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Wireless Networking The Internet Hardware

Texas Using WiFi to Encourage Driving Breaks 182

Posted by simoniker from the clever dept.
squidfrog writes "An AP article reports: 'To encourage drivers to take more frequent breaks, the Texas Department of Transportation wants to set up free wireless Internet access at rest stops and travel information centers. TxDOT, which says Texas is the first state to provide such free access at rest areas, began experimenting with WiFi hotspots last fall... Andy Keith, manager of TxDOT's maintenance division, said the state hopes to reduce fatigue-related accidents by encouraging drivers to stop more often.' Is public WiFi becoming a trend?" We previously mentioned this scheme a couple of weeks back, although not the motivation behind it.
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Texas Using WiFi to Encourage Driving Breaks More

Texas Using WiFi to Encourage Driving Breaks

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  • Free Wireless Pr0n At Rest Stops? (Score:5, Funny)

    by cyb3rllama ( 625448 ) * on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:48PM (#9489079) Homepage
    "hopes to reduce fatigue-related accidents by encouraging drivers to stop more often."
    Bah... Increased driver fatigue and now they won't be able to get anyone to leave!

    • Re:Free Wireless Pr0n At Rest Stops? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by josh3736 ( 745265 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:03PM (#9489215) Homepage
      While it's a nice idea, chances are it won't work.

      I don't like rest stops. They are usually pretty dirty.

      Especially in the dirty, undermaintained rest stops, I don't feel safe. (Usually there isn't a staff person to be seen anywhere.)

      I would not bust out my $1300 laptop and sit around in a rest stop to browse the net unless I was packing.

      On the other hand, turnpike plazas are usually very nice. I would consider some web browsing there.

      • It's Texas, most of the people you see will be packing. ;->
      • Who says that you must get out of your car? As long as you never get out of the car, you will be sorta comfortable, keep your doors locked and never come to a complete stop and you will be sorta safe.

        This could be a great way to do scheduled updates, maybe you won't get much rest, but truckers and others with the right automation could drive through and automatically log in, upload/download their messages and schedule changes, and just keep on going. Think of the productivity!

      • Re:Free Wireless Pr0n At Rest Stops? (Score:5, Funny)

        by peeping_Thomist ( 66678 ) * on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:38PM (#9489494)
        I would not bust out my $1300 laptop and sit around in a rest stop to browse the net unless I was packing.

        This is Texas we're talking about. All of us are packing!
      • I don't know where you drive, but the rest stops on major thoroughfares here in Texas are pretty well-maintained.

      • Re:Free Wireless Pr0n At Rest Stops? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Amarok.Org ( 514102 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @06:45PM (#9489956)
        I live in Texas and travel a fair bit.

        For the most part, the rest stops in Texas are well maintained, well lighted, clean, and generally very comfortable places to take a break. I wouldn't have any problem stopping at a Texas rest stop to check my e-mail, etc, any more that I would in ANY reasonably public place. If it's dark and you're alone, you'd be stupid to leave yourself vulnerable - rest area or no.

        • I've never been to a Texas rest stop. I have been to a lot along I-77 and I-80. (I drove to Wyoming last summer.) The I-80 rest stops weren't of the highest quality. (Ohio notwithstanding, the turnpike travel plazas are quite nice.) The rest stops were OK, but NOT somewhere I'd want to be after dark.

  • Well either that (Score:4, Funny)

    by YouGotServed ( 790258 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:49PM (#9489085)
    or it's gonna encourage users to download more pr0n for the long trip.

  • I love the ad campaign (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:49PM (#9489086)
    Rest stops: Not just for anonymous sex anymore!

  • Free hacking spots (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fluor2 ( 242824 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:50PM (#9489099)
    Driving a while

    Fire up your laptop

    Welcome to the Texas State

    Login : root
    Pass : ******

    • Whoever modded parent as troll should be slapped.
      It's a VERY legitimate point. What's to stop people from mis-using the stops for illegal activity such as Denial of Service, Hacking, etc?

