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Wireless Networking The Internet Hardware

Seattle Wireless TV Releases June 2004 Show 64

Posted by timothy from the torment-the-torrent dept.
drewzhrodague writes "Seattle Wireless TV just released their June 2004 Show, containing a segment by (me) Drew from WiFiMaps, called 'Booze and Wi-Fi,' which is an interview with Doug Luce from Telarama (the world's third ISP). Doug talks about their successful ultra-low-cost hotspot setup, and shows us how they are being deployed. Also, Jason Levitt of Less Networks presents 'How Less Networks and Austin City Wireless Project beat T-Mobile,' a presentation on why every day should be a free Wi-Fi day, how a $100 press release with a good message is worth more than a million-dollar ad campaign, and about their AP/captive-portal setup. Check it out for Realplayer, Windows Media, or MPEG torrent."
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Seattle Wireless TV Releases June 2004 Show More

Seattle Wireless TV Releases June 2004 Show

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  • Anyone else concerned about... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dotslashconfig ( 784719 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @12:06AM (#9476686)
    The spread of free WiFi and possible security breaches by cyber criminals? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have easy access to information of my coffee break. But what is to prevent a person from using wireless access, which probably isn't as closely monitored (user by user), to avoid restrictions/restraints on their personal access? It seems like until we have methods for identifying criminals on a wireless network, and locking down security, free access is extended to even those who would abuse it.

    Is there anyone who is better versed on this matter who can enlighten me as to security procedures in these "hot-spots" that the article praises?

    • Re:Anyone else concerned about... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Siva ( 6132 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @12:09AM (#9476700) Homepage Journal
      what's to stop that same person from going into a public library and using a public access terminal?

    • Re:Anyone else concerned about... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by nick0909 ( 721613 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#9476708)
      I am semi-concerned, but there are so many places to get free access already. The library, schools, universities, internet cafe. Some even let you bring your own computer and just plug into their Cat 5 (thats the way we do it at my school if you don't have WiFi). So, it might make it easier, but its not already impossible.

    • Re:Anyone else concerned about... (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      If we let the criminals use the streets and highways then they can get away faster! Untill we have some sort of road regulation we are letting the criminals drive too.

    • Re:Anyone else concerned about... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 3terrabyte ( 693824 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @12:14AM (#9476718) Journal
      The spread of pay phones and possible security breaches by terminal criminals? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have easy access to calling people on my coffee break. But what is to prevent a person from using a pay phone, which probably isn't as closely monitored (user by user), to avoid restrictions/restraints on their personal dialing? It seems like until we have methods for identifying criminals on a pay phone, and locking down security, public access is extended to even those who would abuse it.

      Is there anyone 2 year old who is better versed on this matter who can enlighten my dumb ass as to security procedures in these "pay phones" that the article praises?

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @01:20AM (#9476909)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re:Anyone else concerned about... (Score:1, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward
          We are talking about ease of hacking and launching viri to the wild anonymously. Not simple phone phreaking or cussing up a storm to someone via crankcall.
          I'll play paraphrase.
          We are talking about ease of using public phones to set up murders/credit card fraud/drug deals anonymously. Not simple data loss by people too stupid or ignorant to secure their own system.
      • So, to paraphrase what you're saying:

        The spread of curdled milk and possible security breaches by curd-lovers? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have easy access to all that curdled goodness on my coffee break. But what is to prevent a person from using curdled dairy products for devious activities during their personal use? It seems like until we have methods for identifying criminals that hold these curdled dairy containers, and locking down security, public curd consumption is extended to even those who
    • I met with the FBI again last week, and that was one of their concerns -- "bad guys", as they call 'em, can hop onto wireless networks rather anonymously, and perform computer crimes. It's hard to track them down, unlike a those using a wired connection. Phishing, spamming, warez, the whole lot.

      However, what they're seeing is NOT a flood of computer crimes using wireless technologies. Couple isolated incidents here and there, but mostly from people who don't think first (and get caught).

