Well they are going to be buying bulbs in bulk wholesale and 1000 hours is the min rating, they usually last alot longer than that, but after 1000 hours they can fail at any time so most people replace them.
I was looking at buying one a while back and for $250 extra they would supply bulbs for 3 years.
Well all you have todo is use alot of LEDs in series. Depending on the LED the voltage drop accross one LED is around 1.4 volts @ the operating current(~20mA). So to run them off AC @ ~170 volts peak(120V RMS) you need around 120 LEDs. You may also want to add a rectifier so that they don't flicker and are on for more of the cycle of the AC sine way. They could also add a Capacator to smooth out the wave form to DC so they LED's would be on steady.
Sounds good to me as long as I enjoy the work. I've worked a 40 hour day working as a lighting and sound Tech for $8/hour and I enjoyed it. Now I slept a good 12 hours after and I wasn't living off the income nor was I doing it everyday. Some weekends I'd only get like 16 hours over two days, others I'd work 80 hours from thursday to monday.
For someone fresh out of collage, 60k sounds pretty damn good. Right now I'm in a class or a lab 42 hours a week, add study and assginements/reports, I'm at school work 60 hours a week making no money, living on what my parents want to send me this week.
Now once I build up some expereince I'd expect to make more than $15 an hour and work 40 hours a week.
Here in Newfoundland, Canada, adsl is everywhere, even the smallest towns have adsl. It just takes a telco who is willing to upgrade their lines.
One solution our telco has found is to place the DSLAM's in fiberglass shelters in each area and go fiber from their back to the CO. This also gets the DSLAM out of the noisy CO enviroment.
They offer two packages, one is $34/month for 1.5mbit/512kbit and ~$60 for 3mbit/512kbit. Both of those are in CND dollers which is doing great against the weak USD at 80cents US. Speeds are always great, low pings, no ports blocked(except for outgoing 25).
Even rogers cable isn't too bad but only aviable in the two citys. 3mbit serivce, they seem to use traffic shaping though, can't get more than 15kB/s on a single connection, bittorrent works great at 340kB/s.
The larger towns with persona cable networks have superweb cable internet. Expensive, somewhat slow, 10gB transfer limit then it drops to dialup speed... I really haven't heard much good about them.
In the remote areas there is even some 802.11b wireless internet.
All of this in a huge area with only 250,000 people.
You still should beable to play system link and split screen multiplayer. My roommates and I still play halo 1 all the time and have been waiting for halo 2.
One of my roommates is going to go ahead and buy it for xbox live. But I'll bet he will be downloading it before the end of the day.
Bike helmets are for low speeds(50km/h and less) compared to a motorcycle helmet(100+km/h) Also its designed to break in an accident to absorbe energy like a crumple zone on a car.
I once had the front tire on my bike colapse sending me face first into the pavement. Tore the hell outa my chin, but the helmet took the worst of it. If anything they give you something to slide on.:p
Wireless is a nice for the laptop, its some nice being cable free.:p
For anything that requires security I go wired! For checking email I use ssh and everything else I really don't care if someone is watching.
For alot of people is just getting internet on the computer down stairs or in a kids bedroom without having to mess with cables. Its just convenience. Its like why use MS Windows...
MAC address filtering is usless as well as wep. When I war drive I use a WRT54G wireless router in client mode running kismet drone. I can grab the ssid and your mac address and change the WRT54G's wireless mac to match yours. Then its just breaking the WEP which other people have already said in an active attack it dosn't take long.
Halo was one of the most realiztic while still being fun to play. Anyone could pick it up, even the girls would join in on our 12 player system link games. On xbox all the fps games have been too slow (ghost recon, splinter cell, etc...) or too fast (UT).
Halo is totally the game you pull out when you have a few friends up. This may be a strange thing to some geeks...
Anyway everyone is totally stoked for halo 2. Almost all my friends have mod chips yet everyone is still going to buy it for xbox live.
There are a hacked set of multiplayer maps floating around where you can fly the banshie, all the guns fire rockets and most wepons can zoom. Its increadbly unballanced, once someone camps out its all over. 25 kills in 1 min with 10 players. One of the maps you can even use the plasma tank which is increadbly hard to aim and the only way out it death.
More multiplayer maps, more weapons, more textures, better physics, etc... I'm also looking forward to more coop campaign(its alot more fun working with someone to finish a game).
It would be cool if they had a coop mode for more than 2 people over system link. Have levels built for it, so that you have to split up and regroup and diffrent points. Search and secure missions and stuff. Alot of people I've been playing halo with lately have been asking for bigger coop games but the current maps wouldn't support it.
