Gadgetopia

Google search finds seafaring solution: Fascinating.

The company is considering deploying the supercomputers necessary to operate its internet search engines on barges anchored up to seven miles (11km) offshore.

The “water-based data centres” would use wave energy to power and cool their computers, reducing Google’s costs. Their offshore status would also mean the company would no longer have to pay property taxes on its data centres, which are sited across the world, including in Britain.

This reminds me of SeaCode from a few years back:

These guys plan to station a cruise ship just outside U.S. waters and stock it with foreign programmers. So, they pay dirt for wages, but they can claim close proximity to the U.S.

SeaCode’s page is still running, but the Last-Modified header on the home page is from March 2006, and there doesn’t seem to be any pages past the home page.