      • Re:Free hacking spots (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        It's probably modded troll for the way the message written, not the message itself. I wouldn't agree that it is a troll, but it's a pretty childish way of writing.

        As for you point, why bother to drive all the way to a rest area when you can get free unmonitored connections within a few blocks of your house.

        Ok, a real crook would drive farther, but if you want to hide something it's better to use an unsecured home network than one on state property.

        I honestly think we are going to have to give up the i

      • What's to stop people from mis-using the stops for illegal activity such as Denial of Service, Hacking, etc?

        What stops people from engaging in these activities from any of the existing free WiFi access points? I don't think that the fact that these are at highway rest stops should make much of a difference (but cue Matrix Reloaded highway chase scene anyway)
      • What's to stop people from mis-using the stops for illegal activity such as Denial of Service, Hacking, etc?

        What's to stop people from mis-using any open wifi AP? Open public wifi hotspots are growing like wildfire, so adding a few more isn't going to hurt. An open wifi hotspot does have the potential for misuse but not any more so than a public phone or your local post office.

    • Burma Shave.

    • Re:Free hacking spots (Score:5, Funny)

      by haystor ( 102186 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:21PM (#9489365)
      You've got it wrong:

      Welcome to Texas State

      Login: root
      Pass: *
    • Why bother driving when you could own your own army of windoze machines [slashdot.org]? What can you do with a Texas rest stop that you could not do with a bot?

      Wifi at rest stops is as good an idea as public phones and restrooms at rest stops. No additional harm will be done to the public and most people will enjoy the service. It might even do what it is intended to do and reduce traffic accidents. The worst thing that people can do is deny the service.

  • No wonder I feel so alert! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by missing000 ( 602285 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:50PM (#9489101)
    The internet makes you rested? I never woulda thunk!

    I'll just stay on-line all the time - just think of the time I'll save not sleeping.

  • Doubtful (Score:2, Interesting)

    by domodude ( 613072 )
    I doubt people will be too keen on the idea of using a government network to check email, IM, and surf the web. Also, not many people just carry their laptop with them in the car. Most drivers want to get to where they are going as fast as they can.

    • So use SSH, VPN, or some other encrypted tunnel. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @06:48PM (#9489984) Journal
      I doubt people will be too keen on the idea of using a government network to check email, IM, and surf the web.

      So use SSH, VPN, or some other encrypted tunnel back to your home or office machine. Read or download email that way, and surf the web through a proxy.

      Also, not many people just carry their laptop with them in the car. Most drivers want to get to where they are going as fast as they can.

      I do. Even on vacation. And it's a bitch to find a feed on a two week, 5,000 mile road trip. But not as much of a bitch as being out-of-touch for two weeks (with those I'm willing to be IN touch with on a vacation, of course. B-) )

      Truckers need to be in touch. So much so that the truckers often pay a significant charge at service plazas (i.e. Flying J) for internet access - either a terminal or WiFi to the cab. (Also: Many truckers live in their trucks for weeks at a time, so their recreational internet use depends on such feeds.)

      Salesmen and other "road warriors" need it, too. Only place I know they can reliably find it free is Kinkos. They provide lots of free office-on-the-road service (such as free local phone and handy calling card dispensers) to small businesses and road warriors, to entice such people in. They make it all back with significant profit on printing and other office services they provide for a fee. (Also: Their T1 brings in big print jobs from the local businesses. So letting the customers plug into the hub and use the net is essentially free.)

  • Great! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eln ( 21727 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:51PM (#9489109)
    Now the long-haul truckers will stay up all night at the rest stop surfing the web instead of sleeping.

    Personally, when I go on long trips, I don't like to stop at the rest stops any longer than necessary. They are, for the most part, not terribly pleasant places to spend a pleasant afternoon. If I want to take a longer break, I'll find a restaurant or a park in the nearest podunk town.

