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WiFi Gone Wild
b4k4 writes "According to this news release, the Texas Department of Transportation is proposing to install hotspots at all 84 Safety Rest Stops and 12 Travel Information Centers statewide. This would be in addition to the four test locations already in place along US287." Reader polluted notes that Portland is working on free WiFi. An anonymous reader sent in word of this year's wifi-shootout, a contest to maximize the range for an 802.11b connection. And Roland Piquepaille writes in regarding cows wearing WiFi collars, which I'm afraid reminds me of a crummy sci-fi movie.
The places that have wireless networks should also issue handouts concerning possible security problems to cover their butts. How long until you hear someone getting sued because someone borked their computer over a wireless network?
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
Won't this cause parking problems as people stay at rest stops as long as their battery lasts, rather than long enough to do their business?
because if i'm gonna have to pay why not just hit a net lounge at the pit stops/nearest town
"How would you like your firewall? Rare, medium, or well?"
John
vending machine delivered temporary accounts.
So my wifi herd would be a cluster of CP-moos... I'd have a Moo-o-wolf cluster... Now if I can just train sharks to do my bidding!!!
Why do cows need Internet access?
we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
-- anais nin
Now, nerds in texas can always get their /. fix when traveling. They just have to stop of at a rest area, get some vending machine food, a soda, stop off at mr. porclyn and /.
Although, hopefully not all at the same time.
Evolution or ID?
I have to admit, I'm becoming annoyed with WiFi. Not because I think there is anything wrong with it, but for the simple reason that if there is ANYTHING involving networks, out comes WiFi.
Why is WiFi so great? And why is everyone working to provide free access to it? Free acces (as in beer) is great. But I just have one question. Why?
Sure it's convenient and everything, but governments, businesses and individuals are all doing this. Providing free WiFi. Why? What payoff does everyone get?
How long before telcos ship integrated devices that include DSL modem and wifi, all interoperable with VoIP networks?
They could still make money on the DSL subscriptions and do and end-run around the grassroots personal telcos.
What happens if a cow downloads a virus via WiFi? Does it turn into a mad cow?
Having worked large cattle operations in the past, moveable grazing areas would be a fantastic way to use this. Graze for a certain area for a set amount of time, move to a new area and mark off the area just grazed for a specified time to let it recover. Ahh the possibilites..... toddlers in McDonalds PlayGyms unable to leave.
Some truck stops in Texas already have WiFi access (though not free) via a service for truckers.
From my wardrive along the interstate it can be debated that there are enough hot spots already.
All joking aside I can't wait for there to be legitimate free APs.
Maybe this explains where mad cow disease is coming from. The WiFi is driving them batty.
i don't see a greatly pressing need for that...but wow i'm sure i would appreciate it (when i move back to texas that is). it's a great idea for a great state =P.
the thing is, usually people in texas driving on highways are zooming along at 80+ mph anyway...not sure how many people would want to stop to check email or such. might as well get to your destination faster and do the internet stuff there.
"Now children, who weould like to tell me what are the inportant things cows provide us with?"
"Meat, Milk, and Internet!"
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
Seems that in Texas, truckers are the predominant users of roadside rest stops. Since a govt agency will be providing the Internet, you can bet your life that there will be plenty of surveillance involved, so I wonder if this will also be a fishing expedition for truckers who traffik in child pr0n? If you've ever travelled thru Texas on the interstate highways, you've undoubtedly noticed the many "adult" movie stores near lots of truckstops, and how many 18-wheelers are always filling their parking lots..... not to be making any insinuations about truckers being such big-time consumers of pr0n or nothing like that.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of wireless Internet at every rest area.
But what happens when truckers (and the rest of us) stay up surfing all night instead of sleeping?
We could put wifi repeaters in every car, put a solar powered unit (with a battery back, of course) on every street corner, build them into streetlights. Once they get small enough, every cellphone, pager, and PDA could be a repeater and the entire national voice network could go VOIP in a giant P2P network.
Of course, then we have to find a way to pay for it all. But hey, people need wifi access at rest stops and such. I mean, what are you going to do if you're out of internet access range for a few hours?
I didn't connect to the internet wirelessly or wirely, and I had a good productive day.
If I promise to be a good boy can I have some better karma?
Any ideas on how to keep those zap-collars working for extended periods? I'd think that replacing/recharging all those batteries would almost be as much work as herding the darn things.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
I live in a state that has these grand taxpayer waysides, that, while being a wonderful place to take a dump, are a luxury for a state that has cronic budget deficits and are one of the highest taxed states in the nation.
Adding wi-fi to the wayside crapatoriums will indeed benefit a few people looking for some highway p0rn, but again, it's a total luxury for a small population of folks who bring their laptops on the road. -- And no need to respond "hey, *I* bring my laptop on the road, so there must be others." Face it. It's a small population.
