Go here to discuss the Guy Kewney and the BBC flub:

http://www.quicktopic.com/37/H/n8JGYa4FSCesF

Greetings Mouse,

Just to say that I won't be coming to London this week so could not meet for a drink even if plan A from years gone by was still on option. I gather the Boss is out of the country anyway.

If you are planning a visit to Exeter, please drop by Life Bytes, opposite the Odeon on Sidwell Street. I might be there or not far away.

If you do plan a meet this week please mention it here so I could tell a couple of people who turned up last year.

By the way, that Wendy Grossman seems to be one of the unconverted with regard to e-paper etc.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/comment/0,,1772569,00.html

has anybody got a riposte to her strong views?

Thank you, hunky mouse, you seem to have done the trick

AFAICS now with better design and realistic dates.

Edited by author 02-04-2006 06:14 AM

Can't make it stick...

A glue-sniffing robot? Yes, and a feral robot but they aren't talking...

I've been off. I'll have to chase up the AFAICS thing. Apparently the web server became a point of contention. They should have stuff up on AFAICS Real Soon Now.

Meanwhile, The Boss is pissed off, because his rather nice blog has been canned. Well, frankly, he never knew what to do with it.

---

Tags: robot, WiFi Mesh, LocustWorld

wrt http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/2585

"They'll be happy to have residents use the metro WiFi, but they won't be happy to have their own critical communications infrastructure sabotaged by seeing fifteen residents each set up a powerful MIMO device on channel 11."

Any organisation that establishs a critical comms infrastructure using unlicenced spectrum then whines about interference should redirect its unhappiness towards the idiots who chose to deploy such a system in the first place.

Found this on a blog through technorati

http://www.livejournal.com/users/hunkymouse/

But almost nothing else about the Afaics report on e-paper.

Should be out by now. Any good links?

Meanwhile the Guardian published an article by Jeff Jarvis on 'the last presses'. I think his blog had a bit more depth, and also lots of feedback

http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2005/12/05/the-last-presses/

Just how much cash must T-Mobile save?

Word is that young McBride has to cut a billion dollars (Euros?) off the bottom line.

Stories like these make fantasies like that seem actually quite true.
.

Whoops. Some fiendish critter had got into the RSS system and magled all the links to All About Palm. It is now fixed!

For this The Boss wakes me up at 2 AM?

"Find out all you can about the new Cobalt phone!" says he. "It's on Bloglines, but I can't get AllAboutPalm on the web here in Taiwan."

Won't be the least of his problems if he carries on like this...

.

I wish I'd been able to get there. I had a good time in Prague...

... but a pint of Albion beer is usually good.

Hunky Mouse,

Meeting up at the Albion seems not to have worked out this time.

However the event was good as an inspiration. Guy Kewney's report on the City of Fredericton gives an idea of what is possible. So well worth a trip from 'wi-fi Exeter' where all is not what is sometimes claimed.

Maybe next year we should try again.
Photo of a pint
http://www.inxpress.co.uk/albion.html
keep scrolling down

another topic

is there a date for the Afaics report?

any news welcome

Assuming there is a meet next week I have been updating the site for 'wi-fi Exeter'. You may remember an Intel survey that claimed Exeter as the UK centre for hotspots per head. This was based on a false assumption about IT boxes in pubs. Actually they are not used much for wi-fi.

http://www.inxpress.co.uk/exwifi.html
survey from last year

http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/wi-fi-ex
for photo of BT phonebox recently rebranded as a 'coolroom'.
BT Openzone has vanished. Is this the same in most UK places?

My impression is that the wifi claims have helped to spread bandwidth in the UK. Some rural projects have worked out, enough to encourage BT to eventually offer something. But most people are not carrying round a laptop and checking email that often through wi-fi. Wi-fi networks are being used at home though.

The 'coolbox' is just a collection of trailers and samples. Bandwidth would be much better used for local broadcasting or downloading. Can an IT box be used for something like this. Most people in pubs are interested in entertainment rather than an extended office.

Except for during the Wireless Lan event obviously.

April already so I am thinking it is time for a check on the arrangements for possibly meeting in real time and space. Still aiming at about 6 on the first day of the wireless show? A friend is investigating if the Albion is still there.

How will we know the mouse when we get there? I have done an A4 page to wave so if others print it out also this is one method

http://www.inxpress.co.uk/albion.html

Recent discussion in Exeter about why the IT Boxes are not used concluded that actually people only need web access for part of the day and probably not at all during time in a pub. Any thoughts on this?

