Breakfast Links: Chicago is the new UK?, WiMax v. Muni WiFi & Dice Stacking
So we all know that the UK loves it some CCTV surveillance of it’s citizens, the criminal lot of ‘em. We thought that kinda Big Brother was confined to the loonies across the Atlantic, but it turns out we’ve got some of our very own mid-western loonies. Chicago has been rolling out “thousands of video surveillance cameras” over the past few years, too! They even have an awesome codename for it … “Operation Virtual Shield.” I feel so protected. And now they’re getting IBM to write some softs to analyze “thousands of hours of video” which will “throw [their] camera network into hyperdrive.” Kick ASS! Who doesn’t love massive computer aided surveillance! Forget worrying about the end of ephemeral conversation, that’s nothing to compare with the end of ephemeral existence!
Sigh. Anyhow, I was reading this Slate piece on why municipal wifi projects are dropping like flies across the country. Which is a pretty interesting read, but kinda depressing, since it sure would be nice to cuddle up in that sweet wifi blanket. Fortunately there’s been a lotta positive sounding WiMax talk recently, Sprint was demoing XOHM on some kinda booze cruise that left people impressed. But check out this ars piece on WiMax as an alternative to muni wifi - which clicks very well with that first slate piece. Now, I love my sprint EVDO as much as the next guy, but I will be loving WiMax when it hits NYC if it lives up to its bandwidth promise. Sprint isn’t hurting it with it’s WiMax should be in everything not just your phones promise, too. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
And lest ye technophobes feel left out of this mornings nerdery, check out these videos on dice stacking. It’s pretty impressive and the sort of thing that makes you think it isn’t real, but I think it is. Sure the kid thinks he’s a little too cool - especially in that 3rd video where he ads in the finishing flourishes of pointing at the camera and the like, but he’s spent how many countless hours perfecting his dice stacking skillz, you gotta cut him some slack. But really, I think, unless you can slam down the dice in a stack actually crushing the bottom most one, God of Gamblers style, you got a ways to go.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:36 am
That dice stacker would kick ass at Boggle. He is the coolest. Many a time have I been wandering through the “cool” kids party and hear “Hey, thats the dice stacking guy….. now it’s a party!”
September 28th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
You need to work on your dice stackin’ skillz. There will be a test next time I see you.
:)
November 16th, 2007 at 7:40 am
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