WiFi On Two Wheels

MeGaBiTe1 writes "Yury Gitman is not the average cyclist from Brooklyn. His goal is to bring more easily accessible free wireless hotspots to the masses. To do this, he has created what he calls the Magicbike, a bicycle equipped with a laptop, power supply and antenna. Gitman's bike has allowed people in NYC to browse the internet freely in local parks and gardens. 'I am like the ice cream man, but with no music and I deliver free wireless access and not ice cream'."

"I am like the ice cream man, only not..."

[JessLeah]

I wonder how long it will be before a cop pulls over his bike and tickets him for inappropriate and bizarre analogies...

Wardrivers

[RucasRiot]

I bet the wardrivers with GPS are going nuts trying to pin him down while he's riding.

so...

[Man in Spandex]

Can we just buy one of those magic bicycle and keep it in our room?

Bah. You really wanna impress me?

[Gldm]

Someone miniaturize a wifi hotspot enough so that you can strap it to a pidgeon, then put some around New York. Then I'll really be impressed! Access for peanuts... or breadcrumbs... hey let's try squirrels maybe then it can be for peanuts.

I am like the ice cream man...

[CritterNYC]

... but with no music
... and with wireless internet service instead of ice cream
... and with a bike instead of a truck
... and it's free instead of costing money
... and I'm really more of a boy, not a man

... come to think of it, I'm nothing like the ice cream man at all... I was just talking outta my ass.

Bah

[squidinkcalligraphy]

What? no music? On ya bike son...

Slashdotted bike?

[yawhcihw]

Hopefully the site isn't hosted on this bike...if it got slashdotted and crashed, we could all get sued for his injuries!

Re:Sounds good....

[MikeD83]

I know this is a new concept on Slashdot, but just maybe people can't steal the equipment because he's actually riding the bike. Like excercise, who does that?

Re:I am like the ice cream man...

[Deraj DeZine]

Yeah, he seems a little more like the Free Candy Man [somethingawful.com]... unfortunately, that means he targets children.

Re:legal ramifications?

[MikeD83]

Would it be qualified as a "drive by?"

Re:why not city busses?

[russx2]

Depends if you're on the bus.

Hmm...

[Nooloo]

For some reason I still have the image of a guy with a giant satellite dish on his head in my mind. It would be interesting to see him take a trip into the south bronx.

Is it just me

[l0ungeb0y]

or is the wifi coming out his ass!?!? [magicbike.net]

Icecream indeed.

Like an oscillating fan of internet access. . .

[iustus]

"He's coming around the park again~ Quick! hit
the reload button while you have the chance!"

-- Connected to Wi-fi bike boy --
-- 11.00 mbits per second --
-- signal stregnth low --

*swoosh*

--wireless internet conneciton unavailable--

"damnit. . . "

Re:WHY GOD WHY

[nacturation]

"Why do computers need inundate every single aspect of our lives?" ... said the Anonymous Coward who used a computer to read the article and post his/her response.

Re:"I am like the ice cream man, only not..."

[shadowmatter]

His analogy reminds me of that Homer Simpson quote:

"I'm like a chocoholic, only with booze."

- sm

Re:Sounds good....

[Anonymous Coward]

Not only that, but exposing your "equipment" in a park could result in a large fine!

Re:"I am like the ice cream man, only not..."

[Molina the Bofh]

I wonder how long till this bike is stolen.

Re:"I am like the ice cream man, only not..."

[Punto]

"I am like the ice cream man, only not..."

What he meant to say is "I'm like the ice cream man, only instead of ice cream, I bring pr0n". I think it's a perfect analogy.

Re:Sounds good....

[Dever]

Only on slashdot would riding a motorcycle with a laptop and wireless internet installed count as exercise...

next thing you know, river rafting with a cluster of notebooks running folding@home with a propulsion system of 120mm pana-flo fans will be extreme sports...

four teenagers from the Bronx

[Anonymous Coward]

are now planning on robbing him.

That's a deep analogy

[steveha]

His "I'm like the ice cream man" analogy reminded me of this:

To me boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.

--Deep Thoughts (by Jack Handy)

And let us not forget the classic:

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

I can just imagine...

[theantipode]

... all the people on laptops following him via bike around the park. I'd pay to see the carnage that'd ensue.

Ok... So...

[Phidoux]

Every morning when I go out for a jog in the park, I take my laptop computer with me just in case a cyclist, with an attached mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, happens to be getting a bit of exercise at the same time.

It's great! Lugging the laptop around adds to the exercise potential of my jog and being able to read my spam, while in the middle of my jog, really goes a long way to breaking the boredom of exercise regime.

I wouldn't exactly call this exciting.

[dude127]

So basically, this strange guy provides slow unreliable internet access to people enjoying a bit of air and sunshine in the park. I don't know about the rest of you, but if I want unreliable internet access, I'll do that at home with with Comcast. At least with them, I don't need some weirdo to point a funny antenna at me when I'm trying to surf the web.

quote

[jeffs72]

'I am like the ice cream man, but with no music and I deliver free wireless access and not ice cream'." Or you're like a big dork with too much time on your hands.

Hmmm

[m00nun1t]

'I am like the ice cream man, but with no music and I deliver free wireless access and not ice cream'.

If we had bacon, we could have bacon and eggs if we had eggs.

get a life!

[Richthofen80]

Mixing public art with techno-activism

arg, I hate pop culture. I bet this guy is a 'metrosexual' too. Let it die! techno-activism is a made up word. You're a fruit on a bike! There are tons of wireless hotspots out there anyways, the chances that you're doing the world even a minute's worth of good are slim to none. If you really want ubiquitous wireless net access, try, oh , say, setting up a hotspot in your house. Or donating to a cause or group or company who would set up these spots. The idea that your bike provides wifi is hardly useful. get a life, and this is coming from a computer geek.