      So, while the se

  • World's 3rd ISP ? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gorim ( 700913 )
    Ok, I went to their web page to read up on the story, and they say they were founded in 1991 as the world's first ISP.

    I question this big time. Tons of the huge ISP's existed before 1991. So, in what way are they claiming to be 3rd ? Context is everything, if there is to be any amount of truth to a statement, assuming there is any truth.

    On the other hand, at least they don't have the balls to say they are 1st or 2nd.
    • ...as the world's first ISP....

      Oops sorry, meant to say "third". I should have previewed a 3rd time myself.

    • Re:World's 3rd ISP ? (Score:4, Funny)

      by nacturation ( 646836 ) <nacturation&gmail,com> on Sunday June 20, 2004 @12:18AM (#9476738) Journal
      Yeah, well my company is uh... FOURTH! Right! Telerama beat me to the registration office by a minute, so they got the prestige of being third. Want another unverifiable fact? Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both made private anonymous investments in my company!
    • Sure, AOL, the well, mindspring, all those and others were "online providers" way back when, but there weren't really any ISPs so early on: AOL didn't even have internet access until the mid-nineties. It wasn't a lot more than a big bloated BBS. Ten years ago the Internet was mostly educational, experimental, and government sites. more .edu's than .com's that's for sure.
      • Yes, this is true -- at that time, you could not just call Earthlink, and order dialup Internet. SLIP was a new thing, and unless you were a university student, or invaded their computer clusters, you could not get Internet. Nobody heard of this stuff. People were using Compuserve, and dialing into BBSs.

        I used to dial-in to one of Doug's multiline chat-thing experiments, as well as some of the other BBSs in the Pittsburgh area. Unless you had a unix account at CMU or Pitt, there was no way to get Internet
  • Check it out for Realplayer, Windows Media, or MPEG torrent."

    Checked it out. Does not work. Wish they made their site work before they do anything enterprising.

    • Re:Have the site work ... (Score:2, Informative)

      by rasz ( 788512 )
      torrent works fine, but OMFG a 900MB file !! Thats going to fill up my monthly quota :/ (lame 5gb for a 10$ a month).
      And now i read they didnt edited the video, just great. I'm a little pissed. I want to see it, but i definitelly dont want to see someone figuring out the remote for a 200mb of the movie :(.

      16 hours do download, I just love those 128kBit DLS lines :P.

  • editing? (Score:5, Informative)

    by drivers ( 45076 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @12:37AM (#9476786)
    I was just watching the video which includes someone giving a powerpoint-esqe presentation. Right now they are trying to figure out why the remote control doesn't advance the slide. How about some video editing? I don't really need to relive the entire experience.
    • There's some rough editing, as you say, but the more annoying thing is that the MPEG version of the show (whether in the editing process or the compression phase) isn't boiled down to a nice CD-R size like 700MB. 900+ makes it too large for a single disk, and a fair chunk of my hard drive :)

      timothy

  • T-Moble? (Score:2, Informative)

    by JessLeah ( 625838 )
    ...What the heck is T-Moble? ;) Could you mean T-Mobile?

  • Less Networks = Bad (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Less Networks is simply a commercial scam making use of free software, their stuff runs on top of free software which anyone can get, and the only benefit of running their software as a AP provider is that its a centralized login server, which in theory is nice, but in reality is just a scam to collect information on users. I would seriously recommend people look at alternatives over LessNetworks and never trust Richard McKinneon, as he's a spin doctor who only has interest in making money off it in the

  • Doug Luce is a good guy (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20, 2004 @01:11AM (#9476877)
    before u all go ape shit questioning Doug Luce and Telerama being third....

    Telerama has been around since way back... probably at the point where most of you still were living at home and getting allowance and using your parents computer.

    If Telerama wasn't third they were damn close.

    Prior to the Telerama ISP, Doug ran some pretty nifty home brewed multi-line chat system that was used a lot by the locals here in Pittsburgh.

    Over the years Doug has taken his geekiness and crafted both a sustainable business and tried his hand at supporting all sorts of cool things like this. He's a real genuine guy and not some office suit bore.

