Tag: internet

Free wireless for New Orleans!

Post ImageIt appears that New Orleans will be the next city to implement free, city-wide wireless Internet access. Yes, that New Orleans, the one that was completely submerged in water a few months ago courtesy Hurricane Katrina. Seems that the devastation of the city is what brought on the free WiFi:

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has announced an unprecedented project wherein the entire city will be blanketed by free WiFi within a year. Due to the almost complete devastation of the city’s infrastructure, the free Internet access is one attempt to turn the city’s stagnant economy into one of growth and independence. Like in most large-scale networks, the New Orleans routers will be placed on top of street lights and provide citizens and businesses with 512 kbps download speeds until the city’s state of emergency has been lifted.

I think it’s sad that it takes the destruction of a city to get something like this off the ground, but I think New Orleans will be much better off for it in the long run. And yes there are probably a lot of other projects that require funding and effort to rebuild the city, but I think it’s good the people in charge there are looking beyond just “rebuilding”.

Read: Engadget

Firefox 1.5 Released

The Mozilla Foundation has released the first major revision to Firefox, version 1.5. I downloaded and installed it tonight on both machines without any problem. In fact, I quite like how simple upgrading the extensions was – much improved over previous installs. Here’s what’s new:

New in the 1.5 version are more sophisticated security and performance features. In addition to a more effective pop-up blocker, the updated browser is designed to ease security updates. The program checks daily for patches, downloads them automatically and then prompts users to install them, said Chris Beard, vice president of products at Mozilla.

Other improvements include “forward” and “backward” browsing buttons designed to load Web pages more quickly. A new drag-and-drop feature for browser “tabs” lets users keep related pages together.

If you’re a Firefox user, definitely download the upgrade!

UPDATE: It seems that all of the engines I had in my search box were removed after upgrading, and now when I try to add them again, they appear as blank entries in the list! Not sure what the deal is with that!

Read: CNET News.com

No more PC gaming?

Post ImageIt used to be that if you wanted the best gaming experience, you’d need to play your games on the computer. There were many reasons for this, including the raw power of computers, the ability to hook up to the Internet, and the ability to upgrade your hardware to play the most cutting edge games. While consoles have always had the advantage of “leveling the playing field” in terms of hardware and thus game performance, many hardcore gamers stuck to the computer.

Since the launch of the Xbox 360, the buzz around the “death of gaming PCs” has gotten much louder. First, from Sottozero:

It’s safe to say the gaming consoles are no longer just gaming consoles — they’re full-blown entertainment hubs. They’ve come of age, and they’ve got an attitude. And they threaten to kick traditional gaming PCs’ collective ass.

The gaming PC upgrade cycle is a rat race, an endless effort. With living room technology coming that’s as powerful as PS3 and Xbox 360 seem to be, it makes less and less sense to hop on the gaming PC carousel, particularly from a financial standpoint.

And second, from Paul Thurrott:

What’s interesting about this to me is that I’m a PC gamer from way back. When I moved to the PC from the Amiga in the mid-1990’s, I had to adapt to keyboard-based gaming and, later, with the advent of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D, to keyboard-and-mouse gaming. I’ve dabbled in video game systems since, but have really been more comfortable with the PC stuff. With Xbox 360 that’s changing. It’s exactly like when I switched from pure keyboard PC gaming.

The Xbox 360 (and the PS3 later next year) boasts raw power far exceeding most home computers for the foreseeable future, and it’s not unreasonable to expect that the next generation of consoles will extend the lead even farther. There’s more to gaming than just power though. Imagine trying to play Team Fortress Classic on the Xbox. I think back to my TFC days and one of the big things that sticks out in my mind is “key bindings”. You basically found a way to use every key on the keyboard – hard to do with a controller that only has a dozen or so buttons. Lots of other games wouldn’t port well to a console either, like World of Warcraft.

On the other hand, I think the fact that Internet connectivity has become so central for gaming consoles opens the door so to speak. I wouldn’t be surprised if consoles do gain the ability to play games like WOW, whether it’s from different controllers (sort of like keyboards) or just unique on-screen interfaces. The fact that Xbox Live is so deeply integrated into the console will definitely make MMO games more likely.

Truth be told, I haven’t really played computer games for a long time now. I have Age of Empires II installed, but it’s been ages since I last played. Maybe Paul is right when he says “I think we’re seeing the beginning of a big transition here.”

Microsoft Live – all about services

Post ImageTo truly understand what the new Windows Live and Office Live services are all about, you need not look any further than Microsoft itself. Thanks to the magic that is Robert Scoble, we get a very honest description:

Yesterday will be remembered not because of what we announced. But because of the direction we’re now headed in.

