André Lemos is Associate Professor, Faculty of Communication, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. PhD in Sociology, Sorbonne (1995), Visiting Scholar University of Alberta and McGill University, Canada (2007-2008). Coordinator of Cybercity Research Group (UFBa/CNPq) and Researcher level 1 at CNPq. Member of Prix Ars Electronica, Wi. Journal of Mobile Media and Canadian Journal of Communication Board. This Carnet is online since March 1st, 2001.
Prognósticos do Glenn Fleishman no Wi-Fi Networking News sobre o mundo sem fio em 2009. A tônica é a expansão das redes sem fio e a convergência de serviços como SMS, Wi-MAx ou Twitter. Sobre o futuro do mundo wireless veja também o curto depoimento de Giles Lanes, do Proboscis, no número especial sobre "Wireless Future" do node.london
O mundo sem fio em 2009 por Fleishman:
"(...) LTE. Long Term Evolution, the GSM-evolved fourth-generation (4G) cell data standard, should appear in commercial form in 2010, but we're going to hear a lot about it in 2009. We may even see some test markets. Verizon sounds like they promised at least one production market for regular use.
LTE and WiMax convergence. There's apparently enough interest in converging the mismatched elements of LTE and WiMax that we may see a full-fledged convergence effort in 2009. This would mean that nearly all 4G efforts worldwide could come together around two intercompatible standards.
Train Fi. Yes, I've been writing about Internet access in trains for a few years. It's finally arrived. The faster cellular data speeds, the brief huge spike in oil prices, and lengthy tests that have concluded successfully are finally leading to Wi-Fi-based access being installed on commuter and long-haul trains worldwide. In the U.S., the BART system in the San Francisco Bay Area could wind up being the largest such deployment in 2009. But train-Fi has broken out all over.
SMS Fi. Twitter or a firm like it will move to supplant the ridiculous cost of SMS, especially for smartphone owners with unlimited data plans, by offering an SMS-like service for a pittance with gateway service to existing SMS offerings. Wi-Fi and 3G will be the preferred method. With carriers pursuing predatory pricing on SMS, the only universal messaging format, an alternative will be formed out of the pressure. Coal becomes diamond.
Very high speed Wi-Fi's first steps. In 2008, representatives most from chipmakers worked through the formation of two new 802.11 task groups for Very High Throughput wireless LANs: one, formed late in the year, 802.11ac will cover frequencies below 6 GHz; the other, likely to be 802.11ad, will cover the 60 GHz band, used for millimeter-band radar and with SiBeam's video streaming approach. The goal is for 1 Gbps or faster raw throughput rates. A timeline isn't yet set; given how the group and manufacturers work, it might be 2010 before we see 802.11ac devices and longer for 802.11ad.(...)"
Futuro do mundo sem fio por Giles Lane:
"The focus on technology deployments must go hand in hand with sensitive community development work, otherwise there is a danger that only the 'early adopters' and people most like those excited by the technologies will participate and this will exacerbate a 'digital divide'.
It is important to remember that wireless technologies are just plumbing ? the focus on what applications and services they will enable is critical. If all they offer is untethered internet access, then what exactly is so radical or transformative about that? It is, in fact, the services and opportunities that they give access to that is the crucial issue. The biggest hurdle seems to me to be orchestrating and mediating not only the different technologies that wireless access could enable but also the social, cultural, political and economic forces that will shape and determine the uses of such technologies.
We need to be developing projects that have not only a technology factor but also work closely with actual people and communities. We need to develop creative projects and approaches that understand the broader policy frameworks and how to lobby for change; projects that understand and can envision a wide range of economic benefits (tangible and intangible) and articulate their value in everyday terms; and that add richness to the cultural background of our society."
No post anterior falava de território informacional e de como o ciberespaço está sendo "baixado" para as coisas. Agora vejo esse excelente post do City of Sound, criando visualizações por desenhos e gráficos dos processos territorializantes das redes wi-fi. O autor chama de "infozone". Vejam como a imbricação de redes wi-fi nos espaços redimensionam os lugares e o uso do corpo pelos usuários de redes sem fio públicas. Podemos aqui não só perceber, como visualizar a territorialização informacional e as novas heterotopias dos lugares na fase atual da cibercultura. Vejam abaixo trecho do post, "Wi-fi structures and people shapes", do Dan Hill (trecho, desenhos e mapas). As fotos são minhas, feitas no intuito de observar o uso dos espaços na University of Alberta, Canada:
"(...) One of the ideas I've been exploring relates to how urban industry - in the widest sense of the word - in the knowledge economy is often invisible, at least immediately and in situ. Whereas urban industry would once have produced thick plumes of smoke or deafening sheets of sound, today's information-rich environments - like the State Library of Queensland, or a contemporary office - are places of still, quiet production, with few sensory side-effects. We see people everywhere, faces lit by their open laptops, yet no evidence of their production. They could be using Facebook, Photoshop, Excel or Processing. (...)
So as well as photo-essays, videos and in-depth interviews with users, and relating to this idea of making the invisible, visible, I mapped the strength of the wi-fi signal across levels 1 and 2 of the Library, the primary areas that the Library?s wi-fi is used. By taking readings across the floor of both levels, using standard wi-fi-enabled consumer equipment in order to mimic the conditions for the average user (in this case a MacBook laptop and a Nokia e65 mobile phone), I was able to construct a snapshot of the wi-fi signal strength across the Library. (...)
(...) Constructing another tangent on the wi-fi, I was struck by how users adopted the Infozone space - where the wi-fi is primarily located - and the furniture provided for them. The low desks, small tables, various chairs, benches etc. afford numerous variations for wi-fi users, and sure enough people drape themselves all over them. (...)