    • Re:Great! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 )
      ..the whole point is to make them a more pleasant place to stop.

      and at least around here truckers have their driving hours limited so they have mandatory sleeping pauses(trucks have black boxes to record when it's moving and what speed to check they really stop at their breaks). So they're stuck on these stops sometimes without real choosing of where, and if they can check email from their family that's a good thing(or view porno, whatever).

      • Re:Great! (Score:3, Informative)

        by Judg3 ( 88435 )
        and at least around here truckers have their driving hours limited so they have mandatory sleeping pauses(trucks have black boxes to record when it's moving and what speed to check they really stop at their breaks). So they're stuck on these stops sometimes without real choosing of where, and if they can check email from their family that's a good thing(or view porno, whatever).

        Well, that's true - SORT OF. I used to be a long-haul driver, so I'm speaking from experience here. Yes, we have mandatory breaks
    • Boy- with the number of comments like this, I'm damn glad to live in Oregon. Most of the rest stops I've been at in Oregon are little parks in and of themselves; usually with picnic tables, clean restrooms, vending machines, and free coffee from some local service charity. If they'd add WiFi here, that would be wonderfull. In fact, since I work at ODOT, I might just suggest it.

    • rest stops vary quite a bit (Score:5, Informative)

      by timothy ( 36799 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:32PM (#9489453) Journal
      In some states, they're dirty and usually sort of creepy. (Arkansas has some of these.)

      In some places they're functional (I'm thinking of the turnpike plazas along the DC-NYC corridor), with fast food, usually working restrooms, gas stations. Not a place to spend much time, and I know that at least some of the NJ ones have a 2-hour limit, so not a good place -- not just for that reason! -- for a nap.

      In some places they're actually friendly; the big state-entry ones in Tennesee, Colorado and Texas, for instance. Since I prefer to travel by car vs. airplane when possible, I've hit a lot of bad ones and a lot of good ones; Texas is high on the Good list in my experience. Also, Texas has a fair number of no-facilities parking rest stops out in the sticks, where there might be a few shaded picnic tables -- if fatigue creeps up, these are (literally) lifesavers when on rural roads with few places to stop. And free WiFi? Hey, even better :)

      timothy

    • Re:Great! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Satan's Librarian ( 581495 ) *
      In Texas they're mostly pretty nice, especially along the Interstates. I've taken naps at some of them when I misjudged how awake I was for long hauls and decided I needed a nap *before* getting to my destination or a convenient town.

      Crime can happen, but if there's 10 truckers parked there resting (which is common), chances are people aren't going to try breaking into your car with you there as well. It's just too risky - the noise would bring additional help, and chances are at least one person at the

  • Maybe this is a bad idea... (Score:3, Funny)

    by shawn(at)fsu ( 447153 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:51PM (#9489110) Homepage
    For the wrong reason.

    If they had this all the way from Va to Fl, it would take me days to make it home, although everytime I get angry because X cut me off or Y was tailgating me I could pull over, play some CS and release all my anger.

    And besides this is Texas what else is their to do while driving on I-10.

  • Hmm, I don't know... (Score:5, Funny)

    by __aagctu1952 ( 768423 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:51PM (#9489117)
    Either it will make fatigued drivers stop, or it will make them learn to type really really fast as they zoom through the WiFi hotspots...

    • Re:Hmm, I don't know... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      *** Trucker1973 (trucker1973!wifi@node4.wireless.tx.us) has joined #chat
      [Trucker1973] Hey guys!
      *** Trucker1973 has left IRC ( Quit: Connection reset by peer )
      *** Trucker1973 (trucker1973!wifi@node5.wireless.tx.us) has joined #chat
      [Trucker1973] What's happening over here?
      *** Trucker1973 has left IRC ( Quit: Connection reset by peer )
      *** Trucker1973 (trucker1973!wifi@node6.wireless.tx.us) has joined #chat
      [Trucker1973] Hang on, some asshole is tailgating
      *** Trucker1973 has left IRC ( Quit: Connection r

  • I hate to say it but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hackstraw ( 262471 ) * on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:54PM (#9489138)
    This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in a while. It really sounds like a push from some wifi startup or something to suck government funds.

