Unique/Cool uses of WiFi

31 Mar 2005 8:12 PM

sf

I'm a member of a group that will soon be placing several free wireless
hotspots in urban areas. These spots will all be in outdoor public
regions, mainly in parks or shopping/downtown areas. We're on the hunt
for some cool or unique uses for wireless to promote these areas.

A few we're throwing around:

-webcams of city concerts or festivals
-web kiosks
-extending access to city bus routes for passengers of the buses
-adding gps to city busses and putting up kiosks showing where the
busses are and when they will arrive.
-VOIP

Any other ideas? Nothing is too "out there" since that is what we're
looking for!
Thanks!

1 Apr 2005 2:22 AM

Dave Stone

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"sf" <fiddel***@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1112299925.221209.226880@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> I'm a member of a group that will soon be placing several free
> wireless hotspots in urban areas. These spots will all be in outdoor
> public regions, mainly in parks or shopping/downtown areas. We're on
> the hunt for some cool or unique uses for wireless to promote these
> areas.
>
> A few we're throwing around:
>
> -webcams of city concerts or festivals
> -web kiosks
> -extending access to city bus routes for passengers of the buses
> -adding gps to city busses and putting up kiosks showing where the
> busses are and when they will arrive.
> -VOIP
>
> Any other ideas? Nothing is too "out there" since that is what we're
> looking for!
> Thanks!
>
>

I always thought realtime stock quotes were pretty cool to see on a
wireless setup. Especially the 'quote trend' which shows the last few
minutes of buy/sell activity. Should look something like this, but
with more quotes on one page. And the option by the user to add quotes
you'd like to see:

http://www.ameritrade.com/streamer/images/start1_streamer.gif

1 Apr 2005 5:51 AM

Rôgêr

Dave Stone wrote:
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> "sf" <fiddel***@gmail.com> wrote in
> news:1112299925.221209.226880@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>>I'm a member of a group that will soon be placing several free
>>wireless hotspots in urban areas. These spots will all be in outdoor
>>public regions, mainly in parks or shopping/downtown areas. We're on
>>the hunt for some cool or unique uses for wireless to promote these
>>areas.
>>
>>A few we're throwing around:
>>
>>-webcams of city concerts or festivals
>>-web kiosks
>>-extending access to city bus routes for passengers of the buses
>>-adding gps to city busses and putting up kiosks showing where the
>>busses are and when they will arrive.
>>-VOIP
>>
>>Any other ideas? Nothing is too "out there" since that is what we're
>>looking for!
>>Thanks!
>>
>>
>
>
> I always thought realtime stock quotes were pretty cool to see on a
> wireless setup. Especially the 'quote trend' which shows the last few
> minutes of buy/sell activity. Should look something like this, but
> with more quotes on one page. And the option by the user to add quotes
> you'd like to see:
>
> http://www.ameritrade.com/streamer/images/start1_streamer.gif

I like your idea better than mine. I was thinking of using some
monitoring software that detects when someone is sending spam through
the hotspot and fires a taser at them automatically.

1 Apr 2005 6:57 AM

BradReeseCom

The ability to listen to virtually any kind of music via the Internet
would be a big draw in a public space.

Sincerely,

Brad Reese
BradReese.Com® Cisco Resource Center
Toll Free: 877-549-2680
International: 828-277-7272
Website: http://www.BradReese.Com

1 Apr 2005 5:20 PM

Dave Wendling

How about tiny gps's on the ants so we know where to step?

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"sf" <fiddel***@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1112299925.221209.226880@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> I'm a member of a group that will soon be placing several free wireless
> hotspots in urban areas. These spots will all be in outdoor public
> regions, mainly in parks or shopping/downtown areas. We're on the hunt
> for some cool or unique uses for wireless to promote these areas.
>
> A few we're throwing around:
>
> -webcams of city concerts or festivals
> -web kiosks
> -extending access to city bus routes for passengers of the buses
> -adding gps to city busses and putting up kiosks showing where the
> busses are and when they will arrive.
> -VOIP
>
> Any other ideas? Nothing is too "out there" since that is what we're
> looking for!
> Thanks!
>

1 Apr 2005 5:53 PM

Jeff Liebermann

On 31 Mar 2005 12:12:05 -0800, "sf" <fiddel***@gmail.com> wrote:

>I'm a member of a group that will soon be placing several free wireless
>hotspots in urban areas. These spots will all be in outdoor public
>regions, mainly in parks or shopping/downtown areas.

Our local group is:
http://www.thirdbreak.org
Been doing just that for a while. The major problem is cost of the
wired backhaul.

Outdoor is a problem because it's very difficult to see the PDA or
laptop screen in the bright sunlight. Trees are a big help, but block
2.4Ghz.

>We're on the hunt
>for some cool or unique uses for wireless to promote these areas.
>
>A few we're throwing around:
>
>-webcams of city concerts or festivals

Bandwidth hogs if you use a built in server. Each connection gets an
individual stream. Imagine 50 users on one web cam server. If you do
this, be sure to use a reflecting server to redistribute the video.

>-web kiosks

These are vandal magnets. Careful with the security.

>-extending access to city bus routes for passengers of the buses

I get car sick when I try to type in a car or bus.

>-adding gps to city busses and putting up kiosks showing where the
>busses are and when they will arrive.

Many metro buses already have this but there seems to be some kind of
reluctance to publicly distribute the data. Same with freeway traffic
information. Policies vary radically by state and county.

>-VOIP

Visualize turning your outdoor hot spot paradise into a giant phone
booth. You'll have people yacking (for free) on the phone all day
long. Not a problem for outdoors, but a serious problem for indoor
hot spots like coffee shops.

>Any other ideas? Nothing is too "out there" since that is what we're
>looking for!

Bluetooth to 802.11b/g gateway.

VPN termination in the local wireless routers to eliminate sniffing.

Local weather station at each access point. Nothing fancy. Just
temperature, humidity, wind speed, and maybe wind direction.

Local wireless diagnostic page. Tells user their signal strength, S/N
ratio, and packet loss. Doesn't do much for Joe Sixpack, but really
turns on the geeks.

TDOA (time difference of arrival) location tracking. We know where
you are.

Locally generated streaming audio and video advertising "channel".
Nobody will listen to it, but the local merchants may buy into it.

--
Jeff Liebermann    je***@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D   http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060    AE6KS 831-336-2558