【Watch The Tax Collector Online】

Alphabet's Loon is Watch The Tax Collector Onlineno more.

Loon was launched in 2013 as one of Google's moonshot projects — experimental ventures which try to solve big problems — and was turned into an independent company in 2018. The idea was to provide internet access to areas that are remote or have poor infrastructure using balloons that sail at about 65,000 feet of altitude. And though Loon did have some success in those nine years — mostly in providing emergency access to areas that were struck by catastrophe — it is now shutting down.

In a blog post on Friday, the company said it made some "groundbreaking technical achievements," even managing to launch commercially in Kenya in 2020. Sadly, it wasn't enough to keep the company afloat.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

---

You May Also Like

---

---

"The road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped," the blog post says.

"Connectivity remains high on our list of spaces to keep hunting for moonshot ideas," says Alphabet. Credit: loon

According to the blog post, a small group from the Loon team will stay behind to wrap things up and wind existing services down. The rest are being helped to find alternative roles at either Alphabet, Google, or one of Alphabet's other experimental ventures.

It was not all for nothing, though. Google said some of the technology developed by Loon is already used in Project Taara, which aims to bring affordable, fast internet to Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Digital Culture
• Deals
• Life
• Social Good
• Games
• Science
• Shopping
• Entertainment

• Waymo data shows humans are terrible drivers compared to AI
• Audible sitewide sale: save up to 85% on all titles
• Rubbish Collector; Barman by Chris Flynn
• Our Café au Lait Cup—Now for Sale! by Sadie Stein
• The 10 Most Anticipated PC Games of 2016
• Rubbish Collector; Barman by Chris Flynn
• James Salter: "This Is My Stockholm" by Thessaly La Force
• Larry David Humor; Fairies and Mushrooms by Sadie Stein
• Apple is actively looking at AI search for Safari
• Poem: The Listener by John Burnside

• Vanity was once the preserve of the privileged but Instagram has changed all of that
• The world is a terrible place but at least the 'What the Fluff' challenge exists
• The 15 best ranking memes, ranked
• Trump slams 'dirty' Red Hen restaurant, but let's not forget Mar
• Turning off comments on TikTok is easier than ever
• 15 of the best movies on Sundance Now for when you want something special
• Ariana Grande posted a video of her side
• This moon blob meme was the one good thing on the internet this week
• Trump appears to have *autographed* photos of murder victims at a bizarre anti
• Instagram on desktop is way better for being a creep

• Best Sony headphones deal: Over $100 off Sony XM5 headphones
• Straight Talk by Ian Volner
• Come Celebrate Our Fall Issue by Deirdre Foley
• A Tiny Republic; Golden Eras by Lorin Stein
• 10 Tech Predictions for 2017
• O Pioneers! by Rachael Maddux
• Straight Talk by Ian Volner
• Dummy Land by Avi Steinberg
• Best Apple deal: Save $19 on AirTag 4
• Writing Jobs; Literary Style Icons by Sadie Stein

• New MIT report reveals energy costs of AI tools like ChatGPT
• American Inferno by Margaret Eby
• James Salter: "This Is My Stockholm" by Thessaly La Force
• Rubbish Collector; Barman by Chris Flynn
• Philips now allows customers to 3D print replacement parts
• Staff Picks: Lucian Freud, Beryl Bainbridge by The Paris Review
• Staff Picks: Microstyle, The Epiplectic Bicycle by The Paris Review
• At the Bazaar by Alexandra Pechman
• Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop at record
• Adaptation by Sadie Stein