You know, one of the things I’m always thinking about when trapped under London’s concrete jungle is “Why the hell can’t I browse the interwebs”. Ok, no it isn’t. Hell, I’ve never even left the county — U.S. But that doesn’t matter. I’m a nerd at heart and can surely appreciate the open web being gifted upon a new geographical region of this fine planet.
In this case, it’s the tube, several feet below London. It will be here at the Charing Cross — specifically Northern and Bakerloo line platforms — where BT Openzone-powered WiFi will be launched on November 1st, blanketing the station, ticket booths, and platform with wireless waves of joy.
For now, it’s a trial to see exactly how Londoners adopt the service. Another shortfall is that it won’t cover any part of the actual train path, meaning no browsing whilst on the tracks. Kind of a bummer, yeah. But I’d take whatever you can get. If trials go well, expect to see the service expand to other stations and perhaps even along the length of the track.
**Sweet jesus…I meant “hole”…not “whole”. And the Mondays strike again…**
Feel like chttn it ^ in SMS form at 60 feet under? Most tech savy humans know that such feats are impossible due to the impenetrable nature of our sweet mother earth. You know how it is, rock and dirt decimate cellular signals. But a young 16-year old kid by the name of Alexander Kendrick spent his free time tinkering with gadgets alone in his room instead of drinking behind the garage with his buddies is now on track to becoming a scientific hero with his new invention. Meet the collapsible, underground cellular tower.
Being able to send quick text messages when deep underground has its obvious benefits with danger and bodily harm being two chief reasons. In it’s current form (pictured above), even being collapsible the tower is still a bit unwieldy and large to tote around. Researchers and companies already marketing the underground cell tower are working on making it smaller — much smaller — so that it can actually be carried to and deployed in the tightest spaces of the deep underworld.
Besides saving countless lives in the future, cutting cave rescue times dramatically, and bettering spelunking as a whole, Alexander also managed to make out with a new computer, a trip to Switzerland, and $12,000 in cash for entering and winning his invention in the 2009 International Science Fair. Bravo Alex.
See kiddies, it pays to tinker with gadgets.
Slashdot > NPR
- December 22, 2009 7:23 am
It’s kind of unfitting for a tech guru such as myself, one who loves all kinds of lights, sounds, gadgets, and gizmos to live in a land full of nothing but corn and cattle. In short: it sucks. To get my digital/big city fix I have to venture roughly 85 miles west to Chicago. Not really that long of a commute, but still enough to make me want to move. There is however one small issue with big cities — cellphone service/reception isn’t always the greatest due to the extreme amount of stacked concrete all around as well as the increased density of cellphone users whom place greater strain on the network. One other big obstacle of big cities: subways.
San Fransisco is one such city where subways, hills, and buildings make for an unsettling cellular experience. But that experience just received a big boost today with the announcement that the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) will now offer wireless access throughout the Transbay Tube. All the way from West Oakland BART Station to Balboa Park, users traveling in underground in the subway can yak/text/browse it up all while being 6+ feet under.
The best part about the whole ordeal is that favorites are not played. AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon customers can all benefit form the underground cellular coverage making everyone’s commute a bit less boring.
It’s worth noting that subway coverage has been offered as early as 2001. The amount of coverage however wasn’t as large as it is now. To date, 35% of the underground subway maze is now saturated with wireless goodness with continued projects in 2010 further increasing the underground network’s range.
In case you were wondering, 2010 will see the following rollouts:
- First Quarter 2010: Oakland WYE, 12th, 19th and Lake Merritt Stations
- Second Quarter 2010: Ashby, Berkeley, North Berkeley Stations and connecting tunnels
- Third Quarter 2010: Berkeley Hills Tunnel
- 2011 and beyond: South San Francisco, San Bruno and connecting tunnels.
Anyone in the Bay area care to share a little as to the underground experience?
Cellular-News
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