Month: March 2010

Software, technology, Web

coding til 5am. Again.

| be3n

php is amazingly easy to get things done in.  i’ve started so many projects i’ve had to make a toybox to put them in.  i think i’ll try my hand at a wordpress plugin.  that should be fun.  but i have one  unbelievably useful tool that i think i might be able to bang out first.  useful to me anyhow.  i’ll talk more about it when it’s actually useful.

art, Culture, retro, technology

Remember before dialup? BBS?

| be3n

I found an old dot matrix printout from the local bbs of my youth. With their easy to remember phone number my 2400 baud modem transformed my computer into a portal to community resources to, amuse, educate, and entertain. it was where i received my first electronic mail. (a pain because they only had one phone line and it could take hours to get connected) i wish i had more printouts from then. I would love to see the main menu again. it might be cool to setup a mud like one of the old BBSes, or maybe a website. maybe just a retro setup for wordpress.

818-222-4444 | Wizardry Elite | CALABASAS, CA (1992-1994):

                                    _----|
                                     ----|       _ _ _ _ _
 _ _ _ _ _ _                             |_----| ]-I-I-I-[    _ _ _ _ _ _
 ]-I-I-I-I-[     _ _ _ _ _ _ _----|      | ----| \    ' /     ]-I-I-I-I-[
 \       '_/     ]-I-I-I-I-[  ----|      ^     |  |.   |       \      '_/
  |,[] _  |       \     '_/       |     / \    |  | /^\|        | _ [],|
 _|_______|_       [*]  __|       ^    / ^ \   ^  | |*||       _|______|_
<=-=-=-=-=-=>      |__   ,|      / \  / ^ ^ \ / \ | ===|      <=-=-==-=-=>
 \_________/    ___| ___ ,|__   / ^  /=_=_=_=\ ^ \|,  _|       \________/
  | _    .|     I_I__I_I__I_I  (====(_________)_^_|____|____    |.   _ |
  |  _    |     \-\--|-|--/-/  |     I  [ ]___|___|________|    |   _  |
  |      '|      |[]      '|_  |_   _|  _  ._| _\--|-|--/-/     |     '|
  |       |     / \  []   .| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| []   [] |      | '    |
  |     []|    <===>      .|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|        / \     |[]    |
  |__     |    ] []|    [] | .   _________   . |-      <===>    |'   __|
  |-      |- - <===>     ' ||||  |       |  ||||  []   <===> - -| '   -|
  |_      |  | .\T/     -- ||||  |       |  |||| .  '   \T/. |  |     _|
 /. ..     \____/|'   .   .|||||/|_______|\|||||. .   .  |\_____/   .. .\

 (818) 222-4444 - USRobotics 14.4 Baud HST Dual Standard - 230 Megs On-Line
Corporations, hardware, Internet, Politics, Soapbox, technology, Wi-Fi

May i borrow a cup of wifi?

| be3n

The internet went out again.  it seems that time warner is made of sugar or wicked witches.  They melt in the rain.  last time we traced the run from pole to modem, but it seems that water continues to find a way in.  Luckily i set a little something up with the neighbors.  It had to be put in place after the last time when i ran off my iphone using tethering.  Believe me, edge at home is ONLY for desperate people.  A time warner serviceman made it out this morning to fix it.  Knowledgeable workmen AND speedy service, this is a side of time warner i’ve never seen before.  I’d still like to see less of these glitches and of course the 8Mbit we’re paying for!  Even more then that, i’d like to see a real solution.

Real Solution

What i’d like to see, is a solution to the fundamental internet problem once and for all.  What problem?  The lack of free and available internet to ANYONE throughout public spaces (and even private ones).  That is a stimulus with a real and tangible benefit.  Our wireless communications carriers have failed us.  We gave them the very air and they repay us with early termination fees and dropped calls.

The powers that be could bring the internet in through the power lines.  You can get incredible bandwidth though existing infrastructure and utility poles make great places for hanging access points.  Heck, i wouldn’t even mind if they snooped (you know they spy already).  In fact people would probably line up to be snooped on free wifi all over town! once we have a nation wide public wifi network and everything plugged into the wall was also connected to that network, things will really start to get interesting.  Imagine a world where our gadgets conspire to improve out daily life?  What if you never had to set an alarm clock?  Simply plugging it into the wall gets it online and sets the time.  Imagine a world where wireless communications doesn’t require faustian contracts with providers full of marketing and empty promises.  What if a txt didn’t cost 20¢?  What if you could make a call or send a message from your pocket for free?  What if this actually happened?  These simple ideas will extend the functionality and integrate our devices and networks in ways we cannot even comprehend.  I honestly believe that combined with IPv6 and other great implementations, these foundations of technology that will pave the way to the future we’ve seen in science fiction.