OpenNetworks

An introduction to Wimax

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:47:59 +0100

During a couple of years, the WIMAX has been granted the title of successor to the Wifi and killer of the 3G mobile technologies.

The reality is that the 3G has been growing steadly in usage and in bandwith and is being intensively used, not only for long range communications but also in the local loop, where a more and more users are switching their ADSL connections for 3,5G connections with HDSPA and 7,5 Mbps download speed.

What will happen to the WIMAX? I think that even the promotors of the technology probably donÂ´t know anything by now, the truth is that regular users are not able to put their hands on hardware, and I donÂ´t any one that have actually found any infrastructure build with WIMAX where to connect to.

A dead technology?

Introduction to WiMAX

View more presentations from satishr. (tags: wimax 2g)

Simple and bright idea

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:08:35 +0100

Where I used to live, very hard and rush people, there was a saying about the importance of your head, that was more or less like: "your head is to think and not to wear a hat".
This sentence can be applied to the idea that I have discovered in a video published at youtube, that is as simple as effective.

It goes more or less like that:
1. You buy all the access points (small ones) that you can.
2. You go to an intense transit point of people.
3. You configure all the WIFI ssids to reflect an advertising sentence.
4. You configure the initial page of the access point to forward users to ad page (before allowing free access).

And Voila. You have advertised services and products to people that will remenber the action for a long time.

The example showed in the video, is an experience with SIXT in an german airport. They have implemented several wifi with all ssids named with advertising for SIXT. The initial page of the visitor is aswell filled with SIXT adverstments, which people are looking before starting to navigate.

What a good and simple idea. Or at least it seems to me. What do yout think?

Relaxing a little bit

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:00:00 +0100

all of those that actually have to manage systems, networks and other information technologies, know very well that, sometimes, tension and stress can actually be quite hard to take.

So it is important from time to time, to actually take off all the tension away for a while, before going back to the routine tasks.
During one of those breaks I have discovered PSTpanic a nice site where you can actually have a lot of fun, while learning some interesting things and even, possibly win some very tasty prizes.

In the site you will be able to see some interesting pictures of networks admins facing the huge problem of recovering some nasty email pst file. Some of them are really funny to see, and just keep you laughing for minutes. You can then vote on the one that you have best liked.

This last feature becomes the cornerstone for the online competition created by the site and that allows the creation of small game for network admins that can post their own picture and see if they can win the big prize with their creation. I have tried it, but i think that I must be very ugly and I didnÂ´t actually get any votes :) too bad.

Iphone vs Zune

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:52:02 +0100

Over the last days, recents news have being popping out everywhere, about the new versions of Apple's iphone/ipod and the Microsoft's Zune, bring new features and new content into their platforms.
A part from being a very interesting case study for marketing blogs, for a blog like opennetworks, the important thing is that Microsoft is now also bringing wifi in its basic configuration, a step that Apple already took with the iphone.
Wifi personal media device is a very important feature as it gives you a freedom of cables, initially promised by the bluetooth without success, that allows you to synchronize your files with your devices, or to browse the internet.
More things could be added, but I think that it will have to wait for the community of users to start bringing homebrew applications into both platforms, before really interesting applications can be found.
Who is the winner? I think that as always, Microsoft is playing hard force, putting a lot of money in make the device successfull, just they have done with the xbox, sophisticated approach, is not their way, they prefer the Elephant in crystal shop one. Apple on the other side, prefers a more clever and cool approach, bringing this exclusive touch that makes people want to use their products. Now that they seems to have match perfectly what they want to do, with what consummers want, they might have a long way in front of them.
From a Wifi point of view, I think that they both are loosers, as they could have introduced a lot of new concepts into their devices, more in line with the fact that in a near future, almost all personal devices will have 3G, Wifi and bluetooth connectivity. So that means that the potential to create real cool feature to interconnect all those people is really high, but they are not thinking about it for the moment. Maybe too worry about piracy?
From a commercial point of view, the winner is Apple, as, as today, it is impossible to actually by a zune outside of the States. What is keeping Microsoft locked in its home market? Probably only them will know, but for the rest of people wishing to buy one, until now, Internet is the only possible way to try to have one through non-official channels.

