Google's parent company won't beam Internet access from drones
Alphabet has shut down Titan, a project whose aim was to beam internet access from solar-powered drones, tech news site 9to5Google first reported on Wednesday. The move happened quietly last year.
As 9to5Google first reported, today Google's Alphabet Inc.'s X research lab announced it had shut down Titan sometime in 2016, scratching efforts to stream internet from the sky. Alphabet canceled the project due to insurmountable technological and economic hurdles.
Why this matters: This fits with trends at Alphabet (formerly Google) to rein in moonshot projects and their high costs. Waymo, Alphabet's renamed Self-Driving Car Project, spun off from the parent company to monetize its technology in late 2016. And last year Alphabet halted Google Fiber's future plans, and reorganized employees in Project Wing. Alphabet also lostseveral executives in the last year.
What we're watching: Other X projects. Project Loon, pictured above, a scheme to beam internet from high-altitude balloons (sounds familiar) and Project Wing, which would use drones for deliveries.
