February 2016

Project SkyBender to provide Internet access over a 5G wireless network through drones was suppsed to be a secret but various information on the tests conducted by Google – but perhaps it would be more correct to call it Alphabet – leaked. According to the news now become public knowledge, the Google team is working in New Mexico to a technology that uses millimeter wavelengths to deliver speeds up to 40 times faster than 4G/LTE mobile networks.

The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks

The novel “The Hydrogen Sonata” by Iain M. Banks was published for the first time in 2012. It’s part of the Culture series.

The Gzilt civilization contributed to the formation of the Culture but in the end it didn’t join. After 10,000 years, the Gzilt are going to move to a different plane of existence called the Sublime and that’s supposed to be an occasion to celebrate. However, other civilizations have sent spacecraft to take possession of what Gzilt are abandoning creating tension and the Zihdren-Remnant, what remains of an ancient civilization that influenced the Gzilt, sent a mysterious message.

Vyr Cossont is a musician who, on the eve of the transition to the Sublime, is reinstated in the Gzilt army. Why are the Gzilt authorities interested in her past encounter with a member of the Culture? What is the meaning of the mysterious acts of war involving the Gzilt? Various Minds of the Culture officially want to celebrate the Gzilt passage to the Sublime but actually are investigating these strange events.