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wiredmikey writes "Wireless Internet routers used in homes and offices could be knitted together to provide a communications system for emergency responders if the mobile phone network fails, German scientists reported on Monday. In many countries, routers are so commonplace that they could be used by police and fire departments if cell towers and networks are down or overwhelmed by people caught up in an emergency, they say. This rich density means that an emergency network could piggyback on nearby routers, giving first responders access to the Internet and contact with their headquarters. The researchers suggest that routers incorporate an emergency 'switch' that responders can activate to set up a backup network, thus giving them a voice and data link through the Internet. This could be done quite easily without impeding users or intruding on their privacy, the study argues. Many routers already have a 'guest' mode, meaning a supplementary channel that allows visitors to use a home's Wi-Fi." This is a cool angle on mesh networking — reminds me of the emergency response capabilities of ham radio; if it sounds intriguing, remember that even sparse networks can make use of this kind of networking with the right antennas. Related: even without touching the hardware on your router, you can do some meshing around with Byzantium.

thecarchik writes "An intrepid tinkerer has discovered yet another security issue with the Nissan Leaf: it could be revealing your location and speed to websites around the globe. The issue stems from CARWINGS, the telematics system that Nissan devised for the Leaf. '... when Leaf owners use Nissan's RSS reader to access sites like CNN, the New York Times, or this one, CARWINGS supplies ... the exact location of the vehicle — latitude and longitude — and even the speed at which the vehicle is traveling at the time of the request.'"

Jaxoreth writes "The Kodak Easyshare Wireless Digital Picture Frame displays images via a per-frame RSS feed hosted by FrameChannel. Each frame's URL is identical except for a parameter matching its particular MAC address, enabling public browsing of users' feeds. And worse, if you reach the feed of a not-yet-activated frame, it gives you the code to activate it, allowing you to preload it with whatever content you choose."

Quinthar asks: "For years I've been reading of amazing extensions to wifi-range, but they always seem to include external hardware rather than what's built into regular laptops. As wifi makes it almost everywhere, is there anything I can use to eek out extra coverage in the coffeeshops? I've read of USB antennae -- are these snakeoil? If not USB, how else can I plug a real antenna into a simple Centrino chipset without the hassle of an external card? My dream would be a tiny parabolic dish with a tripod that folds up neatly. Does such a thing exist? Can I hold a Pringles can up to the right spot and expect results? Basically, what are my options, and which do you recommend?"

Triumph The Insult C writes "About a month ago, the dot carried a story about the city of Tempe, AZ, laying claim to be the first major metropolitan area to provide city-wide broadband internet access. Well, things haven't gone exactly as planned, as one of the companies involved, MobilePro Corp, is now being investigated by the state for not holding the appropriate permits. As a resident of downtown Tempe, I hope the rollout isn't successful, as I would much prefer to see a more community-based effort, such as in Seattle, Austin, and New York City."

The postman brought me a review sample last week of what is without doubt the best thing to hit my keychain in ... well, since keys. It's Canary Wireless's Digital Hotspotter, a Wi-Fi signal finder which, despite a few quirks, is the best (and most sophisticated) of the current crop of cheap hand-held detectors. Read on for my review of the device, which was also mentioned in this detector round-up linked to last month.

First, to clear up a misconception about Wi-Fi detectors in general: though they can be used to find and (usually illegally) hop onto someone else's wireless connection, that's not their only use. It's a pet peeve of mine to see technology vilified because it can be put to nefarious or even semi-nefarious use; in the case of hand-held wireless detectors, there are plenty of "non-infringing uses" to which they can be put. Troubleshooting in a house or office is one (wireless base station manufacturers sometimes claim coverage ranges that can charitably be called optimistic -- and even if their numbers represent a legitimate best guess, it seems that no house outside of Stepford is truly typical); making sure that your signal isn't reaching the general public (or is reaching the general public, depending on your inclinations and your ISP's Terms of Service) is another good use; so is finding which coffee shops have both drinks and wireless access. There's also counter-cracker vigilance -- making sure no one has installed a wireless router on your network without your permission.

