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The X Blog
News, stories and insights from the team at X
Helping bridge the digital divide in India
Taara and Airtel partner to bring fast, affordable internet to more people
X Projects
Blue food and beyond
Collaborating to promote sustainable ocean innovation
X Projects
Passing the COVID test
How Project Chorus helped distribute 11 million vaccines across New Zealand
X Projects
M is for Mineral
Mineral is now an Alphabet company
Moonshot compost
How killing projects nourishes future, better ideas
Moonshot thinking
Introducing Chorus
X’s moonshot to improve how we move and use the world’s goods
X Projects
Mineral and the beanstalk
Unlocking the hidden magic of the world’s largest bean collection
X Projects
Tapestry: X's moonshot for the electric grid
Weaving together the technologies, information and partners needed for clean, reliable and affordable electricity
X Projects
Harvesting water from the air
Sharing Project H2E's findings on improving access to clean drinking water
X Projects
Optimism as a strategy
How “applied optimism” can help us tackle the climate crisis
Moonshot thinking
From grief to purpose
Lessons from human illness for the climate crisis
Why the electric grid needs a moonshot
How can we bring the grid out of the industrial age and into the age of intelligent technology?
X Projects
Turning on Project Loon in Puerto Rico
Following Hurricane Maria, Project Loon is now supporting basic communication and internet activities in Puerto Rico
All Stories
November 19, 2021
Everyday robots are (slowly) leaving the lab
Progress towards our moonshot of creating a general-purpose learning robot
X Projects
Hans Peter Brøndmo
September 30, 2021
Keeping Loon’s legacy aloft
Loon’s flight data and technical learnings are now available to support stratospheric innovation and research
X Projects
The Loon Team
September 16, 2021
Beaming broadband across the Congo River
Taara’s wireless optical communications links are now beaming light-speed connectivity from Brazzaville to Kinshasa across the Congo River
X Projects
Baris Erkmen
July 23, 2021
Introducing Intrinsic
Unlocking the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for millions more businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers
X Projects
Wendy Tan White
June 15, 2021
Designing for the unknown
How ‘provisional specificity’ can clarify ambiguous problems
June 15, 2021
When rapid iteration is the strategy
Rapid iteration in practice
Moonshot thinking
Elliott Grant
May 10, 2021
Coming soon: Moonshot Lab — Israel
Calling for Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs to join us for an adventure in 10x innovation
Careers
Adi Aron-Gilat
April 23, 2021
Sharing X’s moonshot for the electric grid
Reflections from the Leaders Summit on Climate
March 16, 2021
How to think in questions, not answers
Tips for entering the what if? zone
Moonshot thinking
Courtney Hohne
January 22, 2021
Loon’s final flight
Loon’s time as an Other Bet is coming to an end
December 15, 2020
A Puppet and a Robot Walk into a Moonshot Factory
How puppeteering with my parents led to a career in robotics
December 15, 2020
“Mother Nature waits for no-one”
How the Mineral team created a mini-plant buggy while sheltering-in-place
December 8, 2020
A new home for Project Delta
After prototyping and testing a range of new technologies to help tackle food waste and food insecurity, we’re moving to Google to scale up our work
November 10, 2020
Bringing light-speed internet to Sub-Saharan Africa
Project Taara is working with Econet Group and its subsidiaries to roll out wireless optical communication links across their network starting in Kenya
X Projects
Mahesh Krishnaswamy
November 9, 2020
“We value flying pigs, metaphorically and literally”: Astro Teller in conversation with Gideon Lichfield at EmTech 2020
Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller shares what X has learned from a decade of innovation about unleashing radical creativity
November 2, 2020
Sharing Project Amber with the mental health community
New open source resources to help researchers collect and interpret electroencephalography (EEG) data for mental health measurement
October 13, 2020
How [not] to predict the future
An interview with Xer Phil Watson about navigating an uncertain future
October 12, 2020
Mineral: Bringing the era of computational agriculture to life
A new name for a new way of seeing the plant world
October 6, 2020
The monkey, the tiger beetle and the language of innovation
What we’ve learned from 10 years of moonshot taking about choosing your words wisely — and the many benefits of doing so.
September 10, 2020
Sharing Makani with the world: The Energy Kite Collection
Fly your own energy kite virtually and explore Makani’s technology with a new collection of open source materials
July 31, 2020
Keeping it weird on National Avocado Day
Marveling at the weird history of avocado breeding
June 17, 2020
Improving racial diversity, equity, and inclusion at X
I sent this note to Xers today and am publishing it here to share our commitment to improving racial diversity, equity and inclusion at X.