As well as the hundreds of photos I took in the space, I decided to do a few sketches of the more interesting positions, which I suggested might work something like a aircraft identification manual or compendium yoga positions perhaps. With the latter in mind, I was tempted to name a few, such as "The perch", "The front crawl", "The huddle", "The sandwich", "Battleships", ?Reverse Battleships", ?The Horse", "Side saddle", "Lotus", "The NASA control room", "The occasional-table hug" and so on.
Já passamos de 110 mil assinaturas e precisamos continuar a manter a pressão e aumentar o número de assinaturas para forçar mais discussão e a rejeição desse PLC. Ontem falava das redes abertas em Edmonton e aproveito para replicar o post sobre esse tema no blog Herdeiro do Caos. Vejam um exemplo prático:
"A melhor forma de observar a 'essência' de uma lei e/ou projeto de lei é vivenciá-la na prática. Durante a Conferência de Comunicação Social da Bahia garanti meu acesso à internet graças a uma rede wi-fi livre. Não paguei nada, não precisei me cadastrar, identificar ou efetuar login.
O substitutivo PLC 89/2003 do senador Eduardo Azeredo é um risco para as redes abertas, tendo em vista que no art.22 diz:
'O responsável pelo provimento de acesso a rede de computadores mundial, comercial ou do setor público é obrigado a:
I ? manter em ambiente controlado e de segurança, pelo prazo de 3 (três) anos, com o objetivo de provimento de investigação pública formalizada, os dados de endereçamento eletrônico da origem, hora, data e a referência GMT da conexão efetuada por meio de rede de computadores e fornecê-los exclusivamente à autoridade investigatória mediante prévia requisição judicial.'
Voltando ao meu exemplo, se estivesse em vigor o PL do Azeredo multaria em R$ 100 mil o dono da rede que me conectei pelo simples fato dele não ter guardado os logs. Lá na Conferência de Comunicação dentre outras coisas defendi o acesso gratuito a banda larga para todos os municípios da Bahia. Vai que o Governo implante redes wifi nas cidades, como irão fazer o controle? Contratar policiais para pedir as pessoas que se identifiquem? Anotar o Rg em uma folha de papel?
(...) Em tempo, a Comissão de Tecnologia, Comunicação e Informática (CTCI) da Câmara dos Deputados aprovou, por unanimidade, o pedido de audiência pública para discutir a tipificação de crimes e delitos cometidos na área de informática e suas penalidades, previstos no projeto de lei do senador Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB-MG). A campanha pelo veto ao PL do Azeredo continua."
Estive recentemente em Madrid e pude me conectar de diversas partes da cidades, de graça, desfrutando de conexões abertas ou públicas. Agora, matéria do elmundo.es informa que os ônibus da capital espanhola serão os primeiros do mundo a oferecer conexão sem fio...e de graça!
Acessei a rede sem fio em Madrid
"Si primero fue la adaptación de los autobuses de la Empresa Municipal del Transporte (EMT) a los combustibles ecológicos, ahora están a punto de subirse a las autopistas del ciberespacio. El Ayuntamiento implantará en todos los vehículos un sistema de acceso inalámbrico gratuito a Internet antes de que acabe la legislatura, tal y como se recoge en el Plan Estratégico Tecnológico 2008-2011 de la EMT, al que ha tenido acceso EL MUNDO, y como confirmó un portavoz de la empresa pública.
'La instalación comenzará inmediatamente, antes de que se inicie el verano', precisó el interlocutor de la empresa municipal. La incorporación de los vehículos a Internet se hará de forma paulatina. La idea es que la instalación se acometa por cocheras. Primero, en las líneas que tienen más servicio y proyección, aunque aún está por determinarse.
El sistema de funcionamiento es muy simple. Los autobuses dispondrán de un dispositivo conocido como hot point (punto caliente) encargado de ampliar la señal. 'Tendrá una capacidad para dar servicio al interior del autobús'. 'La apuesta del Consistorio de la capital para la conversión de los grandes centros culturales metropolitanos en espacios WiFi, y la potenciación de los portales digitales municipales al servicio de la cultura, son parte del entramado que da origen a este proyecto'.
'Es por ello por lo que se extenderá la implantación de zonas WiFi de acceso a Internet en la totalidad del interior de la flota de autobuses de la EMT. Así, se convertirá en la primera empresa de transporte urbano del mundo en ofrecer este servicio", según consta en el propio Plan Estratégico.'"
Projeto Fearless City, em Vancouver, usa tecnologias móveis para ajudar comunidades marginalizadas em BC. Segundo os idealizadores, aprender a usar as tecnologias móveis (para produção de conteúdo em textos, vídeos e fotos) pode ajudar a tirar essas comunidades da marginalidade e criar formas legítimas de expressão. (via m-trends.org). O porjeto foi apresentado como um workshop na Lift Conference 2008 em Genebra). No site do evento podemos ver uma sinopse do workshop:
"The workshop will feature an introduction to Fearless City, followed by small group discussions exploring how open mobile communities are advancing storytelling, cultural expression, social inclusion, and human rights. What tactics, projects, software and gear are combating the digital barrier, such as establishing open source mesh networks, mobile rich media file sharing, live mobile video editing, live screens, redistribution systems for mobile devices, and commissioning mobile art? Help co-design this mobile communication system by contributing your unique solutions of both hardware and software breakthroughs and designs. Learn about mobile file sharing systems (video, photo, text, voice) transforming human relations for marginalized peoples. (...)"
"The point of such urban devices is to make WiFi hostpots more visible in public spaces and to access push-based services (mp3 download, vocal announces, etc.). Beyond the '((o))' signs that are starting to be used to show that there is wifi in the vicinity, this project is curious since it provides people with a more tangible artifacts. Related to this project is the idea of 'Data Forest' in which the bamboo would be an anchor to digital services (hence a forest made of lots of bamboos).