On several cross-country trips, I've happily used an earlier-generation Wi-Fi finder -- Smart ID's WFS-1 -- to park intelligently at Flying J truckstops all over the United States; though hundreds of Flying J locations are set up as (subscription-based) wireless hotspots, the signal coverage is often haphazard, and it's more economical of time and battery life to spend a few minutes walking around with a hand-sized device than to keep trying new parking spots and consulting the signal meter on a laptop. Even if you have an 802.11-equipped handheld, offloading the task of signal detection (and, if you can, keeping 802.11 off unless there's a connection available) will save your battery a few percentage points.

My first impressions of the device were positive. It arrived in the hated plastic-clamshell packaging, but -- unlike some products -- didn't require a utility knife or dueling pliers to extract. The instructions are blessedly simple, and all fit on the back of the package insert, about the size of a 3x5 index card. (This insert opens up, and I expected to find inside the usual birdseed barrage of legal flummery and useless warnings, right down to "Don't feed this device to babies" -- all nicely absent. Simple product, simple instructions: magic.) The device is a medium grey, with the display located just below the centerline and its lone button in the lower left-hand corner. The required pair of AAA batteries is supplied in the package. (AAAs are nice -- much nicer than fiddly button cells at least; a single AA would be even better, though.)

Canary's device is the third Wi-Fi detector I've tried; Kensington's first-generation key-fob device was the first, but that one has forfeited its place in my toolkit: compared to the others, it is neither as sensitive nor as discriminating in the signals it picks up (neon lights all seem to set it off) and has a less informative display to boot, just three LEDs. (And it seemed the only way I could get all the LEDs to light strongly was to place the thing directly on top of a wireless router.)

Smart ID's four-LED meter may not seem a huge leap up from that, but compared to Kensington's, the WFS-1 is both more sensitive and more directional in its pickup, so those four LEDs actually convey more than a third more information than the Kensington's three. The WFS's more pronounced directionality (even compared to the Canary unit) and simpler display means it still has an important adjunct role for quickly finding the source of a signal.

One thing to note: Canary's take on the Wi-Fi detector, at 4.5 ounces, is the chunkiest one I've seen; it's solid-feeling (read: "surprisingly hefty") and squat -- about twice as thick as Smart ID's, and much fatter than Kensington's. The back is curved, though, making it comfortable to hold, if not to jam in a jeans pocket, and it's only about two inches tall.

To use the Hotspotter, there are only two things you need to know: 1) Hit the little grey button to scan for local wireless networks; if one is located, the screen will display in sequence four pieces of information: the network name, a signal-strength readout (one to four bars), "Secure" or "Open" to indicate whether the signal is encrypted, and the channel number of the detected signal. 2) To scan for more networks, hit the button again. (So it's really more like one and a half things.) The initial scan takes 8-10 seconds; subsequent ones are much faster.

Canary claims the Hotspotter should work up to about 200 feet (with a clear line of site, outdoors); I can confirm that it works to at least nearly that distance with the router in our house, but sight lines and property lines conspire to prevent me from reaching the full 200 feet.

I'm in Seattle's Capital Hill neighborhood at the moment, a target-rich environment if ever one was, and I took the Hotspotter along on a walk to Victrola, a very nice wireless-equipped coffee shop down the street, to see what it said about the neighborhood.

The answer is unsurprising, but something to keep in mind if you'd like your own network to be used only by you: of the 33 unique networks I noted in a 6-block stroll, fully 16 of them were shown as "open" by the Hotspotter. (That doesn't necessarily mean they're wide open, though; see below.) 11 of the networks I encountered displayed common default SSIDs (Linksys, Netgear, Apple Net, and the hot-selling "default"), which with a little googling can yield default admin-interface IP addresses and passwords. While some of the nominally open networks might be employing MAC-based security, I think it would be a conservative bet that well over half of them are simply open to all comers. Is yours?

