04 November 2002

Vivato Antenna Extends WiFi to 2000 Feet NYT -- John Markoff of the New York Times writes about Vivato, a smart antenna startup that claims it can extend WiFi to distances of 2,000 feet indoors and four miles outdoors. The exciting aspects of the technology are that it works with the established WiFi standard, and with a point-to-multipoint configuration serving several hundred users. The Vivato antenna is shaped like a large picture frame, about three feet by four feet and about three inches thick. The Vivato technology, which stems from 1950's research for so-called phased-array antennas for military applications, makes it possible to electronically steer numerous radio beams from a single point. Focusing the beams increases their signal strength, and using large numbers of them greatly increases the antenna's traffic capacity. The core of the old Musenki source tree is the basis for the Vivato switch software, right down to the bootloader. The Musenki software was developed under an open source license. [Werblog]

Wireless Whiteboards SMART -- SMART Technologies has added 802.11b connectivity for interactive whitebords. [allNetDevices Wireless News]

Thar Blows Etna Picture: International Space Station The crew of the International Space Station took this view of exploding Mt Etna from space. A plume of brown ash blows to the south-east (to the left of the picture) and reportedly extends almost 600km. We drove under that area in mid-September. The lighter-coloured plumes north of the summit (to the left) are produced by forest fires set by lava flowing into the pine forests on the slope of the 3667m mountain. By and large, the people of the Etna region (they proudly call themselves <i>Etnei</i>) stay put. They have an affectionate relationship  with <i>a' muntagna</i>, as they call Etna. When Ruth and I visited Sicily in September, we heard the people say, "la montagna e buona" which means "the mountain is good." Etna perches atop savagely beautiful landscape. It extremely fertile soil produces excellent oranges, lemons, mandarins and wines. However, the lava flow consumes trees, vegatation and any buildings rashly placed high up the mountain side. We collected some tokens of a centuries-old flow and now have a few lava rocks sitting around our home in Ireland. We plan to go back next year and collect some more.

Suggestions for Motivation TEACHERS net -- Excellent column by Marvin Marshall discussing suggestions for motivation. At the top of the list: the need for curiosity and the desire to learn. [Stephen Downes]

Open: Net Protests Sean Redmond -- He tells the Irish Open Mailing List that he's "in Switzerland, a land where a litre of milk costs one Euro, 500mls of beer costs €4.16, the average salary is €41,666 and ADSL/Cable-modem (256Mb) unmetered-access starts at €28 per month. I won't even mention what the rent is like here. It will only depress ye all further." [Tim Kirby]

Googlism IA SLASH org -- The Irish Open Mailing List tried Googlisms, thanks to Matt Brown.

What People Are Looking for Here Last week, more people came to this blog looking for Gianni Jacklone than any other term I've blogged about. Almost the same number came looking for Maddox Rules and "I am better than your kids." Britney's Lesbian Lust continued to attract, bringing 30 readers to the Topgold blog for a look. The most attractive gadget on the blog was the Logitech io Pen, bringing in 21 viewers.

Real SuperPass Best Five Clicks in October 2002 Madonna: Die Another Day NYC Museum of Sex Melissa Keller Bikini Photo Shoot Natalie Cole: Ask a Woman Who Knows Pink: Get This Party Started Sent by Nokia D211 into Eircom ADSL to Blog

The Guggenheim -- "To disable the Internet to save EMI and Disney is the moral equivalent of burning down the library of Alexandria to ensure the livelihood of monastic scribes." --Jon Ippolito, of the Guggenheim, on the CBDTPA Sent by Noka 9210i as e-mail to blog

BOOKMARK -- http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/index.html is the SIG IA (Information Architecture). The SIGIA-L archive: http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/ Sent from O'Tuomas Cafe by Noka 9210i as e-mail to blog.