Cliquem na imagem abaixo para ver o vídeo (em francês) com a descrição do projeto:
"Ces 'bambous' sont à la fois fonctionnels (connexion, contenu, service) et design (un nouveau type de mobilier urbain contemporain lié à des usages urbains). Chaque forêt est constituée de bambous plus ou moins nombreux (en fonction de la taille et des services souhaités). Chaque bambou est constitué de modules (segments de bambous) s'emboitant les uns dans les autres, comme une logique de Légo. La plupart de ses segments possèdent des dizaines de LED permettant de rendre visuellement 'vivante' chaque forêt (une 'esthétique relationnelle' qui réagit en fonction de critères d'interactivité ou de trafic). On pourrait aussi imaginer des forêts 'miroir' dans les mondes immersifs tels que Second Life.
(...)La forêt de données répond à des usages en réseau (communautés virtuelles, chats, forums, échanges de fichiers...) qui tendent à reprendre racine dans le monde physique ('WiFi Picning' par exemple): l'articulation s'incarne dans une forme transverse, à la fois tangible (un lieu de sociabilité urbaine) et virtuelle (un réseau d'usages sur le web)."
Interessante aqui ver como a visibilidade (pelos bambus) do que é invisível (as ondas de rádio por onde trafegam dados na conexão Wi-Fi) torna-se importante (a ponto de ser pensada a partir de novos mobiliários urbanos) dando um novo sentido aos lugares. Mais um exemplo reforçando a tese que venho sustentando de que, com as novas tecnologias de comunicação móvel, os lugares não desaparecem, mas ganham novas dimensões. Vale notar também, por outro lado, que a dimensão da rua, nas metrópoles contemporâneas, é cada vez mais marcada (e a palavra não parece muito pesada aqui) por uma invisibilidade de funções embutidas em dispositivos eletrônicos (redes de celular, sensores, RFID, redes wi-fi e blutooth) e os processos de anotação eletrônica urbana, invisíveis a olho nu e só detectados em dispositivos móveis como laptops, smatphopnes, ou pdas.
Vejam a esse propósito o post de Anne Gallaway no Space and Culture resenhando um artigo de Dan Hill onde ele afirma o mesmo:
"Dan claims that 'the way the street feels may soon be defined by what cannot be seen with the naked eye.' He draws out detailed and 'banal' scenarios in which the typical high street is imbricated with 'a new kind of data, collective and individual, aggregated and discrete, open and closed, constantly logging impossibly detailed patterns of behaviour...'".
Skyhook Wireless é o sistema usado pelo iPhone e iPod Touch para localização pessoal. O mote: "location is everywhere"!!!
"Skyhoook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) is the world's first location platform to use the native 802.11 radio already on a mobile device to deliver accurate positioning across the US and major cities worldwide.
With WPS, Device Manufacturers, Application Developers, and Operators can easily deliver location-based services the hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi devices that don't have GPS. If they do, WPS' sub-second time-to-fix, +99% indoor availability and 10-20m accuracy in urban areas is the perfect compliment to GPS' known limitations.
(...) Skyhook Wireless respects the privacy of your location. Skyhook does not collect personally identifying information, track your location, or share your location without your consent.(...)"
Projeto que permite ter acesso a redes wi-fi será apresentado no "Design and the Elastic Mind" no MoMa, agora em fevereiro. Já havia postado sobre o Wi-Fi Hog, de Jonah Brucker-Cohen, anteriormente. Atualizando...(via Rhizome)
"WiFi-Hog is a personal tool to enable both private interaction in public space as well as social obstruction and deconstruction of shared resources. This approach could shift the idea of a network from a shared experience to one of individual connections between people and their link to the Internet - ie. the dissolution of LANs. The project is based on a similar idea of how property was acquired before zoning laws and how land was a public resource that had to be regulated (...) due to people using it in ways that the public or government objected. My aim is to investigate how the same could be said about Wi-Fi networks, if they leak or pervade into public space they should be used in any way the person inhabiting that area wishes to use them."
Dois sistemas de mídia locativa usam informações localizadas e compartilhadas, um em redes wi-fi e mp3 players e outro em celulares com GPS para atividades esportivas.
O primeiro deles é o Smart Party que localiza por redes wi-fi mp3 players e "pega" musicas das playlists dos usuários jogando para um sistema central; uma espécie de DJ automático e "democratico", tocando aquilo que esta nos mp3 players.(via Techdirt). No link uma entrevista com o realizador:
"Smart Party polls all WiFi-enabled music players in the vicinity to figure out what's on user playlists, and then plays music off a central system (even pulling tunes directly from each user's device) tailored to the taste of the group. It's like a DJ who automatically knows what will most please the crowd. But as far as UCLA computer science grad student and Smart Party co-creator Kevin Eustice is concerned, plebiscitary soundtrack software is just a tiny part of a broader project, aimed at crafting an open architecture that will enable a whole range of mobile, location-sensitive social networking applications.(...)"
O outro sistema é o SportDo, usando celulares, GPS e websites para monitorar, mapear e compartilhar as atividades físicas dos usuários.
"SportsDo delivers real-time feedback on your sports performance on your mobile phone. It uses the global GPS satellite system to generate live and accurate readings on your speed, distance travelled, time, gradient, calories used, pace, total ascent and descent. SportsDo is ideal for any sporting activity. If you're out and about and want a better understanding of your performance level, SportsDo is the perfect fit. Training, racing or just having fun ? SportsDo adds depth and detail to your activities.
Designed specifically for ease of use on the move, SportsDo is an intuitive and attractive addition to your routine. The original GPS sports system for your phone SportsDo creates smart charts and graphs of all your activities, appropriately scaled for your phone's screen. It also creates accurate route traces of your sessions with colour-coded segments indicating the speeds you achieved. SportsDo faithfully compiles a full log of your every sports session. The log can then be reviewed on the phone or uploaded to the SportsDo portal.(...)"