    What percentage of sleepy people are there going to be on the road traveling in Texas that have a computer on them with wifi access and really want to stop to use it? Dunno, but probably not many.

    What percentage of sleepy people are there going to be on the road traveling in Texas that want to stop at a rest stop every once and a while that has clean bathrooms, palatable water (ie, not that recycled toilet water), and maybe a free, or affordable cup of coffee that is palatable? I'd guess about 100. Anything below 100 is for those that don't drink coffee.

    I vote put the wifi in!

    • Re:I hate to say it but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by singularity ( 2031 ) * <.nowalmart. .at. .gmail.com.> on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:22PM (#9489375) Homepage Journal
      What percentage of sleepy people are there going to be on the road traveling in Texas that have a computer on them with wifi access and really want to stop to use it? Dunno, but probably not many.

      You know nothing about truck drivers, do you?
    • This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in a while. It really sounds like a push from some wifi startup or something to suck government funds.

      RTFA.

      The state is taking bids from service providers to put in pay-internet-kiosks, on the condition that they also provide free WiFi.

      No cost to the state but:
      - The bidding process.
      - Providing the site (and maybe power) for the kiosks - at places where they already have the land and power.
      - The "opportunity cost" of having committed
    • It will absolutely suck /piss away government funds / your money.
      AT&T is charging the Denver International Airport $250,000 a month for wifi connectivity (See June Computerworld article by Bob Brewin)
      That said, Texas is the only place in the country where I found a "No Loitering" sign at a rest stop. I found that slightly amusing.
  • Can't wait to use my old mac to hack the matrix... http://www.blackhats.org/fun/nerd/Matrix-nmap-SSH- Sploit.html

  • Driving Breaks? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tomakaan ( 673394 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:56PM (#9489154)
    It could be awesome. How about setting up some Ad-Hoc network across cars driving in between the rest stations. If you get enough users, you would never lose connectivity!

  • The only thing that hurts more... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cornice ( 9801 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:56PM (#9489156)
    The only thing that hurts my eyes more than driving is reading a computer screen...

  • wow. (Score:2, Funny)

    by sxtxixtxcxh ( 757736 )
    in soviet russia, rest stops get wifi access from YOU.

    :P this would be kinda handy. i've several times wished i could email or IM or check my email (or mapquest :P) while driving on the interstate.

    i'm all for ubiquitous wifi :D

    [insert joke about the information superhighway here]
    • I wish I could (insert), but slashdot doesn't allow you to edit other people's posts, let alone your own!

      And by the way, that was the lamest attempt at a soviet russia joke yet. You realize you're going to kill a long running joke by doing that?

      Matt Fahrenbacher

      • Re:wow. (Score:2, Funny)

        by sxtxixtxcxh ( 757736 )
        :) that's kinda the point, isn't it?

        it was a toss up between soviet russia, or "imagine a beowulf cluster of these" ;)

      • slashdot doesn't allow you to edit other people's posts, let alone your own!

        If you want to edit other people's posts, go to a wiki [wikipedia.org]. Although I've always thought slashdot would be interesting as a wiki. I think you could still keep the comment moderation system, but also have editing and meta-editing. Maybe only a few people could edit, similar to the moderation system now. Not a true wiki in that case, but still an interesting idea. Of course, on the other hand, a true wiki where anyone can edit anyth

  • So, the thought is "to reduce fatigue-related accidents by encouraging drivers to stop more often." How much do you want to bet that these hotspots will increase accidents caused by "trying to check my email while driving 75 mph through a 12 second ( [.25 mile/75 mph] x [3600 sec/1 hour]) hotspot."

  • Dangerous for security reasons. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Trespass ( 225077 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @04:59PM (#9489178) Homepage
    A rest stop in the middle of nowhere is really the last place you should lose situational awareness.
    • A rest stop in the middle of nowhere is really the last place you should lose situational awareness.