(There may have been more base stations than the ones I could distinguish, because the coverage clouds overlap so much; I discarded some of the discovered networks as probable duplicates. By walking fast, I may also have missed some in the thickest sections.)

I've come up with only a few niggling objections to the device -- just quirks, really, but they're worth laying out:

First quirk: For some reason, on its initial scan (that is, on being powered up from the Off state), the Canary device usually fails to detect the house network, though scanning again immediately has always found it. This is a trivial point, for one big reason: you'll have to hit the scan button again anyhow to scan for multiple networks.

The second quirk is one I hope is fixed on the Mark II version: the absence of a backlight. Unlike the other contenders in this niche, all of which are based on LED displays, the Hotspotter has a 12-character LCD readout, which is what lets it display so much information in the first place. However, the display is difficult to read in anything but bright light, and useless in actual dark. An internal LED with its own button (or an EL backlight like Timex's Indiglo) would be a great improvement.

Lack of a backlight aside, the scrolling display requires more attention than the one-dimensional LED graphs of the competitors -- a fair trade-off for the additional information to be gleaned. However, it doesn't have to be a trade-off at all: I wish the signal strength aspect of the display was displayed on dedicated LEDs either instead of, or in addition to, the scrolling LCD display.

One more quibble, though it's getting close to looking a gift horse in the mouth: this detector will say whether a particular wireless signal is encrypted, but it can't say whether it's protected by other means. If you use MAC-based authentication, for instance (but not WEP), the signal would still show up as "open." It would be more accurate to label such signals "unencrypted" or "no crypto" rather than "open."

In short, the Hotspotter is my new favorite portable Wi-Fi finder, and handily tops the features of the competition: the WFS-1's stronger directionality and bright LEDs can't beat network identification and encryption status, so Canary's device moves up in line. It works well, is useful for multiple purposes, and provides all the functionality it's reasonable to expect from a $50 device the size of a nice piece of fudge. (And of course the great thing about favorites sometimes is waiting for them to be toppled.)

jens writes "More than 150 participants (including Matt Westervelt, Seattle Wireless) from 30 countries will discuss on how to overcome the digital divide building wireless community networks. The freifunk.net summer convention 2004 takes place from 3rd to 10th September in Djursland, Denmark. The convention's location is well chosen -- DjurslandS.net (in Danish) itself is probably the most ambitious wireless community network of the world. About 200 volunteers installed more than 100 masts on the remote area's 32 000 sq mi. Using the wireless standards 802.11a/b/g about 1'500 households enjoy a symmetric 1-2 MBit internet connection via WI-FI (the WI-FI network has 8 direct uplinks to the danish backbone and several DSL fallbacks). The wireless4development track organized by wire.less.dk will show other projects how to follow the DjurslandS.net example. The convention starts off with a 3 day program including VoIP, development for the meshcube and antenna building and finishes off with a 5 day hands-on workshop."

jens writes "More than 150 participants (including Matt Westervelt, Seattle Wireless) from 30 countries will discuss on how to overcome the digital divide building wireless community networks. The freifunk.net summer convention 2004 takes place from 3rd to 10th September in Djursland, Denmark. The convention's location is well chosen -- DjurslandS.net (in Danish) itself is probably the most ambitious wireless community network of the world. About 200 volunteers installed more than 100 masts on the remote area's 32 000 sq mi. Using the wireless standards 802.11a/b/g about 1'500 households enjoy a symmetric 1-2 MBit internet connection via WI-FI (the WI-FI network has 8 direct uplinks to the danish backbone and several DSL fallbacks). The wireless4development track organized by wire.less.dk will show other projects how to follow the DjurslandS.net example. The convention starts off with a 3 day program including VoIP, development for the meshcube and antenna building and finishes off with a 5 day hands-on workshop."