The trouble with security at home is that it creates more problems than it solves.

Myself, I do the same as our non-Microsoftie! - I turn off SSID - and frankly, that's going to cause problems, too. Yes, it discourages idiots from using my bandwidth when I need it. But unfortunately, it also prevents sensible people from seeing my network.

And so they won't know what channel I'm using, and will innocently set up on my channel, thinking it's free.

In a crowded London street, this isn't a strategy for the future.

WEP as you say, is a nightmare, broken. Turn it on, and you'll find that the AP wants it in hex. But the card wants it in ASCII. And is it 128 bit? or 48 bit? And when you have it all working, you get another PC and it turns out this won't talk to your AP with WEP enabled. Just won't, no way, never.

I have a pretty good firewall (www.firebrick.co.uk) and a very good friend who is a real expert in these things...! and he set up the DMZ and arranged file sharing. So it's not "wide open" despite the fact that the AP is open; you'd have trouble getting at my data.

That said, it's absolutely the case that a determined hacker could break in. I just assume that there's no point in doing so, and so they won't.

So how do you make your Wifi network secure? I have turned off SSID and enabled Mac address control - only letting in recognised pcs. My ICT guy told me that WEP encryption is problematic and not to use it...I have a hard-wired network with a file server and 5 pcs on it, with another 10 laptop users who use both the office wireless network as well as (often) their home broadband connection.

Um... thanks, I think, for jumping into a satirical riposte with a bunch of geek corrections.

Just to keep matters clear:

1. I am decidedly NOT a Microsofite which you could have figured out in about 30 seconds if you'd bothered to look.

2. I am not talking about just SSID but that was way outside the intent of my response to Seth. Drive by my place next time you're in New Mexico and see if you get into my network. It'll take a bit more than free sniffer, trust me.

3. I will not disagree with the technical accuracy of your post. And, FWIW, I never represented myself as a security expert. Pity you missed the point of the exercise.

I didn't get to CeBIT and I suspect, neither did The Boss. But I have been having fun with a few self-styled experts on WiFi...

:-)

The original story is probably worth reading first, if you haven't...

I have posted some notes from CeBIT on the OhMynews talkback board. What struck me was that there were no e-book readers. Argosy decided not to bring an actual example though there is one in their catalogue and they offer it in a Chinese version. Maybe sales are not enough to encourage them to develop for other languages.

There were many examples of mobile DVD players and receivers for HDTV. It might still be the case that schools will offer devices rather than books but I am beginning to think it will be moving images that people want, not a book equivalent.

Any other thoughts? There must have been a lot at CeBIT that was missed and may come out in later reports but I'm passing on my observation so far.

I have found a photograph of the Albion so have put a page together.

Reminder nearer the time I guess

http://www.inxpress.co.uk/albion.html

Edited by author 03-03-2005 09:59 AM
All I have to say is "beer!"

Wow...

Why doesn't everybody buy expensive lunches at Claridges?

I prefer St Katharine Dock and the Yacht Club, of course...

Contact me for details: mail me or add me to your Yahoo! messenger list!

Honest, I can book the yacht Club, the boss is a member...

Which day - first day? six o'clock? Suits me. I'll be there anyway.

I'm up for that, if the Mouse doesn't mind...

The Albion is not far from Olympia and is quite often open.

Cross the road towards Hammersmith.

"I had my eye on the stars, officer..."

Would you drive along the M60 while downloading pictures of stars onto your laptop?

Gosh, is it that time of year again? Heavens! Eek!

Do we have a favourite pub? The one The Boss picked for last year wasn't open. What on earth a pub behind Olympia is doing closed when there's a convention on, is another question, of course. It did open around 6.05 pm by which time all the Mouse-catchers had pissed off...

But it was big and nice! Let's aim for the FIRST day of the convention, this year!

http://www.wlanevent.com/home/default.asp

Will the mouse be making another attempt to buy us all a drink?

Suggest some previous research this time.

Splagthch!

Ketchup makes the top ten in gadgets.

Why?

Because it's red, duh...

Edited by author 02-16-2005 05:05 AM

An intimate breakfast - for 41!

I've never seen The Boss storm out of an Intel briefing before, but today was the day...

Kill, kill, kill! Yes, the Mouse is enraged. Would you not be?

France Telecom is this week's villain...

I suspect The Boss hasn't realised I'm actually here in Cannes this week; he keeps sending messages telling me how nice and sunny it is - and how he's going to get the new Treo 650 on Wednesday. Ho ho ho!