      No, not the middle of nowhere, the middle of Texa... oh, wait.

      (Easy, longhorns...I lived there...)

    • Hey, you can always IM for help!
    • A rest stop in the middle of nowhere is really the last place you should lose situational awareness.

      *rolls eyes*

      Yes, you'd have to be absolutely crazy to do something like REST at a rest stop. A total madman even.

      Jeezus fucking christ people, this is America. Yes, we have crime here, but it's not so bad that you can't pull into your average rest stop and take a nap, despite media fearmongering.

      Look at it this way:
      You're probably at LEAST as likely to get killed by a drunk driver out on the road
      • Right. Perfectly safe. That's why english tourist guides directed at overseas tourists consistently recommend against using them. Perfectly safe, of course. Nothing to worry about. No need to take precautions. No need to be careful where you can.

        Most statistics are 10,000 times more likely to be made up on the spot.
  • WiFi + Proxy Server + wget + driving 120 mph == internet *while* I drive ;)

  • There are rest stops along I-35 (the main N-S interstate) without restrooms for crying out loud! I think a place to piss is more important than internet access.

  • Now I can read /. duplicates on my way to Houston. Like this one!
  • Should cut prostituition(sp?) too...since Mr. Trucker can get some free pr0n! now when surfing the free Wi-Fi at the rest stops. I might even pull over for a little beef jerky and some...well you get the idea....

    • Re:Great Idea. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The internet was the best thing to ever happen to prostitution. This'll make it easier for Mr. Trucker to check out prostitute ads [eros-guide.com] for where he's going, then check customer satisfaction ratings [theeroticreview.com], to make sure she does what he's looking for. (Sometimes you need BBBJTC, sometimes you need FS.) Then email her to request an appointment, and drive to next rest stop to get reply.

      Combine this with GPS (or just figure out how to map the IP addresses to rest stop locations) and prostitutes could track their cust

  • Maybe they should get some restrooms first (Score:3, Insightful)

    by madpoet_one ( 459241 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:05PM (#9489238) Homepage
    It's cool they want to do this, but I recall driving from Dallas to Salt Lake City via state highways in Texas (Dallas to Amarillo) and there wasn't a bathroom to be seen.

    There was, however, a picnic stop every 50 miles. Didn't have the guts to relieve myself out those places, although I was tempted.

    • This is Texas man, your supposed to pee on the trees... we dont get much rain.

      Yeeha.

      Ack

    • That's changed. They now have some very nice rest stops on US287 (the highway from Dallas to Amarillo). And, if push comes to shove, there's a town with a McDonalds every 30 miles or so.

    • This is a very legitamite point. One time on a family vacation (though this was almost 10 years ago, I somehow doubt it is any different now) I was a little kid and we went through the whole state of Mississippi on the way back from Tennessee and every single rest area sign had NO RESTROOMS printed under it. I had to go really bad. Everytime we'd pass an exit that said it had a fast food place or something, we'd get off and it would say: Burger King 15 miles to the left. No way would my parents drive 30
  • 1. Give people a website addr via bathroom wall to report/get speed trap info
    2. Share the info via CB and text to speech
    3. ???
    4. Profit

  • great, now the creepy guys who lurk at the rest stops will be able to access their toilet cams wirelessly!
  • A friend and I drove from Denver to San Jose CA last week (23 hours 7 minutes trip time). We stopped in Green River UT (because there are no services on I-70 for the next 107 miles). We ate at the Arby's which is part of the Gas-N-Go at the west end of town. I was surprised that they provide free DSL internet access; on the wall under almost all of the tables one finds electrical outlets and phone and Ethernet jacks. Some of the tables have telephones.

    They might have also had Wifi, but there was no si

  • Wow! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Larmal ( 691516 )
    This can only be good news for the rest stop whores... Download the porn to get you all in the mood for free while resting at the romantic, misquito flocked crosswalk illuminated rest stop sign, and then charge 200$ for a handjob. Brilliant.

