Thursday, May 31, 2007

Ubuntu and Mac Update

Thanks to everyone who's taken an interest and helped out in breaking my Microsoft addiction.

Ubuntu: Everything is working great. No crashes, no issues. The only compatibility issues I've found are my printer and webcam. The printer is an antique so I'm not surprised. I still haven't spent more then 5 minutes working on the webcam, so I’m not writing that off as a failure yet. My family is using Ubuntu on a regular basis and like it, I will recommend it to others.

Mac: I installed neooffice yesterday. So far it's great. I'll use it for a few more days to insure I don't have any issues. Once I'm comfortable with it I'll delete MS Office and donate to neooffice. I really like the Mac. My only complaint is that it's finicky with encrypted wifi, once connected it's fine. I found a theft recovery program called undercover and thought it looked interesting. Anyone used it or something similar?

Microsoft: It's not completely gone from my life yet, my wife still runs XP on her laptop and I have XP available as a boot option on the family PC. I've been using non-Microsoft products for a few weeks now and the world didn't stop turning.

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Going, Going, Gone....

I took a major step in my ongoing conversion away from Microsoft, I'm using a Macbook. Wow, it felt a bit like cheating on my wife at first but in the last week I've become very comfortable with it. Actually, my wife likes it too! Everything works very smoothly and I was shocked at how clear the Skype video was. It always seemed fine before because I had nothing to compare it to. Now I'm wondering what was wrong with my PC. There have been a few of the inevitable stupid user errors but I expected that, nothing I couldn't overcome. It came with the free test drive of Microsoft's Word for Mac and I'd like to find an alternative. I'm looking at OpenOffice, any suggestions?

Posted by Steve Ross on Gadgets
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Friday, May 25, 2007

Boingo Update

Some clarification on the FON & Boingo agreement.

Boingo will pay Fon for each time a Boingo customer connects to a Fon Spot. Fon will share 50% of the proceeds with Foneros registered as Bills. If you are a Linus, Boingo customers will not be able to connect to your router. If you are a Linus and would like to benefit from this simply change your registration to a Bill and you will receive 50% of the proceeds. Prices to be announced soon.

Posted by Steve Ross on Business
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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Boingo and FON

BOINGO TO ROAM ONTO FON’S WI-FI NETWORK MORE THAN DOUBLING ITS HOT SPOT NETWORK WORLDWIDE

Boingo® Roaming System Will be World’s Largest Hot Spot Network with Access to 130,000 FON Locations

MADRID/SANTA MÓNICA, Spain/CA/EE.UU.—May 24, 2007— Boingo Wireless Inc., the world’s leading wholesale network aggregator and operator of neutral-host Wi-Fi networks, today announced it has signed a roaming agreement with FON, a Madrid-based company, that, when integrated, will provide access to an additional 130,000 hot spot locations – more than doubling the company’s network size.

The 130,000 Wi-Fi locations come from businesses and individuals who add their own hot spots to the FON community in exchange for the right to roam on other FON community locations for free or at a reduced rate. For Boingo users, these new locations provide a rich network of Wi-Fi locations in areas that complement Boingo’s existing commercial locations.

Access to the FON network will also benefit users of Boingo Mobile, the company’s service for Wi-Fi-enabled handsets. Boingo Mobile users pay $7.95 per month for unlimited access to hot spots worldwide to make VoIP calls, use messaging services or surf the Internet from their handset.

“Boingo users have counted on the Boingo Roaming System for great coverage at major business travel locations, and now have the same great coverage outside of those locations with the addition of the FON community locations,” said Luis Serrano, Boingo vice president of network strategy.

“FON is continuing to attract important partners as it executes its business plan and builds a unique collection of Wi-Fi locations around the globe,” said Joanna Rees, CEO of FON U.S. “Now, the benefits of the FON network are available to a new audience – business travelers – who get ubiquitous coverage along with Boingo’s ease of use benefits.”