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."

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."

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."

Rob Flickenger writes "This month's freely downloadable SeattleWireless TV show is out. Continuing with the Big Brother theme, Drew from WiFimaps.com interviews Special Agent Tom Grasso of the National Cybercrime, Forensics, and Training Alliance (at the FBI) about wardriving and wireless. This episode also features Gerry Curry's deployment of wireless in the rural Nova Scotia, Canada, and Danny Dinneen from Ireland introduces the Cork Wireless community network project. The show is downloadable in Windows Media, RealMedia, and BitTorrent MPEG formats."

Rob Flickenger writes "This month's freely downloadable SeattleWireless TV show is out. Continuing with the Big Brother theme, Drew from WiFimaps.com interviews Special Agent Tom Grasso of the National Cybercrime, Forensics, and Training Alliance (at the FBI) about wardriving and wireless. This episode also features Gerry Curry's deployment of wireless in the rural Nova Scotia, Canada, and Danny Dinneen from Ireland introduces the Cork Wireless community network project. The show is downloadable in Windows Media, RealMedia, and BitTorrent MPEG formats."

Rob Flickenger writes "This month's freely downloadable SeattleWireless TV show is out. Continuing with the Big Brother theme, Drew from WiFimaps.com interviews Special Agent Tom Grasso of the National Cybercrime, Forensics, and Training Alliance (at the FBI) about wardriving and wireless. This episode also features Gerry Curry's deployment of wireless in the rural Nova Scotia, Canada, and Danny Dinneen from Ireland introduces the Cork Wireless community network project. The show is downloadable in Windows Media, RealMedia, and BitTorrent MPEG formats."

Rob Flickenger writes "This month's freely downloadable SeattleWireless TV show is out. Continuing with the Big Brother theme, Drew from WiFimaps.com interviews Special Agent Tom Grasso of the National Cybercrime, Forensics, and Training Alliance (at the FBI) about wardriving and wireless. This episode also features Gerry Curry's deployment of wireless in the rural Nova Scotia, Canada, and Danny Dinneen from Ireland introduces the Cork Wireless community network project. The show is downloadable in Windows Media, RealMedia, and BitTorrent MPEG formats."

Rob Flickenger writes "This month's SeattleWireless TV show reveals how the Yakima County Police have built a wireless infrastructure using Cisco Aironet products. Utilizing omni and directional antennas, they cover 650 sq miles with just 8 access points. There is also a segment on the NzWireless group's wireless treasure hunt, where users roamed around the city plotting hidden access points set up for the hunt." Note the bittorrent link.

adpowers writes "After a month long hiatus, SeattleWireless TV is back. This break allowed them time to include footage from August's Wireless Field Day. The episode also includes a how-to for making a BiQuad antenna and an interview with SeattleWireless founder Matt Westervelt about how SW is different from other community wireless networks. You can download an MPEG version with BitTorrent. Windows Media and Real Media versions are available on the website."

adpowers writes "After a month long hiatus, SeattleWireless TV is back. This break allowed them time to include footage from August's Wireless Field Day. The episode also includes a how-to for making a BiQuad antenna and an interview with SeattleWireless founder Matt Westervelt about how SW is different from other community wireless networks. You can download an MPEG version with BitTorrent. Windows Media and Real Media versions are available on the website."

adpowers writes "After a month long hiatus, SeattleWireless TV is back. This break allowed them time to include footage from August's Wireless Field Day. The episode also includes a how-to for making a BiQuad antenna and an interview with SeattleWireless founder Matt Westervelt about how SW is different from other community wireless networks. You can download an MPEG version with BitTorrent. Windows Media and Real Media versions are available on the website."

zoobab writes "Some belgian linux hackers met this week-end to hack some wireless access points based on the samsung4510 chip. They have succeeded in compiling and booting a uClinux kernel on a Dlink 614ap+, which is equipped with the infamous acx100 wireless chipset. There's still some work to do, but if you want to help, open your 22mbps AP and try to built your own JTAG adaptator to get access to the flash..."