The orginal dsl standards were fast enough, too fast infact, they quickly capped them down to conserve bandwidth. The newer dsl stanards are to increase loop reach and remove the need for an installed splitter at the user end. They also plan on offering cable tv services over copper using high speed ADSL. T1 lines are only being kept around for banks and stuff, the new versions running over dsl are to increase loop reach without repeaters.
Getting full speed out of copper is going to be limited by the cost of backbone bandwidth for a few years to come. No matter if its being delivered over copper, coax or fiber your going to have to pay for the bandwidth. (Its upto the ISP to determine the price, here DSL is faster and cheaper than cable)
Thats not really a solution if you want to get rid of your phone bill.
The best solution if you really want VoIP to be pratical is a hardware solution. Anything from d-links cheap 4 line VoIP gateway to the latest wifi VoIP phones. I'm not sure of any model numbers or even which brand name is best right now. We have alot of VoIP hardware in our new Telecom lab at Collage. I haven't had a chance to play with much of it yet.
Exactly, by getting rid of the harddrive and not supporting older games you can no longer softmod the xbox2. With the current xbox their are bugs in the save game that allow you to run unsigned code without a mod chip.
I would also guess they they will learn from their mistakes and make it really hard to install a mod chip(no debug header, cover the board in glue, leave no free space...)
Hopefully they will take a look at XBMC/XBMP and the dashboards and learn from it. Maybe the next generation xbox will include a good media player right out of the box.
Exactly! Well the orignal xbox controler was a bit on the big side. The Second version is just right. The PS2 controlers cramp my hands up and the Gamecube controler gives me blisters(try playing mortal combat, the d pad is painful)
Carbon is very light compared to steel. If you could structer graphite carbon(pencil lead) into diamond it would be extreamly strong and light(stronger than steel, lighter than alumimin). Its the ideal building material for just about everything.
It will be safter because the car will have alot less mass and would bounce off rather than bulldoze through other vechiles. It would also be super strong so the passenger compartment could not be crushed. It wouldn't rust, bend, it can be transparent...
Looks like there should be better heat transfer between the chip and the heatsink with this new package. It looks like the heatsink with make contact with the metal on top which almost covers the entire chip.
The price ofcourse will go down, $900 is about right for a new processor. Give it a few months.
I just wish they had better benchmarks, They just compare the new processors to other intel processors.
You should of taken the job and then hired someone todo the paper pushing while you do what you enjoy. You get the raise and you get the power without all the BS.
Actually I just tried to change the mac address on my wrt54g wireless router with openwrt firmware. No problem, take the wireless interface down and change the mac.(Yes the router supports client mode)
At the local university they use MAC filtering and WPA. You have to use a wifi nic they approve of(all 802.11g) and register your mac address with them(only one mac per student:/). I'm not sure if they are using VPN beyond that, I don't really see the need. You already know who is using the network based on the MAC, and as far as I know its not possible to change the MAC on any wifi nics.
I agree with this post. I started taking ritalin after high school when I went to collage. It made a big difference. I went from 50's in highschool to a 4.0 in collage. It helps me get stuff done.
Ritalin turns seamingly "lazy" people into productive memebers of socity. Time to start pumping it into the water supply:p j/k ofcourse...
The biggest problems with ritalin is that people abuse it and it dosn't mix with alcohol. So they should find a way to make it unattractive for snorting(add some nasty smelling stuff to it) and make alcohol illegal(also legalize pot to take its place). The ritalin makes people more productive in the day and the pot makes them more relaxed/less volient in the night. Its a great ballance.
Yea, it seems like everyone has been talking about me here:p (Even the link to the personally page)
I'm surprised that this post has gotten over 900 comments.
Anyway the only thing that is getting me through collage is Ritalin. It helps me get things done. Insted of just getting the diffcult parts done it helps me stick with something untill its done. I just dragged my way through high school, failing english courses and getting 80's in math, physics and technology. And 60's in everything else. Then after taking a year off school I started taking ritalin and went to collage. In my semester I had a 4.0 GPA, but by the second semester I started failing english and spent too much time on chem and failed physics. After that I started to specialize in electronics and I've gotten 80's is most of my courses.
Lately a bad trend has been showing up in math. I usually end up getting bored in class and zone out. Fail everything during the sememester, then study for two days straight and ace the final getting only a 50 in the course. The instuctors beat everything to death, showing too many examples of the same thing(with one number changed) and then change to a new method/topic in the same class while I'm off sketching a new design for the next telerobot I'm going to try and build.
