Google has given up on one of its big, futuristic projects

For years, companies like Facebook and Google have captivated audiences with the prospect of someday beaming Internet access down to earth from drones or satellites flying high above the ground. The dream held particular promise for developing countries where it's often expensive to build cellular towers or lay down physical Internet cabling. Now, though, Google's parent company, Alphabet, is scaling back its ambitions. It has disbanded the team that had been developing drone-based Internet service, according to the company. Dozens of employees in the group, known as Titan, have been reassigned to work on other projects.