Microsoft is no longer an applications company. It is a services company.

Don’t get caught up in the badly-pulled-off demos yesterday. There is something a lot deeper happening inside Microsoft than that.

That’s important to understand. People do not remember the famous Bill Gates Internet Memo as the day Microsoft decided to integrate Internet Explorer into Windows (though that was certainly a result). Instead, that infamous memo is remembered as the day Gates and Co “got” the Internet. I expect yesterday’s announcement will be remembered in much the same way.

That said, they still launched a product yesterday, and at first glance, it sucked. How could they release a web-based service that doesn’t work in anything other than IE? Scoble has an answer for that too:

So, when you see Microsoft not supporting Firefox out of the gate, you are seeing that we don’t get the role of influentials in gathering audiences.

Just imagine if Microsoft both understood “the role of influentials” and had Robert Scoble on the payroll!

Flock Developer Preview

Post ImageAn application called Flock has been hyped and hyped again recently. Naturally, I had to see for myself if it lived up to the hype, so I went and downloaded the Flock Developer Preview this afternoon. What is Flock?

Flock is based on the open source Mozilla code base. All of our modifications to Mozilla code are released under the MPL, GPL and LGPL licenses. 100% of the Flock-created code to date is released under the GPL license. Going forward, we may incorporate some proprietary code from partners, or even created in-house, but our plan is for the vast majority if not all of our code to be open source for the foreseeable future.

I guess the idea is that Flock is a so-called “Web 2.0 browser” based on Firefox. So far it connects up to del.icio.us and Flickr. As others have noted, it’s still very early in the application’s development so I’ll try not to knock it too hard.

Let me get a few things out of the way first. Their website sucks. They don’t have any images (not even a logo!). The download is huge compared to Firefox. The browser itself runs incredibly slow compared to Firefox (who knows what they did – it’s supposedly based on the very quick Firefox). I don’t see how they are going to make money – their “roadmap” is kinda funny. Much of what Flock promises can be accomplished via extensions, and there’s reason to believe such features will be rolled into Firefox and featured in the next IE version anyway.

Never say never, but I don’t see myself using Flock in place of Firefox or IE anytime soon. I’m not sure that del.icio.us, blogging and Flickr integration would be enough to tempt me either!

Ah that feels better. The only thing worse than a hyped application is a hyped application that sorely disappoints. Keep in mind this is only the developer preview, but I’m not holding my breath. Mark Evans wrote about Flock today too.

Read: Flock

Wireless Cities

Post ImageTime for an update on wireless everywhere! Unfortunately Edmonton isn’t much closer to being covered in wonderful wireless Internet access, but many other cities are. What was once a side project in a few townships has become a big deal for some major locales:

Vendors that build and manage wireless networks report unprecedented municipal interest over the last couple of years, with requests for proposals streaming out of city halls everywhere.

“Overall, I’d say it’s very active,” said Lee Tsao, director of the global solutions group for Pronto Networks, a wireless provisioning company in Pleasanton, California. “In the last four months, we’ve signed up about 10 cities.” Todd Myers, founder and vice president of corporate development for AirPath Wireless, a provisioning firm based in Waltham, Massachusetts, put it more simply: “We’re swamped. There are just so many RFPs out now.”

Some of the newer technology like WiMax has been slow out of the gate, so most of the cities pursuing wireless networks are building so-called “mesh networks”, which essentially consist of daisy-chained Wi-Fi antennas. Apparently it’s pretty cost effective.

Wireless networks in cities show no sign of slowing down either:

In late September, research firm MuniWireless.com forecast that U.S. cities and counties will spend nearly $700 million over the next three years to build municipal wireless broadband networks.

Municipal wireless has also finally received support from politicians and lawmakers, notably FTC member Jon Leibowitz who “enorsed the concept of municipal broadband networks, comparing them to public schools and libraries.” (For a PDF of his endorsement, click here.)

Bring on the wireless cities!

Read: Wired

Nick Bradbury is dead on!

Post ImageYou know how you try to say something, only to find that someone else has expressed your thoughts in simple, to-the-point language? It’s so great when you come across it, as I did with Nick Bradbury’s post on Web 2.01. Back in early September I wrote about what I called Web 2.5, essentially the current “bubble” taking advantage of rich clients. Here’s what Nick had to say:

It’s a mistake to rule out the desktop.

I rely on a number of excellent web apps and I expect to see the web continue to become the dominant application platform, but I believe reports of the death of desktop apps are greatly exaggerated. The future of the web isn’t entirely web-based.