FON hot spots are provided by community members (called Foneros) who share their unused bandwidth via a FON router in exchange for free Wi-Fi access when roaming through any other FON access point. FON recently signed a partnership with Time Warner Cable, to give their cable modem service subscribers the opportunity to be members of the FON community and enjoy free unlimited Wi-Fi access at any of FON's partner ISP Wi-Fi hotspots.
Boingo – The Best Network For Business Travelers
Boingo gives business travelers the best choice of Wi-Fi hot spots by combining tens of thousands of locations from more than 150 leading Wi-Fi operators into one worldwide network. Boingo users can connect to any of these locations with a single Boingo account using Boingo’s free Wi-Fi client software, which combines more than 660 network names into one “Boingo Wireless®” network and stores the user name and password to simplify identifying and connecting to commercial Wi-Fi networks.

The program provides partners with access to this network, customized client software, and a full suite of back-office billing, roaming, mediation and clearinghouse services to allow them to offer their own Wi-Fi service quickly and cost effectively. To date, the company has announced Platform Services partnerships with BT Infonet, EarthLink, Fiberlink, Nextel Communications, Verizon Business and Skype.

About FON
FON is building the world's largest WiFi community. Founded in 2006 in Madrid, Spain, FON's mission is to stimulate growth of WiFi Internet access through its WiFi sharing Community of "Foneros". FON’s La Fonera WiFi routers have been specifically designed to enable Foneros to share their home access points with the FON Community in a completely safe and secure manner. In return for sharing, Foneros gain free WiFi access everywhere in the world they find another Fonero. FON's investors include Google, Skype, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital. For more information, visit FON at http://www.fon.com.

About Boingo Wireless
Boingo Wireless, Inc. provides global Wi-Fi Internet access through the Boingo® Roaming System, which comprises tens of thousands hot spots in airports, hotels, cafes and other public places, including metropolitan hot zones. Business travelers can use a single Boingo account to log in at Wi-Fi networks around the world using one username and password. Boingo Roaming System services can also be private labeled by telcos, wireless operators, Internet service providers (ISP) and managed service providers (MSP) as part of their own branded services for laptops, handsets and mobile devices. Through its Concourse Communications Group LLC subsidiary, Boingo operates neutral host wireless access systems that provide wireless voice and data services supporting public and commercial interests. More information about Boingo and Concourse is available at http://www.boingo.com and http://www.concoursecommunications.com.

Posted by Steve Ross on Business
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

FON is a Webware 100 Finalist!

The Webware 100 Awards are a prize given by CNET, and FON has been selected as a finalist in the communications category by CNET's editors, with another 250 companies among a total of 2000. Now, users around the world will decide which services are the 100 best (there will be 10 winners in each of the 10 categories), by voting on Webware.com. User voting for the Webware 100 will be open from Wednesday May 23 at Noon Pacific Time until 9:00 AM June 11.

All Foneros around the world can vote for FON here!!!

Posted by Steve Ross on Events
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Monday, May 21, 2007

FON in Belgium!

Today we are launching fonero.be together with our partners Scarlet and Tidings. Fonero.be is a new ADSL wireless broadband provider based in Antwerp, Belgium. By combining their innovative WiFi services with the FON Community, Fonero.be customers and Foneros can easily connect to the Internet using WiFi around Belgium. Pricing for this service is 29.95€ per month for 6MB service. Thanks to teaming up with Fonero.be, and Scarlet as the ADSL and voice supplier, the Belgian market will provide a dense network of FONspots that are not only important for Foneros in Belgium but also those who visit Belgium.

Posted by Steve Ross on Business
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Free WiFi With Ads Update

In early April I blogged about an idea we were pursuing; free wifi for viewing ads. We continue to study and improve upon the idea, more changes are likely. I wanted to share our current ideas and get your feedback. For watching a short add someone begging for wifi would receive 15 minutes of free wifi. They could only receive this once, watching another ad would not give them more free time. Hopefully this taste of FON would encourage them to join us so they wouldn't have to beg for wifi anymore. They can purchase La Fonera and share a little wifi at home so they can roam the world for free!