I look around my room and I see alot of unfinished projects(robots, mods, networks, tool colections, messes, assignements...) Usually with most of my hobby projects I'm missing a few key parts and befor I find a source I've already lost intrest. But these days that I now that I'm on ritalin my intrest now spans hours and not a few min.
I'm always comming up with some very cool ideas, solutions to problems, designs for new products but I never implement or document them.
Another odd thing one of my roommates pointed out is that I have no intrest in fiction unless is realistic, a possible future. I've never been one to have any intrest in reading fiction. All this D&D stuff totally excapes me. I don't understand the intrest people have in the stuff. It never did happen, it never can happen...
My first time flying was the week before last. On the way to the big airport on the way home to visit my parents I went through security no checks, just had to take my electronics out of the carry on. They didn't even xray them just a swab. The a week later I go back through the small airport in my home town and they pad me down after a zipper set off the metal detector. Then they went trough all my luggage(full of audio electronics, big pipe bomb looking studio mic) questioned me 101 questions. It took around 20 min to clear security and I was already running alittle late. Well it wasn't so bad, I walk straight from security onto the plane, no waiting around.
The first time through security I could of had a gun hidden in my laptop and they didn't even xray it. They even forgot to ask the basic did you pack your own bag questions. Now I was getting onto a pretty damn small plane(almost bush plane size) going to a small town airport. So they just passed me through security. I could of easily passed a weapon onto people waiting for international flights in the post security waiting area.
Local calls here in canada are free just like in the US.But we only have a few telco's. It use to be one for each province, now its down to like 6 or less. So each as a healthy budget for keeping their lines upto date and allowing for high speed dsl.
Here in Newfoundland our telco Newtel just merged with the other 3 telco's in the atlantic provinces to form Aliant Communications. But even before the merger each telco already had DSL well underway available even in the smallest towns. When the internet was starting to get popular back around 94-95 newtel was just starting to build an ATM network connecting every community on the island. They layed lots of fibers for future expansion. At first it just carried POTS back to the centralized CO's. I belive they replaced all their old CO's with just A/D units and everything was sent over ATM back to a single CO. Anyway they had fiber everywhere and there old phonelines were getting pretty old so they had to replace alot of it anyway. Converting the lines for DSL was no big cost. Throw in ATM DSLAM racks and your in business. Currently its only in the smallest and remote communities you can't get 1mBit DSL and 3mBit DSL(768kBps up).
At the same time Cable atlantic had bought NLNET dialup service from Memorial University. This got them looking at cable modems. They were one of the first companys in northamerica to lanuch internet over their cable system along with fiber optic distrobution for their regular cable service.
The competition between the two has kept the prices very low from the start(~$40 CND, $25 US at the time) while dialup internet was $20/month for 60 hours. Many people would go over 60 hours a month and run up big bill and quickly switch to DSL/Cable. Unlimited dialup is still not the norm.
Basicly the Telco's and the cable companies are doing it themselfs rather than 3rd parties. They own all the fiber and local loops/coax so their cost is pretty low. It seems more like young engineers are making the key choices insted of old management.
Pretty much anyone who uses a computer at all these days has DSL or cable. Dialup is only being used for the few people who go online to check email only.
From my 3rd party view, the thing holding back broadband in the US is that the telco's don't seem to be offering DSL, 3rd party ISP's are trying to make a go of it paying the telco ontop of the normal ISP cost. This means tigher bandwidth caps and/or higher prices for the end user. Also throw in cheap unlimited dialup.
Its very hard to determine if a channel is free. Its easier for a DSP todo it than a human.
The only way this could work is through an online database that determines what channels are free in your area. They devices almost need to be location aware and download the data automaticly. Another solution is they could have beacons in your area that announce the free channels. Basicly you power up the access point and it listens to the beacon for a free channel.
If the user has control over the channel someone is sure to find a way to abuse it.
Make cars that are designed to be easily fixed and that last forever(moving parts should be easy to replace). Sure the auto industry won't make billions and employ a few thousand. But the small local garages will have more work to make up for the lost jobs and you won't be using as much power/resources.
This model works, look at most professional trucks or equipment. Most trucks are expected to work for well over 30 years. They can last nearly for ever if you make the mechanical parts easy to replace.
We have to get away from our disposible ways. With technology rapidly changing its difficult but alot of things don't change.