Post do GRUPO DE PESQUISA EM CIBERCIDADE - GPC informa que a polícia de Salvador vai usar rede wi-fi para dar segurança aos foliões no Carnaval. Trechos:
"O governo da Bahia instalou uma rede Wi-Fi em todo o circuito de Carnaval da capital do Estado para servir à polícia.
A rede, construída pela D-Link, vai conectar 400 computadores espalhados em 60 pontos da cidade de Salvador e servirá para policiais militares consultarem, em tempo real, informações sobre acidentes, dados sobre antecedentes criminais e informações disponibilizadas pela Infoseg, rede nacional que integra dados de todas as polícias do Brasil.
Segundo a Secretaria de Segurança Pública da Bahia a idéia é permitir que postos remotos acessem diretamente dados sobre criminalidade, o que deve agilizar o atendimento de ocorrências e a tomada de decisões por parte dos oficiais da PM baiana. Antes, os PMs consultavam dados de crimes por rádio, conversando com um operador na central de informações da polícia da Bahia.
A secretaria afirma que optou por uma rede Wi-Fi porque o padrão é mais econômico e funcional em comparação com uma rede por cabos. Muitos dos 60 postos montados no Carnaval são desativados após o feriadão, o que desperdiçava o esforço de cabeamento na capital baiana.(...)"
Dois posts interessantes, vindo da BBC e do Le Figaro sobre o desenvolvimento das redes Wi-Fi e dos telefones celulares na África e na França, respectivamente.
A matéria do Le Figaro mostra a evolução das redes Wi-Fi em Paris e Lyon. Trechos:
"(...) De nombreuses grandes villes françaises ont commencé à déployer des réseaux Wi-Fi publics. On retiendra particulièrement l'initiative de Paris, qui a fini le déploiement en décembre 2007 (le service a débuté durant l'été) d'un réseau de 420 bornes disséminées dans les mairies, les bibliothèques ou les espaces verts. En accès totalement gratuit mais disponible uniquement de 7 h à 23 h et dans la limite des heures d'ouverture des lieux équipés (à l'exception du Champ-de-Mars et du parc de Belleville), ce service connaît un succès croissant avec 1 500 à 2 000 connexions par jour, pour 300 à 600 utilisateurs quotidiens. Les temps de connexions s'allongent pour atteindre une moyenne de 50 minutes par session, contre 30 au mois d'octobre. On note également la primauté des sites couverts depuis le mois de novembre, température oblige. 'Notre cible numéro 1 reste les étudiants, qui élargissent ainsi leur lieu de travail, indique Eric Anvar, le chef de projet Wi-Fi à la direction des projets techniques de la Mairie de Paris, mais nous touchons également les touristes et, dans une moindre mesure, les travailleurs nomades.' Ainsi, les lieux connaissant le plus de succès sont-ils les bibliothèques Jean-Pierre-Melville dans le XIIIe, Clignancourt dans le XVIIIe et le centre d'accueil des étudiants Kellermann dans le XIIIe. Vous trouverez une liste des bornes sur www.paris.fr.
Autre formule, là encore gratuite, celle de Lyon qui a déployé un réseau autour de trois zones centrales - la place Bellecour, une portion des berges du Rhône et la place Louis-Pradel devant la mairie. Sur le même modèle, Grenoble équipera plusieurs de ses quartiers dans le courant 2008. Issy-les-Moulineaux, précurseur des cités numériques, et Nantes proposent, elles, un concept hybride garantissant un accès gratuit au site internet de la ville mais imposant une formule payante, en collaboration avec des opérateurs tels que Orange ou Neuf, pour accéder au net. Comptez un minimum de 1,50 euro par heure selon l'opérateur (gratuit chez Neuf pour les abonnés de cet opérateur) à Issy-les-Moulineaux et 3 euros de l'heure à Nantes. N'oublions pas Metz, qui s'est dotée d'un réseau dense en centre-ville, mais uniquement en accès payant (3 euros de l'heure).(...)"
Photo courtesy of DataDyne.org
Já a matéroa da BBC mostra a revolução dos celulares na África. Trechos do texto de Joel Selanikio, físico e co-fundador da organização "DataDyne".
"If I had told you ten years ago that by the end of 2007 there would be an international network of wirelessly-connected computers throughout the developing world, you might well have said it wasn't possible. I would probably have said the same, but as it turns out we would have been wrong: it was possible, and it was created, and it continues to expand, not through Non-Governmental Organisations or charity or development grants but through the market, with much of it financed by some of the poorest people on the planet.I am talking, of course, about the mobile phone network.
(...)
Because those of us based in the developed world are always thinking of computers as things with 15-inch or 17-inch or 24-inch screens, it can be hard to see the potential of something much smaller, even if it's right in our pocket. I was talking with a software developer friend of mine recently and going on as I do about the potential for cell phone software to revolutionise education, literacy, and public health in the developing world.
And he said to me 'but can you really create a valuable user experience on such a small screen and with such a slow processor'. So I asked him if he'd heard of the iPhone, or the Gameboy. Neither of those devices seem to have much difficulty in creating a compelling and useful user experience, and how long do you think it will it be before there's a sub-$100 iPhone or equivalent?
(...) I think it's time that we recognised that for the majority of the world's population, and for the foreseeable future, the cell phone is the computer. Meanwhile, this revolution of personally-financed wirelessly-connected computers largely goes unnoticed by the international development community, and because their paradigm revolves around desktops and laptops they spend millions developing specialised laptops for schoolchildren in developing countries, which will surely only ever reach a small fraction of them, while the network of invisible computers continues its exponential penetration into those same regions, below the radar.
(...)In South Africa and Nigeria, for example, a variety of mobile banking initiatives have taken off and been embraced by a population that isn't going to be getting "online", in the web sense, anytime soon but who want all the advantages of cashless transactions. And in Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, with funding from The Vodafone Group Foundation and the UN Foundation, we've successfully completed a pilot of our EpiSurveyor mobile data collection software for public health.
