Profs Bring TV Spectrum Free Wi-Fi To Houston Area

eldavojohn writes "Funded by the NSF, Rice University professors and students are bringing a prototype Wi-Fi system for free to Pecan Park in Houston. Part of the Technology For All initiative (TFA), this effort requires a heavily customized system that utilizes TV-band white spaces in the neighborhood. The team has a 60-foot-tall antenna and will be building several custom devices to give to a few dozen customers that tap into the five empty TV channels available (~30MHz of spectrum). The customization means that standards have yet to be hammered out (the 'WhiteFi' standard is mentioned) but the grant application calls on these professors and students to 'serve as researchers, the wireless network service provider, the network equipment and protocol designers, and community-technology educators and advocates.' Exciting possibilities for a future with less expensive internet connections."

Comments

SECOND!

[TrisexualPuppy]

Second post!!!

Re:SECOND!

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that distinction belongs to me.

Re:SECOND!

[TrisexualPuppy]

Wrong. See this.

Racists...

[Anonymous Coward]

WhiteFi? Could you possibly be more blatantly racist? What about the large latino population? Why are they being excluded?

Re:Racists...

[Anonymous Coward]

Many people would have you believe that there is nothing whatsoever the Black people can do about racism, that it is something the White people are going to do no matter what, that it is not something the Black people have any control over. They would tell the Black man that he is powerless in this case, a helpless victim who can do nothing to help his plight. It is especially disturbing when this message comes from those who are otherwise a friend of the Black man. Like Liberalism, it is a childish conception of the world that, while well-meaning, renders its believers powerless over their own life experience due to its own short-sightedness.

So what can Black people do to effectively end racism? First, they can stop assuming that White people are inherently racist. To assume that a person is full of hatred or judgment towards others merely because of his or her light skin color is to engage in the very racism they claim to be against. Racism of that sort won't end racism, no more than gasoline will put out a fire. So we can abandon this failed idea and look to the things White people see that make them think less of the Black man. These are some steps that Black people can unite and take together if they really want to end racism:

• Stop committing a disproportionate number of violent crimes. When White people go to other countries that also have diverse populations, and notice that the violent crimes committed by Black people is higher than any other single racial/ethnic group when adjusted for their percentage of the population, what are they supposed to think? If you don't want to be regarded as a savage people who were brought out of the tribal jungle too soon and haven't yet learned to cope with the whole civilized society thing, please stop acting the part.
• Stop having a disproportionate number of bastard children. This one can't be emphasized enough as it is surely related to all the other points. Black men, if you don't even care about your own children enough to let them know who you are, if you think so little of them, how is the White man going to argue with you? Parenting is easily the most important responsibility any adult is likely to ever have, and you abandon it willingly. What are White people supposed to think when you do this far more than any other single racial/ethnic group? Do you think it makes you respectable? When even their own fathers shunned them, does it surprise anyone that such bastard children are far more likely to be incarcerated, far less likely to go to college?
• Stop glorifying the "thug" image. When you act like your highest and most noble goal in life is to be a career criminal, and talk happily about abusing women, abusing drugs, stealing, murdering, etc., it doesn't make White people think you're a good human being. It doesn't make White people respect you. It makes them think you're a menace, and when the media helps you spread this message and it influences impressionable White youth, it makes them think you're a contagious menace, like any other disease or infestation. Anyone who wants to hate you for your skin color will feel justified by all of this.
• Stop blaming all of your problems on racism. Many groups, from the Native Americans to the Irish Catholics to the Chinese to the Japanese to the Jews and many, many others have unfortunately suffered some kind of racial or ethnic discrimination. Yet they don't top the charts on violent crime statistics. They don't have tons of bastard children. They don't glorify being a thug. The Asians in particular have had a great deal of success because they highly value education. The Jews have amassed financial empires that are the envy of many Capitalists. They all have something in common. When they fail, they blame their own bad decision-making. When they succeed, they attribute it to their hard work. They take personal responsibility for their situation, and if it sucks, they work to improve it.
  
  Some White people may hate your guts. They may think you'r

MOD PARENT RACIST

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a Black man & find this article offensive. Commander taco, can we get a -1 Racist moderation for such posts such as the one above?

mod dow/n

[Anonymous Coward]

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