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WiFi On Two Wheels
MeGaBiTe1 writes "Yury Gitman is not the average cyclist from Brooklyn. His goal is to bring more easily accessible free wireless hotspots to the masses. To do this, he has created what he calls the Magicbike, a bicycle equipped with a laptop, power supply and antenna. Gitman's bike has allowed people in NYC to browse the internet freely in local parks and gardens. 'I am like the ice cream man, but with no music and I deliver free wireless access and not ice cream'."
Isn't it possible that some legalities could result from "amplifying" someone elses open WiFi network?
I think the idea is not just to have one magicbike going around, but many of them (perhaps attached to bicycle messengers?) in order to bridge the connection in many ways. Its pretty idealistic, but I think the idea is a good means of promoting the concept of free internet access for the masses. The town I live in (Athens, GA) has wifi access spanning the entire downtown, as well as the campus and immediate areas. I have often thought of how amazing it would be if some rich benefactor would set up similar access points across the nation. Couldn't telephone poles be used or even rented to bridge a wireless network to many new locales? It sounds like a hippy idea, but it would benefit so many people.
Big Electronic Human Energised Machine, Only Too Heavy
Check this out
Free Wi-Fi on a bike? Why not a train?
PointShot (http://pointshotwireless.com), the folks that provided ACE passengers with the country's first Wi-Fi train service, is in the process of trying to bring a Wi-Fi service to Caltrain here in Silicon Valley.
But according to Caltrain management, it is going to take a year to find a free provider:
"Caltrain is currently working on a request for proposal to provide wi-fi on its trains. Our goal is to be able to attract a provider who will provide free wi-fi service through more than just a pilot period. If the entire process goes smoothly, we may be able to offer wi-fi within about a year.
Our long-term vision is to provide complimentary wi-fi and work with companies along our corridor to allow their employees to start their workday by logging on while on the train. We believe this will be a huge quality of life benefit to our customers and their employees."
For those of you that don't know, Caltrain is the Silicon Valley commuter train that serves passengers from San Jose to San Francisco.
If you find "a year" to be entirely too long or you know of interested Wi-Fi providers, email boardsecretary@caltrain.com or go to http://www.caltrain.org/contact.html.
If you want a simple link, 1X works great in North America. GRPS is almost bearable, but is pretty poor in Europe (actually, nothing seems to be good there). Satellite is best, but you WILL lose the link (bridges, trees, tunnels, building, clouds, etc.).
Managing multiple links intelligently is the key.
At work we have a SUV with a DirectPC dish on the roof under a radome, 1X, GPS, and 200 mW 802.11b
We already have it on trains: PointShot Wireless
It lacks common sense and practicallity... Not to be condescending, but this is too much hype for something like this.
;)
At first glance, you're right. The whole thing lacks practicality. That is, until you realize that someone riffed off of the MagicBike and found an innovative and economical way to deliver internet access to rural Cambodia by strapping wifi to a bike and riding through villages twice daily like the mailman.
And all of a sudden, MagicBike seems like the work of a visionary.
I like my bike mod better. I attached my old ipaq to the center of the handle bars and with a pcmcia wifi card, serial GPS receiver on the back and the right software i can go biking while wardriving and listening to mp3s at the same time. Wish I had a pic. Anyone else try anything similar?
Oh yeah, and how does he get his connection while on the road, cellphone? Even with Vision or Edge it wouldnt be that great internet access now would it.
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
Years ago I met Steve Roberts, a self proclaimed nomad, in Austin Texas. He was riding his recumbant bike literally slewn with solar panels, radios, a trailer with a satellite dish and computers. Here is his web page: http://microship.com/bike/winnebiko2/retrospective .html
He wrote a book, mostly about his love afairs on his cross country trip, but also ended up working for Sun Microsystems in some sort of ad-hoc consultant position. He's gone on to making a high tech Winnebago and now ocean going canoes. Very strange person but also quite entertaining.
Marc