propellerhead writes "Today is 2003 Wireless Field Day for Seattle Wireless. 'Similar to amateur radio field day, a mock emergency network will be created this summer using off-the-shelf 802.11b hardware, computers, and battery/gas power supplies. Network applications such as VoIP (Voice over IP or Internet Telephony), streaming audio and video, file sharing, chat, network games, and others will be implemented across a multi-hop wireless infrastructure. If resources allow, the goal is to connect this mobile network to the existing Seattle Wireless network, which currently exists in the Seattle area. This network can also provide access to the internet and our community network partners like Seattle Pacific University and Council House Projects.'"

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV has done it again! This months SeattleWireless TV show features an Interview with Rob Flickenger the inventor of the pringles cantenna and co-author of Nocat, an open source wireless captive portal. Then we have a chance to hear from Risto Koiva about his remote controlled helicopter with a 2.4ghz installed camera and gps unit, learn about the Personal Telco Project out of Portland, Oregon and finally a product review on the new WatchGuard SoHo 6 wireless firewall. Download the Mpeg version here or Watch the Windows Media Stream here, or the RealPlayer stream here."

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV has done it again! This months SeattleWireless TV show features an Interview with Rob Flickenger the inventor of the pringles cantenna and co-author of Nocat, an open source wireless captive portal. Then we have a chance to hear from Risto Koiva about his remote controlled helicopter with a 2.4ghz installed camera and gps unit, learn about the Personal Telco Project out of Portland, Oregon and finally a product review on the new WatchGuard SoHo 6 wireless firewall. Download the Mpeg version here or Watch the Windows Media Stream here, or the RealPlayer stream here."

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV has done it again! This months SeattleWireless TV show features an Interview with Rob Flickenger the inventor of the pringles cantenna and co-author of Nocat, an open source wireless captive portal. Then we have a chance to hear from Risto Koiva about his remote controlled helicopter with a 2.4ghz installed camera and gps unit, learn about the Personal Telco Project out of Portland, Oregon and finally a product review on the new WatchGuard SoHo 6 wireless firewall. Download the Mpeg version here or Watch the Windows Media Stream here, or the RealPlayer stream here."

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV has done it again! This months SeattleWireless TV show features an Interview with Rob Flickenger the inventor of the pringles cantenna and co-author of Nocat, an open source wireless captive portal. Then we have a chance to hear from Risto Koiva about his remote controlled helicopter with a 2.4ghz installed camera and gps unit, learn about the Personal Telco Project out of Portland, Oregon and finally a product review on the new WatchGuard SoHo 6 wireless firewall. Download the Mpeg version here or Watch the Windows Media Stream here, or the RealPlayer stream here."

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV has done it again! This months SeattleWireless TV show features an Interview with Rob Flickenger the inventor of the pringles cantenna and co-author of Nocat, an open source wireless captive portal. Then we have a chance to hear from Risto Koiva about his remote controlled helicopter with a 2.4ghz installed camera and gps unit, learn about the Personal Telco Project out of Portland, Oregon and finally a product review on the new WatchGuard SoHo 6 wireless firewall. Download the Mpeg version here or Watch the Windows Media Stream here, or the RealPlayer stream here."

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV brings you the latest information on Community, Corporate, and Home Wireless applications, hardware, security, and innovators in the field. July 2003 Show Summary: On this month's show, Peter and Michael report on the wireless project called 'SnowNet,' a project where Casey Halverson plans to use mountain tops to connect communities via a 802.11b backbone. We then check out the first link connected to SnowNet. TacomaNode,' located in Tacoma, Wa. It will connect to Seattle via a wireless backbone through SnowNet. Scott Kennedy, the owner of the Drinkmore Café, tells us why he has decided to provide free WiFi to his customers while other places charge. And finally we had a chance to try out a new Linux embedded product called the Prismiq MediaPlayer. Using this device, you no longer have to watch your media files on your small computer monitor. Using a wireless card, it can hook up to your network anywhere! You can view by choosing your player: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer. If for some reason they don't stream there are some download links on the site. Also, if the stream links get messed up for any reason they are on the site, too." SnowNet is too cool to ignore.

