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First 802.11 Wireless Movie Theater?
vern@austin802.11.com writes: "Imagine being able to IRC someone to pass the popcorn! The Austin Wireless Group has helped establish what may well be the country's first Wireless Enabled Theatre. The Alamo Draft House movie theater in Austin, Texas now has 802.11b wireless broadband Internet access that covers all screens in their complex. This "retrofit" theater had every other row replaced with tables and offers dinner and drinks with the show. So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons. Cool! :)"
so, will there be a warning before the show about turning off all cellphones, pagers, and laptops/pdas?
Guns are like umbrellas and condoms. Better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have one.
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Movies are for being engrossed in a different world. If people have so little free time that they must read their email during a movie, what is the point of going to the movie at all?
Go ahead and waste your life with your inhibitions, just don't ruin other people's lives with your intolerances.
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Al Qaeda has ninjas!
I love internet...I love Alamo Drafthouse...I don't know if I love the two put together. As an avid moviegoer and lover of the Alamo Drafthouse, I really am conflicted as to whether this is a good thing or not. The last thing I need is Mr. "Noisy Typist" and Ms. "I Refuse to Mute My Laptop" sitting next to me.
to quotith the site...
Some may ask, why would I want internet access while in a movie theater?
Well you could:
-See Theater Schedules & Order Movie Tickets to coming shows.
-Messaging to Fellow Movie goers adjacent in the crowd without talking.
-Messaging to Fellow Movie goers in adjacent screens in multi-screen venues without talking.
-Surfing to related or official websites for the current movie showing.
-Surfing to the InternetMovieDataBase for related data to movie, actors and screen writers.
-Connecting to promotions related to movie sponsor.
-Driving the movie content in real-time via audience response in Digital Theaters.
-Ordering Food and drinks from the kitchen and bar without talking.
-Ordering the movie soundtrack online or video releases in advance.
-Watching an alternate streaming movie if the one on the big screen doesn't make it for you.
Great, now you can stream movies from your laptop's webcam live to the net.
So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons.
:-)
No, I wouldn't find the clicking of the keys or the backlight of the LCD from the guy sitting next to me annoying at all.
So now after hearing the slurping as someone tries to finish off their tiny remnents of coke now we will hear the incessant clikcing of someone as they type out their irc message asking the guy next to aisle to go get somemore coke.
Lets hope they don't have XP's voice recognition turned on
Now if only that guy and two robots who always sit infront of me, yakking through the movie, would just find another theater...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
how about that? now I can pir8 movies from l33to ftp's right from my theatre seat, and watch it at the same time! ahahahaha!
Does this mean that instead of making out during a movie, you can cyber?? haha
No... Laptop displays create *no* distractions in a dimly lit theatre...
Ok, I'm all for gadgets, fun electronics, and stuff like that, but really, what's the point? Having tables every other row so you can eat is kinda cool, and I can see why that'd be nice, but why the 802.11b access points? Isn't the point of going to the movies generally to watch the movie, not browse the web?
Yes, imagine.
Of course, this will help Harry Knowles get that first scoop review on his website as he is a known frequenter to the Drafthouse, though I wonder what Kevin Smith really feels about having Harry have wireless access at the movie theatre now.
The occaisional cell phone/pager going off is bad enough. I can't imagine being in a theater surrounded by constant key clicks and people who forgot to turn the sound on their laptops off.
They should make things for movietheaters that block all kinda wireless shit when in theater.
i don't want anyone using gsm while watching a movie, and certainly don't want anyone to chat with their friends on bigger screens than that. do people in usa really want this kinda sh*t in theaters? like, don't you go to movie theaters to see the _movie_??
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
"Sir, Sir ! Put that webcam away!"
I don't understand how glowing laptop screens aren't going to be a distraction to other patrons.
And you wouldn't you be too busy, you know, watching the movie to use an 802.11b device in the theatre?
I think this is very NOT cool. It would really piss me off if I went to see a movie and had to deal with some asshole's laptop screen glare and hard drive clunking and keyboard noise. I would actually like to see a movie theather that JAMS radio signals including 802.11, bluetooth, CELL PHONES, PAGERS, etc. Nothing disturbs a movie more than noise and distractions.
One of the stated uses is connecting to promotions related to the movie's sponsor. How long will it be before they require you to use some extension to your browser that pops up ads during the whole film?
When I'm at a movie I want to relax, not see ads. (I would however consider surfing for pr0n during boring flicks.)
I was not touched there by an angel.
Wonder if they would keep track of how many laptops were smashed up in the middle of a movie because some guy who got bored started playing quake :)
(This Space For Rent)
So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons. Cool! :)
Great, they turned the movie theater into the equivelant of my home theater set up, only instead of waiting for rentals, I can see first run movies. Will I be able to pause the picture when I get a phone call or have to go to the restroom?
Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
Yet another reason to invest in a home theater.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
We had a place like that here in Richmond called Cinema and Draft House, where you could only get crappy beer and really bad food (most of it deep fried). The screens were tiny. They went out of business awhile ago though.
;)
Places like this only show old movies. It's not a place you go to be seriously entertained or engrossed in the film (heck, even vhs at home would probably be better quality), it's a place you go with friends who are too poor to afford good beer and current movies
So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons.
I hate to burst this capitalistic bubble, but I'm pretty sure I would be disturbed by my fellow patrons typing and ordering.
We've all sat in computer labs before, and I bet we go somewhere else to watch movies. Now, if they used this networking to offer HEADPHONES for the movie, I'd be psyched. Not only would it block the munching and tapping, but it would allow much stronger stereo and volume.
don't we go to the movies as a way of relaxation, a form of entertainment that is computerless? if i was sitting behind someone who was reading /. with that big white background, i would go nuts! think, how annoying is it when someone cracks the door open during the show? all that extra light, plus windows system sounds (bsod might be funny though)! no thanks. i want to go to the movie theater for the movie (and check out the ladies), not so i can surf the web.
Guiness beer, pizza, great movies and now wireless connection. All it lacks is a way for me to get the waitress' phone number via my PDA.
Alamo Drafthouse rules supreme. All bow before their infinite coolness of utility.
http://www.drafthouse.com
-- 2 Powerful Words: Extra Gravy
...that the clacking of keys, although sometimes pleasant, has no place in my movie-going experience. And if I hear the AOL "You've Got Mail" sound when I'm trying to watch Star Trek 20, heads are gonna roll. :)
Now I won't look suspicious when I set up my video equipment in the theater!
Me fail English? That's unpossible!
I wonder if other theatres, that don't have table seating, will pick this up. I think it would be annoying to try and watch a movie with all the LCD screens glowing. Also, I wonder what the MPAA has to say about this since that with more gadgets allowed in the theatres, it will be easier to get copies on the internet.
802.11 there is OK, but it's hardly as useful as in a cafe or library.
I would greatly prefer that they install the cell-phone blockers to prevent the now nearly reliable mid-screening rings. Three different cellphones went off during one sparsely-attended movie I watched this weekend.
I also wouldn't appreciate the rest of the theater turning on backlit LCD displays, tapping away at interfaces, etc. during a movie.
I hope other theaters don't follow their lead. Some of us like going to a theater to see a movie without all the distractions and interruptions of our livingroom.
-pmb
does anyone know of any other theaters that offer dining and such in the bay area?
i think it sound really cool
I remember a time when people would go to a movie to.. get this... WATCH A MOVIE!!!! What happened to the younger years??
Shameless plug... Buy a banner ad for Pete's sake...
...alot of sausage at this movie theater. No only that, but a lot of skinny white sausage.
I don't know about you, but if I'm paying $14 for a theater ticket, I'm going to watch the freaking movie. Split my attention between the screen and a laptop? I don't think so....
Last movie i saw there was Danny Darko at the Alamo North and I didn't see anyone with a laptop. I'm as big a geek as anyone and i don't see the need for it, espicially at the Alamo.
Typically one orders a large beer, a hamberger and maybe some nachos. Beer, grease and cheese isn't the kind of thing i want next to my $1,000 laptop, besides it would be rude to the people behind me to have that bright LCD screen glaring, not to mention the sound of the keyboard.
-Jon
this is my sig.
What a waste of technology.
While public institutions thrive on archiac technology, we have movie theatres where people can basically computer in the dark. Why should you go to a movie theatre just to IM people and send e-mails? Might as well download the movie at home and save yourself the ticket and gas to leave the house.
I didn't see any logic in the article. Just facts.
(or other webcams, say ones with internal CD-R drives quickly turning every movie into a keepsake ;))
:)
... "Brewskis"?), I think it would be fun for certain types of movies (big action, big comedy, basically any thing BIG and fun), but for serious, concentrated movie watching, I think I'd prefer a regular theatre. [Which is the point of these eating theatres -- they're social places more than theatres, which is fine if that's what you want.]
Sure would be less conspicuous for someone to have a picturebook there than a conventional videocamera
Having eaten / watched one movie like this (at a theatre in Salt Lake City
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
It's annoying enough now sitting near dozens of fat slobs who make noise chewing popcorn and other snacks with their mouths open. I think it would be unbearable dealing with the foot-traffic of waiters and the commotion brought on by entire meals being served.
Why does everything have to be "plugged in" now? Can't people just go to a movie and watch it in silence without needing to be "connected"? I love technology, but sometimes you just need to ask "what's the point"?
