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Apartments for Techies?
thedistance asks:
"I'm wondering if anyone has heard of companies retro fitting any
of the failed telecom hotels for apartment use? It sure would be nice
to find an apartment complex that was designed just for the tech
croud with a fiber/cat5 infrastructure throughout. It sure would make
it a lot easier to setup highspeed internet access, video on demand,
and wlans... not to mention an easy way to borrow the spare NIC from
your neighbor... (we can just leave the sugar borrowing to the rest
of the non-techie world)" If you know of an apartment complex
offering high bandwidth, please post a comment, below. Aside from
bandwidth, what other amenities would make an apartment complex ideal
for the high tech worker in the 21st Century?
A sorority full of tech-worshipping nymphomaniacs living next door...
...maybe not so realistic, but a good idea none the less.
Who did what now?
Having an apartment complex like this would be a social disaster. There would be people who would never leave their apartments, spending hours and hours surfing the web, playing Everquest, and posting continuously in online news forums...
Wait, never mind.
"Anonymous Coward" is for whistleblowers, not unpopular opinions.
Don't be ashamed; that happens to a lot of folks, especially geeks who've been getting free broadband through their educational institution for four (six, ten..) years, and are somewhat scared of a world where they've heard that some folk still use dialup.
Your idea has merit, though... if it were me, I'd model it as a 'halfway house' for recent grads who aren't quite 'equipped' to make it 'out there' just yet. It would be somewhat similar to a YMCA, except without the fitness opportunities. You could call it the 'Y' Adapter, and you'd probably fill up all your cells in no time.
Amenities could include communal laundries, in-house cafeteria, and a 30-terabyte KaZaa! mirror in the basement. You could offer regular field trips to local social establishments and real apartment communities, as well as social counseling and maybe dance classes.
Oh, and after you've been there a month, you lose network connectivity between 4 and 6 AM. After two months, no connection between 2 and 6 AM. You lose one more hour per month until after 6 months, you can't get on the 'net after dark. This would offer an excellent incentive for finding your own place, negotiating your own broadband connection, and starting a real life on your own.
No, that's bound to give me nightmares.
All my rights are being stripped away. . .
My processor is too slow. . .
Can't sleep. . . must see Episode II. . .
-"Zow"