PosVacaciones a cadiz

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:51:24 +0100

Ãltimamente no he tenido mucho tiempo para actualizar este blog. Estoy preparando un nuevo grafismo y nuevos contenidos, que estÃ¡n tomando mucho mas tiempo de lo que me gustarÃa, pero despuÃ©s de un final de curso intenso, las energÃas ya no son las mismas.
Lo bueno es que de nuevo es tiempo de pensar en vacaciones , y estoy lo hago con bastante placer.

De esta vez estoy ponderando CÃ¡diz, porque muchos de mis amigos han estado de vacaciones por esta zona, y me han convencido de que la historia de la ciudad, la frescura del clima por las noches, y las playas todavÃa sin masificar, son un muy buen argumento para hacer las vacaciones en esa Zona.

en http://www.cadizturismo.com/ es posible encontrar mucha informaciÃ³n de interÃ©s sobre CÃ¡diz, y planificar de la mejor forma como utilizar las horas ociosas que no dedicadas a la playa, para conseguir pasar realmente un rato agradable.

Tal como la ultima vez voy a utilizar los servicios del buscador de hoteles, que tan buenos resultados me ha dado, y buscar Hoteles en Cadiz, el grado de parametrizaciÃ³n y la flexibilidad de uso es realmente impresionante, por lo que insertando las caracterÃsticas deseadas de un hotel, asÃ como su disponibilidad, el servicio, el sistema te devuelve los hoteles que se acercan a tus criterios.

http://destinia.com/hotels/hoteles-en-cadiz/espana/europa/2011/es

Si no estas interesado en CÃ¡diz, puedes encontrar otros hoteles baratos en la pagina principal del servicio

Este es un anÃ¡lisis de web esponsorizado por http://www.zync.es

iphone in Spain for 100 Euros

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:44:34 +0100

Following some news on the internet about the iphone, it has been confirmed that Telefonica Movistar has signed the deal to release the device, and the target price will be around 100 Euros.
How accurate can be this news? It is very difficult to say at this moment if this is only vaporware or if there is a real marketing plan behind it to boost sales in the first months and to retain users.
The difference in price to the other countries where the gadget has already been launch is quite high and will be costly for the company.
This is the kind of news that will have to be followed along the next weeks.

Vacaciones En peÃ±iscola

Thu, 01 May 2008 21:20:00 +0100

Durante un par de dias me voy a ir de vacaciones a PeÃ±iscola, gracias una AnÃ¡lisis de web esponsorizado, que me han pedido hacer, y que durante su realizaciÃ³n me convencio la oportunidad de ir yo mismo en persona a visitarlo.
El servicio permite encontrar de forma facil y sencilla Hoteles en PeÃ±iscola, y con un grado de parametrizaciÃ³n realmente impressionante, por lo que insertando las caracteristicas deseadas de un hotel, asi como su disponibilidad, el servicio, te devuelverÃ¡ una lista de los hoteles que cumplen la busqueda.
En pocos segundos ya puedes estar incluso realizando la reserva del mismo y, cuando te das cuenta, ya tienes unas vacaciones planificadas, sin darte cuente.
Incluye referencias a otros sitios en internet donde es posible encontrar mas informaciÃ³n, y permite incluso ver la localizaciÃ³n del hotel, en el mapa, de forma a que puedas ver encontrarlo de forma facil.
Lo que he hechado de menos, es mas fotos del hotel, y de las habitaciones, ya que sempre es una sorpresa lo que uno va a encontrar.
Otra cosa que hecho de menos,es tambiÃ©n para el caso que tengas una familia grande, y que tengas problemas en customizar la oferta a tus necesidades, la existencia en la pagina web, de un agente web, que te permita entrar directamente en contacto con las personas que te puedan ayudar a hacer lo que pretendes.
A parte de esto, fenomenal, tanto, que sin querer y sin darme cuenta, me he registrado en un hotel, y ahi me voy de vacaciones.