I tried to keep this quiet, but The Mouse says he's not a journo and won't get a free card, "and stuff the rest of you."

I saw that, you rotten Mouse!

Fear not, faithful pilgrims. I have reset the ringtone on my phone to the lovely jitterbug jingle from the Star Wars movie (original) in the sleazy dive on Tatooine.

The thing is, even if you earn huge amounts of money as a salary, it isn't the same as having capital. And someone like Sohail Qadri has a huge mortgage, we understand, and all his Beaconsfield neighbours are truly wealthy.

So that's why employees at O2 think Qadri and Erskine want to sell out. What do you think?

The Mouse really has to stop eavesdropping on other people's phone calls...

Drat. Now I have to make another Hunkymouse hat as a prize.

So: what does MSP stand for? - mail me as hunkymouse at gmail dot com

oops. Will, the news is both good and bad. Good news: we're doing well with the report preparation.

Bad news? Well, it's going to be delayed. We're now playing with survey forms... wasn't the original plan! But it's turning out to be essential.

Guy,

This link seems to be the previous report. I meant to ask about the new one, advertised for January, about magazines.

Is this still on track for January?

Thanks

Will

Pricey Palm. I got this from a disgruntled Palm employee who thought that the discount was not what he was expecting...

Will: the web site has an "executive summary" which is exactly what you're asking for. Erm, lessee...

http://www.kewney.co.uk/AFAICS/report%20summary%20small.pdf

Yes, tried fixed DNS. Didn't work. Tried it with several known good IP addresses, including my own Merula DNS. Nothing.

It's not the first time, either...

Any news on the Afaics report?

This is January. For example, will there be a short freebie version for cheapskates like myself?

http://www.kewney.com/articles/041231-holiday.html

Hey Guy. You tried setting a fixed DNS for Telefonica? Can supply the details if you like?

Drop me an email at the usual place.

Chris

Hunky Mouse

Here is a link to some photos. I may have posted this before but why not?
http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/wi-fi-ex/pix.html
the layout is all my own work. Originals by Gary Trembling.

I am still trying to find out more about circulation. So far I have found that VNU use BPA international who actually do publish certificates with print and digital on the same PDF page.

Their definitions may be different again of course. But at least it is happening and for Computing and IT Week the numbers are not bad. There is a digital audience.

Apparently all the digital subscribers for IT Week are in the UK.

I look forward to the AFAICS report. There is a lot more happening than appears so it could encourage some more public information.

Will,
You said /m93 that you'd written a piece about the AFAICS report. I checked it out - very nice! - and thank you; we'll point to it at www.afaics.com.

Update: the ABC does now have registration for e-mags, and it is causing enormous confusion, because the UK ABC is not using the same metrics as the US one.

The AFAICS report on e-magazines in Europe will be out in January. Watch this space! - it could be amusing.

It's a lovely site, isn't it! I made it myself.

:-)

I have reason to believe that this story was composed in the autumn colours of a Danish airport, and sent to me. I'm naming no names, but I'm putting it up in my gossip area...

Hello Hunky Mouse

I have found a website
http://www.hunkymouse.co.uk/

Photos from Spring. Any Autumn colours available?

Maybe a completely different hunky mouse of course

Will

Well now I'm plugging my own stuff, but combined with a genuine question.

I have had a story accepted at OhmyNews
http://english.ohmynews.com/english/eng_se...asp?article_class=4
Follow 'Publishers awaken to an e-book society'

Mightymouse, this report is a special occasion. If plausible, a 4 year transition to e-books is indeed significant for paper publishing. I try to get interest in PDF and there tends to be a lot of drift as if things can be postponed indefinitely. Towards the end of the article I link in to 'digital editions' and ABC figures. There was a positive idea here but it seems to have disappeared for a while.

My question is 'what is the photo about?' OhmyNews have put a photo of an e-book I guess. But can anyone name the model?

Thanks for that link, Will.

Ignore the Mouse!

I think it's cute the way The Boss is trying to flog his report in his IT Week column!

Well, I suppose, it's no more than several other consultants do all the time in their columns, but it embarrasses us all on the staff.

Nothing like the embarrassment of Orange staff when their CEO slagged off 3G phones in front of a BBC Radio 2 reporter, though...