  • Tinfoil time of the month (Score:3, Funny)

    by t_allardyce ( 48447 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:24PM (#9489388) Journal
    Not trying to be a privacy nut but this could easily be used to track you, if you had your laptop running in the car the service station logs could build up a map of your journey, even if you had it turned off and just used it at afew stops it could still give some decent location information. But then again, thats what wardriving is all about.. heh... ok ill stop.

    • Re:Tinfoil time of the month (Score:4, Interesting)

      by daveo0331 ( 469843 ) * on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:34PM (#9489465) Homepage Journal
      They can already trace you using your cell phone [wired.com]. Even if you turn your phone off, they could track your gas purchases if you use a credit/debit card. Even if they don't do these things, what's to stop them from installing cameras along the highway and using your license plate to track you? In fact, if you drive on toll roads (or toll bridges) they're already doing this.

      I wouldn't worry about the government using wifi to track you. Unlike the other methods, all they could get would be your mac address (and maybe a list of the sites you visited) anyway. Of course you were joking :) Mod parent +1 funny.
      • Yeah, it scares the crap outta me that the all-powerful E-Z Pass organization knows that I drive to work every day.

        Well, it might really, if they start using the system to figure out that I'm driving those 30 miles in 24 minutes, whereas if I obeyed the speed limit it would be over 27 minutes.

  • Track this! (Score:2, Funny)

    by cybermint ( 255744 ) *
    Public accessible wifi becoming popular? Just try and track me now RIAA!
  • So what is it that they are trying to reduce here? Crashes along the highway?

    Better hope they don't use Windows...

  • ...to the term War Driving...

  • Why Stop? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by elined ( 623866 )
    When I'm traveling I generally use my cellphones gprs connection to get internet access on my laptop (the joys of bluetoothing). Given that basic browsing is readily available in my car, why would I want to stop anyway? It seems sort of silly that I waste time sitting in a rest-area just so I can browse the net...

  • The trucker's life (Score:2, Interesting)

    by furball ( 2853 )
    This is entirely off-topic. Maybe it's on topic. I don't know. Maybe I'm just karma whoring.

    A few years ago I was trapsing across the country for kicks. I stopped by a truck stop in the middle of Wyoming to fill up on fuel for the vehicle and fuel for me. I chatted up with a trucker while we waited for our orders.

    This guy was hauling ass from Florida to Montana and he only had days left. His destination was getting back home. His daughter was graduating from high school. He didn't feel like he was going t
    • This is a very true statement. I only make it 'home' every couple years now. The last was for one of my old high school reunion. I was only going to be around the house for 4 days after the reunion 2 hours away. My father was supposed to be there for the last two days. His pickup was delayed. -12 hours. He is limited to 8 hours a day. minus a few more hours. His drop off was delayed. He waited 12 hours. He hightails it home. And misses me by 2 hours since I had to leave amongst hurricane evac tr

  • This screams "abuse me!" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Matt Ownby ( 158633 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @05:38PM (#9489496) Homepage Journal
    If someone had evil intentions, someone could really exploit free anonymous wireless access on a lonely freeway road. For example, say a person has control over a number of zombie machines on the internet; that person simply drives to one of these free wifi zones and begins launching DoS attacks. When/if these attacks are traced, they will be traced to an anonymous wireless network along some highway.

    Also consider someone who is exchanging illegal files. You can trace their IP address, but what good is it if the only info in the logs available is a MAC address from a Linksys wireless NIC for a laptop?

