Google parent company Alphabet announced Friday it was shutting down “Loon”, a high-profile project aiming to deliver wireless internet via flying balloons in the stratosphere, because it is not commercially viable.

The idea behind Loon was to build a network of balloons to expand internet connectivity to underserved areas and disaster zones and was initially part of an Alphabet “moonshot factory” known as X, which aims to create projects to disrupt new sectors.

In a blog, X’s Astro Teller announced the decision, adding: “Sadly, despite the team’s groundbreaking technical achievements over the last 9 years… the road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped.”

Loon was deployed to provide internet in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017, as well as after a major earthquake in Peru.

Last year it

Tech giant Apple is reportedly developing a virtual reality headset, leading toward the potential release of augmented reality glasses for consumers.

According to Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter, the headset will serve largely as a VR device similar to Sony’s PlayStation VR and Oculus but offer limited AR features.

The report says the headset will serve as a “high-end, niche product that will prepare outside developers and consumers for its eventual, more mainstream AR glasses.”

Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

The headset would be the first new product type from the company since it released the Apple Watch in 2015.

Virtual reality was lauded during the last decade as companies such as Oculus and HTC introduced headsets, but interest waned in the devices over concerns with pricing and usability, as many headsets required staying tethered to a computer.

Interest appears

Tech colossus Amazon on Wednesday offered to put its vast operation to work helping President Joe Biden get 100 million Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 in the next 100 days.

Chief of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business Dave Clark sent a letter to Biden urging that its workers get vaccinated as early as possible and offering to put the company’s resources to work in the broader vaccination effort.

Amazon is the second largest employer in the US with more than 800,000 employees, most of whom are “essential workers” who can’t do their jobs from home, according to a copy of the letter obtained by AFP.

The e-commerce giant has seen business boom during the pandemic as people staying home to avoid risk of getting

Got room in your life for another streaming service?

ViacomCBS announced Tuesday it plans to launch Paramount+, which will combine content from CBS, Viacom and the Paramount film studio, on March 4.

Paramount+ will take the place of CBS All Access, which includes live sports and TV shows on CBS channels, programming from channels such as BET and Comedy Central and original programming such as “Star Trek: Discovery.”

ViacomCBS has yet to share how much the service will cost. CBS All Access is available for $5.99 a month with limited commercials or ad-free at $9.99 a month.

“With Paramount+, we’re excited to establish one global streaming brand in the broad-pay segment that will draw on the sheer breadth and depth of the ViacomCBS portfolio to offer an extraordinary collection of content for everyone to enjoy,” said Bob Bakish, president and CEO of ViacomCBS, when it was

The company that runs Frankfurt’s airport said Monday that passenger numbers in 2020 plunged to their lowest since the 1980s as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the travel sector.

Some 18.8 million passengers passed through Germany’s largest airport in 2020, 73 percent fewer than the previous year and the lowest level since 1984, operator Fraport said.

In France, airport operator Aeroport de Paris said that traffic at the capital’s two main airports was 69.4 percent lower last year.

Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris reported a drop of 70.8 percent at 22.3 million passengers, while smaller Orly to the south was down by 66.1 percent at 10.8 million.

Figures compiled by the International Civil Aviation Organization underscore the pandemic’s effect on air travel globally.

ICAO data show the overall number of passengers fell by 60 percent to 1.8 billion worldwide, a level last seen in 2003.