It turns out that joining the e-book society is free

http://www.the-ebook-publisher.com/index.htm

You can pay for the book if you like

I have started a topic at the Guardian

http://booktalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@ebooksoc@.77477253/0

They have been hopelessly committed to literary culture as in hard copy, but recently James Fenton has been writing about Google and eBay.

I don't think Guy Kewney can be having a holiday as he is producing so much stuff. IT Week plugs a new report

http://www.afaics.com

The freebie version there explains a bit more where wireless networks fit with e-books.

I'm not sure I agree that XML will take over from PDF as a publishing format. At the moment most PDF on the web is a straight dump of the design intended for print. Hardly anyone uses the interactivity or multi-media. So there's a lot of scope there without much more than mass learning.

Where is SVG in this? How many browsers can actually view SVG at the moment?

Should I buy the full report for a bit more info? The book on creating e-books is pretty good so I am thinking of joining the e-book society. All links follow from the one above so suggest people start there.

"
I can, honestly, see hotels making a virtue of "no Internet access here" in their brochures. They'd lose some business, yes; but they might gain some. People, for example, like you...
"
Not really. Free wi-fi might be an attraction or just access to an internet cafe. I would rather not carry too much weight. Mostly I just need web based email.

Maybe Guy Kewney fans could contribute to a short break in stages. If you head south west we can offer at least a coffee at Life Bytes in Exeter.

Speaking as one of the Boston Tea Set, I can confirm that there are a lot of people who are glad they didn't provide the WiFi here...

Oh, you're right about the holiday...

:-)

Shall we start a Guy Kewney Holiday Fund collection campaign? I'd certainly support it...

Yes, that's the point. Not the holiday; the fact that 80 guests will stress a lot of AP setups. I think there is going to be a backlash by hotel managers. And others. Look at poor old Strix, at VON Fall 2004, for goodness sake - volunteered to provide wireless LAN services, and (quite possibly through no fault of their own) landed on their arses.

If you don't provide WiFi at your hotel, then people who want it won't come. Well, how does that compare with 80 guests all demanding that you fix it, when you don't even know where your sonic screwdriver is?

I can, honestly, see hotels making a virtue of "no Internet access here" in their brochures. They'd lose some business, yes; but they might gain some. People, for example, like you...

:-)

Now I really do think that Guy Kewney needs a holiday.

Impatience and unrealistic expectations suggest a need to slow down a little.

In IT Week he writes about an Euro 97 hotel bill for dial-up, required because the free wi-fi fell over. The unfortunate hotel manager is criticised for not realising that just because 80 guests connected with the network they would not actually get web access. My guess is that most networks would fall over with a sudden wi-fi conterence as extra users. Mostly wi-fi resources are under used. I base this on observation in 'wi-fi Exeter' supposedly a centre for hotspots. There is a Freespot in the Southgate Hotel but usually not more than half a dozen people using it. The IT boxes in pubs and the BT phone boxes are hardly used at all.

Suggest a short break somewhere away from the 80 people who share a wi-fi vision. Sometime next year there may be an overlap between the resources available and the knowledge of possible users. It is frustrating that things take a while but maybe the best thing would be to forget about actual wi-fi for a while and think about it as something imagined.

In the photograph there appears to be no evidence of wi-fi.

Is it the case that when people drink beer, actually web access is not really that important?

Just a question

No, that is NOT the hunky mouse there....

I'll forward this to The Boss. It's the sort of thing that delights his evil mind...

Information please re BT phone boxes, assumed BT strategy, whatever is going on.

Here in "wi-fi Exeter" we are frank about the reality, not much happens, but we do try to track changes. There are two wi-fi enabled BT phone boxes, never used as such except on out testing expeditions based at Life Bytes. Both boxes can also be used as a direct screen and keyboard. This was 30p minimum, for 15 minutes or £1.20 an hour. As of yesterday the South Street box still advertises this but the actual minimum is 50p and the rate is 10p a minute or £6 an hour. So this is now roughly the same as BT Openworld or the Cloud in a pub.

I cannot find any info on what BT think they are trying to do. My guess is that there is almost no use of phone boxes for wi-fi. £6 an hour is a lot more than most cybercafes, probably at least double.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3602118.stm
right at the bottom of this, could be relevant

Meanwhile The Register ( source of a comment on 'spurious claims' with respect to 'wifi Exeter') has sent an intrepid reporter to check out Shepherd Neame pubs.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/20/wi_fi_pub/

They found a frank opinion behind the bar on the question of how often the resource is used. Can you find a way to investigate the actual use of BT phone boxes?