    Worst yet, consider how easy this will make spamming. Just take your laptop to one of these "rest stops" and send out 1,000,000 emails to unsuspecting users. Then when law enforcement examines the email headers, they see that the spammer was some guy who stopped to use the restroom and was gone.
    • ... a person has control over a number of zombie machines on the internet; that person simply drives to one of these free wifi zones and begins launching DoS attacks

      Bot makers have long been concerned with anonymous and obscure control of their networks. Only the most clueless of script kiddies would need to drive to a public access point or think that would help them. They are also the type that would forget to reprogram their wifi MAC address or know about other identification mechanisms. A competent

  • strange logic (Score:2, Insightful)

    by f00zy ( 783212 )
    I have to agree that this sounds like a useful idea and probably one worthy of the relatively limited investment required, but the stated goal is absurd. Yeah, I'm sure it will encourage sleepy drivers to pull over. And then what? They go to the jolt cola website and are instantly revived? Or maybe they visit their favorite pRon site and become zombified. The real, unstated goal is to provide network access to people traveling across Texas. Texas is large. If you don't believe me, you can look at a m
    • Not sleepy... bored.

      Driving down a highway for hours at a time is dull and monotonous. The rest stop is to get you to get out of the car, stretch, and focus on something other than the road.

      If someone's too stupid to nap, WiFi isn't about to change a damned thing.
  • .. I'm gonna buy that $300 Clie that comes with wireless. (Unless somebody can recommend a non-Sony PDA for $300 with built in WiFi...?)
  • Probably I am not alone with that, but I feel kinda spaced out every time I stand up from my 6-8 hours of screen-staring sessions and sit in a car ....

    I can feel it even more when I ride my (motor)bike after using the computer for a long time ....

    I think people need something "to not stare at" after a long drive .... maybe free massages ... swimming pools ?

  • I love rest areas (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Omega1045 ( 584264 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @06:17PM (#9489760)
    Being from Wyoming, and now living in Texas, I am used to long stretches of nothing. I love rest areas. In Wyoming the rest areas are actually pretty nice, solar power facilities. Here in Texas they are not so nice (some nice, some not so nice). Wi-fi will be a welcome addition. I can really some opening up my laptop at the rest area.

    As far as safety at rest stops, I have always packed my hand gun while traveling and always have it on-person at rest areas. Don't screw with me while I am taking a leak! This is just a force of habit, and a good habit at that. I know the "Michael Moore is God and we love Rosie O'Donnell" crowd will be all over my ass. Seriously, a rest area in the middle of nowhere means the only law might be you. So if you don't feel safe at a rest area (like a truck stop, etc is any better) please check into local gun safety classes and a nice Colt or Glock.

    So there you go. When in Texas, carry your wi-fi enable device and a nice hand gun, and you will have a great stay!
    • As far as safety at rest stops, I have always packed my hand gun while traveling and always have it on-person at rest areas. Don't screw with me while I am taking a leak!

      For those who want to carry legally for self-protection while on the road (and checking out the WiFI access), here's the drill: Get permits from Florida, Nevada, and Utah. They will give permits to any law-abiding US citizen who takes the course, passes the "don't miss and hit a bystander" accuracy test, goes through the background chec
  • Just wrapped up a killer vaca driving from Philly to L.A. and back over 2.5 weeks. I recently converted my nav display to also be a tv [avelectronic.com] with 3 aux inputs, and I'm now building a mini-itx based carputer. I sure wish I had the 'puter done before the trip, because open wifi is great for pulling down the latest weather radar loop. BTW, the plan is to run Myth in the house and build a menu system for the car to let me select shows for rsyncing and local playback "on demand". Gonna need LOTS of wifi for that!

  • rest areas are to revitalise or sleep (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WiPEOUT ( 20036 ) on Monday June 21, 2004 @08:18PM (#9490533)
    Whoever came up with this hasn't really done much long-distance driving. When you pull over at a rest area, you generally fall into one of three categories:

    1. You're tired, and want to nap. Computers -- and the web/Internet specifically -- are great ways to kill time, but mean you don't sleep because there's just one more thing you wanted to do, so having WiFi is useless, or counter-productive at worst.

