Monday 26 January 2004

A crowd of 1,300 people will toast the re-opening of one of London's great early 20th century variety theatres on Wednesday. [Telegraph News | UK News] Well done to Roland Muldoon and everyone involved with the Empire. And to think of the tricks that have been deployed over the years by LBH and regeneration agencies to unseat or discourage Roland and take it over as a Hackney project. It got so bad that it was hard not to think that the ocean was just a, "we'll go and get our own ball then". Wonder what the Ocean's books look like these days. 9:53:17 AM

In Cambodia, WiFi-equipped motorcyclists pull up to schools, download all the email, drive to the next village, and dump off copies of locally-destined mail, picking up that community's load and delivering it along to the next town. It is a digital pony express: five Motomen ride their routes five days a week, downloading and uploading e-mail. The system, developed by a Boston company, First Mile Solutions, uses a receiver box powered by the motorcycle's battery. The driver need only roll slowly past the school to download all the village's outgoing e-mail and deliver incoming e-mail. The school's computer system and antenna are powered by solar panels. Newly collected data is stored for the day in a computer strapped to the back of the motorcycle. At dusk, the motorcycles converge on the provincial capital, Ban Lung, where an advanced school is equipped with a satellite dish, allowing a bulk e-mail exchange with the outside world. Link (via WiFiNetNews) [Boing Boing] 9:47:18 AM