Can someone please explain why I should want to go to a movie theater with a bunch of bozos banging away on laptops? It's hard enough to find a theater without people jabbering away, crinkling munchie bags, and walking around. Why would I want to go to a theater with all of this, plus with the lovely addition of keyboard whacking and glowing screens?
I guess I just don't get the point of going to watch a movie and then not even paying attention to it.
What if you could get a stream of the movie on your laptop if someone is blocking your view. Problem solved.
Hacker Media
I frequent the Alamo Drafthouse quite a bit.
:)
This is a great idea and I really don't think it will take away from the experience that I've enjoyed for years. The atmosphere at the Alamo Drafthouse is different from any other theater because it is expected that there will be some disturbance during the show. This isn't to say that it's a roudy place where you can't enjoy your movie (except maybe during Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings), but the experience is much more like watching a movie with a bunch of friends at home.
Given the shear volume of wireless-enabled individuals in Austin, this can only enhance the experience.
Next time I go I'll take my laptop and hack other patrons if they're noisy
Miked
if they setup the network because they're going to be showing Revolution OS. ;)
Somehow, this does not seem like a good way to prevent movie piracy...
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
"Imagine being able to IRC someone to pass the popcorn!"
Are we really *this* lame?
Yeah, fine until some @sshole comes in with his Digital Hub and takes up the whole damn table while blaring "Who Let the Dogs Out?".
You know what?
http://www.cellular.co.za/accessories/phone_blocke rs/mobileblocker.htm
So if I bring my minicam and handheld PC, I can re-transmit the movie over the web as it's shown in the theater? I bet that's not something they planned for (but the studios would probably go crazy at the idea).
-- http://www.MarkWelch.com/ Pleasanton California
I think its a sad day in the world when going to the movies as recreation and relaxation is turned into more work time...
... that a lot of ads in a theatre show a website? Particularly if you go to a theater with a slideshow in the beginning? I always thought it was kinda weird. How am I expected to jot down an URL unless it is for a movie itself? Is this a way of getting a little extra ad revenue?
If so, I'm not 100% sure it'd work. I wouldn't bring my laptop to a theater. I'm just not used to carrying anything into a theater. Still, being able to post my gripes about Rollerball on Slashot would have been worth bringing my laptop...
"Derp de derp."
It's nice that they have 802.11 access in the theater, but I want to know when I'll be able to watch HBO in the theater. That's the holy grail of theater entertainment.
View N' Brew places are great -- lots of fun and a great atmoshpere, so nobody is going to care about the noisy typist. I think this will be great fun for the 1% of the patrons who use it, and considering how cheap 802.11b equipment is, its a no lose situation. I just don't think even hardcore geeks will really take advantage of it more than once just to try it... its just too much computer dependency for even me. Between the beer, food, movies and friends, I'm not sure what the point is. Again, I'm not *complaining* -- its so cheap that even if 1 person uses it, then fine, and the word of mouth that this theater just received as a result has already paid for the expense.
Hey you!! Dim your LCD Brightness.. I'm trying to watch a movie here!
thelikesofwhich.com
-See Theater Schedules & Order Movie Tickets to coming shows.
-Ordering Food and drinks from the kitchen and bar without talking.
-Ordering the movie soundtrack online or video releases in advance.
Quite often in movies, I'll think 'Wow, the soundtrack sounds cool. I'll have to remember to buy it', but of course I never (or very rarely) do with special exceptions for Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. But if I could order it online right when I'm thinking about it thus causing me to spend money on the spot, it would make more money for the RIAA. Likewise with popcorn, drinks etc at the theater, I don't often want to get out of my chair and miss part of the movie so if I could order it right there and have it delivered, I'd probably be more inclined to buy those things.
In all I think it's a good idea and a smart move for them, as long as they force people to mute their laptops.
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
Not to mention those annoying "Robotz" system beeps.
For all of you non-austinites wondering why in the world a theater would do this. You have to understand the drafthouse. It's basically a bar with a big TV screen that shows movies. For the good movies you spend a good 30minutes to an hour sitting waiting for the movie. There's so few chairs and so many patrons that you have to get there early and most people like to just hang out and drink beer and chat before the movie.
So, now you can surf the net before the movie starts - big deal.
Unless you're some grossly overweight ginger prick who runs a lame movie fan site I suggest you leave your PC at home. Of course if you are a grossly overweight ginger prick (called Harry of course) I suggest you play with your laptop all the way though the movie so we can all have a laugh when you're beaten to death with it.
Wireless 'net access though, sounds counter-intuitive to the real draw I found (the aforementioned quiet). We'll never see anything like this around Phoenix until someone razes Awahtukee and Anthem. Or at least until movie tickets are more expensive than babysitters.
Do not touch -Willie
I get annoyed enough by people with cells and pagers in theatres, now I'll need to put up with typing as well. I just want to see and enjoy my movie.
