I predict and propose many things online. It's nice to note when they become real. In this article from 2006, I describe the value of a robot that could crawl along power lines laying fiber and TIL that Facebook has indeed built such a robot. This week they have released it with the odd name of Bombyx.

In the 15 years since I described it, the need for bandwidth has grown -- but our ability to get huge bandwidth over copper and the airwaves has also grown, often providing a substitute for fiber. But our demand will grow and in the end I think we'll want more fiber and this is the way to make it happen, cheap.

I doubt Facebook built this because of my article of course, but it's nice to see it happen.