Certification - July 2008 - (Page 38)

WHAT WE LIKE Banana Bonanza In 1967, American rock band The Velvet Underground released its first album, “The Velvet Underground and Nico.” The cover of the album’s jacket, designed by artist Andy Warhol, was adorned with a banana peelshaped sticker; peeling back the banana skin revealed a flesh-colored banana underneath. Copies of the album with the banana-peel sticker intact change hands for hundreds of dollars. One of our editors found a copy for $25 at a small used bookstore in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1995 and considered it a total coup. But in 2002, a man visiting New York City from Montreal did this feat one better; in fact, he may have committed the ultimate record collecting act of all time. He found a long lost alternate version of “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” pressed on acetate, at a flea market in Chelsea and purchased it for 75 cents. Stories such as this make us seriously wish for a time machine. The man then put the acetate on eBay, where bids exceeded $150,000, but it eventually sold for $25,000 due to overexcited, faulty bidding. (Read the full story here.) Image courtesy of Meraki The full story on how it got from the winning bidder to being re-pressed on limited edition, import only green vinyl is a little cloudy, but who cares? Power to the People While the promise of free municipal Wi-Fi networks has crashed lately, one northern California start-up is aiming to reboot the trend. Free the Net, a wireless initiative started by Silicon Valley-based Meraki, aims to create a low-cost, citywide wireless network in San Francisco, supported by an army of citizen-users. The initiative is an extension of the company founders’ doctoral research project that provided wireless access to graduate students at MIT. According to Meraki’s Web site, its stated mission is to “bring affordable Internet access to the next billion people.” While the company also sells a range of networking solutions, there’s a distinct idealistic bent — or spin, depending on your perspective — to the company’s initiatives, starting with the company’s name. It translates from Greek as “doing something with soul, creativity or love.” Most municipal Wi-Fi initiatives rely on complex and costly partnerships between city governments and wireless providers for funding and implementation. The resulting high costs and bureaucratic red tape have caused many implementations to falter, including those in San Francisco, Chicago and St. Louis. Meraki is taking a different track by tapping into the power of networks of people to create a wireless “cloud” to cover San Francisco. Here’s how it works: Meraki installs DSL lines in homes located in strategic parts of the city and then calls for volunteers to sign up and host free wireless repeaters in their homes. The repeaters, called Meraki Minis, bounce the wireless signal from one to another. As more and more users sign up, the network grows in strength and scope. As of early 2008, the network boasted more than 40,000 users and nearly 750 repeaters hosted Next thing we know, the acetate is generally available for far less than $25,000 and not from Borders or Amazon, but back on eBay, on vinyl no less, thanks to the transferability of digital audio these days. Networking solutions provider Meraki aims to create free Wi-Fi access by turning to citizens. 38 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE July 2008 http://sf.meraki.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Underground_and_Nico#Scepter_Studios_acetate_version http://cgi.ebay.com/VELVET-UNDERGROUND-Unripened-LP-green-vinyl-66-acetate_W0QQitemZ280227503971QQihZ018QQcategoryZ306QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - July 2008

Certification - July 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data System Virtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Look Ahead Troubleshooting Testing Your Foot in the Door: Certification at the Entry Level Analyzing the Societal Effects of YouTube Interface Spread the Knowledge: Becoming an IT Trainer Inside Certification Ad Index What We Like Endtag

Certification - July 2008

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