May 29, 2020
Innovating in place
Lab lessons from Ratatouille’s Remy
May 22, 2020
Embracing the complexity of nature
Reflections on Biological Diversity Day
May 15, 2020
The secret superpower of the Class of 2020
Thoughts for this year's graduating class
May 12, 2020
Bringing Loon to Mozambique
Expanding to our second market in Africa will bring connectivity to more people and operational efficiencies to Loon
March 2, 2020
Introducing Tidal
A moonshot to protect the ocean and feed humanity sustainably
February 18, 2020
A long and windy road
Bringing Makani's 13-year journey to an end
February 12, 2020
Tips for unleashing radical creativity
10 years of moonshot taking
Moonshot thinking
Astro Teller
January 2, 2020
Thinking science-fictionally
Learning from Asimov’s robot vision at 100
December 11, 2019
How energy kites expand the reach of offshore wind
Makani CEO Fort Felker makes a call for collaboration across the wind industry
November 21, 2019
Introducing the Everyday Robot Project
Teaching robots how to help us in our everyday lives
September 20, 2019
Creativity can combat climate change
Why Makani is making kites that generate clean power
August 15, 2019
Makani’s airborne wind power system takes flight offshore
Makani's first flights from a floating platform
July 23, 2019
“We choose to go to the moon”
From the Apollo missions, a blueprint for pursuing the audacious and near-impossible
June 5, 2019
Robotics is a team sport
Meet the team teaching robots how to learn
June 4, 2019
Introducing TensorNetwork
An open source library for efficient tensor calculations
April 11, 2019
Reigniting moonshot thinking in government
How governments can implement moonshot thinking to bring about positive social change
March 19, 2019
Entering the era of computational agriculture
Why agriculture is ripe for moonshot thinking
March 1, 2019
Making black history every month
Celebrating past accomplishments and building a future where everyone can thrive
February 12, 2019
Makani takes to the ocean with Shell
After five years of development at X, Makani is now an independent company and is partnering with Shell to bring energy kites to offshore environments
December 20, 2018
How Assisted Reality is transforming hands-on work
How Glass fits into the flow of work to save time and money
December 19, 2018
Introducing Malta
A new approach to grid-scale energy storage
October 16, 2018
It’s peanut butter genie time*
Augmenting human creativity with computers
October 10, 2018
Three trends to watch in enterprise wearables
The Glass team shares its experiences at the 2018 Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit
October 5, 2018
What fork fashions and wet weather can tell us about Glass
Astro Teller discusses tech adoption with Slate’s “Secret History of the Future” podcast
September 28, 2018
The road less traveled
Tips for finding a career in moonshots
August 15, 2018
Embracing the twists and turns of a career in robotics
What you should consider when applying to open roles in an inspiring and ever-evolving field
July 31, 2018
Celebrating the positive potential for robotics through film
Reflections on the relationship between storytelling and robotics from the 8th annual Robot Film Festival
July 11, 2018
Graduation Day: Loon and Wing take flight
Introducing Alphabet’s newest Other Bets
June 25, 2018
The hot and cool of innovation in geothermal energy
How X’s innovation principles gave rise to the Dandelion Air
June 13, 2018
How chasing after nothing accelerates innovation
Reflections on “Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective”
June 7, 2018
Helping cities prepare for the future
Sarah Hunter joins government and non-profit leaders at Smart Cities New York
April 26, 2018
Inspiring the world to shoot for the moon
Miki Tomita interviews Astro Teller at the Earth Day Energy Summit
April 13, 2018
Moonshot thinking in machine learning: Applied AI takes flight
Astro Teller and Martin Giles in conversation at MIT EmTech Digital 2018
March 6, 2018
Challenging assumptions while delivering remote Internet service
Esra Ozkan reflects on research and design lessons with Project Loon in Peru
January 24, 2018
Graduation Day: Introducing Chronicle
Cybersecurity needs a moonshot
January 12, 2018
Living in modern times
Why we worry about new technology and what we can do about it
December 14, 2017
Exploring a new approach to connectivity
Tests with Free Space Optical Communications
October 16, 2017
Testing in the Australian skies
Project Wing is collaborating with communities and partners in southeastern Australia to trial our delivery drones
October 12, 2017
Inside robotics at X
Machine learning + robots = new approaches to humanity’s big problems
October 2, 2017
Change is in the air
Why I’m optimistic about the airborne wind industry’s next chapter
July 18, 2017
A new chapter for Glass
Glass Enterprise Edition is now available to more businesses
July 6, 2017
Introducing Dandelion
Reducing carbon emissions from home heating and cooling with geothermal energy
June 7, 2017
Managing traffic in the skies
How Project Wing is helping to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems into our airspace
May 24, 2017
From mall to Moonshot Factory: the history of X’s home turf
While X’s walls can’t talk (yet!) the Moonshot Factory has many stories to tell
May 16, 2017
From kiteboard to energy kite
Makani’s path to power generation through prototypes
April 28, 2017
Debunking eureka moments
The scrappy reality of day-to-day innovation
April 28, 2017
Just make the friggin hat!
Are you on Innovation Highway or Assumption Alley?
March 31, 2017
4 lessons from my mentor
and the power of betting on people
March 24, 2017
Meet Gcam: The X graduate that gave us a whole new point of view
The Graduate Series: A collection of stories where we look back at some of X’s graduated projects and see where they are today.
March 2, 2017
Building and breaking
How experimental play can lead to creative problem solving
February 16, 2017
How Project Loon’s smart software learned to sail the winds
Balloon-powered internet takes a step closer to reality
February 3, 2017
How I learned to embrace my inner lazy, impatient idiot
How negative traits can actually be hidden superpowers
December 13, 2016
Graduation Day: Self-Driving Cars
Introducing Waymo, a new Alphabet business
December 7, 2016
Lessons from Silicon Valley and Europe
Each place can learn from the other: right now, more than ever, we need greater collaboration between them
December 7, 2016
Three things I learned from turning seawater into fuel
Give as much attention to your cost model as to your prototype
December 7, 2016
Tackle the monkey first
Don’t use up all your resources on the easy stuff
December 7, 2016
“We’re gonna need some bigger socks”
Item #74275437
September 8, 2016
Drawing up a flight plan for moonshots
A case study from Project Wing
July 23, 2016
A Peek Inside the Moonshot Factory Operating Manual
X's approach to inventing and launching new moonshot technologies
March 8, 2016
How to kill good things to make room for truly great ones
Thoughts on inertia, fear, and bravery
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