Not to say I'm (completely) against taxpayer funded hot-spots .. but come on .. put 'em up where there's a steady population of users.
Maybe that's not such a bad idea. With public Wi-Fi, couldn't spammers or worm writers simply pitch tent and stay as long as they please? I'm no expert on wireless technologies, but free ublic services almost always gets abused by some and ruin it for all. If you had to but a little card from a vending machine to get some access code (again, very little knowledge of wireless) it might act as a deterrent. That money might actually go into some road maintenance or public works of sorts, yeah right...
So far, the RIAA's "sue the world" strategy has relied on subpoenas sent to ISPs to identify the filesharer who was using a specific IP address at a specific time. What happens when the ISP has no idea: "Well, it was somebody travelling on I-20."? If the ISP were a private entity, the RIAA _may_ be able to sue the ISP. But, what happens when the ISP is the State of Texas? My one semester of ConLaw says that the 11th Amendment would bar that suit.
Submitter is a story spammer, know any different ?
I'll give you a free estimate on how much I will charge to wire your office.
You are about to give someone a piece of your mind, something which you can ill afford...
At some point can we just install a wireless access point on Satellites, akin to XM? So we can just go anywhere at anytime, and as long as we have a clear view of the sky or a relay point, we can check our hotmail?
I still believe that Girls Gone Wild is a better series than Wifi Gone Wild, no matter what the almighty slashdot say...
This would be GREAT, if they were to set up a damn ROAD CONSTRUCTION WEBSITE.
I'd love to be able to check and say "oh, I-35 is under construction from hither to yonder. Hm, what is my alternate route?" instead of the old "a mile past the last exit you see the ROAD CONSTRUCTION NEXT 50 MILES" sign.
www.eFax.com are spammers
I can understand how wonderful it would be to have these hotspots available for "free."
However, taxpayer dollars are coerced from citizens for any government project. This one is a short-sighted waste of those dollars.
If there is a compelling demand for this kind of service, then Texas should have stopped at a trial of 4 spots (if even that) and let private industry take over.
The "1.5% of fatalities are caused by fatigue" argument is a red herring meant to justify this wasteful expenditure. I am sure the hundreds of thousands (million? two million?) of dollars spent on this "sexy" bureaucratic project could have been far better spent in other forms of more relevant traffic safety measures -- like carving those "wake-up" notches into road sides, or more money into re-inforcing messages not to drive drunk, or more money for training to reduce recidivism in previous DUI convicts.
OR HOW ABOUT THIS? How about putting some stalls on the bathroom doors in the rest stops at El Paso? No joke... they had open stalls last time I was there a year ago. Aren't there are more basic steps along the road of highway culture than going from the outhouse straight to Wi-Fi?
As it stands, this is a luxury expenditure that will let a small number of travelers with laptops get mail while otherwise subsidizing porn-surfing. Come on... if it's late at night and someone is tired, precisely how does an hour spent surfing web sites and expending ones mental resources in that kind of concentration improve one's alertness? It's an unsubstantiated bureaucracy-boosting statement that pushes the taxpayer just a few steps further down the road of permanent government debt, and ultimately, a form of bondage to pay back old expenses that should never have been incurred in the first place.
Next time I drive through Texas, I'll drive friendly, I won't mess with Texas, and I'll surf the web for free. Three nice thoughts. But only two of them are good ideas. It would be nice for the Slashdot crowd of harder-than-average thinkers to look past our love of technology to identify bigger-picture issues before slapping on the seal of approval for this kind of government excess.
I can just see the vending machine at the urinal now. Condoms, Asprin, Egg Salad Sandwich, Wifi-B NIC extra sensitivity.
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
I had to laugh when the rules state that the two aerials can't be higher than "200 hundred feet".
;-)
I make that 20,000 feet or 3.78 miles!
Makes it one tall aerial though.
In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
I can't wait for the first time a hurd of wirelessly controlled cows get hacked. Imagine the fun you could have with a hurd of cows at your command.
I think I'd have them follow the same person around all day. When he stopped walking, the cows would stop. When he went in a building, the cows would wait outside.
Or just send them all to go and flash-mob the local butchers.
GR3A+ REdNECK hackEr5 W1+h L4ptOPS
I can see it now, cow tipping and war driving.
Here I am, reading the title, expecting some good spring break action or something... then I come to find out that it's about herds of cows and WiFi at rest stops...
:(
WTF? How disappointing...