(...)
But regardless of where the developer is located, I think it's time that we recognised that for the majority of the world's population, and for the foreseeable future, the cell phone is the computer, and it will be the portal to the internet, and the communications tool, and the schoolbook, and the vaccination record, and the family album, and many other things, just as soon as someone, somewhere, sits down and writes the software that allows these functions to be performed."
Uma das questões centrais sobre os novos dispositivos móveis de comunicação é a autonomia dos equipamentos. Baterias duram pouco e morrem muito rapidamente e ficamos a mercê da boa e velha eletricidade. Em áreas de acesso sem fio a internet, um dos problemas é ficar sem ter como carregar os aparelhos...Do que adianta ter uma zona de acesso a internet em lugares onde vc não tem como carregar seus dispositivos.
"(...)Greg sez, "I just came back from the Heathrow Terminal 5 trials. Aside from all the regular kind of snafus to be expected when running such a trial and all the regular kinds of annoyances of dealing with airports, one particular problem stood out.
'In a brand new terminal built in the 21st century, BAA has managed to build departure waiting areas with not a single passenger-accessible power outlet. Rows and rows of hard plastic benches with armrests which prevent you from lying down--kind of makes you feel like you're in a Greyhound bus terminal and not a single power outlet. '"
Matéria da BBC informa que o metro de Glasgow terá rede Wi-Fi e celular para os usuário:
"Operator Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) has signed a deal with Arqiva to provide a combined cellular and wi-fi network at all 15 stations.
Gordon Maclennan, of SPT, said Glasgow was the first city to provide 2G and 3G coverage on the subway and described the deal as a "milestone". Initial testing of the network will take place at Buchanan Street station. "The new network should also reassure our customers that we are regularly responding to changing passenger needs," he added, The network will enable customers to use internet and mobile phones at underground stations.(...)"
Ontem, em post sobre segurança e redes wi-fi, discutíamos a possibilidade de uma "linuxização" do acesso a redes wi-fi. Já postei nesse Carnet algo sobre o Meraki e também sobre Fon. Agora, post do Boing Boing mostra que a rede mesh está crescendo em São Francisco:
"Evan sez, 'Meraki makes it brain dead simple to share wi-fi and pushes it out to massive scale at super low costs. The result is free wi-fi across areas much bigger than previously feasible by individuals, and at much lower cost and subject to much lower red tape than previous municipal wi-fi projects.'(...)
Meraki provides the technology, but we rely on people to help build and grow. There are a number of ways you can help:
If you can see the Free the Net signal, sign up for a free repeater to boost your signal.
Volunteer to host an outdoor repeater on your roof or balcony. The outdoor units help spread the signal throughout your neighborhood and are critical to the growth of the network.
Spread the word! Tell your friends and neighbors to sign up at http://sf.meraki.com.
Check out the network map and keep yourself up-to-date on our progress."
Matéria do portal GI informa que a praia de Copacabana terá internet sem fio e de graça em 6 meses. Cariocas e turistas poderão acessar a rede das areias de uma das praias mais bonitas do mundo...Mas como todo território informacional é um híbrido de ciberespaço e lugar, como os usuários farão para driblar a insegurança da praia? O paraíso do ciberespaço e da conexão gratuita e sem fio ficarão à mercê das características intrínsecas do lugar. A não ser que a nova dinâmica venha a modificar o lugar, o que duvido muito. A matéria informa que estão até prevendo aumentar a segurança com câmeras de vigilância sem fio...Piada! Um misto de ilusão, ingenuidade e determinismo tecnológico. Apesar disso acho que a experiência deve ser muito interessante. À suivre! A notícia me chegou via post da lista de discussão do grupo Cibercidade (obrigado Adelino!)
Vejam trechos da matéria:
"Moradores, comerciantes e turistas poderão, inclusive, abrir seus notebooks e acessar o sistema direto da areia da praia, mas não antes desse tempo. Lançado nesta quinta-feira (3), o projeto que vai democratizar o acesso à rede mundial de computadores funcionará na principal avenida do bairro: a Atlântica. Com 4 km de extensão, a via terá cerca de 15 pontos de acesso com distância de 300 metros entre cada um.
'A pessoa terá acesso à internet a custo zero nesse cartão postal do Brasil que é Copacabana', defendeu o governador do Rio, Sérgio Cabral, para, em seguida explicar que o sistema só vai funcionar no final do primeiro semestre de 2008. 'De maio a junho vamos inaugurar a iluminação tecnológica de Copacabana', ressaltou.
(...)
Depois de Copacabana, onde o projeto custará cerca de R$ 1 milhão, é a vez da Baixada Fluminense ser contemplada com a banda larga de graça. Nesse caso, serão desembolsados mais R$ 4 milhões para atender à população.
(...)
A dúvida que fica é a seguinte: quem vai garantir a segurança dos usuários que levarem seus laptops para a rua? Segundo Cabral, o governo do estado está trabalhando para isso. 'Comerciantes, bares, quiosques, hotéis e os próprios policiais que ficam nas cabines da orla poderão se beneficiar do serviço.'
A Coppe acredita que o serviço ajudará a monitorar a orla, alvo de constantes assaltos. 'Poderemos ter até câmeras de segurança sem fio em diversos pontos da Atlântica', falou Luiz Felipe de Moraes. (...)"
Post do Smart Mobs mostra que Mecca têm Wi-Fi de graça para os pelegrinos. Vejam trechos do post Mecca Gets Free Wi-Fi for Hajj:
"'Hajjis, as the pilgrims are called, come to the city in Saudi Arabia from around the world for several days of religious rituals. More than 2 million gather each year. A network of about 70 meshed routers from Tropos Networks has been set up to provide free Internet connectivity.
