google logo - google logo

As if inventing the world’s greatest internet search engine wasn’t enough, Google cannot be stopped. From week to week, month to month Google is announcing one acquisition or invention or patent after another. There are so many it’s hard to keep up.

MUST SEE: 5 Reasons Google’s New Tablet Will Be Great

It’s best you start paying attention though. Founded in 1998, Google has done in only 16 years what other corporations can only dream of: capture the imagination and faithfulness of their customer-base.

On top of the search engine, the free email and office suite, calendar, Google Glasses, Adsense and paying people to produce content on YouTube, Google is putting together transformative projects on a whole ‘nother level.

Never has giving in to The Man felt so good!

 

Google Fiber

google fiber network box - google fiber network box

Google Fiber is like cable internet times 100, but with whipped cream and strawberries on top too. See, Google fiber at speeds mirroring Comcast’s basic levels is free. That’s right, free. Well, it’s free after the $300 installation fee.
You can get it at higher speeds for more money though. Speeds that make your current cable internet look pathetic by comparison.

So where is Google Fiber? Currently it’s only available in Kansas City, Missouri; Kansas City, Kansas; and Provo, Utah. But they’re working on rolling it out to the rest of the US over…ahem…the next few years. So be patient. And enjoy it when your current provider, sweating bullets, calls to offer you ‘random, non-Google-inspired specials.’

 

Cell phones (Project Ara)

project ara google prototype cell phone - project ara google prototype cell phone
[Image credit: Slashgear]

Cell phones are pretty nifty, right? Cameras, apps and other tasty functions make it a pretty massive part of your life. It’s an awfully expensive bit of machinery though.

Project Ara is Google’s cell phone revolution. It’s designed to be easily adaptable so that you can customize its look and individual features, but on the cheap. Imagine having a premium cell phone that’s inexpensive with easily switched out pieces that allow for specialized upgrades? Yeah. This is serious. And it’s coming to a palm near you.

 

Satellite internet access

satellite viewing - satellite viewing

First there was Project Loon, Google’s attempt to bring internet to as many corners of the world as possible that previously had no access to it.

Now, Google’s gonna go a step further and put 180 low-orbit satellites into the atmosphere. These satellites will provide internet to even larger areas of folks. This is kind and generous and everything, but really, this is a business move. The more people Google can study and index preferences on, the more they can charge for ad rates via AdSense, a program that allows advertisers to directly target audiences with products and services.

Still though…internet for the internetless! This is damned cool.

 

Self-driving cars

Imagine scheduling a car to pick you up from home to take you to work, the gym, grocery shopping or whatever? Imagine not having to drive this car so that you can play with your phone or whatever? Imagine that this car is electric so it doesn’t hurt the environment while you do it? And imagine having access to the service via your smartphone for about the same it costs you to put gas in and insure your car?

This is the eventual dream of Google’s Driverless Car program that just had its first human test trials. Got you lookin’ cross-eyed at that jalopy you call a car, doesn’t it?

 

Dealing in utilities

ivanpah solar electric generating system mojave desert - ivanpah solar electric generating system mojave desert

 

Ok, so Google wants to provide you and everyone else internet, transport them around and give them premium cell phones that are cheap and easily customizable.

Now they want to power all these with massive, inexpensive natural fuel sources.

Google recently invested $168 million in the Brightsource Ivanpah Project, a 450 foot solar power tower in the Mojave Desert. Google made a commitment back in 2008 to be dependent solely on renewable fuel sources by 2030. This investment is part of that and, if it’s successful, could be part of an entirely new division of bringing people power via wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.

Of course, this is entirely conjecture at this point. But with Google’s track record of acquisitions and research, it’s not entirely out of the question. Imagine paying Google a couple hundred bucks to set up your own solar tower that powers your home, devices, car(s) and everything else?

Imagine…

June 3, 2014