We've been seeing Wi-Fi turn up just about everywhere, including truck stops, municipal buildings, our favorite stores, and so many more. You can check out your area or search for specific places in the US, as seen by wardrivers.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
Cows are dumb animals. Nowhere near as smart as Dogs, in my observations. My dog has an invisible fence, and a shock collar with a remote. When she is doing something bad within the fenceline, I shock or audibly warn her with the remote, however immediately afterwards she is unsure which direction to move as there was not a previous boundary in that location, and no visible clues to show what is safe/unsafe.
I would think that you would need a visual cue to reinforce the audible/physical fenceline...
Just my $.02
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
I can just see the new action flick, "Smokey and the Spammer", with high speed chases from hot-spot to hot-spot as they detect viagra and cialis ads coming out of one rest area after another down I-10... culminating in a 30 car pile-up as the spammer tries to run the roadblock at the Louisiana border.
Ah, they'll probably just block port 25 outgoing. Spoilsports.
Wifi is nice, but speaking as a frequent traveller on the Texas highway system, I'd much prefer clean floors, stall doors, and soap in the Texas rest stops first.
Donate free food here
They can get their wifi range to reach over so many miles, and I can't connect to my neighbors house 1000 feet away. Somebody ought to sit down and make cheaper, simpler solutions for extending wifi range. And no, I'm not talking about pringles cans or Chinese cookware here - we need simple-yet-working antennas that we can buy straight from a store. I don't have time to sit down and mess with a wireframe wok!
"3. CONCEPT: TxDOT envisions a concept where wireless internet service is available for public use.
3.1. The traveling public would be able to use a personal computing device, such as a laptop computer, equipped to acquire a wireless internet signal, to use the internet and send email during a break from the road.
3.2. A separate kiosk, provided by the vendor, would allow those traveling without a personal computing device to utilize the internet service.
3.3. This service will be provided at a cost to the consumer, not to TxDOT."
TxDOT is expecting the "People not traveling with wireless equipment" to cover the cost of the project when they "connect to the Internet at kiosks for a reasonable fee to be collected by the vendor."
Personally I think this is the fatal flaw in their plan. I doubt there will be enough kiosk users to cover the costs. Still I have to give them credit for trying.
Insert Generic Sig Here:
Sounds like a character from Spongebob Squarepants.
""Right now we don't really have competition for Internet access," Sten says."
This is the biggest load of BS I have ever read. First off comcast, verizon and qwest all offer broadband city wide...his little network covers about 5 city blocks. then there are about 200 dialup isps in the yellow pages. About a month ago Qwest lowered its prices by 10$ and Comcast, a few days later, upgraded all current and future subscribers faster down load speeds free of charge. If anything competition among Portand's internet providers is red hot.
stendec@gmail.com
I can't see a pay internet kiosk use at a rest stop being too profitable. AKA going the way of the payphone. Users who can't wait to get to their destination to check their e-mails will likely have their own laptops and would prefer to use the free wifi access. Leaving a small market for pay kiosk use (outside of initial novelty). I see the state funding these APs after the private company goes under. My feeling is that if the public likes it, and it's not profitable, the government will fund it sooner or later. If I'm wrong, then I've seen a late night advertisement for pay internet kiosks that will make you a fortune.
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
Why would one need such a high-bandwidth link as WiFi for the cow herding application? Is this a case of buzzword intoxication? WiFi, WiFi, everywhere, and nary a mind to think [sorry].
The cows aren't browsing the Web, for crying out loud. Tracking their location and various health monitors, sending the "zap" command, can be handled by something in the 300 baud capability range, using considerably less power than a wireless ethernet card -- you won't need to strap that large solar panel to the cow's back either.
everyone seems to have missed this detail
www.moviebums.com
Here in the Computing and Information Sciences department at Kansas State University we have a research project that is using some kind of sensor cluster implanted in cattle. These sensor clustors then take vital signs and other data and respond to researchers who scan the cow/bull with an IPaQ. Kind of like a tricorder, but with the sensors in the cattle instead of in the hand held device.
I don't know too many of the specifics of the project (I'm a systems administrator in the department, rather than a research assistant), but it sounded cool to me. Maybe with some WiFi collars the cattle could make a mesh network and just shoot the data back to the ranch house without needing someone to walk by with an ipaq, heh heh.
Of course, in some quarters, them's fightin' words.
"If they compete with us, they can expect a competitive response," says Don Williams, Comcast's Portland spokesman.
Whatta ya gonna do, Don? Give away free cable?
You know what?
Cows wire to explode. That's funny. Moo00-BANG!
This signature has Super Cow Powers
The cows are coming in to the barn twice a day to get milked anyway. When the cow gets locked into the milking stall, the collar can notify the stall that it needs its battery changed out. I'd think the batteries would be modular, and would probably last at least a couple of weeks, so you'd need spare batteries and charging cradles for 1/14th the number of head in your herd.
