Radio Free Internet

Garrett, who runs a DIY internet radio station, recently sent me this photo:

435radio teletype.JPG

It’s of a radio teletype machine and we got to talking about the possibility of having some kind of internet alternative or supplement which would be able to work over radio frequencies.

Pizza SEO, meanwhile, has been looking at solar powered wifi routers:

wireless-wi-fi-solar-power.jpg

And I’ve been recently thinking a lot about some kind of personal technology “field” which would go with me wherever I wanted and allow me to “bend” other types of electromagnetic fields, modify existing signals and broadcast multi-spectrum messages, along with free wireless internet access. *Sigh* a boy can dream, can’t he?

I was also thinking: if its possible to have a radio-based “internet”, then might it also be possible to have a spoken internet?


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This entry was written by enjoying autumn, posted on December 5, 2008 at 11:15 am.

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9 Comments

  1. Andrew
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 1:44 pm | Permalink

    I don’t know why, but this entry called to mind that time you freed yourself of your cell phone.

  2. US Romantic
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 2:01 pm | Permalink

    Would be cool to find some way to bend cell phones from their original purpose into transmitting some other kind of signal - although, if it’s anything remotely disruptive, I’m sure the FCC will be all over you!

    http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/12/12/smash-your-cell-phone/

    Remember all those music videos in the mid-nineties where somebody would smash a tv or a vcr with a sledge-hammer?

  3. US Romantic
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 2:03 pm | Permalink

    The subject of disruptive technologies in general is really interesting

    http://www.innovationwebinars.net/webinar_16.html

  4. US Romantic
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 2:06 pm | Permalink

    http://voicendata.ciol.com/content/trends/105020802.asp

    Alleged misuse of cellphones by Pappu Yadav, MP, RJD in Beur Jail led the Supreme Court to permit the installation of mobile phone jammers in all jails across the country.

    A division bench comprising of Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice SB Sinha has asked mobile service providers, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Reliance Infocomm to inform the court on how this facility could be installed in the central jails, to begin with, for preventing “highly influential and powerful personalities from misusing mobile phones while being lodged in jail”.

  5. Justin Boland
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 2:54 pm | Permalink

    Indeed: spoken internet.

    IBM: Talking Web Will be Commonplace in 5 Years

    In the future “you will be able to surf the Internet, hands-free, by using your voice - therefore eliminating the need for visuals or keypads.”

    In fact this is already starting to happen, as recent iPhone releases from Google and Say Where show.

    We can definitely see the potential in a Talking Web - responding to emails quickly using voice, searching the web by barking orders into your computer / phone, composing blog posts by dictating, and so on. The shift to voice will happen in some places for cultural reasons and as a by-product of the rise in popularity of mobile phones to access the Web. IBM notes that in India the spoken word is more prominent than the written word in education, government and culture, so “talking” to the Web is set to usurp all other interfaces. IBM predicts that this change will be driven by new technology, with speech instead of text as the main interface. IBM calls this “VoiceSites,” noting that “people without access to a personal computer and Internet, or who are unable to read or write, will be able to take advantage of all the benefits and conveniences the Web has to offer.”

  6. US Romantic
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 3:07 pm | Permalink

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Radio_Linking_Project

    The Internet Radio Linking Project, also called IRLP, is a project that links amateur radio stations around the world by using Voice over IP (VoIP). Each gateway consists of a dedicated computer running custom software that is connected to both a radio and the Internet. This arrangement forms what is known as an IRLP Node. Since all end users communicate using a radio as opposed to using a computer directly, IRLP has adopted the motto “Keeping the Radio in Amateur Radio”.

  7. Andrew
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 3:20 pm | Permalink

    Mesh networks:

    http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=259

    “Deregulate and let the telcos have their tiered pricing — as long as
    we also deregulate enough radio spectrum that the telcos
    (evil monopolist scum that they are) will promptly be hammered flat by
    wireless mesh networks.”

  8. Andrew
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 3:27 pm | Permalink

    This conversation has brought to mind the computer Mike from Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycroft_Holmes_(computer)

    Mike was originally installed to control the mass driver catapult mechanism and control the flight of pilot-less freighters; he was vastly under-utilised in this role however and so the Luna Authority gave him more and more tasks to do, and more and more resources (extra memory, processing units, neural networks etc) until one day he became so complex he simply “woke up”.

  9. US Romantic
    Posted December 5, 2008 at 3:46 pm | Permalink

    http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2008/11/01/neighborhood-mesh-networks/

    There’s another relevant post around here someplace as well…

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