Google has its hands in a lot of jars. It’s juggling Android, ChromeOS, maps, Gmail, Glass and self-driving cars. But the real secret goods are (presumably) hidden deep inside the secret “Google [x]” lab, and Bloomberg got an awful close — but not quite uncensored — peek.
Located in a rather unremarkable two-storey brick building less than a kilometre away from Google’s main campus, the Google [x] lab isn’t itself a well-kept secret but contains plenty of them. Born primarily to foster Google’s self-driving car project, Google [x] is now — possibly — home to other wild projects from space elevators to god knows what else. But Bloomberg’s recent chat with the lab’s director, Astro Teller, sheds just a little bit of light on what it’s like in there.
From Bloomberg:
Teller and colleagues say they’ve spent time contemplating levitation and teleportation. The latter was nixed as an area for further study in part because any unique item that you would want to teleport — a Picasso, say — would have to be completely destroyed before it could be reconstituted on the other end.
And on the topic of more feasible but still insane projects, Teller refused to comment on a rumoured Google [x] plan to give the whole world internet via broadband transmitters on high-altitude balloons but did tell Bloomberg that sounded like a Google [x] sort of project.
The real nitty gritty of what mind-blowing projects are in their infancy in that little brick building will probably never sneak out, but a nice little peek like this just makes you want them all the more. I guess we’ll just have to wait until they start changing the world. You can hop over to Bloomberg to read more about Google [x], but don’t expect to uncover any real secrets. [Bloomberg]