Friday, August 15, 2008

Ubuntu, OS X, Etc....

I recently moved so I've been setting up my office space, network, and re-evaluating my operating system and computer use. Here is what I'm using these days.

Ubuntu:
As I was packing up my things I decided to hit the upgrade button on my Ubuntu box. It was an effortless move to 8.04 Hardy Heron. Once complete I packed my desktop computer away and loaded it into the truck. It's unpacked now and I'm typing this post on it. My only complaint continues to be lack of peripheral support, but that will come with time.

Frequently Used Software:
･Word Processing / Work Productivity: OpenOffice One of my favorite features is the ability to quickly open PDF's as text. I know there are lots of other ways to do this, but this way works for me.
･Browser: Flock The media bar is what keeps me coming back to Flock!
･Music: I still don't have a single application I like. I'm always trying new things.

OS X:
Most of my time is spent on my MacBook. It's the right size to carry and the keyboard is comfortable for long typing sessions. Nice hardware and software, worth the price.

Frequently Used Software:
･Word Processing / Work Productivity: NeoOffice Continues to serve me well. No complaints.
･Browser: Flock. Same thoughts as Flock for Ubuntu, media bar is great.
･Music: Spotify. Still using Spotify and I like it. I'm curious to see what happens when it comes out of beta.
･Photos: Flickrbooth. Very cool. Lets me get a stream of my kids playing with the built in camera anywhere.
･Security: Trucrypt. Easy to use encryption program.
･WiFi: iStumbler Easy to use, no frills.

I still have a PC based laptop and desktop. I'm not going to detail those here as they're the most common in the marketplace and I use them the least. I haven't bothered to upgrade to Vista as the PC has become less relevant in my life.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Joikusoft and FON unveil Wi-Fi HotSpot software for Mobile Phones

Joikusoft and FON unveil Wi-Fi HotSpot software for Mobile Phones

Joikusoft, the mobile software development house, maker of the mobile Wi-Fi HotSpot software JoikuSpot, announces a collaboration with FON, the world's largest WiFi community. FON and Joikusoft are releasing an exclusive version of Joikusoft's mobile hotspot solution, named FonSpot. FonSpot turns a mobile phone into a Wi-Fi HotSpot, enabling any laptop, iPod Touch, internet tablet or other Wi-Fi device to connect to the Internet using any compatible mobile phone as a secure high speed Internet gateway. FonSpot with Wi-Fi will effectively replace Bluetooth, cable and USB dongles to access the Internet using mobile phones and 3G connectivity. The FonSpot is a fully secure mobile internet HotSpot solution, and makes use of the maximum security offered by the underlying Symbian OS platform. The users have full control over who will be able to access their FonSpot's wireless internet connection.

FonSpot is an exclusive offering for members of the FON community. Foneros will be able to share their mobile Internet connection with up to 5 friends, who can connect to their FonSpot. It will be made commercially available for Foneros during 3Q 2008. According to the Joikusoft Chairman and Founder Mr. Tom Ojala "FON is a perfect companion to roll out wireless Wi-Fi access in mobile phones as FON already has an established user base of hundreds of thousands of physical FON Wi-Fi base-stations. FON users will now enjoy even broader access to internet wherever they are, literally carrying internet in their pocket."

Alexander Puregger, FON's Director of Business Development, states, "FON is very glad to work with Joikusoft as the company is proving to be an innovative contributor to the proliferation of Wi-Fi. And FON is all about WiFi everywhere!”

About Joikusoft
Joikusoft is a software development house focusing on mobile innovation. The Joiku mission is to liberate mobile internet with mobile Wi-Fi HotSpots. Joikusoft has developed a mobile Wi-Fi HotSpot software client called JoikuSpot for S60 Smartphones. User base of JoikuSpot exceeded 300.000 in June 2008 and grows exponentially. Joikusoft was the first in the world to roll out a mobile Wi-Fi HotSpot solution in February 2008 at 3GSM Barcelona. Joikusoft is a privately held company, founded in 2007 in Finland and has headquarters in Garden City, Espoo, Finland.
Visit www.joikusoft.com for more information.