Users only have to register before using it. Barton believes it is the first public Wi-Fi network set up for the Hajj. The millions of pilgrims in Mecca this week for the Hajj, an annual gathering of Muslims, can stay connected thanks to a temporary Wi-Fi mesh network covering a large part of the city. PCWorld reports. Hajjis, as the pilgrims are called, come to the city in Saudi Arabia from around the world for several days of [?]'".
Em breve poderemos viajar conectados. Acho ótimo poder ter internet e passar um tempo se divertindo ou trabalhando nas chatas e cansativas viagens de avião. Só espero que o mesmo não acontece com os celulares (embora as pessoas possam usar skype pelo computador!)...Muito chato viajar com uma pessoa falando o tempo todo e te obrigando a compartilhar da sua vida...Mas, as usual, teremos que pagar, pelo menos no início, pelo serviço.
"Passengers may soon hear a new in-flight announcement: 'You can now log on.' Starting next week and over the next few months, several United States airlines will test Internet service on their planes. On Tuesday, JetBlue Airways will begin offering a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one of its planes, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer broader Web access in coming months, probably at a cost around $10 a flight.
'I think 2008 is the year when we will finally start to see in-flight Internet access become available,' said Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forrester Research, 'but I suspect the rollout domestically will take place in a very measured way.' 'In a few years time,' he added, 'if you get on a flight that doesn't have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn't have TV.'(...)"
Sistema quer integrar wi-fi em carros e ônibus. Eles buscam redes e "logam", em movimento. Mais um exemplo das possibilidades locativas para receber e enviar informação em mobilidade...passando por territórios informacionais e entrando nos fluxos dos lugares. Vejam trechos do post PePWave CarFi e um comentário meu no final:
"The PePWave CarFi solution fills the needs of mobile professionals who need connectivity while in or near their cars. CarFi's enhanced roaming algorithm makes it ready to enable roadside Wi-Fi connectivity anywhere in a city's Wi-Fi coverage area. It makes staying connected in your car a comfortable experience. There are many groups of workers who can benefit from mobile Wi-Fi access, however achieving a stable connection with a laptop or PDA can be a frustrating experience. Private companies and individuals like realtors, contractors, salespeople, and other field service employees can now take advantage of high speed data while on the vehicles. PePWave CarFi enhances the productivity of workers by providing a fast and secure Wi-Fi connection in and around a stationary vehicle."
A mobilidade, antes de apagar os lugares, como escrevi em outro post ontem, criam novas relações com o espaço e com os lugares. Os fluxos comunicacionais alteram as relações espaciais de um bairro, por exempo (Jane Jacobs mostrou isso muito bem ao analisar a Hudson Street em seu classico "Morte e Vida das Grandes Cidades"). Mídias de massa como TV, rádio, jornais, cinema, lugares como praças, monumentos, ruas, avenidas, lojas e meios de trasnporte como carros, aeroportos, estações de trêm, pontos de ônibus, são todas atualizações dos fluxos que perpassam os lugares, criando-os ou reconfigurando-os. Usar um iPod, ou antes os Walkmans, por exemplo, altera as formas de percepção do espaço, dos percursos e dos lugares. Como afirma Orvar Löfgren no livro "Geographies of Communication. The spatial turn in Media Studies? (Falkheimer, Jesper; Jansson, André, eds, Nordicom, Göteborg, 2006, pp. 297-306):
?how did an urban landscape change when it was set to music by Walkman? The ways in which media and movement are mixed also produce certain tempi and rhythms. Biking to school call for an iPod and makes it possible to turn this boring morning commute into a hidden competion, as one student explained: ?every morning I choose a piece and set the rules ? I have to reach school before the song is over??? (p. 303).
Tenho uma prática parecida quando vou correr, intercalando ritmos - andar (lento) e correr (rápido)- de acordo com o tempo da música que toca no meu iPod. Isso me dá uma outra dinâmica para o exercício, e uma outra forma de percepção do espaço a minha volta, mais lenta, mais rápida, respirando lentamente, respirando de forma ofegante, olhando a minha volta, concentrando nos movimentos do corpo, olhando "para dentro"...
Como, carros wi-fi, ou ônibus wi-fi, alteram a percepção do espaço percorrido ao passarem por territórios informacionais?
Redes Wi-Fi ampliam as formas de vigilancia eletronica no Canada. Vejam trechos do artigo do InterGovWorld.com mostrando como as novas redes sem fio podem ser usadas para video vigilancia, inclusive com softwares de reconhecimento de padroes " suspeitos" de comportanmento.
"Despite privacy concerns surrounding the use of video surveillance systems in public spaces, industry observers have noted increasing uptake of the technology, particularly in the public sector. Installations of digital video are growing at eye-popping rates. In 2006, the world market for network video surveillance products increased by 41.9 per cent, according to IMS Research. And the public sector is an avid adopter of video technology.
The Toronto Transit Commission is among those looking to adopt video technology in an effort to enhance security across its fleet of trains, buses and streetcars. Yesterday's news reports, however, indicated the Ontario privacy commissioner's office will look into the privacy implication of the TTC's planned video deployment.
"There's a perfect storm around the perceived need for online real-time video, be it for terrorists, safety or monitoring," says Michael Rozender, wireless consultant at the Mount Albert, Ont.-based Fox Group. Cheap cameras; plummeting storage costs; big broadband pipes; ubiquitous wireless connections: many readily available technologies are combining to create a dramatic surge in installations.
"Video is the killer app for needing broadband, but it's the tail that wagged the dog," says Rozender, pointing out most public sector organizations are stumbling towards video in a circuitous way. Although IP-based video cameras can run on any connection, wireless is the most effective option for installing them in parking lots, pathways and other places on the periphery.
But most public entities are installing wireless broadband infrastructure for other reasons, he says. For example, universities, health care facilities, and government agencies with multiple sites are installing it for building-to-building communications. "They don't want to pay service providers for expensive TI and T3 lines. And video is one of the first applications that gets added once the wireless cloud is in place."