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV brings you the latest information on Community, Corporate, and Home Wireless applications, hardware, security, and innovators in the field. July 2003 Show Summary: On this month's show, Peter and Michael report on the wireless project called 'SnowNet,' a project where Casey Halverson plans to use mountain tops to connect communities via a 802.11b backbone. We then check out the first link connected to SnowNet. TacomaNode,' located in Tacoma, Wa. It will connect to Seattle via a wireless backbone through SnowNet. Scott Kennedy, the owner of the Drinkmore Café, tells us why he has decided to provide free WiFi to his customers while other places charge. And finally we had a chance to try out a new Linux embedded product called the Prismiq MediaPlayer. Using this device, you no longer have to watch your media files on your small computer monitor. Using a wireless card, it can hook up to your network anywhere! You can view by choosing your player: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer. If for some reason they don't stream there are some download links on the site. Also, if the stream links get messed up for any reason they are on the site, too." SnowNet is too cool to ignore.

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV brings you the latest information on Community, Corporate, and Home Wireless applications, hardware, security, and innovators in the field. July 2003 Show Summary: On this month's show, Peter and Michael report on the wireless project called 'SnowNet,' a project where Casey Halverson plans to use mountain tops to connect communities via a 802.11b backbone. We then check out the first link connected to SnowNet. TacomaNode,' located in Tacoma, Wa. It will connect to Seattle via a wireless backbone through SnowNet. Scott Kennedy, the owner of the Drinkmore Café, tells us why he has decided to provide free WiFi to his customers while other places charge. And finally we had a chance to try out a new Linux embedded product called the Prismiq MediaPlayer. Using this device, you no longer have to watch your media files on your small computer monitor. Using a wireless card, it can hook up to your network anywhere! You can view by choosing your player: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer. If for some reason they don't stream there are some download links on the site. Also, if the stream links get messed up for any reason they are on the site, too." SnowNet is too cool to ignore.

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV brings you the latest information on Community, Corporate, and Home Wireless applications, hardware, security, and innovators in the field. July 2003 Show Summary: On this month's show, Peter and Michael report on the wireless project called 'SnowNet,' a project where Casey Halverson plans to use mountain tops to connect communities via a 802.11b backbone. We then check out the first link connected to SnowNet. TacomaNode,' located in Tacoma, Wa. It will connect to Seattle via a wireless backbone through SnowNet. Scott Kennedy, the owner of the Drinkmore Café, tells us why he has decided to provide free WiFi to his customers while other places charge. And finally we had a chance to try out a new Linux embedded product called the Prismiq MediaPlayer. Using this device, you no longer have to watch your media files on your small computer monitor. Using a wireless card, it can hook up to your network anywhere! You can view by choosing your player: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer. If for some reason they don't stream there are some download links on the site. Also, if the stream links get messed up for any reason they are on the site, too." SnowNet is too cool to ignore.

Michael Pierce writes "SeattleWireless TV brings you the latest information on Community, Corporate, and Home Wireless applications, hardware, security, and innovators in the field. July 2003 Show Summary: On this month's show, Peter and Michael report on the wireless project called 'SnowNet,' a project where Casey Halverson plans to use mountain tops to connect communities via a 802.11b backbone. We then check out the first link connected to SnowNet. TacomaNode,' located in Tacoma, Wa. It will connect to Seattle via a wireless backbone through SnowNet. Scott Kennedy, the owner of the Drinkmore Café, tells us why he has decided to provide free WiFi to his customers while other places charge. And finally we had a chance to try out a new Linux embedded product called the Prismiq MediaPlayer. Using this device, you no longer have to watch your media files on your small computer monitor. Using a wireless card, it can hook up to your network anywhere! You can view by choosing your player: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer. If for some reason they don't stream there are some download links on the site. Also, if the stream links get messed up for any reason they are on the site, too." SnowNet is too cool to ignore.