About FON
FON is the world's largest WiFi community. FON's mission is to stimulate the growth of WiFi around the world by creating a global community of "Foneros". FON's La Fonera routers have been designed to enable Foneros to share their home Internet access in a completely secure manner. Founded in February 2006 in Madrid, Spain, FON investors include Google, Skype, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and British Telecom. Currently FON has over 250.000 hotspots worldwide and more than 900,000 registered members in Europe, Asia and America.
For more information, visit FON at www.fon.com

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

WiFi WOW

Intel has developed technology to send WiFi up to 60 miles! I read the article in Technology Review and immediately thought it was too good to be true. I hope I'm wrong! According to the story the technology is node to node, directional, moves up to 6.5 mbps, and requires very little power (think solar). There are some limitations. In real world testing it's useful to about 30 miles with a direct line of sight. There are more details in the video. With an estimated cost of $1000.00 this development could help bring technology to more rural areas soon.

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Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ubuntu and OS X Update

It's been while since I've posted an update on my conversion to Ubuntu and OS X so I wanted to share my progress.

Ubuntu:
I upgraded to 7.10 with no difficulty on my desktop machine. I've had no issues and my only complaint is the lack of a driver for my printer and webcam. Because I'm on the go this machine doesn't get a lot of use by me. At one point I loaned it to my parents when their motherboard went. I made a few quick changes to give it a more Windows look and feel so they could easily adjust. They said it worked great! I've been recommending Ubuntu to all my friends. I frequently have this conversation right after they tell me about all the problems they have with Vista.

Frequently Used Software:
･Word Processing / Work Productivity: OpenOffice works great!
･Browser: Firefox
･Music: I haven't found a single app. I'm using consistently. Suggestions welcome.

OS X:
I'm spending most of my time on my MacBook. (I'm sitting in a barber shop typing this post on it) I'm running 10.4.11 and thinking about upgrading to Leopard. Chris Hart of the Connecticut Macintosh Connection gave a good presentation on it last week. Yes, I attended my first Mac Users group meeting, let the Fanboy accusations fly.

Frequently Used Software:
･Word Processing / Work Productivity: NeoOffice is fantastic. Use it.
･Browser: Flock. It's based on Firefox but comes out of the box with lots of great features. A media bar shows my favorite Flickr tags and I can drag and drop photos to my friends on Facebook in the sidebar. (I haven't tested any other social networks)
･Music: Spotify. When I heard about Spotify my initial reaction was that I needed another music streaming service like I need a hole in my head. Then I tried it and my opinion changed. Most of the time I'm in front of my computer when I listen to music so it works fine for me. You can't move music from Spotify to any portable players. It's streaming only but the library of music is huge and the interface is clean. Spotify is still in private beta. Go sign up.
･Photos: Flickrbooth. It automatically uploads every photo taken with Photo Booth to my Flickr account. For me it's great because my 3 year old daughter loves to play with it and take photos of herself making silly faces. I can watch them roll in while I'm at work (errrr.....on break). I've read about cases where a laptop was stolen and they ended up with a nice stream of the thief in Flickr. I guess this could be considered a poor mans security device too!
･Security: Trucrypt. Good easy to use encryption program to keep your confidential documents safe. Like details of our next ...... never mind ;)
･Widgets: Airport Radar for displaying available wireless networks. Screenshot Plus for quick captures of the entire screen or a smaller desired area. IStat pro to monitor system performance.


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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

iFON for the iPhone and iPod touch

If you're proud owner of an iPhone the FONLabs have an applet for you! It's available via AppTapp and allows you to automatically connect to FON Spots on the iPhone and iPod touch!

img_0059.jpg

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Wednesday, December 5, 2007

HandyWi 1.0

handywi_logo.png
The team at www.HandyWi.com have launched a new Wifi connector for Symbian S60, 3rd generation Nokia (E51, E60, E61, E61i, E65, E70, E90, N80, N81, N81, N91, N92, N93, N93i, N95). Now it's easier then ever to connect to FON.
HandyWi features:
* Filtering of hotspots, separated view for public WLAN networks (FON/Zebra)
* HandyWi clearly shows which access point is secure and which is not
* Single internet access point (HandyWi APN) for all applications (mail, web browser, char etc.)
* Easy account management, several user accounts possible (scratch card, prepaid etc.)
* Access to the location based media information, loaded each time you connect (works on selected WLAN networks only)
* Automatic hotspot discovery and alert feature
* Automatic connection to the hotspot which has stronger signal
* Secure RSA encrypted communication with HandyWi server
* Automatic application startup after install and on boot
handywi.png

