Calling all Loonies: Google is looking for Central Valley, Calif., residents to volunteer their home for an early Project Loon test.

Folks in the areas of Madera, Chowchilla, Mariposa, Merced, and Turlock who own a single family home or business with a Web connection can sign up to have a Loon Internet antenna installed.

Anyone called on for this round of trials will be asked to help load test the system during research flights over the next few months. To participate, fill out an online survey with details about your home or business. Those selected to participate will be contacted directly by Google.

Google in June revealed plans to provide Internet access to underserved areas via airborne balloons. The effort, dubbed Project Loon, began with a pilot in the Canterbury area of New Zealand, with 30 balloons in the air and 50 testers on the ground.

The balloons, according to Google, are meant to help people connect to the Web by connecting with specialized antennas  like the one pictured  which then communicate with a ground station hooked up to a local Internet service provider. They can also help with communications in the event of a natural disaster.

Google controls the high-flying contraptions, which measure about 50 feet in diameter, using wind and solar power, moving them up or down to catch the right winds.

"We imagine someday you'll be able to use your cell phone with your existing service provider to connect to the balloons and get connectivity where there is none today," Project Loon head Mike Cassidy wrote in a June blog post.

The public response to Google's unique project is overwhelmingly positive, based on the comments posted to the company's call for volunteers. People across the nation and country, from the Netherlands and Ukraine to Boston and Atlanta are pleading for a role in the experiment.

It's safe to say, though, that if Project Loon flies over Washington state, there is one resident who won't jump at the chance to help. Early this month, Microsoft founder and multi-billionaire Bill Gates told Bloomberg that Google's new effort just isn't cutting it.

"When you're dying of malaria, I suppose you'll look up and see that balloon, and I'm not sure how it'll help you," he said. "When a kid gets diarrhea, no, there's no website that relieves that."

Despite Google's assurances that its system could potentially help with communications in the aftermath of a natural disaster, Gates isn't convinced, saying that the company is not doing enough "to uplift the poor."

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