Any other observations anywhere? Maybe the blog format for news is the way to find out what is happening in the UK. wi-fi slowly is my guess.

So, we sent our Chief Reporter to Mobile Commerce World.

Did he come back with the Big Stories? No, he just whinged and moaned and complained.

It was the lunch that did it. I went to the Fox. He ate the press office biscuits and drank their tea, and moaned.

Mind you, I think he probably wasn't the only one upset... giving journalists a "full pass" to a conference and then saying: "No you can't have lunch" is, to put it gently, tactless...

Two points

Yes the stuff about Guy Kewney needing a holiday was last year. The web works slowly sometimes.

Secondly, in Exeter we have actually got round to a tour of the IT Box, BT phone box etc with a laptop. You may remember the claims that Exeter is a centre for hotspots, based on the number of IT Boxes in pubs, we think. They are used for games and we do have a lot of them. But we observed no use at all of wi-fi.

Freespot at the Southgate Hotel also works and seems a better prospect. Next week for Alt-C there will be Freespot wi-fi at the Peter Chalk Centre on campus. So that will be two spots being used. Further investigation based at Life Bytes 24 Paris Street, internet coffee house with desktops and cable.

The Peter Chalk Centre has a bar which will definitely be open and is easy to find. Keep on up the hill past the Northcote Theatre. I know previous efforts to meet up in a bar have met problems. But anyone would be welcome who needs a midweek break.

updates at
http://wifiExeter.blogspot.com/

best

Will

PS is the same thing true in other places? No actual use of the cloud in pubs or BT phone boxes?

I don't know why I employ this Mouse.

He just takes the Mickey...

If you do what they ask you to - export your Outlook details - then they will get the emails. But even if they didn't, it's still an incitement to junk mail. I think it's not just cheeky of them; I think it's dodgy, asking people to do this.

But you're obviously entitled to disagree!

:-)

RE: Gossip - Von Magazine incites spamming

Unfortunately, you are incorrect.
Go back and re-read the message...
It specifically says: "names and postal addresses of 25.."
No where do they request email addresses.

This is a very circular message. It points here, on newswireless.net which in turn points back here...

It gets VERY confusing for even the hunkiest of mouses.

Edited by author 07-30-2004 10:37 AM
Really, answers to this should go to The Boss himself. Note: that email address needs human intervention.

Sniffer, who is Somewhere In South America, asked me to post this for him.

Happy Birthday David Potter!

Surely, he ought to be Sir David Potter by now?

Edited by author 06-29-2004 04:28 PM
Now, when I said in /m71 that The Boss was going to be "pretty busy" at TechEd, I assumed we wouldn't hear anything to his detriment.

Then this little item shows up on the internal bulletin board!

We'll have a sniff at those feet. If they smell of cocoa butter...

I've pointed this comment to The Boss, who is away in Amsterdam this week. He hasn't replied, but from his latest story, I expect he's going to be pretty busy with TechEd. Maybe he'll be in touch when he gets back?

BT phone boxes now offer a 30p for 15 minutes web access deal. The screen and keyboard are both small but ok to check web email etc.

There seems not to be much news about this but it is relevant to wi-fi, Openzone etc. £1.20 an hour is less than £6 an hour by quite a lot. Has anyone been using the phone boxes for wi-fi? There are two in Exeter but no use at all as far as I know.

Cash is also easier I think. Putting 30p in the slot is easier than using a credit card online, then typing username and password.

http://dbs.cordis.lu/cordis-cgi/srchidadb?...9&CALLER=CORDISwire

Cordis accepted this release. Not sure how to get this more widely known. I think there will be more technical stuff through Psand later.

The Fadaiat wi-fi seems to have worked ok according to slashdot

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/23/1313...=137&tid=193&tid=95

in case that fails to link, it should connect to

http://mirror.us.psand.net/fadaiat/photos/index.html

http://www.flakey.info/tarifa/

Not much news about this in the Uk as far as I can tell.
Could the mouse machine get on the case?

Edited by author 06-23-2004 05:01 AM
Hilarious. No sooner had we posted the amusing story about "3" lending us a phone and then taking it back for Wimbledon, than the phone rang.

"Hello, I'm calling from '3' and we'd like to collect the phone you have from us."

They're doomed, I tell you. Doomed!

Something to check out next week

People at Psand claim that as part of Fadaiat there will be a wi-fi link across the strait of Gibraltar. The content is about the barrier between Europe and Africa and the aim is to spread communication.