It is nice, though. A friend of mine brings his laptop and just reads his email if the movie doesn't turn out to be that great.
~ickack
that this will stop the cell-phone-using / "Hey, blah!"-yelling, etc. during the movie?
Probably not, huh. What I need is a movie theater equipped with headphones that silence noise from within the theater as well as playing the movie's audio. It'd be nice if it patched in Lady_GNUivere's voice too (with a separate volume control just in case).
Sir_Haxalot
stuff |
You'll never see a wireless device in a Freddie Prinze Jr flick, yet there will be a bandwith overload at the Episode II premire.
thelikesofwhich.com
I went to see FOTR there, and by the end of the movie, I was plain irritated with the waiters when they were bringing those tasty burgers and beer.
It is a great place to go when the movie's sorta the secondary thing.
In the course of every project, it will become necessary to shoot the scientists and begin production.
if you thought cell phones ringing were bad... just wait until you have to endure homer simpson error noises (d'oh!) and/or britney spears startup sounds. admittedly, britney would sound better than that stupid windows boinging noise (tm)....
www.pixelectric.com
Just what we need, a bunch of assholes with blue glowing laptop and pda screens clicking and tapping away at their devices in the middle of a movie.
I don't know about you'all, but I get livid when they don't turn the house lights down all the way. Now I'm going to have to have the bottom half of my night vision ruined by idiots with glowing laptops?
No thanks!
I'm going to be at the theater Sunday night - I'm hoping to check my email and upload a few photos on a fast connection before the show (Revolution OS) starts.
Just in case anyone cares, this is also the favorite haunt of Ain't It Cool's entire crew, including the esteemed Harry Knowles. So most reviews that Harry does, usually was seen here...
"Goodness, how did you people live long enough to invent tools?" -Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher)
I for one am happy to see ideas like this pursued. It is very unlikely that it will catch on and become a standard in all theatres, but as a niche market for people that watch alot of first run movies, but need to be connected, its great. It would be quite grand if they incorporated ideas from the automaton robot bar in germany to instantly serve food at your seat. Aswell, seat should be changed into boothes, so as to minimize interruption with adjacent moviegoers and increase comfort.
I watch maybe ten movies a week, most in theatre, and i also am a net junkie, so this would be right up my alley.
2002-02-14 17:39:39 Linux movie gets some big screen in Austin (articles,media) (rejected)
sigh.
On March 22, "Revolution OS" will be shown at the north location of Alamo Draft House, in Austin, TX. Not only that, but the owner will be burning Linux cds (dunno what distro) for people in the lobby.
Tell me that isn't a serious geek cool thing to do.
Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
So what?
rent one. Watch it at home with your laptop. Anyone typing on a laptop in a movie theater with me is gonna be short one laptop.
I don't think I'd be able to hear typing and munching over most THX enhanced sound. Hell, popcorn is about the noisiest thing you can eat (besides Captn Crunch), and it never bothered me.
What will bother me is 50 brightly glowing LCD's dispearsed throughout the theater, increasing the ambient light so I'll have to squint to make out the moles on Yoda's head
Will Render for food!
Still, this a great idea. A wired theatre-restaurant, digital screen projector, and wireless. What more could a geek ask for? Well, 3D positional sound headphones, so you can get the ppl behind you to shut the crap up. Better yet, message the maitre d' - or start a vote to boot Table 4 for being loud and obnoxious.
Be nice to watch a flick with a steak and some beer or wine.
Wish there were something like this in my town. I live in rural Louisiana - we have a crappy little 4-screen theatre with a potholed parking lot, poor sound, and ancient projectors. A decent theatre is about 75 miles away. It's sad when I get better quality on my desktop box than I can get in my hometown theatre.
Watching a normal movie the wireless access doesn't provide much useful unless you are completely bored and want the sports results. Ordering food and drinks that get bought to the tables is mildly useful as a way of reducing noise and interruptions.
The best use of this type of improvement are group presentations where a short movie can be played to an audience who can then submit questions and observations about the presentation while it occurs to them.
Open discussions where the audience can submit questions to a moderator, the moderator choses the interesting questions to the speaker who can control what is shown on the large screen, call up movie clips and provide references to the audience via the network.
The real question is does a movie theater provide a cost advantage for setting up this type of conference over say a conference room in a typical venue?
- AndrewN
Talk about packet sniffer heaven. Affluent computer users all in a room together using their wireless, and only half paying attention to what they are doing. Bet you could pick up some great stuff there with a sniffer!
I happen to live in Austin and frequent the Drafthouse Theater. It typically shows rare and indie film, with the occasional flashback such as Animal House. While it's nice to be able to get some greasy food whilst viewing, the main attraction is the buckets o' beer - might even make queen of the damned enjoyable to watch. As such, you may wish to think twice before toting your $$$ laptop into a darkened room full of boozed up movie-goers. IMHO.
- Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
i bet it would be really quiet though
Wow, this is gay, you all need to get a life if you need to aol people while watching a fucking movie. Get off the computer, thanks
can actually review a movie he's seen.
Now I dont have to wear my arm out holding the digital cam and I can even stream the movie to friends as it plays!
I'm disgusted. Anyone that can't get their work done at work, needs to either: A) Find a new job. B) Learn their job. C) Get someone to help them with their job. I can also see a group of Über-geeks sitting in the theater, all in IRC, typing, 'What did he say?' at the same time. I will personally bitch-slap each and every one of them.
...would go something like this:
*** You have joined #MovieTheater
*** Topic for #MovieTheater: The Animaniacs Movie: The Best Thing Ever Ever Ever, Or Just the Best Thing Ever Ever?
*** GreasyGuy has joined #MovieTheater
*** Chanserv sets mode: +o GreasyGuy
<Me> Hey, um, mister Greasy, could you pass the popcorn?
<GreasyGuy> No! Fuck you! What the hell is wrong with you? Get it yourself! Stop making me feel insecure!
*** You have been kicked off #MovieTheater by GreasyGuyMinion_1 (No popcorn-begging)
*** Attempting to rejoin #MovieTheater
*** GreasyGuy sets mode: +b *!*you@seat_37
*** You have been kicked off #MovieTheater by GreasyGuy (Because I'm too afraid to get up to kick your ass in person!)
/quit
bash-2.1# ping -f -s 65535 greasy_guy_seat
.......
--- greasy_guy_seat ping statistics ---
239123 packets transmitted, 103 packets received, 99% packet loss
w00t!
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
AirSnort or similar wireless packet capturing tool to capture inbound/outbound traffic.
Hacking/port scanning the Net -- You could hack and go virtually undetected. Sure they can trace your MAC address, but there are ways around this using virtual MAC addresses, etc.
Hacking/port scanning others in the theater -- HackerA finds an open share on VictimB's Windows laptop. Or HackerA is able to hack it because VictimB doesn't have the latest patches. HackerA now has the potential to get VictimB's entire hardrive, including Temporary Internet Files, cookies (chocolate chip of course), tax/financial data, cached passwords, and any other personal information that is stored on it. I'm sure this could create liability issues here for the theater (see site below).
These are just a few potential problems, I am sure someone more creative than myself could come up with a bunch more.
There are plenty of "open" wireless initiatives out there. You can check out NYC Wireless for some suggestions on how best to secure an "open" wireless network. They have some good suggestions and even free software you can download and use on your wireless gateway (*nix NAT box) which will require the users to agree to an AUP prior to using the service.
But these types of open wireless environments still rely heavily on the users being innocent for the most part.
Snowdog
To me, it's an intersting idea. You almost get to recreate the home theater expereince, only with new movies. IMO, even if it's pulled off well, it'll still fail, there's no pause button :)
-- It is too late for the pebbles to vote, the avalanche has already started.
Having laptop-screens lit up all over the place, keyboard clicks coming from all directions. Who in their right mind would want to go see a movie in an environment like that?
http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/PCOM/PCG-C1VR X/
comes complete with built-in video camcorder.
... all they need is toilets for seats and i'd be in heaven!
Imagine being able to IRC someone to pass the popcorn!
Imagine being so lazy as to be unwilling to turn and ask them to pass the popcorn!
Tastes like burning! - Ralph Wiggum
camming, divx encoding and uploading actually AS you watch the movie? now that's a first!
free (as in mp3s) electronic music
If you've never been to either Drafthouse shut your pie hole. Of the theatres I've ever been to, the Drafthouse is the one where laptops and such would seem right at home.
As people have said, it's not your typical dark, quiet theatre. There is wait staff coming and going, light from the back of the theatre and drinking and munching.
The biggest benefit I see for the movie goer is being able to order food. Their current system of paper strips and pencils, while simple, is somewhat lacking. Plus, it usually takes quite a while for the food to be delivered. This would, I hope, speed things up. Plus, it reduces the trips the wait staff has to make by fifty percent.
I can see the potential for abuse but that's how it was when cel phones and pagers first came out. Those technologies have slowly made their way into theatres and most people are using them responsibly.
They have everythin in the place --
N big (really BIG) screens
Projectors (well, this one is missing but still)
Network
Popcorn
Now, they can organize a Nightly Tournaments!
(Quake, CS, whatever)
Each hall has 1 player and friends watchin', no need to bump each other lotsa space , sit and relax watching it on big screen and eat popcorn.
And sound, ohmygod, sound gonna be really GOOD!