    Even his employees are a different kind of folk. Liberal open minded and unix focused.

    -p

    • Sorry, but in 1991 I spent half my day on the internet on a Sun workstation that someone else paid for.

      Doesn't matter how nifty or nice they are. I will take you at your word they are basically decent and good folk.

      But someone who has the balls to claim they were 3rd, in 1991, when the internet had already existed for years as a combination of various tcp/ip service providers, oughta provide a bit more context for that claim, or use appropriate qualifiers, such as, "when they opened up the internet for li
      • So, I guess I could have posted that they were the third "public" ISP, since universities mostly made up the Internet at the time.

        Universities are not really Internet Service Providers, they're Universities. Companies like Telerama were into providing Internet, as opposed to creating the Internet.

  • "Wireless" TV? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Blaede ( 266638 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @01:19AM (#9476904)
    What a breakthrough! And all these years I'd been thinking, "if someone could just come up with a way to deliver content that didn't require my TV to be tethered to a cable, they'd make millions!" Can you imagine the possibilites? One could take a small portable TV, plug it into a power connection, turn it on and start watching! Heck you could watch it in the middle of nowhere, and no longer depend on your local cable company for programming. Why didn't they think of this sooner?

    • Re:"Wireless" TV? (Score:4, Funny)

      by ColaMan ( 37550 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @03:11AM (#9477125) Journal
      Don't laugh - see the Sony Wireless TV [sharp.ca].

      I saw that and thought WTF?!? They're marketing a wireless TV? This is THE BEGINNING OF THE END of marketing!

      "Yeah, this TV it's, er, wireless - it's the new hotness. Only cost me 3 grand!"
      "Wait, you mean wireless, like all TV's have been since their orginal release in the 1930's?"
      "Er... Go away now."

  • Content is the key (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Alice_Pleasance_Lidd ( 657711 ) <cisidae AT yahoo DOT com> on Sunday June 20, 2004 @01:36AM (#9476945) Homepage
    Wireless media distribution is great, but even harder to search and find what you're looking for than text. If anyone can broadcast, the people who co-operate to create something creative and engaging will come out on top. If you create something worth seeing, it ought to make it onto a conventional TV network, though they seem to have lost the concept of "worth seeing."

  • Brilliant idea. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dj245 ( 732906 ) on Sunday June 20, 2004 @02:22AM (#9477041) Homepage
    how a $100 press release with a good message is worth more than a million-dollar ad campaign,

    This is a great idea. If only these press releases could be posted to a major news site that hundreds of thousands of nerds read every day, think of the exposure! Hey, wait a minute....

  • Does anyone know any details about their custom relay board that does the remote reboot of the devices??? Can I build this myself and what linux software are they using to control it? I would love to find a low cost solution do this to reboot devices and PC's remotely.

    • Re:Experimenter's relay board (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'm not going to download that boring 900 meg sucker, but describe what you're talking about and I can come up with a workable design. If they're rebooting computers by dialing or networking to another computer, then no sweat. Simple app (I've written one, many others exist) to control the pins on the parallel port, and basically a few optoisolators and either relays to cut and restore power to devices without reset buttons, or a transistor to the reset pins on a computer. Suppose you could even have the co
  • This is my third segment for Seattle Wireless TV [seattlewireless.net]. I learned quite a bit by way of journalism-by-fire. I had fun interviewing Doug, he's used to the media exposure, and -- as you see -- went right through it.

    Of course, Doug treated me to a 7 course sashimi meal at Umi in Shadyside, as well as a couple of drinks downstairs at my favorite place, Soba (espresso martini was a good idea, the irish car bomb was not).

    Since there aren't any other Wi-Fi related TV shows, tips and suggestions are always welcome,
  • I just watched the segment with the lessnetworks guy promoting the free wireless access in Austin. Besides being the worst presentation I've ever seen .The first thing that comes to mind is why complicate things they aren't making any profit they obviously don't have a business model and aren't interested. Wouldn't it be simpler for the owner of any establishment that wants to offer free WIFI to get a DSL line and pop in a wireless router like a leave it open.

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