Posted by Steve Ross on Business
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Thursday, May 10, 2007

La Fonera Evolution

Here is a quick video on La Fonera and where we're going with it. (think 802.11n)

Posted by Steve Ross on Gadgets
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Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Two New Tools: Gmail Uploader and FON.gs

We love technology and FON is all about sharing. With that in mind we're going to keep offering tools to make life easier. We've already released La Fonera, Gspace, and the Mac and Linux FONspots. Today I have two new ones for you; Gmail Uploader and FON Get Simple.

Gmail Uploader addresses one of the biggest drawbacks of Gmail. Gmail starts from scratch offering you no way to import old emails. Gmail Uploader solves this problem so you can now search both your past and your present mail!

FON Get Simple, or www.fon.gs, blends TinyURL with your own need to have MEMORABLE URLS. Try www.fon.gs/empirestate and see. Fon.gs is great for youtube videos or any videos, for maps, for songs, torrents, any type of long link that not only you want to simplify.

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology
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Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Ubuntu Day Two

Ok, it’s day three for those counting. I did the installation on Sunday but not much else so I’ll call today day two. Also, “Ubuntu Day Two” sounds cool so I couldn’t resist.

I had some “stupid user” issues yesterday but solved them this morning. Whenever I tried to install new software packages I would get an error about Sudo permissions. I assumed I could just give myself root access and fix it but I didn’t want to do that. I really wanted to solve the issue the way someone with no Linux experience would so I continued working through the desktop GUI. I wanted to find the issue so I could report it to the Ubuntu team and help improve the product. Well, no issues to report, it was me. I created more then one profile when setting up Ubuntu and only the first had administrator access. I corrected this and installed all necessary updates.

I’ve had no trouble connecting anything via USB. I’ve got a back up hard drive, wireless (Microsoft brand) keyboard and mouse, and card reader all working with no effort. Ubuntu handled the installation and everything just worked! I’ll try getting my other peripherals connected today.

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology
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Monday, May 7, 2007

Adios Microsoft!

Today I upgraded to Ubuntu. While my daughter napped I downloaded version 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" and burned it to CD. I was nervous but I put the CD in and rebooted. I chose the default installation that automatically partitions the drive and keeps Windows available should you want to return to it. The partitioning took some time and I have to admit I was getting nervous. After about 15 minutes the partitioner still showed as "0% complete". Suddenly it spiked to 100% and guided me through the rest of the installation. It only took a few minutes more and I was up an running. Ubuntu imported most of my pictures, music, and documents from Windows. There were some oddly named folders it missed. This was not problem as I was able to easily retrieve them when the setup was complete. I haven't reinstalled everything I normally use but all the major applications "just worked" after upgrading. I know this sounds like an advertisement for Ubuntu, I guess it is. I'll continue using it and report back on my progress.

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology
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Saturday, May 5, 2007

FON Abandons Microsoft, Adopts Ubuntu

FON founder and CEO, Martin Varsavsky (my boss) sent the memo below to all employees.

Dear All:

As of today Fon will disengage from Microsoft and adopt Linux in the Ubuntu form as our operating system of choice.

I would like to ask all Foneros to pls migrate to Ubuntu at your earliest convenience. As of next week Fon will not buy any more Microsoft licenses, nor install, service any new Microsoft programs on any existing computers. All the software we use will be Open Source unless a certain package we need is not easily available in Open Source format.