The two Alamo Drafthouse locations are strictly for movies. During the daytime, they're also available to rent for meetings and private parties. In that kind of situation, I could see network access be really useful -- consider holding a sales meeting there, and having people collaborate online, using the Alamo's video projectors to put up "the big picture".
Also, at the Alamo, people tend to show up 30 minutes prior to a picture to order food and get good seats. Wireless can be useful during that pre-picture downtime.
You guys are imagining people using laptops during the movie...wrong! The situation with the Alamo is that you show up at least a half hour before the movie starts so you can put in your orders for beer and pizza. I own an Ipaq with an 802.11b card, and believe me, I'll be happy to use this wireless access while I'm waiting for the beer to arrive. But once the movie starts, the Ipaq gets put away, of course!
AustinWireless.org, I love you guys!
---Ell
All the geeks and geekets that meet online in a chat room having a virtual date at the movies, each sitting on opposite sides of the theater IM'ing each other through the whole movie...
Sighhhhh......
Can you say, bunch of intoxicated nerds with $1000-$4000+ pieces of hardware in a dimly lit room with various quick exits? I hope they have security on hand or something!
Mark
By reading the previous post I can tell that many of you have not been to the Draft House. It is far more than a simple movie theatre. Yes, they show movies and yes they serve good beer, good food, and more great beer - but that's not it. The venue is also used for live performances and is reservable for many events.
Imagine watching a live action Mystery Science Theatre type show where the audience can vote via the wireless network for the performers to say certain things to change the story. Talk about improv.
I for one am glad to see it.
The heat incinerated herds of reindeer and charred tens of thousands of evergreens across hundreds of square moles.
How do we know they were square? They could have been very hip. Just because a mole is russian, doesn't mean he's uncool.
I wish people would learn.
My Karma was at 49, then they switched to words. All that work for nothing!
Movie reviews in real time!
Nathan
Sometimes, just sometimes, one gets trapped attending a movie for reasons not directly related to ones desire to see it. The ability to be there while "not being there" might be handy on those occasions. Of course, it would probably get the thumbs down from the PowersThatForceOneToGo....
;)
If you have no idea why you'd go see something that makes you yawn, visit dictionary.com and check our the word "relationship"....
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
Obviously you've never been to the Alamo.
1. They won't show movies like Queen of the Damned.
2. They don't have THX sound.
Why go? Well, namely the beer and the cult movies. I'm sure that this will play highly in the geek world of Austin come Friday when they have an encore showing of Revolution OS.
ALL HAIL BRAK!!!
wireless access has its benefits...movie theaters are not the time and place for it.
Writing a review... fucking hell.
I'm dead serious. I, and most people I know, would choose a wireless disabled theater every time. I would spend extra money. I would drive further across town to get there.
Someday, someone is going to realize that there is a market for such a theater. If it doesn't happen, I predict that we will start to see "theater rage", and I'm not joking. I don't consider myself a violent person, but I've been on the verge of punching another patron on several occassions, and I don't think I'm alone.
MIT's student film group has been showing movies
in lecture halls with wireless for quite a while,
now.
alex.
However, I'm gonna hazard a guess that if she drags your ass to go see Return to Me, you ain't getting away with downloading the latest Mozilla build when you are supposed to be learning the "correct" way to be a "sensitive guy."
You know what?
who wants to watch a movie in a dark theater with a bunch of glowing laptop screens everywhere?
> What will bother me is 50 brightly glowing
> LCD's dispearsed throughout the theater
Maybe they'll hand out black tape as well...
Movie theaters barely make money as it is, full of seats. Cut the seating in half, to make more money? Oh yeah, that'll work...
Who really cares if people have cell phones, game boys, pagers or any other electronic equipment in a movie theatre? Is it any worse for someone to have a phone ring then to hear them talking loudly? Kick their ass or tell them as nicely as possible to shut the fuck up. I don't care who has a phone as long as i can't hear it. Doesn't anyone have vibrate mode on their cell phones these days? Oh, look it's a call from .... it's probally an emergancy, i'll go outside and talk to them.
Movie theatres should be shielded to prevent all wireless/cell communication.
The first person who tries to use a laptop next to me during a movie gets an LCD screen in the face.
Movies are a suspension of reality. During a really good movie, you are totally engrossed. Anything or anyone who spoils this destroys cinema and should be shot, especially considering movie tickets are upwards of $8.50 now.
It use to be that soemone would bring a DV cam into the cinema and record the movie, capture and burn it, the FedEX or T1 it to Malaysia/Macau to be stamped into thousands of bootleg copies. That takes a couple of days. Now, I suppose they could setup a stream from a souped up laptop and the bootlegging can start as soon as the movie ends! Woohoo!