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Well they are going to be buying bulbs in bulk wholesale and 1000 hours is the min rating, they usually last alot longer than that, but after 1000 hours they can fail at any time so most people replace them.
I was looking at buying one a while back and for $250 extra they would supply bulbs for 3 years.
Well all you have todo is use alot of LEDs in series. Depending on the LED the voltage drop accross one LED is around 1.4 volts @ the operating current(~20mA). So to run them off AC @ ~170 volts peak(120V RMS) you need around 120 LEDs. You may also want to add a rectifier so that they don't flicker and are on for more of the cycle of the AC sine way. They could also add a Capacator to smooth out the wave form to DC so they LED's would be on steady.
Sounds good to me as long as I enjoy the work. I've worked a 40 hour day working as a lighting and sound Tech for $8/hour and I enjoyed it. Now I slept a good 12 hours after and I wasn't living off the income nor was I doing it everyday. Some weekends I'd only get like 16 hours over two days, others I'd work 80 hours from thursday to monday.
For someone fresh out of collage, 60k sounds pretty damn good. Right now I'm in a class or a lab 42 hours a week, add study and assginements/reports, I'm at school work 60 hours a week making no money, living on what my parents want to send me this week.
Now once I build up some expereince I'd expect to make more than $15 an hour and work 40 hours a week.
Here in Newfoundland, Canada, adsl is everywhere, even the smallest towns have adsl. It just takes a telco who is willing to upgrade their lines.
One solution our telco has found is to place the DSLAM's in fiberglass shelters in each area and go fiber from their back to the CO. This also gets the DSLAM out of the noisy CO enviroment.
They offer two packages, one is $34/month for 1.5mbit/512kbit and ~$60 for 3mbit/512kbit. Both of those are in CND dollers which is doing great against the weak USD at 80cents US. Speeds are always great, low pings, no ports blocked(except for outgoing 25).
Even rogers cable isn't too bad but only aviable in the two citys. 3mbit serivce, they seem to use traffic shaping though, can't get more than 15kB/s on a single connection, bittorrent works great at 340kB/s.
The larger towns with persona cable networks have superweb cable internet. Expensive, somewhat slow, 10gB transfer limit then it drops to dialup speed... I really haven't heard much good about them.
In the remote areas there is even some 802.11b wireless internet.
All of this in a huge area with only 250,000 people.
You still should beable to play system link and split screen multiplayer. My roommates and I still play halo 1 all the time and have been waiting for halo 2.
One of my roommates is going to go ahead and buy it for xbox live. But I'll bet he will be downloading it before the end of the day.
Bike helmets are for low speeds(50km/h and less) compared to a motorcycle helmet(100+km/h) Also its designed to break in an accident to absorbe energy like a crumple zone on a car.
:p
I once had the front tire on my bike colapse sending me face first into the pavement. Tore the hell outa my chin, but the helmet took the worst of it. If anything they give you something to slide on.
I don't have anything to hide!
:p
Wireless is a nice for the laptop, its some nice being cable free.
For anything that requires security I go wired! For checking email I use ssh and everything else I really don't care if someone is watching.
For alot of people is just getting internet on the computer down stairs or in a kids bedroom without having to mess with cables. Its just convenience. Its like why use MS Windows...
MAC address filtering is usless as well as wep. When I war drive I use a WRT54G wireless router in client mode running kismet drone. I can grab the ssid and your mac address and change the WRT54G's wireless mac to match yours. Then its just breaking the WEP which other people have already said in an active attack it dosn't take long.
Halo was one of the most realiztic while still being fun to play. Anyone could pick it up, even the girls would join in on our 12 player system link games. On xbox all the fps games have been too slow (ghost recon, splinter cell, etc...) or too fast (UT).
Halo is totally the game you pull out when you have a few friends up. This may be a strange thing to some geeks...
Anyway everyone is totally stoked for halo 2. Almost all my friends have mod chips yet everyone is still going to buy it for xbox live.
There are a hacked set of multiplayer maps floating around where you can fly the banshie, all the guns fire rockets and most wepons can zoom. Its increadbly unballanced, once someone camps out its all over. 25 kills in 1 min with 10 players. One of the maps you can even use the plasma tank which is increadbly hard to aim and the only way out it death.
More multiplayer maps, more weapons, more textures, better physics, etc... I'm also looking forward to more coop campaign(its alot more fun working with someone to finish a game).
It would be cool if they had a coop mode for more than 2 people over system link. Have levels built for it, so that you have to split up and regroup and diffrent points. Search and secure missions and stuff. Alot of people I've been playing halo with lately have been asking for bigger coop games but the current maps wouldn't support it.
