Google buys start-up drone-maker that Facebook once wanted
Google, not Facebook, is reportedly buying start-up drone-maker Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed amount. The Wall Street Journal says that the search giant will use the New Mexico-based company's technology to expand global internet access, while deploying the machines to improve its aerial picture-taking.
Facebook was reportedly in acquisition talks with Titan, but the social network instead purchased a British company that makes solar-powered drones, part of Facebook's ambitious "internet everywhere" plan. Google said Titan will work on a similar program called Project Loon, which aims to beam the internet to sparsely populated regions of the world.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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