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
Yeah, it's a pain in the butt to listen to
... just kidding
noisy typers and see glaring LCDs... this
definitely is not for everyone nor every movie.
But you have to admit the possibilities are cool....
voting to control the volume of the movie
sending an IM to order a drink refill
being able to post reviews and read the reviews
of others around you
interactive movies (sure, this one is a ways off)
subtitles on your computer / transcripts of the
movie
imdb lookups on the credits
alternative soundtracks
direct order MP3s of your favorite tracks
X10 control of the lighting
open your minds, the rest will follow
BlueCow
Most places charge as much as $12.00+ with matinee shows around $10.00!!!! Granted there *are* cheaper venues, but they tend to show older films and/or the seats are so uncomfortable you spend the whole time wishing the movie was over so you can go home and relax.
It's been rumoured some places are going to start charging $13.00+ by the end of this summer.
As the prices are so high, do you want to guess how many movies I've been to see in the last few months? Ummm, let's see. There was "Lord of the Rings" way back in December. Then my sister wanted to see a really bad movie with a hot chick who can marginally sing. The fact that she wears skanky outfits for 1.5 hours had nothing to do with why I was willing to go.
Still in all seriousness, it's got to be a film that I *really* want to see before I'm going to spend that kind of money. Then if I want to take a friend with me, it gets even more stupid.
Forget taking the kids to see a family movie like "Shrek" or "Ice Age" without taking out a small bank-loan first.
Hell even the established "Dinner and a Movie" date becomes prohibitivley expensive once you consider that you're probably going to spend about $30.00-$50.00 on top of the $46.00 you've already spent.
As it is I'll probably only see 3 films this summer. "Spiderman", "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones", and "Blade II".
I'd watch more, but let's face it, $12.00 is insane.
Petey Pete...
People keep complaining about how they dont want people using laptops while they watch the movie. They do have valid arguments, but this does have useful purposes. I normally would not take a laptop into a theater with me, but in the lobby or while waiting in line for a ticket (had to wait about 45 minutes for tickets to a SXSW show recently) it would be great, especially if I had a wireless card in my PDA. Plus if there was an antenna on the roof it would cover a decent amount of the shopping center(outdoor part of course).
I can almost see laptops at Alamo working, definatly wouldnt work at a traditional theater though.
The real story here is that those two time secessionist Texas bastards are biting the PacNW culture again.
McMenamins will rule the world and defeat M$ with drink once pee anywhere beer and platform independent burgers.
www.moviepundit.com/pdx/
How am I not suppose to bother anybody when I'm pounding on the keys with my gorilla like fingers? And they wonder why I still use this IBM 20 pound keyboard from the 1980's.
So instead of hearing cell phones going off, I'm gonna have to sit through "You've got mail!"
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
yeah, some places are better left undisturbed. and i don't get the hype here anyway. i mean, eventually wireless will be all over the place. why jumpup and down about a theatre?
how on earth did this get moderated a troll? it clearly is not a troll. it simply quotes the website. if anything, it should be modded up, insightful
The Last Strand
Every 3rd seat removed for a table. Beer, burgers, decent prices, recent movies, nice people. A great date moviehouse. (too bad there's hardly anything else in Clinton!!) My wife and I go all the time.
What's my Karma Mr. Burns? "Excellent"
Cool :) Now one can stream the moviez instead of videotape it.
Please people, understand what you can do at the Alamo. I highly doubt anyone is planning on seeing a huge increase in laptops during regular movies. Alamo hosts a variety of events because of their atmosphere and screen setups. In addition to movies they have the Academy Awards Party and things along those lines. For an example, If you were really crazy about LAN parties, you could rent a theatre one day and play LAN games while having movies displayed on the big screen.
Personally I usually go for their MST3000, but I can't say I'd want my laptop there with me.
Which is why i bought a 300$ one. ;)
WHy the hell else would i buy a laptop except for something to play with while drinking at the pub?
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
1)ignoring the movie to surf the web
2)brining a laptop to a movie
3)all of these 802.11 articles
Seriously I wish you people would get over your 802.11 fetish. Its really boring.
Maybe I'm in the minority but my idea of utopia is not being "connected" 24/7 everywhere I go.
I know all of this seems like a good idea now, but trust me in the long run your better off unplugging once in a while.
802.11b is 11Mbps, DV is 25 Mbps, can't bottleg in realy time :-(
If they could just find an area saturated with on-call sysadmins, this would be da bomb. ;) "No more leaving the movie house to log on to the box and kick the web server? Woo hoo!" (Oh yeah, there is that whole insecure network connections over wireless, huh? Oh well.)
I was thinking about helping the local drive-in theater add WiFi support. You could use it for ordering stuff that the carhops would deliver.
But... How much is that in REAL money?
Often in Error, Never in Doubt.