(...)
In addition, many regions have full-blown municipal Wi-Fi initiatives under way, particularly in urban centres. "Once those broadband capabilities are available throughout a municipality, governments start finding applications to ride on top," he says. Public safety is a universal concern, and video satisfies the human need to assess a threat by looking at it.
Law enforcement agencies have been major innovators in taking advantage of municipal Wi-Fi, he adds. "If there's a robbery in progress and an officer unholsters a gun, this sends a signal via transponders embedded in it to alert dispatch. Out come the in-car video cameras and an all-points bulletin for help. And you can tell from the GPS which police car sent the signal, which can turn on nearby lamppost cams to see what's going on."
(...)
Analytics use algorithms to determine normal patterns of events and behaviour, and can issue alerts when something deviates from the norm."
Encontro do fundador da Fon com o da Apple deixa no ar o interesse da Apple em uma parceria. A big maca estaria interessada no modelo de negocios da Fon que compartilha conexao Wi-Fi, by-passando a ATT?. Vejam:
"Varsavsky's Apple tour suggests that the iPhone maker is interested in hooking up with Fon's network of users who share their home Wi-Fi networks. While some ISPs, mostly in Europe, have embraced Fon's business model -- after all, you need a broadband connection in the first place in order to then share it with others -- many still forbid the service. Among them, of course, is AT&T, Apple's cell-phone partner in the U.S. Could Jobs be preparing to bypass Ma Bell using the iPhone's built-in Wi-Fi and a partnership with Fon? Who knows. But I'll be keeping an eye on Varsavsky and Fon from now on -- especially any trips back to Cupertino.
Um hotspot no topo de uma arvore em Cape Town (Africa do Sul). O video explica o por que. Mas, se o hotspot foi colocado na arvore para aumentar a area de acesso, por que os caras sobem na arvore? ;-))
Onibus Wi-Fi em Madri. Vejam matéria do elmundo.es:
"La Red llega a la carretera, pero tiene un precio. La compañía Alsa ha anunciado que proporcionará conexión gratis en sus autobuses, pero sólo en los de la 'clase Supra', es decir, aquellos cuyos billetes son más caros. (...)Este servicio es fruto de un acuerdo con la operadora Vodafone, que porporciona la conexión en ruta. Para ello, los nuevos autobuses disponen de un router con tecnología HSDPA, capaz de dar servicio a un máximo de 3,6 Mbps. (...) Estas líneas se corresponden con los siguientes recorridos: León-Madrid, Palencia-Madrid, Asturias-Hendaya, Asturias-Zaragoza, Asturias-Madrid, Galicia-Madrid, Benidorm-Madrid y Cartagena-Madrid.(...)
"Sanford, Florida deploys downtown wireless hotzone Sanford (Florida), a city of 50,000 people located north of Orlando, has recently deployed a downtown Wi-Fi hotzone (10 blocks) at a cost to the city of $30,000 (the total cost was $55,000, part of which was borne by the city's partner, F4W, a company based in Lake Mary, Florida). F4W recently won a regional technology award for the Sanford Wi-Fi network.
The network provides Wi-Fi access in all the outdoor public areas of downtown Sanford and some of the indoor areas of restaurants and cafés along the main business street. The city deliberately played down expectations; they told residents not to abandon their DSL or cable Internet service."(...)
Depois da camiseta Wi-Fi, agora são as bicicletas que avisam com um sinal sonoro a cada hotspot encontrado. Esse é o projeto artístico (!), Warbiking in Toronto. O interessante aqui é que as "derivas" por bicicletas avisam quando o ciclista entra em um território informacional. Um mapeamento poderia tornar visível os territórios informacionais nas cidades desplugadas.
"The warbike is a Toronto art project. It picks up nearby WiFi signals, making a chime noise with each one. As you cycle the streets, you'll hear the activity of this invisible communications layer that permeates our public spaces."
O movimento FreeTheNet.ca busca criar em Vancouver uma comunidade wireless compartilhando acesso wi-fi usando os roteadores Meraki. Há movimentos similares em São Francisco, Prestonsburg e outros lugares do mundo.
O objetivo do projeto Meraki é: "to bring affordable Internet access to the next billion people. Meraki's new approach to wireless networking empowers individuals and groups to bring access to local communities, anywhere in the world. Meraki has focused on changing the economics of access since its beginning as a MIT Ph.D. research project that provided wireless access to graduate students. Using their research, Meraki got its start at a low-income housing community in the US. News about Meraki's products spread by word of mouth into over 25 countries around the world. Every day, new Meraki networks bring access to locations ranging from urban apartment complexes in London to villages in India."
Camiseta detecta hotspots e avisa usuário enquanto ela caminha pelas cidades desplugadas da era da informação. Vejam o post Wi-Fi Detector Shirt.
"Most animated T-shirts currently on the market are not very useful. However this new Wi-Fi Detector shirt is and it can help you detect those all important hotspots while walking along on the street. If it will ever spread beyond the geek community it might just give you the perfect excuse to stare at women's breasts without exposing yourself to a sexual harassment lawsuit.
With an almost exponential growth in the number of hotspots around the world, the need for quick, simple and cheap Wi-Fi detectors is clear. These little devices ranging in size from a key chain to a small cell phone can detect the 2.4Ghz signal coming from a Wi-Fi source and alert the user to its presence as well as to the strength of the signal"(...)
Redes Wi-Fi ajudam em consultas médicas no interior da India, o que é apontado como uma das saídas para melhorar a saúde nas zonas rurais em países como o nosso. Vejam matéria completa da BBCWi-fi update helps eye doctors. Trechos:
"The network allows specialists at Aravind Eye Hospital at Theni, in the state of Tamil Nadu, to interview and examine patients in nine remote clinics via high-quality video conference.
