowest, it's above commercial airliners, it's even above the weather, and actually it can stay in the air for months at a time. These planes are solar-powered and they sit there and circle around, and have the ability to broadcast internet down". Significantly, the project is an extension of the internet.org group which Facebook helped found in 2013 along with important technology firms such as Samsung and Nokia. The goal is to provide internet to less developed countries which cannot access Facebook.

Overall, Facebook's plans for solar-powered droans to increase internet access is a useful approach especially for less developed countries. This is because it gives citizens who do not have access to Facebook an opportunity to experience the social networking site. Arguably, if this plan works Facebook could be even successful amongst other social networking sites. This establishes that the development of technology has impacted individuals because now less developed countries will be able to access Facebook if this approach works and therefore increasing interactivity. 

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