/ 05/02/
Since they can carry a lot of weight, the batteries may even last longer than that. If they last 30 days, well, all the head need to get a health check and innoculations/etc fairly often anyway, and if the batteries just clip in, this is an extra 10-second step.
I can even see these collars having some RFID and LEDs on top of the collar to identify which head are due for health checks (LED lights) and a hand-held unit scans the collar and brings up the history. If (when) that happens, this becomes a great management tool.
Look out if your boss tries to give you a present though:
http://www.ucomics.com/thefifthwave/2004
If you get a chance to read the WillyWeek piece on what we are up to in Portland OR you will notice that what has actualy BEEN DONE, not planned or figured out but really and truly in the field working, has been done by the Personal Telco Project for the grand tax payer burden of $0
Donations, sweat labor, dedicated folks doing the labor, home and biz owners dontating up space, bandwidth being given....
So of course the thing to do for City Agencies is to see something that is working and come up with a way to make this cost tax payers $$$ and for them to make the usual graft, oldboyisms, backroom dealing and intrabiz payoffs.
Yea, thats Agency think for ya..
Meanwhile back in the world of things actualyworking the PTP is putting up more nodes all the time.
Networks require Net Work....so get working.
-tomwsmf
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
If you need that quick cash all you need to do is hang around the rest areas in Texas and wait for someone to pull in and break out their laptop. A simple mugging should be all it takes to be on your way to at least $500 at the pawn shop!
This is my United States of whatever.
Seriously? How much longer before we see Live porn feeds from Texas rest areas?
LOL
Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting someone else to do the work. --John G. Pollard
When our department recommended this idea to TXDOT, we were recommending that it be tested in rural areas of Texas along Hwy 287. The test areas didn't even have cell phone access, so Wi-Fi was very helpful for people trying to find hotels, restaurants, or other resources in the area. After a lot of feedback from people using the wireless access, TXDOT wants to put it all over the state. Of course, they don't want to pay for it. So, they're letting ISPs submit contracts. It'll be interesting to see if it stays a free resource, or if the ISPs make it a pay-per-use setup.
From The Register (http://www.theregister.com/2004/06/08/wifi_enable d_cattle):
The team has already carried out a test of a static version of the fence system, with 10 'volunteer' cows and a square kilometre field. The moving fences have so far only been tested in a group of students. (We reckon this could be a whole new market).
"Open Campus" indeed...
After doing a double-take, I realized there was a webcam mounted on the top of the LCD. Behind the live webcam window, there was a fullscreen display of the rest stop's power usage statistics. Apparently, this place was powered entirely by a single wind turbine (which I had noticed outside). They were displaying all kinds of fun graphs and historical data on power generation and usage and whatnot. The poster describing the system claimed they were using WiFi to transmit the data from the turbine to the computer inside.
We were pressed for time, so I didn't whip out my laptop and check to see if the access point was open, but still, I was pretty amazed. We circled the entire country, and of all the rest stops we visited, that little stop sitting all by itself in the middle of the desert was probably the nicest one.
Seems like a lot of hardware for one cow, not that I would mind having one of thoes but an all in one unit will be needed to make this a marketable idea.
411 Y0UR 8453 4R3 8310NG 70 U5!! -NSA
I believe this is the real Freshmeat.net.
Achille Talon
Hop!
OK, so, where is the information about alternate routes?
Also, what happens as I leave TX and enter OK - now I have to search for another sie maintained by another entity for the information I need.
That's the issue I have with the current crop of road information online - there's lots of data, but little information (data in a usable form), and precious little knowledge (data in a usable form + how it relates to other information).
There's not a "I-35 is under construction from just south of Purcell, OK to Gainsville, TX. For traffic from OKC to San Antonio, suggest I-44 through Wichita Falls" - just a list of short segments of I-35, with county references that don't help as much if you aren't local.
And if you ARE local, then you already KNOW the condition of the roads.
www.eFax.com are spammers
I've noticed (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20040 610-9999-1b10titan.html, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0610-02.ht m, http://www.nylawyer.com/news/04/06/061004i.html, & http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3793663.stm ) that a "CACI International" is being sued under RICO for Al Ghraib prisoner abuse. Does anyone know if this is the same outfit as the CACI listed as a sponsor (http://www.wifi-shootout.com/) to the WiFi Shootout 04 (CACI: Ever Vigilant)?
So, let me get this straight:
If you can afford a laptop you get free wi-fi.
If you can't you have to pay for kiosk use and subsidize the people using wi-fi?
No WEP, nothing. BYOL
I always war-drive when travelling, but that can get tiring and also impractical on the Interstate, so I'll stop at a Flyin' J's Truck Stop with WiFi over some other place.
I like the previous comments about "WiFi is the next bathroom".
I like microcars