Rob Flickenger writes "While poking around on the Linksys WRT54G (one of the new Linux 2.4.5 based APs) at a SeattleWireless Hack Night session, we noticed a number of binaries in their firmware (including Zebra, PPP 2.4.1, and iptables to name three) that are released under the GPL, some of which are obviously modified. The question is, where is the source code to Linksys' modifications? Their "GPL Code Center" has the packages, but they are the pristine distributions, without any changes whatsoever. I've asked Linksys for clarification, but given Linksys' customer service reputation, I highly encourage other interested parties to ask them as well. More details are up on my weblog on oreillynet.com."

Rob Flickenger writes "While poking around on the Linksys WRT54G (one of the new Linux 2.4.5 based APs) at a SeattleWireless Hack Night session, we noticed a number of binaries in their firmware (including Zebra, PPP 2.4.1, and iptables to name three) that are released under the GPL, some of which are obviously modified. The question is, where is the source code to Linksys' modifications? Their "GPL Code Center" has the packages, but they are the pristine distributions, without any changes whatsoever. I've asked Linksys for clarification, but given Linksys' customer service reputation, I highly encourage other interested parties to ask them as well. More details are up on my weblog on oreillynet.com."

Casey Halverson writes "Ever been out in the field and wanted to make a quick wireless link calculation, but didn't have a computer or internet connection handy? Or maybe you're just too lazy to turn the thing on? Well now you can, from your xHTML capable cell phone. PocketSOM can calculate a wireless link, telling you your signal strength, whether or not it meets local FCC/IC/EU regulations, and even an expert analysis system that will tell you how you can improve your wireless link and what kind of performance you can expect. People like us (the SeattleWireless admins) are using it right now - here's a screenshot."

belial writes "The FreeNetworks Conference is in less than a month (June 6-8). If you want to find out what's happening in the Community Wireless Network world, this is the place to be. Keynotes include Tim O'Reilly, Cory Doctorow from BoingBoing, and a whole gaggle of wireless geeks from the FreeNetworks community. Find out about the latest happenings from BAWUG, Consume, NoCat, NYCWireless,SeattleWireless, WirelessLeiden, and more!"

Slashback tonight with more words on printable, organic transistors; the off-screen saving-Farscape saga, wireless schools, Gobe Productive, and 802.11 antennae to extend you connection. Read on for the details.

Go be something! Simon Gauvin writes "As a follow up to your article on Gobe Productive, beunited.org is setting up a donation site to allow people to donate for the purchase of the source to make it open. You can check out the comments here. And our announcement on our main page."

Thinner is better. Factomatic writes "The The New York Times reports that a new polymer by Xerox can be used to make organic transistors on a plastic substrate, which can then be used to inexpensively make light, flexible flat-panel displays for computers, laptops and mobile phones. The material, polythiophene, has achieved performance on electronics benchmarks that is an order of magnitude greater than current polymer materials. It would be used in a new manufacturing process that Xerox is experimenting with to imprint circuits using inkjets." You may remember this story about a company called Rolltronics' research into printable circuitry.

What about reviving The A-Team? Julio Ojeda-Zapata points to his Update: 12/10 01:25 GMT by T : [Errr, not "her" -- sorry about that.] "in-depth article on the Save Farscape movement. Though I have an obvious bias, I believe this is the most comprehensive article on the subject you'll find anywhere. Predictably, I've been deluged by mail from Scapers. I can't say I wasn't warned about that :-)"

Soon, every Thomas Aquinas, Dickinson and Harvard will have one of their own ... Amadaeus writes with news of another all-campus wireless blanketing. "The new University of Ontario Institute of Technology is offering new students an IBM laptop, included with tuition, that is wired with 802.11b access. The reason behind that is the entire campus (read: cafeterias, stairwells, washrooms, "special areas") is covered with the university wireless network hubs. In fact, the university campus itself is designed with charging outlets for every seat in the classroom and ergonomic seating for computer usage for all students.

