Have Laptop Will Travel

Wireless Mesh Networks To Go

Originally posted on April 10, 2007 @ 4:41 am

Lately, I’ve been using Meraki Mesh routers to set up saturated WiFi environments on the fly at conferences and in small communities. Mesh technology has been floating on the tongues of wireless aficionados for close to a decade now. But until now, it’s either been a fantasy of what could be or an ultra-expensive reality.

Meraki is different. Meraki is not only an affordable technology, but it’s a simple and easy to use technology. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can set a Meraki wireless network up.

Straight out of the box, all you need are a few Meraki routers and an internet pipeline. Got DSL or Cable? Then you’re golden. You can set up a Meraki network for your entire block. Just connect one unit’s ethernet port via ethernet cable into your internet enabled router, give some electricity to the other Meraki routers, and so long as the routers can see each other, you’ve got a self-configured, self-healing wireless mesh network. It’s great for conferences where you need a saturated wireless environment, and it works well for wireless hotspots too because with several routers the signal gets sent out at a variety of angles, and you can get rid of the dreaded dead spot.

While it’s simple to set up, Meraki lets you fine tune, monitor and control your wireless network via a web GUI interface. You can rename the network, change the network’s wireless channel, setup a captive portal, and even enable the billing system to charge people for accessing your wireless network. Community-level ISPs anybody? Worried about bandwidth hogging? Not a problem. Meraki gives you the option of setting user-level bandwidth limits.

What excites me most about Meraki’s technology is that it puts the power of setting up wireless networks virtually anywhere, anytime in the hands of almost anybody. This has the potential to be a disruptive technology to the core.

So what are the limitations of Meraki? Well, for one, they are single radio units so bandwidth gets cut in half with each hop. That means that you shouldn’t have more than 4 hops between any Meraki router and the internet pipeline. While it’s possible to cover an entire block with a single internet connection, it wouldn’t be easy to cover much more.

Currently, I’m working to setup a Meraki network that spans over 90 blocks. That means we’ll need about 90 DSL connections to make the project work. The cheapest business class DSL we can find in our area is $69.99/month per line, so that translates into well over $6,000. Not cheap.

One thing we’d like to see from Meraki going into the future is a solution for larger scale projects. This would involve making a more powerful outdoor unit than the current 60mW version.

Despite the negatives, Meraki has to be congratulated for putting together such a fine product that actually works straight out of the box with zero configuration. Not only that, but they’ve truly upped the ante by including a feature rich Admin Dashboard for each network that allows complete control over each unit. From map mashups to pinging to router restarting to bandwidth control and billing, Meraki has what it takes to make dead spots a thing of the past.

The Beauty of Widescreen Monitors

Originally posted on April 11, 2007 @ 4:51 am

Dell Widescreen MonitorA year ago my friend suggested that I either buy two monitors for a single machine or buy a really big widescreen. According to him, having either of these two monitor solutions would double my productivity. I hardly believed him. It seemed like an exaggeration.

However, I was recently noticing how my current computer was holding me back (I found myself waiting on bootup and feeling especially sluggish with 5-10 applications open at once). So I buckled down and bought a new ‘puter. The system I got is from Dell, customized to handle the 5-10 applications I’m using at any given time. The system has 4GB of RAM, a 500GB Hard drive, and a 21 inch widescreen lcd monitor. The monitor is *sweet* and to my amazement, the ability to have two applications open side by side without having to Alt-Tab between them literally does save you bundles of time.

I can’t emphasize this enough. If you’re still going old school with your monitor you’re missing out. Think of all the time you spend moving between applications. Now think of all the times when you’re using two applications in coordination. Cut in one, paste in the other. What if you didn’t need to alt-tab between the two? You’d be amazed by how much time this saves in the end.

How about all the bloggers out there? Need one browser open for research and another for writing? A widescreen or dual screen setup allows you to have to 2 browsers side by side. Again, this simple functional enhancement saves you loads of time.

Although I was skeptical a year ago, now I’m a believer. A true believer in the power of having the proper setup to maximize your productivity.

Robotic Beer Launching Refrigerator

Originally posted on March 4, 2007 @ 4:45 pm

Have you ever got up off the couch to get a beer for the hundredth time and thought to yourself, “What if instead of me going to get the beer, the beer came to me?”

Well thanks to the brain child of John W. Cornwell, there is now the Robotic Beer Launching Refrigerator.

About 3 months and several hundred dollars later John has created a fully automated, remote controlled, catapulting, man-pit approved, beer launching mini-fridge.

It holds 10 beers in its magazine with 14 more in reserve to store a full case. It is controlled by a keyless entry system.

Pressing unlock will start the catapult rotating and when it is aiming at your target, pressing unlock again will stop it. Then the lock button can be pressed to launch a beer in the selected direction.

I want one. This thing totally rocks. The only drawback is the cost.

According to John, he put at least a hundred hours into the build, as well as several hundred dollars worth of parts. He estimates that the price would be about $2,500.00 USD to build another one.

He should put the plans and parts list online. I’m sure he could sell them for a fair price. I’d buy them.

UK Cops Caught Playing PSP In Squad Car

Originally posted on January 29, 2007 @ 9:40 am

Two police officers in London are under investigation after one of them was photographed by a passerby playing a game on a PlayStation PSP while on duty in his squad car.

Sony PSP

The Sun newspaper reported that the officer and his partner were supposed to be guarding a wall in danger of collapse in the neighborhood of Chingford in east London.

A construction worker who took the photo told the newspaper that the officers were so engrossed in the video game that they weren’t paying any attention to keeping people from getting too close to the wall.

A police spokesman told the newspaper, “The use of the games console was inappropriate and unprofessional. Senior officers are dealing with the matter.”