People love large and shiny objects. So we can be forgiven for being absolutely blown away by Google’s idea of relaying IP across the skies via giant balloons to remote areas where Internet connectivity would otherwise not exist.

The most jaw-dropping aspect of the Loon project is the fact that the system uses algorithms to convert published windspeed and direction data into navigation using algorithms. (Balloons are moved by finding an altitude at which the air is moving in the right direction.)

So much about this project is dazzling — the scope and audacity of it; the solar-powered servers-in-the-sky; and the fact that balloons will deliver the Internet to remote areas — that the core aspect of Loon is easy to overlook.

The key thing about Loon is mesh networking.

Every day there seems to be a new alternative to Google Reader, the beloved RSS aggregator Google will bury once and for all on July 1st. Services like Feedly and Newsblur are already established with millions of users, and Digg has a service launching next week. Now AOL—yes, the company formerly known as America Online—even has a RSS reader.

You can sign up to get access to the private beta on a new webpage. That’s all we really know at this point. AOL will assumedly email people when it’s ready to let them in. Since it’s AOL, don’t hold out with too high of hopes. A lot of people (including this writer) are having trouble loading the website today.

But hey, I guess if Digg can do it, anyone can?

A lot was unveiled during Google I/O 2013, including a new section of Google Play primarily designed for education apps. Google Play for Education is a program designed to get Nexus tablets into education facilities and provide a dedicated app store offering education-based apps to fill those tablets with.

Sprint has announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy the other half of Clearwire for $5 per share, beating Dish’s current offer by $0.60 per share. The newly-revised deal values Clearwire at $14 billion, which represents a 47% increase over Sprint’s previous offer of $3.40 per share.

Iron Man uses a HTC phone, or at least the actor who plays him. Robert Downey Jr. has reportedly partnered with HTC for a $12 million ad campaign that will last for the next two years, according to Bloomberg.

RDJ will be appearing in the ads as himself, not the Marvel superhero he has become a household name for portraying. Hey, it’s still better than Dawson’s Creek.