http://destinia.com/hotels/hoteles-en ... ellon/espana/europa/31/es

Si no estas interesado en PeÃ±iscola, puedes encontrar otros hoteles baratos en la pagina principal del servicio

Free WIFI, anyone

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:12:42 +0100

While browsing for hot news on WIFI, I have discovered this video on youtube that makes reference to a special tool called easy wifi radar from makayma, that is supposed to detect and configure instantly your laptop or pocketpc to connect to any wifi detected by the software. Apparently it should be able to connect even to private connections, but with the tests that I have done I have not been able to do so, only connections to public hotspots were possible, in a much more easy way. Has anyone tried this software and wants to comment about it?

The secret my friend is in the Antenna ...

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:27:42 +0100

At this pace, I will have to switch my logo, as the last homebrew antennas are not anymore being made with Pringles Cans.
While searching for antennas with google, I have come to a pictorial at instructables.com about building a high performance antenna with very simple and cheap elements.
The simplicity of the construction is really incredible, and it seems that even the less hand skilled people will be able to build with almost no problem. A part from this, the comments posted to the pictorial are also very interesting and gives plenty of advices to be taken in account when trying to build the antenna.
Since I haven't tried myself the process, I donÂ´t know how good are the results of the Antenna, but from the overall understanding of the article and user comments, they should be quite interesting.

Antena For less than 10 $

10$ WIFI Super Antenna - Funny videos are here

If you go to San Francisco, be sure to try the wifi rail

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:32:39 +0100

This is almost the title of the song that was a kind of the hymn of
hippie movements in the sixties, but in this case, it is not about about hippy
but more about geeky .

As read on YAHOO
the San Francisco Underground train is testing a new innovative service that
will allow its users to actually use WIFI while travelling on their trains.

The connection is not yet in production but rather in tests, and the users will
have to manually pick the connections, but I think that it will be a question of
time, before everything starts to evolve in more confortable service for the
user.

:-0, when I first read the news, two things jumped immediatly to my mind, I
donÂ´t know if correct or no, as I have never used the San Franscisco undergound,
but that can be created by my previous experience in other ones around Europe.

When you go in the Underground, you are usually at rush time, that means that
everyone goes as fast as they can, to actually jump into the train before you,
in order to find the last available free spot, in the wagons. Once inside, you
donÂ´t have, barely, enough space to shake your ears, so to actually think in
using a Laptop or a Wifi-enabled phone, seems to me a rather interesting
challenge.

The second aspect, is that the distances are rather short/medium, so, do you
really need a connection while travelling for a couple of minutes? Are you
getting to the point of addiction where you can avoid being without an online
connection?

At this point, more than one will already start to think that I am mixing news
:) but, there is a rather interesting news as well, from the Canadian Government
(Yahoo),
suggesting to its employees to actually shutdown their blackberries after 18:00
until 9:00 in the next morning, and during the meetings, to actually decrease
the level of stress.

Where are we heading? Do we really need all those connections? Do we really need
to be able to connect to internet, from the train, the bed, the WC, ... our
dreams? Is this going to far?

One thing is to be able to have a good and regular connection, from our work,
our home, but do actually need to be everywhere, everytime connected?

This remembers me, that when I first started to work, I actually was very happy
when my employers gave me my first cellphone, I felt so important, just to
discover, how much you can be emprisonned by the technology that makes you
available without limitations...

Where does the freedom ends and the prison starts?

So as the hippies where looking for freedom when going to San Francisco, are
we doing the inverse path when revisiting San Francisco?