But Live Concerts are a different application - I have used various typing devices to record setlists and do near-realtime concert reviews, and wireless access could have let me do them realtime. That kind of thing is more common for things like Deadhead jam bands than for some other genres, but it's nice to be able to do a stream-of-consciousness review about how Dave's doing a really hot Cajun interpretation of this piece or the guy playing the pedal steel is doing something really twisted to the melody, which lets you edit it down later and email it. It's also sometimes convenient to be able to pull down the lyrics for a song to see what's going on during this rendition of it.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
"So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons. Cool! :)"
PLEASE tell me that that they're NOT opening a theatre like this where Jon Katz lives. His reviews are bad enough already!
Now I know that it doesn't completely outlaw it, it just makes it more of a bitch to get in the country than it should. (just uncapped enough to get by the lameness filter)
What is the point of this? Most people go to the movies to get away from home for awhile. This is silly as a wireless web enabled church so that people can surf the net instead of participating in the service. I applaud thinking outside of the box, however some ideas get laughed at. This is one of them.
This is called a good thing? This may be the first *commercial* wireless-enabled theather, but colleges have had this for a while. CMU has had wireless for a while and it is accessible in the auditorium where movies are shown. But you have to be pretty high on the nerd scale to open up a laptop in a movie theater and it is of course a very antisocial action.
Who really wants to be distracted by a laptop while you're watching a movie? Then you might as well not go to the movie. People go to a movie theater for the immersive experience and higher quality video/sound than they can generally get in their home (and the fact that they can't get the movie legally until it's out of theaters).
heheehhhaahahaheheehahahahahahahahahahahah damn those filty robots!
Are they thinking that this will keep people from walking out of the theater when another movie like "Dark Man" comes out?
God I'm a moron... I mean mod the parent up with the joke about MST3K. I should've used the preview button. argh!
Don't forget the Chicken Pesto Pizza. Yum, yum!
...how sitting in a darkened theater with a [insert electronic gizmo] is *not* going to disturb his fellow patrons?
As far as I'm concerned, anyone doing anything other than watching the film is disturbing.
Why go to the theater if you're going to be busy doing [insert electronic activity]?
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
It's probably all so that fat bastard over at aint-it-cool-news can sit there and rave and drool over anything that hollywood throws at him.
Though you must commend him for the charity work at the Drafthouse with the butt-numb-a-thon.
Please - check Alamo's website before going off half-cocked - http://www.drafthouse.com/
...) early in the week.
;)
These are the wonderful people who host:
- Mister Sinus Theater 3000: A live version of MST3K. Their Christmas special and treatment of Top Gun and Red Dawn have caused ladies to faint.
- Buzz Moran's Kung Fu Masterpiece Theater
Live, dubbed classics of Hong Kong cinema
- Silent classics with live musical accompanyment
- Free childrens' matinees on weekends
- Low-cost classic film screenings (Fassbinder, Bergman,
- Tarantino-fest (for those of you into him)
- Screenings of "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka!" with complimetary 40oz of Schlitz Malt Liquor
- The infamous 24-hour "Butt-numb-a-thon"
I'm not sure why they think they need 802.11b access, but hey, Austin's cool that way. Texas' civilized 'concealed carry' law will keep distractions to a reasonable level.
Visit before it turns into Houston...
SxSW Recommendation: http://www.giganticfilm.com/
You go before the show, its a restaurant or a bar. You watch some of the movie, if its longish you get an intermission people go out to the lobby to piss some people stay inside and order more food and then you watch the second half. It ends and then some people get more beer and then leave a little before the next screening. So there is a lot of time to use your laptop when nothing besides gratuitous porn and violence flash across the screen during non-feature time.
The most annoying is cellphones in a movietheatre. Somebody calls, most of 'm pick up very loudly and start to babble in the middle of the movie.
These days, you'll get people typing on laptops and shining with their bright lcd screen right in the eyes whenever you are watching the movie.
Guess it'll be only a geek-heaven because electronics-disturb-while-watching-a-movie.
The same as handsfree calling in a car; you just don't do it.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
So who'll be the first person to pirate a moveie on their webcam or stream Ep2 live?
IMHO this is a pretty pointless idea. I go to a movie theatre to watch a movie. Why would I want to start surfing the Internet, or sending emails?
As well as people crunching on popcorn, I can just imagine the added distraction of hundreds of fingers strumming away on their qwerty's
It'is "y'all" (otherwise it would'not be a contraction.)
AMAZING!!
A company in Denver has announced the first 802.11 wireless bathroom. Now people can IM others if they're out of toilet paper, can hold "urinal cigarette butt destruction" competitions and discuss the best graffiti in the stalls with each other!
This seems to rank right up there with the internet-enabled toaster for me. Sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
"You've got popcorn!"