Gadgetory

it's drone imperialism as Facebook and Google both fight to connect the world one high-altitude UAV at a time I'm Russell Brandon and this is 90 seconds on the verge Google is acquired Titan aerospace a company developing solar-powered drones that can reportedly stay in flight for years at a time Titans team will stay in New Mexico but work closely with Project loon Google's original initiative to use weather balloons to bring internet access to the world at large that team will also reportedly work with turbine company Makani power which Google picked up in May of last year it sounds crazy using drones to bring the world online but surprisingly enough Google isn't the only company with this strategy last month Facebook announced plans to engineer its own fleet of Internet equipped solar-powered drones just like Google it would aim to bring connectivity to the estimated two-thirds of the world that's currently offline according to a Wall Street Journal Facebook also considered buying Titan earlier this year but ultimately decided on the uk-based Ascenta to make its airborne routers so all these American companies look to deploy drones across the world we're still not sure how to regulate drones at home the Federal Aviation Administration has until 2015 to outline safety regulations for commercial UAVs at that point Titan says its drones will be ready to deliver connections up to 1 gigabit per second across a thousand miles of remote countryside with each drone lasting up to five years at a time if you're already connected then Amazon would like to offer you deliveries by drone assuming it doesn't get stuck in a UAV traffic jam for more on the future of drones check out the verge coming up we take a look at Operation Magic School Bus a fleet of nano drones designed to enter through your nostril to learn about the central nervous system