Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A Geek On Everest

Posted by kdawson on from the high-adventure dept.

mysterious_mark writes "Recently I was recruited by Altitude Films to be the IT geek for a filming expedition to the north side of Mount Everest. I have written an account of my experience. It is a tale of high latency, low bandwidth, blown hard drives, and frozen fingers. Summit day is June 14th. See the expedition's site for the overall picture (caution: total Flash site)."

3 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Unbefreakinglievable by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The comments here are like a parody of IT Guy obnoxiousness. Mark Kahrl is hauling gear up to 21,000 feet and updating a website at sub-freezing temperatures and no oxygen. And summiting Mounrt Everest next week.

    Meanwhile, a bunch of IT dorks who a) have a 70% chance of developing a basic LAMP site correctly at sea level and b) a 15% chance of walking around the block without stopping for breath are sneering at him for -- using Flash.

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  2. Re:flash? by rockmuelle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't be so quick to discount this site based on its use of Flash. It's user interface is incredibly well designed and a great example of how Flash can be used to improve the user experience. It's more of an interactive media site than a traditional text-based Web site. And, amazingly, it works on my old 500 MHz G4 running Safari (very few "Web 2.0" sites work on this configuration - even most Google apps perform poorly).

    Skip to the route map to get an idea of the effort they put into the site (http://www.ueverest.com/route_map.html). It's Java, not Flash (which also suggests the designers understand how to choose the right technology for the job).

    Anyway, as someone who tends to have the anti-Flash bias, I was surpised by this site. Even if you're not into mountaineering, it's worth looking at to see the potential of interactive Web applications.

    -Chris

    (And what's up with moderators moding the anti-Flash parent as 'Insightful'?)

  3. Some people from Digg snuck through by Mystery00 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Flamebait: People who have such a strong negative attitude towards all things flash and refuse to look at well made flash websites are just misinformed assholes, same goes for the people that mod them up.

    Non-Flamebait: A lot of interesting information in the website, and the photographs are excellent, good luck with the expedition!

    --
    "we've got trenchcoats and bad attitudes" - John Constantine, HellBlazer