Over the next few years we’ll see a number of new desktop apps which take advantage of the web as a platform, providing many of the benefits of a web app with the speed, usability and (in some cases) privacy of a desktop app. The next version of FeedDemon, for example, ties into an online API, and it enables customers to choose which data lives “out there” on the web and which stays private to their computer. We’re going to see much more of this.

Right on Nick! I completely agree – we’re going to see some killer rich client apps come out in the next couple years, especially once Windows Vista hits. Of course, the rich clients that take advantage of the web as a platform will not be limited to Windows, but I think that’s where we’ll see the apps that make the biggest impact.

Read: Nick Bradbury

Why the USA needs to cede control of the Internet

Post ImageThere is a potentially major split brewing over control of the Internet, and it has been coming for quite some time. Declan McCullagh has written a great article explaining the problem and what it could mean, so I suggest reading that for some background before you continue with this post. In a nutshell though, the US currently has complete control over the Internet’s root servers and a growing number of countries don’t like it – they think control should be given to an international body like the United Nations. I agree.

Whatever role the United States played in the creation of the Internet doesn’t really matter anymore. The fact that the US Department of Defense created ARPANET which became the Internet we know and love today is irrelevant. What matters most of all is that the Internet has become a truly global network, and it needs to remain that way if we want to continue reaping its benefits.

All we need to do is think about all of the ways in which we use the Internet, and how they would be changed or affected if a split occurred. Things like sending email, or instant messages. Sharing pictures with friends and family around the world. Buying and selling things locally and abroad. Sharing information with others and learning about far away places without the local spin. All of these things would be affected if a major split occurs. All of these things would be affected if the Bush government continues to express arrogance and jealously guard its control of the Internet’s root servers, and the countries that disagree and want more control decide to create their own, incompatible root servers. It could be disastrous.

Even though I support the UN taking over control, I know it isn’t perfect. Scandals like the oil for food program cast a dark light across the organization. At the same time though, I truly believe problems like the oil for food pogram in Iraq would have happened anyway, with or without the UN. And I would point to the many successes of the organization as proof that a UN-run Internet would be better in the long run than a US-run Internet. At they very least, there would be almost no chance of a split occurring.

Many people will be quick to point out that the US has done nothing wrong thus far, and has done a fairly good job of running the Internet – and that’s true. However, the US is very quickly becoming a smaller and smaller part of the Internet as countries around the world bring their vast populations online. They deserve a voice and a hand in how the Internet is governed.

We need to ensure that the Internet continues to function for all citizens of the world, and that is why the USA needs to cede control of the Internet to an international organization.

Google Wifi in San Francisco

Post ImageIt seems that Google has officially submitted a bid to the city of San Francisco to build a city-wide free wireless Internet service. Om Malik broke the story late yesterday, noting:

Google officials say San Francisco residents (and visitors) will enjoy a free 300 kilobits per second, always on connection anywhere in the city. As part of its proposal, the company says it will be offering wholesale access to other service providers, who will offer higher throughput connections to their customers. Google says it plans to use its own authentication services. (That explains the Google WiFi VPN client to some extent). The company is going to use San Diego-based WFI, a cellular network builder company to build out the WiFi network.

There have been rumblings about this for weeks, and people claim to have discovered test networks in other cities too. So upon hearing the news, the first thing I thought was that Google is going to fulfill my vision of wireless everywhere by building free wifi networks in cities around the world! Not so, according to a New York Times article on the story published earlier today:

“Offering a free service like this is a great way to support the Bay Area,” said Chris Sacca, a new-business development executive at Google. “We don’t have any plans outside of the Bay Area.”

While that kind of sucks, I am not holding my breath. I am sure if they see any value in providing the service at all, they’d reconsider opening it to other cities too. And even if that doesn’t turn out to be the case, perhaps other companies will take a cue from Google and build their own networks.

Read: CNET News.com

Google Wifi

Post ImageThe latest “confirmed” Google rumor is the infamous “wifi service” that has long been predicted. Not entirely certain why Google would want to get into the wireless business, but who knows, it probably falls into The Master Plan somehow. From John Battelle:

In any case, I think folks really want to believe that Google is about to offer something totally game changing here, and honestly, it’s hard not to want to believe this – it fits exactly our collective expectations for the company. But there are so many dots to connect in this idea, that I find a massive, one step roll out hard to fathom. On the one hand, if Google does pull this off, it’d be a coup. On the other, maybe this is just a speculative test, and it’s teaching us the power of the the Google Rorshach effect in real time….

For now, all we’ve got is this page, which is basically just a bunch of “scratching the surface” questions. If it were really a FAQ page, it would have something like “Are you planning to use Wifi as a tool for taking over the world?” That’s what I want to know anyway.

Read: John Battelle