Either they're trying to improve wireless education or promote in-class LAN parties and all-night wireless hack-o-thons, UOIT is on the right track to some sort of wireless educational future."

Wireless Weapons: A mini-Howitzer or a Liberator. We've run several stories on 802.11 antenna projects that require more time, more esoteric parts, or a bigger budget, and some that don't take much at all. Daniel Marsh writes with another one in this last category: "If you thought Pringles were fun, check out the Cookie Cantenna. Several have been built and tested by Seattle Wireless members and they blow Pringles cans out of the water, as well as taste better."

On the other hand, if convenience is more importance than raw power, you might find this commercialized alternative attractive. The Cantenna is inexpensive (19.95 by itself, plus the cost of a pigtail) and means you don't have to touch a soldering iron, glue, or anything besides a shipping container.

PureFiction writes "Peer networks are gaining some attention these days given advances in much more decentralized search architectures and swarming distribution networks. Research has indicated that these decentralized networks are resistant to legal and technological attacks. The continued proliferation of broadband and wireless networking will ensure pervasive deployment of distributed peer networking infrastructure that will drive significant innovations in personal and community digital communications services."

dailywireless writes "Cometa Networks (formerly The Rainbow Project), a joint venture by IBM, Intel and AT&T, plans to merge Wi-Fi and cellular networks. 'Cometa's vision and plan for this is to offer a single sign-on, single authentication, seamless-roaming nationwide network,' said Michael Mass, vice president of marketing for the Communications Sector at IBM. 802 Plant reports 'AT&T will provide the network infrastructure and management, IBM the wireless installation and back-office system, and Intel the Banias processor. The company plans to have ubiquitous coverage - no further away than 5 minutes walk in an urban area or 5 minutes drive in a rural area - by 2004. which will require the deployment of more than 20,000 hotspot access sites across the U.S.' What fate awaits "free" networks like NYC Wireless, Seattle Wireless or Portland's PersonalTelco? Will AT&T use CoMeta's blanket coverage, with 20,000 "hotspots", to crush the "free" rebellion like a bug?"

An Anonymous Coward pointed to this San Francisco Chronicle story about San Francisco's wireless networks there for the taking, set up for convenience but left open to anyone with an 802.11 card to grab packets, and in many cases, hop on the networks themselves. Sometimes that's intentional, other times it's not. The article mentions some of the well-known public wireless projects consume.net and Seattle Wireless, but what about your city? It would be interesting to find out and map where else folks have found (or founded) pockets of free bandwidth.

bgp4 writes "The Global Access Wireless Database (GAWD) is a search engine that allows you to find your nearest wireless access point. It also allows you to search for access points based on provider such as PersonalTelco or Seattle Wireless. The catch here is all the access points are added by the community. If you are invovlved in a wireless project, feel free to enter the information on your AP's into GAWD. Even if you're not in a project, if you know of an access point somewhere (good examples are locations in airports, bus stops, locations on the BART, etc) feel free to enter them as well. The more AP's that are in GAWD, the more useful it will be to everyone. GAWD is still under active development. If you have any feedback or ideas for improvements, please let us know." Its still a little new since it doesn't have any significant amounts of data yet, but this is a really cool idea. Especially when everyone leaves unencrypted 802.11 lans hanging around their houses and you can simply ping your way to infinite bandwidth *grin*

Elvis Maximus writes "Technocrat.net has an interesting piece on an effort in London to create a wireless alternative to traditional ISPs called consume.net. Similar projects discussed include guerilla.net, SFLAN and SeattleWireless." Interesting both from the technological and legal sides.