The orginal dsl standards were fast enough, too fast infact, they quickly capped them down to conserve bandwidth. The newer dsl stanards are to increase loop reach and remove the need for an installed splitter at the user end. They also plan on offering cable tv services over copper using high speed ADSL. T1 lines are only being kept around for banks and stuff, the new versions running over dsl are to increase loop reach without repeaters.
Getting full speed out of copper is going to be limited by the cost of backbone bandwidth for a few years to come. No matter if its being delivered over copper, coax or fiber your going to have to pay for the bandwidth. (Its upto the ISP to determine the price, here DSL is faster and cheaper than cable)
Thats not really a solution if you want to get rid of your phone bill.
The best solution if you really want VoIP to be pratical is a hardware solution. Anything from d-links cheap 4 line VoIP gateway to the latest wifi VoIP phones. I'm not sure of any model numbers or even which brand name is best right now. We have alot of VoIP hardware in our new Telecom lab at Collage. I haven't had a chance to play with much of it yet.
Exactly, by getting rid of the harddrive and not supporting older games you can no longer softmod the xbox2. With the current xbox their are bugs in the save game that allow you to run unsigned code without a mod chip.
I would also guess they they will learn from their mistakes and make it really hard to install a mod chip(no debug header, cover the board in glue, leave no free space...)
Hopefully they will take a look at XBMC/XBMP and the dashboards and learn from it. Maybe the next generation xbox will include a good media player right out of the box.
Exactly! Well the orignal xbox controler was a bit on the big side. The Second version is just right. The PS2 controlers cramp my hands up and the Gamecube controler gives me blisters(try playing mortal combat, the d pad is painful)
Carbon is very light compared to steel. If you could structer graphite carbon(pencil lead) into diamond it would be extreamly strong and light(stronger than steel, lighter than alumimin). Its the ideal building material for just about everything.
It will be safter because the car will have alot less mass and would bounce off rather than bulldoze through other vechiles. It would also be super strong so the passenger compartment could not be crushed. It wouldn't rust, bend, it can be transparent...
Its the idea material... diamonds
Looks like there should be better heat transfer between the chip and the heatsink with this new package. It looks like the heatsink with make contact with the metal on top which almost covers the entire chip.
The price ofcourse will go down, $900 is about right for a new processor. Give it a few months.
I just wish they had better benchmarks, They just compare the new processors to other intel processors.
You should of taken the job and then hired someone todo the paper pushing while you do what you enjoy. You get the raise and you get the power without all the BS.
Actually I just tried to change the mac address on my wrt54g wireless router with openwrt firmware. No problem, take the wireless interface down and change the mac.(Yes the router supports client mode)
At the local university they use MAC filtering and WPA. You have to use a wifi nic they approve of(all 802.11g) and register your mac address with them(only one mac per student :/). I'm not sure if they are using VPN beyond that, I don't really see the need. You already know who is using the network based on the MAC, and as far as I know its not possible to change the MAC on any wifi nics.
I agree with this post. I started taking ritalin after high school when I went to collage. It made a big difference. I went from 50's in highschool to a 4.0 in collage. It helps me get stuff done.
:p j/k ofcourse...
Ritalin turns seamingly "lazy" people into productive memebers of socity. Time to start pumping it into the water supply
The biggest problems with ritalin is that people abuse it and it dosn't mix with alcohol. So they should find a way to make it unattractive for snorting(add some nasty smelling stuff to it) and make alcohol illegal(also legalize pot to take its place). The ritalin makes people more productive in the day and the pot makes them more relaxed/less volient in the night. Its a great ballance.
Yea, it seems like everyone has been talking about me here :p (Even the link to the personally page)
I'm surprised that this post has gotten over 900 comments.
Anyway the only thing that is getting me through collage is Ritalin. It helps me get things done. Insted of just getting the diffcult parts done it helps me stick with something untill its done. I just dragged my way through high school, failing english courses and getting 80's in math, physics and technology. And 60's in everything else. Then after taking a year off school I started taking ritalin and went to collage. In my semester I had a 4.0 GPA, but by the second semester I started failing english and spent too much time on chem and failed physics. After that I started to specialize in electronics and I've gotten 80's is most of my courses.
Lately a bad trend has been showing up in math. I usually end up getting bored in class and zone out. Fail everything during the sememester, then study for two days straight and ace the final getting only a 50 in the course. The instuctors beat everything to death, showing too many examples of the same thing(with one number changed) and then change to a new method/topic in the same class while I'm off sketching a new design for the next telerobot I'm going to try and build.