There are many reasons at Fon for dropping Microsoft. The first one and by far the most important is to save time. I have tested Ubuntu and Mac for about a month now and while I like Mac to play I found myself using Ubuntu more and more for work. Ubuntu has the look and feel of Microsoft, but it´s like a Microsoft software that works fast, that turns on and off very quickly, that installs programs very easily, that lacks that atmosphere of paranoia that surrounds Microsoft and that is extremely easy to learn and use. With Ubuntu I forgot about the computer and got to focus on the work at hand. This I could not do with Windows who through crashes and delays managed to remind me, all too frequently, that it was there. The second reason for the shift is savings. Ubuntu and all its associated software is free and not only will we save money on software but we will save money on computers as Ubuntu runs faster on a 2 year old computer than Vista on a brand new one. Lastly Fon already is an Open Source company and our software is an Open Source project called www.openwrt.org and we should support other Open Source movements/companies.

So the first thing that I would like those of you who are still using Windows at Fon is to install Ubuntu in the coming weeks. This is very easy to do. You download Ubuntu for free, you burn a CD with that file and you run the CD. If you are concerned about losing data you can back it up as usual before the install but once you install Ubuntu you will be happy to see that Ubuntu does not replace Windows but, instead, it splits your laptop into Windows territory and Ubuntu territory and that from Ubuntu you can still access all your Windows files. You decide how much memory you give each operating system. So the transition to Ubuntu is pretty painless and you can still go back to Windows every now and then if there´s something that Ubuntu cannot handle. To go back to Windows you turn your laptop off and turn it back on and choose Windows. During my first days with Ubuntu I was switching back frequently. Now I rarely do and in one laptop I erased Windows altogether and only have Ubuntu.

Once you have Ubuntu you will see that there are many free programs that are easy to download and install: you will find Skype, IM, Google Talk. Your Word, Excel, Power Point will work perfectly with OpenOffice. Ubuntu comes with Firefox and not Internet Explorer and this is great because you can then add Firefox extensions. One extension that you should download is Gspace to back up all your important data on line. Gspace sends your documents, pictures, etc to your Gmail account as files that can then be easily retrieved.

Now while the main objective in changing the computer guidelines is to avoid the slowness and complications associated with a Microsoft environment our secondary objective is to migrate all our work online so we cut another link that has caused a lot of problems in this company and that is the association between one person and a specific laptop. I would like all of us to migrate to an environment in which if you lose a laptop for some reason you are back on your feet in minutes. So Gspace is but one of the steps in the direction of having all your documents backed up online. Others are using Foxmarks so all your bookmarks are backed up online and using Gmail to constantly ask Fon for your e mail so your Fon e mail is backed up by Gmail. I also would like you to use IMAP on Fon so any computer can be your computer very quickly.

Zimbra, the software that comes with the Fon web mail is also very good and it has calendar and contacts. So does Gmail if you prefer to use Google tools. And if you would like to send your old e mail to your Gmail account you can try an experimental program web site that we launched today called Gmail Uploader that converts mbox files into gmail. This is a tool that we developed and are going to offer to others to use. This is a slow process but with this you will finally be able to search all your email. Until Gmailuploader old email is like having pictures stored in a box that you cannot open. Gmail will soon be of unlimited capacity and its great to have all your e mail in one site including your old e mail. If you have Microsoft Outlook you have to first install Thunderbird in Windows, and send the Thunderbird files to Gmail Uploader.

Yes I know some of you will read and worry. I know how hard it is to change. I used Microsoft for 20 years and until I had a terrible, fatal crash I did not change. Also Linux used to be very hard to use and people are prejudiced against it. But now it´s the perfect time to change because Ubuntu has made Linux easy and fast to use and because Microsoft has made Vista so complicated and expensive to upgrade to. If somehow you find you need help in this process please contact the local chapter of your Microsoft Anonymous organization ;)

I’m not completely new to Linux, but I’ve always kept it on my laptop or a “play” pc so my family could continue using Windows. I’ve decided to take the plunge and run Ubuntu on my home PC. That means my wife gets to use it too. Wow will she be surprised (should I tell her first?)! I’m going do it this weekend, I’ll report back on how it goes next week!

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology
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