The map shows the nine vision centres and the distance of each the wi-fi travels from Theni hospital
(..)Instead the Berkeley scientists adapted existing wi-fi technology. The key challenge is that wi-fi is designed for short, and not long distance communication. (...) This could revolutionise the delivery of health care services and greatly improve the quality life in the rural developing world Professor Eric Brewer, Berkeley
Berkeley's team has built wireless fixed links between the vision centres and the hospital. "Ours is a solution tuned to the needs of developing areas; NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) don't have the resources to implement the more expensive long-distance systems such as Wimax, " says Sonesh Surena, one of Brewer's PhD students working in the project. The innovation for the India wi-fi system was to provide high bandwidth, for high quality video imaging, over long distances. (...)But the team has obtained even more impressive results: "In our current world record, we achieved almost 6 megabits/second over a distance of 384 kilometres using only one link," he adds. These tests were carried out in a project in Venezuela last summer. (...)"Ultimately we can reach more patients at a affordable cost so that we can serve more people."
Eye test. Patients can take eye tests at local clinics
At the moment, there are nine centres linked to the hospitals at Theni, which serve more than 50,000 residents in the area. And roughly 2,500 patients per month are using the video conference to meet with a doctor. Each vision centre is run by three paramedical technicians, so that "eye doctors can do skilful work in the hospital such as surgery", says Dr Namperumalsamy. The current network is expected to expand in the state to include five hospitals within the Aravind Eye System Care that will be linked to 50 clinics. They are expected to serve half a million patients each year in rural South India - most of whom have no access to eye care today.(...).
Duas matérias interessantes sobre as cidades Wi-Fi.
A primeira vem do Ecrans e é sobre o projeto Paris Wi-Fi (já postamos sobre isso aqui no Carnet) e fazendo um balanço das inciativas de livre conexão wi-Fi em cidades ao redor do mundo.
"Paris Wi-Fi permet à tout possesseur d'ordinateur, de téléphone portable ou de PDA, équipé d'un système de connexion Wi-Fi, d'avoir accès librement et gratuitement à Internet en haut débit et sans fil dans la capitale. Pour cela, il doit se trouver près de l'un des 225 espaces verts et sites municipaux (mairies, bibliothèques, musées, etc) où sont installées 315 bornes d'accès (voir la liste des sites par arrondissement). Les 400 bornes et 260 sites annoncés pour septembre ont été repoussés à fin octobre. Un retard dû à 'des ajustements' notamment liés 'à la difficulté d?obtenir une connexion stable dans des espaces ouverts', explique t-on à la mairie de Paris."
A segunda matéria vem do el mundo, mostrando como a comunidade wi-Fi cresce com o projeto FON em junção com a BT, criando a BT Fon. Agora a operador British Telecom fez acordo com a empresa espanhola FON permitindo que os 3 milhões de clientes da BT possam compartilhar suas conexões sem fio ao redor do planeta.
"Un acuerdo entre la operadora British Telecom y la compañía española FON permitirá a tres millones de clientes de banda ancha de la compañía británica (BT Total Broadband) el acceso gratis a la red WiFi promovida por FON. Este acuerdo se traduce en la comunidad BT FON. Según afirma Martin Varsavsky, fundador y CEO de FON, 'el resultado inmediato es que ahora millones de abonados de banda ancha de BT podrán automáticamente formar parte de la Comunidad BT FON'. Según un comunicado de BT, 'los nuevos miembros pasarán a formar parte de una comunidad ya existente de más de 500.000 usuarios y tendrán acceso a más de 190.000 puntos de acceso de FON en todo el mundo. Cualquier miembro podrá conectarse gratuitamente a los puntos de acceso de FON en todo el mundo y de la nueva BT FON'".
Vejam no Lifehacker, 10 dicas para bombar a sua conexão Wi-Fi: dicas de lugar onde colocar o router, programas para monitorar a rede, aumentar o alcance da antena, criptografia, limitar o MAC address, etc. Pode ser bastante útil.
"It's hard to dislike the idea of free municipal wireless Internet access. Imagine your town as an oversized Internet cafe, with invisible packets floating everywhere as free as the air we breathe. That fanciful vision inspired many cities to announce the creation of free wireless networks in recent years. This summer, reality hit?one city after another has either canceled deployments or offered a product that's hardly up to the hype. In Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, and even San Francisco, once-promising projects are in trouble. What happened?was the idea all wrong?
Not quite. The basic idea of offering Internet access as a public service is sound. The problem is that cities haven't thought of the Internet as a form of public infrastructure that?like subway lines, sewers, or roads?must be paid for. Instead, cities have labored under the illusion that, somehow, everything could be built easily and for free by private parties. That illusion has run straight into the ancient economics of infrastructure and natural monopoly. The bottom line: City dwellers won't be able to get high-quality wireless Internet access for free. If they want it, collectively, they'll have to pay for it." (...)
Matéria do Los Angeles Times mostra os desafios da implementação de redes Wi-Fi baratas ou gratuitas em Los Angeles, apesar de problemas em outras cidades, como mostramos em outros posts. Vejam a matéria completa no link do L.A.Times.
WI-FI USERS: Two people take advantage of the high-speed wireless Internet service in Riverside. Other cities such as San Francisco and Chicago have stumbled with their Wi-Fi plans.
Trecho:
"Los Angeles may well become the city to watch as it goes through a laborious process to determine whether a wireless broadband network is needed -- and how the service would pay for itself.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa outlined plans in February to blanket Los Angeles with wireless Internet access that people could use for free or for a small monthly subscription. The city's Information Technology Agency, which heads the Wi-Fi initiative, hired consulting firm Civitium in June to conduct a feasibility study.
The study, expected to be delivered to the mayor and the City Council in December, is being built on information from meetings with schools, hospitals, businesses, consumer groups, focus groups and other city agencies."
