How about some coverage of the Reds firing their manager and pitching coach? That's a pretty big deal. WiFi is already available at starbucks, Panera, some city parks, and lots of other places downtown. Project Lily Pad may think they're creating something that is going to enhance businesses but I personally think it's drawing power is limited.
Tominabox is trapped in a box. The Red's firing a couple people a big deal? Who cares? A blip on the screen.
Project Lily Pad is the seed of something that could be huge. Philadelphia and Chicago, along with a handful of smaller communities, are offering or looking at offering low cost broadband access available to all through Wi-fi. Down the road, this could be enormous and it needs to get coverage.
Ask Time Warner and Cincinnati Bell if the "drawing power is limited." They are sweating bullets. The state of Pennsylvania recently passed a law that municipalities - except Phildelphia - cannot offer community-wide wi-fi. Why? Because phone and cable companies that are making billions on broadband lobbied hard.
The Reds are mediocre and will remain so until baseball fixes the income disparites. I could talk about the Reds all you want, but wi-fi capabilites is vastly more interesting and useful.
Whether it enhances businesses or not is not the only standard by which its benefits are measured.
Sometimes the standard is whether it serves the public interest. It's happened before with roads, highways, bridges, telephones, and the wired internet. They are all essential elements of the communication infrastructure. All were first established with public funds for the public interest.
"The state of Pennsylvania recently passed a law that municipalities - except Phildelphia - cannot offer community-wide wi-fi."
A good example of corporate government. The municipalities can offer WiFi, but they cannot shop around for service providers. Nope. They have to ask Verizon first. Only if Verizon refuses can they go to someone else ("the right of first refusal" I think it's called).
Philly's WiFi was already underway, so Verizon "sacrificed" that market in exchange for the entire state of PA.
If'n you ask me, I believe that internet (WiFi, broadband, etc.) will soon be considered as important, vital, and necessary to our infrastructure as roads, water, sewage, etc. is now.
I don't think it's something we're going to be able to trust to simply corporate America, at least not in its current incarnation. I hope Project LilyPad takes off.
WF
I sure as hell ain't gonna trust it to government.
WiFi's drawback is that it doesn't seem to unite people. Instead, people sit around their personal computer and do things by themselves. People using WiFi dawdle for long periods of time, purchasing little, and require their own table. The social portion of the internet needs to change in some way to make WiFi a commercially enhancing technology, otherwise it is just going to lead us to a bunch of one person tables and no real life friends.
Baseball is very real, and draws 10's of thousands (31,000+ to the last game). People enjoy watching the game, talking to friends, and meeting new people who have a similar interest in the Reds. Lifelong friendships are started when people who buy season tickets sit next to each other year after year.
I don't get excited about WiFi projects because frankly it is already available widely enough. I'm not going to tote around my laptop just so I can check my email an extra 3 times a day. I want social stimulation if I am out and about, not another place to plug in and read about car bombs in Iraq or Bill Clinton kissing some mystery woman on the lips.
If everything in your life always has to relate back to how important you think the Bengals and Reds are, you really need to get some perspective. Or is this a "performance art" character like Jason claims "the Dean" to be?
If it is, sorry I missed the joke.
It sucks that two of those places will be under construction by the time that stuff is up and running.
One thing often overlooked is that this can be a real benefit to low-income areas. Broadband internet is still very much a luxury for most people. Imagine free internet covering large parts of OTR. All you need is a one-time purchase of a computer and a card and you're ready to go... kind of like what's happening in Walnut Hills already.
Who has money to buy a computer when you're blowing all your money on cable and scratch off lottery tickets?
And Reds tickets.
Read my sign: "I need tickets"
I'm with Tominabox here. Wifi is everywhere already. Exactly how many times do insecure people need to check their email? I guess they're surfing porn and don't want the missus to see - that's the real appeal of wifi i guess. But seriously, the Reds mean more to this city than having a wifi agenda. Then again, this city is halfway down the toilet and you can't reverse that, so let's go all out for the wifi. Why not? Nothing left to lose.
Are you guys drunk? Posting from the Machine Room?
What the fuck do the Reds have to do with the trivial expense of a wifi connection?
LOL
I love when Tom says something against the grain, people mess with his handle. Too funny.
Ok... sorry for the interuption you may all carry on again. I agree though, who cares about Miley being fired? Then again I am a Mets Fan. At least I can say Go Bengals.
Sports make the world go 'round, but so does internet porn! Oh the dilemmas . . . seeing the Reds tank or a hot chick getting tanked!!
AHAHAHAHHA!!!
Here's an idea, make the Reds park a Wi-fi hot spot. At least we'll have something interesting to do in the satands.
If the could do WiFi I bet it would increase attendance at day games. Heck, they could even do more day games!
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