[kictanet] reflecting on the internet

Mon Apr 23 16:53:42 EAT 2007

     [BBC]

Switch on for Square Mile wi-fi
                         By Rory Cellan-Jones
                         Technology correspondent, BBC News
Monday, 23 April 2007, 07:31 GMT 08:31 UK

The City of London has fired up its first mesh wi-fi network, promising net access from just about anywhere in the Square Mile.

The area in London is not just Europe's leading financial centre - it is said to be the continent's most advanced wireless network too.

That is the claim made by the network's creator The Cloud and by the City of London Corporation which has backed it.

There are 127 nodes on lamp posts giving access to 350,000 people.

The City of London Corporation believes it will be invaluable to traders, bankers and brokers who want access to their data when they are on the move - or out at lunch.

"Every second counts when you are doing deals," explains Simon McGinn from the Corporation.

But unlike some examples of municipal wi-fi, this network will not be free. It is available to a variety of providers who will charge customers a range of fees to log on.

The network covers 95% of the City's streets, though it is does not reach right across private land like the Broadgate development and the Inns of Court.

Laptop in cafe, BBC

Q&A: Wi-fi explained
The Cloud - which operates wi-fi zones across Europe - says advanced mesh technology means users will be able to move from one node to another without losing internet access.

I climbed into one of the cycle rickshaws which now crisscross the City and tried the network out. I picked up the signal pretty easily and, despite a few hiccups, stayed logged on from Finsbury Circus to Smithfield.

But is there really that much demand for open-air surfing? After all, staring at a laptop screen in the sunshine is not a great experience - especially in an area where so many cafes have wi-fi access.

The network's backers think one of the big attractions will be the ability to use wi-fi enabled phones to make cheap calls using Skype or other internet telephony services.

It's hard to see why well-paid City workers would bother with the extra effort needed to make a wi-fi call - but the City of London Corporation believes it will prove attractive to migrant workers on construction sites.

Public wi-fi networks, free and paid-for, are spreading quickly, but there are mixed reports on just how much they are being used. Some believe the more advanced Wimax technology is the real answer to open-air internet access.

So the City of London's network will provide a major test of whether the public really wants to surf on the move - and whether there is any money to be made from it.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6577307.stm>

Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku at yahoo.com> wrote: Founding father of the Internet surveys his domainBy CLINT SWETT
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
When the man known as a "founding father of the Internet" looks back on its 30-plus years of existence, Vinton Cerf sees a reflection of our best and worst instincts.
What has most surprised and pleased the renowned Internet pioneer has been the continuing avalanche of free information that's become available since the advent of the worldwide Web in the mid-1990s.
"I see an enormous desire for people to put information online with no compensation," said Cerf, speaking Monday night to a gathering of TechCoire, a group of technology entrepreneurs, in Davis, Calif.

That information, he said, ranges from technical papers related to the human genome project to user-written entries on the Wikipedia online encyclopedia.
"It's created the most democratic access to information we have ever seen," said Cerf, who in the 1970s helped develop software that became the basis for transmitting everything from e-mail to movies over the Internet. These days, in addition to staying busy with various Internet projects, Cerf serves as Google Inc.'s "chief Internet evangelist."
In his talk, he also noted the number of less benign impulses that also flourish online. "We get spam, viruses, worms ... fraud and worthless content," Cerf said. 

"But we've already dealt with these problems in another context," noting that fraud has occurred for decades via the telephone and the Postal Service.
Clad in his trademark three-piece suit set off with a crimson handkerchief, Cerf predicted that much of the Internet's future growth will be tied to mobile devices such as BlackBerry-style gadgets.
He recalled being on a boat in southern India several months ago. "I was in the middle of this big lake and thinking I couldn't possibly get any service," said Cerf. "I turned on my BlackBerry and got 300 e-mails."

That reinforced the notion that the Net's reach can far exceed the expensive telephone lines and cables that are now standard for getting online.
That could be especially powerful in places like Africa where only about 35 million of that continent's estimated 1 billion inhabitants have Internet access, he said.
He also predicted that scores of Internet-connected devices will someday be linked in a seamless way.
For example, Cerf said, different foods sitting in a Net-connected refrigerator might contain radio frequency tags identifying them by type and date purchased. The fridge could inventory the food, compile recipes and even alert you to shortages while you're shopping. "You'll get a message from your refrigerator saying, 'Don't forget the marinara sauce,'" he said.
In addition to his position with Google, Cerf is chairman of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers that oversees Internet naming issues, and is working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on ways to efficiently transmit data in outer space.

Cerf's job with Google, a part-time position he's held since 2005, includes talking with college students about the Internet's technical challenges.
"Even though the Internet has been around for 35 years, there's lots of problems that need to be solved," he said, including beefing up security and finding more efficient ways to transmit data.
And the 63-year-old Cerf apparently has no plans to ease into retirement. "I consider it a successful day," he said, "when I wear out two 26-year-olds."

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