Even if the technology fails to work, it may be effective as performance art
http://fadaiat.org
http://psand.net/index.php?section=news

He's gone.

I thought he was going to scorch me. He was in A Bad Mood.

And me, I promised not to gossip about him. Oh, well. It'll all be fixed when he gets back. I hope.

Bloody mouse. That's going to teach me to buy him beer.

Edited by author 05-21-2004 07:26 AM
How sweet to be a journalist, to get access to phones, and never to have to carry money.

In fact,

How doth the little journalist
Get access to new phones!
They do not carry money, and
They rarely dine alone!

So remind me, because I seem to have forgotten, who in this story we are supposed to feel sorry for, particularly. I have to buy my own new shiny toys, and I don't see free food too often, either.

This is important, because the techno-journo who gets techie goods and services for free could lose sight of how much the end-user prices of things matter. The wireless data service to die for is not going to fly in the mass-market if it costs more to run than my car does.

.

Well, normally, the Boss and me get access to phones. So it's not normally a problem finding another one.

Today, however, Research In Motion went against the tide...

That one didn't get lost. It was clipped firmly to my belt. I still have it. Just... it doesn't work, does it!

Edited by author 05-20-2004 09:50 AM
Phones? Well, well. I'd suggest sewing a zipper in the pocket in question to stop stuff falling out, or one of those elastic child-tethers, glued to the phone and buttoned into the pocket (you could sew a button in specially) - or they usually come with velcro. Or wear it on a lanyard around your neck. Just because it doesn't come from the store with a cord, why does it have to stay cordless?

And I was just reading about a technology for tagging possessions like keys and wallet so that your phone yells out if you leave something behind, so it could also yell if what you leave is your phone...

Does anyone still steal phones? They're so cheap now. iPod, yes.

.

I'll pass your message about Freespot on to The Boss. Meanwhile, here's his latest exploit revealed...

How many phones have you lost?

Anybody know about Freespot and Buffalo? It has been announced that there will be a Freespot on the cathedral green in Exeter. There is something at the Southgate Hotel. From the website it seems most of Freespot is in Japan. How can this work? Is free the future? Is the Buffalo kit any good?

The Southgate is easy to find by the way if you need to arrange a place to meet. There are more obscure places for later.

Yes, but what happened to the photos of the pub event, if there ever was one? I am begiining to wonder.

Magnificent find - well spotted young mouse.

I might have known the boss wouldn't recognise one of those if he saw it on display at an exhibition.

Never mind: here's an exercise in corporate aesthetics for you experts...

Edited by author 03-04-2005 08:13 AM
I don't know what the Hunky Mouse thinks he's up to. Apparently, the Earls Court Billing Systems show isn't as dull as he thought.

Can't make head or tail of his photograph, either. Oh, perhaps I should rephrase that...

http://wireless.psand.net/live/live.xhtml

not much at the moment

Greetings

This is more or less on topic. It shows how wi-fi and broadband can be used. Worth connecting if you have web access this evening.

Psand have surfaced for this year. Guessing from last year they will be somewhere in Somerset sometime with satellite web access and wi-fi.

http://www.share.dj/anyware/amsterdam.html

http://wireless.psand.net/live/

The second link connects to stuff from last year

Thursday 15-April-04, 21.00->05.00 CET

best

Will

Still waiting for some pictures so I have persuaded a friend to send me his from the show. He was planning to go to the Firkin event but he gave up. Apparently the show closed at 3.30.

http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/wi-fi-ex/pix.html

I think someone should wake Lindsey up sometime soon.

Or are the photos somewhere else?

No rush, but I think we should be told something.

thanks to all for last night. I'll post a photo or two as soon as Lindsey wakes up and I can get my camera out of the sitting room!

Well the cheese is great, but I am stuck behind the skirting board at the wrong pub, waiting for the rain to stop before setting off on the long trek to the "Beaconsfield and Furkin". Eeek you later.

I'm here at the pub - in spite of Fate taking a hand. Still no sign of the Hunky Mouse.

Alas, I can't be in London next week. There is a conference on Network Learning. But thanks for the suggestion to look at wialess.
http://www.wialess.com/locations/index.htm

Nearly all in the south east it seems. I will try to get to visit over the summer so maybe some reports will turn up. Hope all is well next week.

Link for Networked Learning, by the way
http://www.shef.ac.uk/nlc2004/home.htm

Well, I think this just has to be one of the more subtle ones.

Seen any good April Fool news items yet?

