Mark Zuckerberg has a faced his fair share of setbacks since he announced an ambitious plan to get the whole world on Facebook. The most notable of these setbacks occurred in last September when Facebook’s $200 million Internet satellite abruptly exploded aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Then, just a few months later, one of… Read more »
There is perhaps nowhere in the world where the digital divide is more pronounced than in India. Although the country is home to some of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world, there are also close to 900 million people living in India with no access to the Internet. Of the 4 billion people who… Read more »
Natalie Hammel and Lorraine Yurshansky are Google employees who host an educational web series called Nat and Lo that highlights the many different aspects of Google’s business. Recently Nat and Lo had the opportunity to visit a factory in New Hampshire where undersea fiber optic cables are manufactured, and they were able to take home… Read more »
With Google halting further deployment of its fiber optic network and AT&T rolling out gigabit Internet connections in at least 5 new regions, America’s broadband market seems poised for a bit of a shakeup. Now, the nation’s fourth-largest cable operator has announced that it will be tossing its hat in the ring by bringing a… Read more »
Google might be scaling back its fiber optic network deployment for now, but that doesn’t mean other telecom companies are curbing their own ambitions of bringing fiber to the home. In fact, Google’s announcement may have provided an added incentive for companies like Verizon and AT&T to aggressively pursue fiber optic deployment in new untapped… Read more »
For the last several years, researchers in laboratories all over the world have been testing experimental equipment and innovative techniques that promise outrageous data transfer speeds. In 2011, for example, Japanese researchers managed to squeeze 100 terabits of data per second through a single optical fiber. These breakthroughs always look great on paper, but they… Read more »
Since they were first deployed by telephone companies in the 1970’s, fiber optic cables have become the gold standard for transmitting large quantities of data over long distances. Without fiber optic infrastructure, the Internet could not have become the technological marvel that it is today. Fiber optics may have gotten us this far, but that… Read more »
Despite America’s collective affinity for cat videos and trending celebrity gossip, the United States has historically lagged behind many other countries in the international community in terms of Internet connections speeds. Currently, the U.S. ranks just 20th worldwide for fixed broadband speeds. The country’s mobile rankings are even lower, at 42nd. This is due in… Read more »
Earlier this year, The International Space Station received a payload from NASA that contained a 3D printer designed specifically for use in microgravity. Space travel buffs enthusiastically hailed the little printer as “the first off-world manufacturing facility.” The printer has the potential to save the space agency hundreds of thousands of dollars by allowing astronauts… Read more »
Thanks to a joint partnership between Google and a number of telecom companies in East Asia, the fastest transpacific broadband cable in the world is now online. Aptly named FASTER, the cable stretches 5,600 miles from Oregon to two points in Japan. The cable is expected to offer transfer speeds as fast as 60 terabits… Read more »
