HIKING FOR EMAILS from Clemens Purner on Vimeo.
This is Mahabir Pun. Fed up with the fact that he had to hike for two days whenever he wanted to check his email, he decided to connect his home town of Nangi to the Internet. This video explains how he did it. READ MORE: Watch How One Man Took the Internet to 60,000 People in Rural Nepal | Gizmodo
“Food deserts” refer to low-income areas where convenience stores are often the only viable food source and fresh produce is a rarity. But nutritious foods aren’t the only thing kids need to thrive and grow. Many of these undernourished kids also live in so-called “book deserts”—areas without easy access to libraries and reading material to nurture their imaginations and development (just think of the 12-year-old boy in Utah who asked his mailman for junk mail to read because he couldn’t get to a library). To combat these problems, creative-thinking librarians and literacy supporters are using inventive solutions to expand access to books and promote a love of reading. READ MORE: Librarians on Bikes Are Delivering Books and WiFi to Kids in “Book Deserts” | GOOD
As a comparison, my Apple Airport Extreme is sleek, minimalistic, functional and costs CAD$249.
[T]he company is launching a new device called the OnHub, in partnership with router-maker TP-Link. For $199, it promises to make your Wi-Fi faster and more reliable, and to give you the ability to update and fix your connection. (You know, for the rare times unplugging it and plugging it back in just won’t do.) The most striking thing about the OnHub is the way it looks. It’s not your average router, with wires and antennas poking out from every side; it’s a large cylindrical device with a blinking light on the top…Its outer shell is removable, and comes in either blue or black (more colors are coming…). READ MORE: Rejoice: Google Just Created a Stupidly Simple Wi-Fi Router | WIRED.
On the subway in Beijing, as in most cities with underground Wi-Fi connections, commuters usually spend their rides mindlessly staring at their phones, scrolling through emails or playing games. But now riders on one metro line have another option: With a scan of a QR code inside the train car, they can access a library of free e-books.
The books are curated by the National Library of China (NLC), which hopes to help make people more likely to read in everyday life. Working with subway operator Beijing MTR, the library launched the new “M Subway Library” in January.
READ MORE: This Beijing Subway Now Has A Library Of Free E-Books For Passengers | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.
As our primary computing environment gradually shifts from the desktop to mobile, so too will our interface needs. To that end, a group engineers in Mountain View, Calif. believe that they have the solution for the next phase of interfaces, and it comes in the form of a ring.
The Nod ring is a Bluetooth-enabled gesture controller that connects to your smartphone to accomplish a number of input and controller tasks all by using natural motions with your finger.
In addition extending the capabilities of your smartphone, the ring can also be connected to other smart devices, such as a smart television and other Internet-connected devices like the Nest. If a device doesn’t have Bluetooth capability, you can connect the ring to your smartphone, which will then connect to the device via Wi-Fi. Read more: Nod Bluetooth Ring Controls All Your Smart Devices | Mashable
A new iOS app called FireChat is blowing up in the App Store. But it’s not the app itself that’s causing such a stir, it’s the underlying networking technology it taps into.
The idea behind FireChat is simple. It’s a chatting app. After registering with a name — no email address or other personal identifiers required — you’re dropped into a fast-moving chatroom of “Everyone” using it in your country. The interesting aspect, however, is the “Nearby” option. Here, the app uses Apple’s Multipeer Connectivity framework, essentially a peer-to-peer feature that lets you share messages (and soon photos) with other app users nearby, regardless of whether you have an actual Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
Read More: This Little-Known iOS Feature Will Change the Way We Connect | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.
Broadband providers aren’t “common carriers,” court says, and that makes all the difference in a decision certain to shake up the fixed broadband and wireless industries.
Read more: Appeals court strikes down FCCs Net neutrality rules | Politics and Law | CNET News
Cellphones, tablets and other wireless devices that have been reported lost or stolen can no longer be activated — and therefore used — on most wireless networks in Canada, following the launch of a new national “blacklist” of such devices Monday.
Read the full story: Stolen phones blacklist launches in Canada | Technology & Science | CBC News.
Ever get a text message that appears to be spam, but you don’t really know what to do with it? It turns out, most carriers will let you report it by forwarding it to 7726 (SPAM).
The full story: Forward Spam Text Messages to 7726 to Report Them | LifeHacker.
The article reviews the carriers in the U.S. I researched carriers in Canada and some of them have the same 7726 spam reporting service.
Rogers discontinued 7726 spam management service September 1, 2015. Rogers Spam Controls information page. (Link no longer valid as of June 1, 2016: Received Text Messages – Protection for Text Messaging SPAM | Rogers Wireless)
What to do if I get mobile spam? | Bell + Plan Add-ons | Bell
Report spam text messages sent to your smartphone | February 2, 2016 | Telus + TELUS guarantees spam free text messaging service – no questions asked | Telus
infophile 