Thankyou - that was entirely deliberate, you can only get humour past the HN voting system if either it's totally deadpan or you explain the joke in the same comment.
Curious how this would work from a practical standpoint? Could planes fly through it? How high off the ground would the light be beamed? Could a boat pass through it's path?
I know absolutely nothing about this area so just generally curious!
wouldn't the energy efficiency be low? effectively: light source -> PV panels, focus etc are bound to be difficult (long distance so parallel rays, any tiny deviation... well schlieren photography) and then there's diffuse scattering
Anything is possible. We could power the entire US if we put a large collection of panels in the desert. Surprised there aren't self cleaning panels yet (maybe there are) :).
Two turkeys don't make an eagle and Apple trying to roll out fiber would be throwing good money after bad. Apple is a global company, being a regional ISP doesn't move the needle for them.
Maybe it would not be just Apple but a consortium of companies. Google, Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Facebook(since they are launching their video platform now).
If net neutrality falls through I willing to bet there would be a great incentive for figuring their ISP thing. It would be in their interest after all.
This will fail. On an EPIC scale. Google, google, failed with fiber. They are enormous and have mountains of cash to burn and still when they hit the cities to deploy, slammed into the granite wall of monopoly telco and cable co regulations preventing competition with right of ways etc that said telcos and cable co's put in place over the last 50 years.
The only hope I see for last mile is wireless. It's cheaper, you don't have to dig anything up, and do not have to wait for the telco's or cable co's to fix infrastructure, or grant you access to said infrastructure.
Are there hurdles with wireless, of course. But it is clearly the only option for building out last mile to the home in almost every city in america. On a cost basis, on a time basis, on any basis. The wireless technology just needs to be improved. Being able to serve more people per POP, better protocols to reduce collisions, etc.
It really is sad. The worst part is, employees are treated poorly at many companies. I feel like it's even worse during and after a recession because employers know people are desperate.
I have been working on mplyees.com, a site where employees can share what needs to change publicly and anonymously. Hopefully we can bridge this divide since employee happiness is key to a successful business.