I look around my room and I see alot of unfinished projects(robots, mods, networks, tool colections, messes, assignements...) Usually with most of my hobby projects I'm missing a few key parts and befor I find a source I've already lost intrest. But these days that I now that I'm on ritalin my intrest now spans hours and not a few min.
I'm always comming up with some very cool ideas, solutions to problems, designs for new products but I never implement or document them.
Another odd thing one of my roommates pointed out is that I have no intrest in fiction unless is realistic, a possible future. I've never been one to have any intrest in reading fiction. All this D&D stuff totally excapes me. I don't understand the intrest people have in the stuff. It never did happen, it never can happen...
Better yet, an etchaskech and a digital camera...
My first time flying was the week before last. On the way to the big airport on the way home to visit my parents I went through security no checks, just had to take my electronics out of the carry on. They didn't even xray them just a swab. The a week later I go back through the small airport in my home town and they pad me down after a zipper set off the metal detector. Then they went trough all my luggage(full of audio electronics, big pipe bomb looking studio mic) questioned me 101 questions. It took around 20 min to clear security and I was already running alittle late. Well it wasn't so bad, I walk straight from security onto the plane, no waiting around.
The first time through security I could of had a gun hidden in my laptop and they didn't even xray it. They even forgot to ask the basic did you pack your own bag questions. Now I was getting onto a pretty damn small plane(almost bush plane size) going to a small town airport. So they just passed me through security. I could of easily passed a weapon onto people waiting for international flights in the post security waiting area.
Local calls here in canada are free just like in the US.But we only have a few telco's. It use to be one for each province, now its down to like 6 or less. So each as a healthy budget for keeping their lines upto date and allowing for high speed dsl.
Here in Newfoundland our telco Newtel just merged with the other 3 telco's in the atlantic provinces to form Aliant Communications. But even before the merger each telco already had DSL well underway available even in the smallest towns. When the internet was starting to get popular back around 94-95 newtel was just starting to build an ATM network connecting every community on the island. They layed lots of fibers for future expansion. At first it just carried POTS back to the centralized CO's. I belive they replaced all their old CO's with just A/D units and everything was sent over ATM back to a single CO. Anyway they had fiber everywhere and there old phonelines were getting pretty old so they had to replace alot of it anyway. Converting the lines for DSL was no big cost. Throw in ATM DSLAM racks and your in business. Currently its only in the smallest and remote communities you can't get 1mBit DSL and 3mBit DSL(768kBps up).
At the same time Cable atlantic had bought NLNET dialup service from Memorial University. This got them looking at cable modems. They were one of the first companys in northamerica to lanuch internet over their cable system along with fiber optic distrobution for their regular cable service.
The competition between the two has kept the prices very low from the start(~$40 CND, $25 US at the time) while dialup internet was $20/month for 60 hours. Many people would go over 60 hours a month and run up big bill and quickly switch to DSL/Cable. Unlimited dialup is still not the norm.
Basicly the Telco's and the cable companies are doing it themselfs rather than 3rd parties. They own all the fiber and local loops/coax so their cost is pretty low. It seems more like young engineers are making the key choices insted of old management.
Pretty much anyone who uses a computer at all these days has DSL or cable. Dialup is only being used for the few people who go online to check email only.
From my 3rd party view, the thing holding back broadband in the US is that the telco's don't seem to be offering DSL, 3rd party ISP's are trying to make a go of it paying the telco ontop of the normal ISP cost. This means tigher bandwidth caps and/or higher prices for the end user. Also throw in cheap unlimited dialup.
Its very hard to determine if a channel is free. Its easier for a DSP todo it than a human.
The only way this could work is through an online database that determines what channels are free in your area. They devices almost need to be location aware and download the data automaticly. Another solution is they could have beacons in your area that announce the free channels. Basicly you power up the access point and it listens to the beacon for a free channel.
If the user has control over the channel someone is sure to find a way to abuse it.
Its not just the bumper its the entire car.
Make cars that are designed to be easily fixed and that last forever(moving parts should be easy to replace). Sure the auto industry won't make billions and employ a few thousand. But the small local garages will have more work to make up for the lost jobs and you won't be using as much power/resources.
This model works, look at most professional trucks or equipment. Most trucks are expected to work for well over 30 years. They can last nearly for ever if you make the mechanical parts easy to replace.
We have to get away from our disposible ways. With technology rapidly changing its difficult but alot of things don't change.