Go on, pass them on, share them...?

Here's a little reminder of our pub date next week. Also, a story: written by The Boss but what the heck; it's about a Tablet and about the WLAN Event...

For a knowledge base? Not sure what you mean! One person you might ask would be the people at www.wialess.com who put wifi in pubs...?

I'll bet there's no wifi in the pub we've picked :-( But we can pick one where there is: the Progress Bar, not that far from my office in North London.

When can you get up?

Hello sniffer

My question is, do you know any pubs where there is enough wi-fi use for a knowledge base?

I live in Exeter, according to Intel the top UK location for wi-fi, adjusted for size of population. Actually I think it just means our pubs have more games devices than most. Generally I think almost no use is made of the resources.

I have started a message series at
http://www.visionmatters.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=121#121

One other rambler so far, I think from Cumbria.

Can't be in London next week but anyway your pub event is a one off, alas. Is there a longterm base that could be visited?

 hai sniffer i would like to make friend ship with u ,
if u r intrested then send a mail to my yahoo id
                my name is kishore
                         studying engineering,
                                india is my proper.
           bye i will be wait for u mail byr.

Despite the number of mentally feeble posters asking about "girls" here, nobody known to the Hunky Mouse is a London Call girl.

Not even Andrew Orlowski.

Unless, of course, he is...

Interesting story...
http://www.paidcontent.org/stories/vodaguidelines.shtml

Ha! Very very small. We'll see about that...

Astonishingly few people seem to care about our HunkyMouse these days. So we've decided to raise his profile, with his own IRC chat channel on his own little server.

Naturally, being very, very small, our Hank has a very very small server; so it won't do for serious web use. But it should function adequately as a way of dropping by for five minutes and saying: "Hi Hank! Hi Guy! Are you going to the WLAN Event in London next month?"

See you there; either at the Frigate and Firkin pub, or on IRC...

Sometimes, the boss gets to me - say no more!

Any more cute hacker quips?

I'm well fed up with showig up at a place which ought to provide WiFi, says it provides WiFi but can't make it work where the people are.

What's the point of providing Internet over wireless in the reception area, but not in the working conference rooms?

Incidentally, I do keep a blog of sorts...

OK, we've had a bit of harmless fun with wireless hackers feeding "diet advice" to over-fed American burger buyers.

I need that sort of toy. I wonder where's the best place to buy one?

I can find phonelosers. I can't get anything from that link. Is it just me?

Hank

On a similar note to the driver through hackers:

http://media.phonelosers.org/video/platv_taco_bell_takeover.wmv

We're back! - me and Hank Maus. I've been ill, and Hank can't post to the site unless I'm around.

He's made up for it, though; just look what the cat brought in this time!

Should we get one in for testing, do you think?

Hai there,
I just want to know the consolidated multiplexed channels with I receive at my home via a co-axial cable , how do I use a Wi-Fi network to allow people to watch any channel in a hot spot ... say my whole office as per theire liking.What equipments do I have to use.
Please reply back to sek15@rediffmail.com

thankx a lot

Hey

get with the pace guys
that review was written 5 months ago

Haha
get up to speed hehe

We felt we couldn't print Sniffer's review of the NEC 3606 phone. So he'll probably whinge about our highlighting of a favourable review by a rival writer. Oh, well...

No, Sniffer didn't like the phone, but this guy does. Even the battery life!

Sniffer has no doubts at all about the effectiveness of the WiFi speed spray... but for some reason, he asked me to post this pointer. Pressure of work, I imagine.

Well, it made me smile but DON'T TRY IT!


OK?

Edited by author 11-12-2003 06:35 PM
Sniffer has discovered that everybody thinks the Tungsten T4 is a fake - but that it would be nice if Palm made one. He thought it looked familiar...

Why does everybody like the pic of the fake T4, and nobody likes the Tungsten W? It looks much nicer!

Nick Hunn is head of TDK Grey Cell. Not Grey Suit, evidently; he says he's been Bluejackqing other people for two years...

Anybody else given to this plague of sending "special" business cards to unsuspecting Bluetooth phone users?

It's very unlikely that an amateur would broadcast on 2.4 GHz frequencies, so my initial reaction is: no, it won't affect you.

The size of the mast is a bit like the sting of a scorpion, you know. The bigger the scorpion, the smaller the sting. You have a BIG mast if you have a pretty low power transmitter, but you want to send the signal a long way.

I am planning to buy a house next to a guy with a MASSIVE amatuer radio mast in his garden, will this interfere with my 802.11 Wireless LAN?