    2. You are stiff, losing concentration, and generally fatigued but don't feel like sleeping. What you need to do is stretch your legs, move around a bit, breathe some fresh air, allow your eyes to roam and relax rather than focusing on the road and speedo, maybe have something to eat/drink, maybe visit a toilet. Sitting down and surfing the web or reading your email won't help you here, except maybe on the can.

    3. You're a tourist or simply enjoying the scenic aspects of the trip, and stop to look around or maybe even have a picnic. People who simply cannot get away from the Internet are precisely those who will benefit the most from it's absence, whether they realise it or not.

    Sure, there are emergency stops, but unless there are lots of these rest areas, emergency stops are at least as likely to occur elsewhere, and in any case, emergency services are all contactable by phone, not Internet.

    There are other possibilities, of course, but they're so marginal that it's not worth wasting money on them.
  • I live in Austin, TX the worlds leading city for free WIFI hotspot's and must say after you start wandering around this city and tapping into it's culture you really see the change it is making. Every local business is sprinkled with dozens of people on laptops carrying out net-related tasks. The leader of the revolution here in Austin is a man by the name of Richard MacKinnon, founder of Less Networks and the Austin Wireless City Project (http://www.lessnetworks.com/ and http://austinwirelesscity.org/),
  • I'm not gonna stop there... everybody knows that only queers hang out at rest stops.

    However, I do have to admit that of all the states I've driven around in, Texas does have the nicest rest stops of anywhere. Hell, even the restrooms are clean, don't stink, and the atmosphere (at the rest stop) is neat, clean, and feels good.

    Oh yeah, and this post wouldn't be complete if I didn't add the obligatory:

    DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS.

    (For those of you who don't know, it's not a macho thing; it's simply Texas' way of

  • What are you nuts? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by thedarb ( 181754 )
    You folks can't really believe they are doing this to encourage sleepy drivers to pull over, can you? Let me spell it out for you plain and simple...

    They want to track your travel habbits, that's it. Most folks aren't going to change wireless cards at every stop... so they'll be able to see where your mac address stops, for how long, and how often. Hello?!? Folks, this is more obvious than the RFID tag monitoring... and probably far more effective.

  • Safer? Perhaps not. (Score:3, Funny)

    by cra ( 172225 ) on Tuesday June 22, 2004 @02:19AM (#9492673) Homepage
    Wife: How about we pull over here and get some rest so that we don't get in an accident from fatigue?
    Husband: OK
    Wife: I think I'll have a nap.
    Husband: OK
    Wife: ZZZZZZZzzzzzz
    Husband: *Flips open notebook* Ahh... WiFi....
    Wife: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz
    Husband: Finally I can download all kinds of weird porn, and nobody can find out it was me. . .
    Wife: ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
    Husband: Oh, a live hidden web-cam in the girl dormatory! Cool! I'll give it five more minutes. . .
    Wife: ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
    Husband: Ok, I'll take a nap now. Oh, wait! That hot redhead is going in the shower! Just two more minutes. . .
    Wife: Yaaawwwnnnn..... 'Morning, honey.
    Husband: *Smacks lid on notebook shut* Uh... Umm... 'Morning.... I was just using my notebook for a pillow, by the way.
    Wife: Should we get going again?
    Husband: Sure. (Thinking: I can stay awake for another 24 hours, no problem.)
    Husband: ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz
    Truck horn: BBBWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR
    Wife: EEEEEeeeeeee
    Trucker: G*d d**n!
    Wife:
    Husband:
    Paramedic 1: Bag 'em!
    Paramedic 2: Things really got bysy after they put up them thar antennas at all the rest stops, I'll say.
  • ..but do laptops not require power (even more so with WIFI), and does this power not come from the battery forever ?
    Is it therefore not true that the driver must connect it's laptop to the car to recharge ?
    And doesn't that car only last a certain term on it's own battery ?
    Therefore, shouldn't the car be running at every WIFI-stop the driver makes ?
    And isn't it true that the car keeps using fuel that way ?
    So what does Texas want ?

    Thousands of cars stranded alongside the road because they made too many WIF

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