Couple of new things.

There may be a games based internet cafe in Exeter for a while. Parts of Paris Street are to be demolished as part of the new Exeter must change sequence. The High Street is hard to walk through. There is no way to Southernhay from the Cathedral Green. The Post Office will soon be on the edge of the centre.

However the upside of this is that a short rent for six months might be afforded by renting computers. Apparently networked games has a following. Personally I am not convinced there is demand in Exeter to get a cafe through the winter but the bulldozers should arrive by Feb anyway.

For details contact David Gedrych david@life-bytes.co.uk

Second thing is that BT seem to have changed policy with their phone boxes. On South Street you can now use their screen and keyboard for minimum 30p for 15 minutes. This works aout at £1.20 an hour, much less than £6 an hour for wi-fi. Also with wi-fi you have to buy the time online with a credit card, then remember or copy a user name and password. 30p in cash is enough to check out a page or two.

So the combination of events suggests another timewarp. wi-fi may be the future but a cafe is another choice while it lasts.

wi-fi "across the straits of Gibraltar" seems to have worked ok

According to slashdot, this wi-fi link has worked

in case that fails to link, it should connect to

http://mirror.us.psand.net/fadaiat/photos/index.html

http://www.flakey.info/tarifa/

The actual content is still arriving, I think. I am travelling at the moment and have found Radio Vague / Psand streaming to be not there at all. I guess this is because others are trying to connect. The Fadaiat sites have much material already available.

Meanwhile there is no news on the Cathedral Green. Maybe the problems of blocking out all and any undesirable content proved impossible.

Th@t PC has moved to St George's Market on Fore Street so if you need web access head towards Exe bridge from the cathedral and look out on left. No wi-fi as yet.

I have started to update Internet Express site, recently rediscovered.


There is a news item there based on a Stephen Timms presentation at Internet World. He explained about a pilot project for wi-fi in rural libraries. There are ten sites, one in Launceston. Maybe wi-fi awareness will just happen over the summer and by around September it will be commonplace.

Psand are somewhere near Gibraltar at the moment, working on wi-fi and satellite for Fadaiat. More reports later.

I have signed up for some newsletters looking for new ideas. 'Good Morning silicon Valley' seemed like a good idea. The first one includes news from North Devon.

"
Intel has commissioned a 1.7 Ghz, Wi-Fi surf board, debuting today at a sports and music festival in North Devon, England. The 9-foot, 4-inch board is equipped with a tablet laptop with an 80 Gb drive, a video camera and solar panels, all packaged in a sealed design that doesn't interfere with the ride or feel. "It's all about giving people the freedom to get online when and where they want," said Tim Hatch, Intel's consumer marketing manager.
"

These Intel people are the source for the idea that Exeter is a centre for wi-fi in the UK. I recently checked the Globe pub in Newtown, not far from the Exeter City council offices. No sign of activity via wi-fi. Could it be that the UK just has a lot of games machines in pubs, some of which might be used for wireless networking if anyone knew how to?

Comment from John Paczkowski of siliconvalley.com

"
Well, OK, as long as this remains a novelty item; live telemetry from inside a curl could be pretty neat. But if you ever end up so bored on your board that you feel compelled to read e-mail, it's time for a visit to your spiritual guide for a values check-up.
"
surf site