I hate to sound critical... but having read /m10 I have to ask... is it that Guy Kewney has been drinking?

You've seen our latest report about The Boss?

Poor, poor fellow...

Edited by author 10-17-2003 01:41 PM
The Boss has been moonlighting. Writing for PC Mag... - UK edition, of course.

What you mean, you didn't know it still existed?

Edited by author 10-17-2003 05:23 AM
Why is everybody so beastly to Anne Widdecombe?

I hate that telescope game. It is impossible, and then suddenly, the universe changes and it is not only possible, but really bleedin' obvious.

pah.

Patentable? Only before you posted it online :) In order to get a patent you need to keep the idea *secret* until after the application has been filed.

On the other hand, Mr Dyson does have a number of existing patents that might apply...

Ever seen a mouse sneeze? It's quite a fright!"

Talking of cranky gurus, we're pleased to notice that we aren't the only ones. Mr Jakob Nielsen gave people his list of top ten mistakes on a web site. He didn't put the list on his web site. He did give them the URL of his web site.

Our readers got vexed!

Cranky!

I'll have you know that in the circumstances, I'm not cranky; I'm VERY WELL BEHAVED.

The seminar is about networking. Naturally, I asked the organisers if they had arranged wireless networking. "Oh, of course," they said.

What they actually meant, was: they'd asked two French internet companies, Wannadoo and France Telecom, to arrange an ISP feed to the hotel. That was WEEKS AGO and when we got here, yesterday, neither of them had managed to agree on whose fault it was that neither of them could manage this. "It's their fault" said each of them.

The hotel has a WLAN, but they're paranoid.

So they've allowed us to use it through a special Network Address Translator. That goes through to their LAN. Their LAN itself is behind a firewall, which, in turn is behind another NAT layer.

The only port that seems to be open is port 80. No IRC, no VPN access, no FTP protocol.

I have an Orange SPV, plus a Vodafone Mobile Office. As soon as we arrived in France, the Vodafone logged on, told me it had a GPRS link, and subsequently, simply refused to link. I know it's working; it was working in Gatwick before takeoff. It isn't working here.

The Orange was working, if you can call the Heath-Robinson method you have to use to connect. It needs a USB cable, you have to "activate" the modem, you have to plug it in... oh, it's all on the NewsWireless.Net article on how to do it.

I managed to get on; and then the PC decided it didn't associate with modems of this sort, and deleted it from its memory. Gone. Plug it in, and it says "No, that's just a PocketPC." Not a modem. No connection possible.

The hotel, is wonderful. Beautiful glamorous Nice on the Cote d'Azure. I won't name the hotel, but if its surname was Martin, it would be a very smart expensive car. It smells of wee in the corridors; and I can't open my balcony window because the smell of poo comes in from the sewage ventillation pipe. The bathroom doesn't have a bath.

The seminar meeting room holds about 40. There are 60 delegates. Most have notebook PCs, but there is only one (loose) power socket at the very back of the room. People who get bored with the seminar disappear out for a chat just outside the door I'm sitting next to.

And that Mouse calls me cranky.

Hope nobody minds... I'm going to let The Boss have a couple of messages of his own. He's in Nice, France, and very cranky, poor lad.

The Hunky Mouse tells me he's greatly impressed that you took the trouble to write!

:-)

Edited by author 10-06-2003 12:24 AM
Sorry to hear that you got the message a few days late, but we really did send the press release out on time--Friday, October 26--the day after Intel's "One Unwired Day." You wondered "how can one day be every day." Unfortunately, the press needs a specific date to peg a story. While it's clear enough to everyone that the Partners in Free WiFi intend the "Every Unwired Day" campaign to continue indefinitely, protocol dictated that we pick a single date.

You are right to observe our Austin-centric origins, but be assured it's only short term. It's our intention for the Partners in Free WiFi to be globally-inclusive. As of today, the Partners are only 6 days old. We had to start somewhere, so we started at home. Now we've extended an invitation to all-comers. Thanks for spreading the word!

--Rich MacKinnon
Austin Wireless City Project and Founder of Less Networks
http://www.austinwirelesscity.org
http://www.lessnetworks.com

Edited by author 09-29-2003 01:07 PM

Talk about laid-back...The Hunky Mouse is the most approachable gossip columnist of any news site. Tell him what you think, for example, about the latest gossip on NewsWireless.Net - and if you have something confidential, then mail him!