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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Unfolding News

The Fon Labs team is at it again. This time they've created unfoldingnews.com. This tool is designed to track news as it's reported. Today when major news organizations (finally) picked up the story of Comcast blocking BitTorrent I used it to see who broke the story first. It's still in the experimental stage so any suggestions are appreciated!

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Firmware Update

You may have noticed a recent firmware update. One of the most significant changes was allowing the Fonera to utilize your ISP's DNS Server. Full details can be found here.

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Router Status Now Available in User Zone!

We've implemented a new feature for owners of multiple Fonera's called "Router Status". You can access this through the User Zone in the Configure Your FON Router section. This new feature shows the status of all your Foneras. Our intent is to help improve uptime since some routers may become accidentally disconnected. You can now log in and confirm that we show your routers as online. This is quicker then checking the maps or driving around town! Currently this is only available to owners of multiple routers but we're going to expand it to everyone soon!

UPDATE - Now owners of a single La Fonera will receive a large bold message int the Configure Your Router section if there router is offline!
RouterStatus.jpg

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Wifi Distance Record!

I read this story in Engadget and cnet this morning. Ermanno Pietrosemoli has managed to send a wifi signal 382 Kilometers! Wow! Pietrosemoli was able to achieve 3 megabits up and down using technology from Intel and some off the shelf parts. There is an interview with Pietrosemoli here. He could be the ultimate Bill!
antenna.jpg

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Monday, May 7, 2007

Adios Microsoft!

ubuntulogo.png 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.

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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!

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Thursday, April 26, 2007

New FONspot Software

We've just released a beta download that turns your Intel based Mac or Linux based computer into a FONspot. Below is a video of FON founder and CEO Martin Varsavsky demonstrating the software. We would like to add Windows or Vista capability in a later version but it's proved difficult so far. If you know how to do this please let me know!

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Life With Skype

Two weeks ago I cancelled my long distance plan and switched to Skype. I’m using the SMC Skype WiFi Phone for voice calls and I have a Logitech webcam for video conferencing. Everything works well with the SMC and it has about the same range as my cordless phone. I’ve made calls while streaming video and haven’t experienced any degradation in call quality. Since Skype is an investor in FON the SMC phone has the added advantage of working at all FON spots or any open WiFi hotspot. The Logitech webcam works well but I won’t win any awards for cinematography. It’s great for letting the kids talk to their grandparents. They (the kids and grandparents) get a real kick out of seeing one another on the screen and Skype to Skype calls are always free!

Skype has a deal for US and Canadian residents; unlimited calls to those countries for $29.95 per year. I was paying over $400.00 a year for unlimited long distance prior to this. I kept my traditional landline because Skype does not offer 911 service. This also allows everyone to continue calling me with no change in phone number. If you’re paying too much for phone calls consider Skype. You can save money and get a cool WiFi SMC Skype phone. After two weeks I can’t figure out why I didn’t do this before.

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Monday, April 9, 2007

What's Next

In the video below FON founder and CEO Martin Varsavsky talks about upcoming FON products and R&D while driving around Taipei.

Link: sevenload.com

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Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Worlds Smallest WiFi Chip?

With the popularity of WiFi growing it’s no surprise to see major developments in the technology surrounding it. Now NXP (formerly Phillips) has announced a 5 X 5 millimeter WiFi Chip! Obviously aimed at the handset market this and other developments are great news for those who love WiFi!

Wi-FIplanet.com reported more details on the chip:The GBM220 chip supports 802.11b/g and integrates the radio, baseband and MAC in a single 81-pin package that measures 5 x 5 mm. A single antenna for the device will support it and a Bluetooth chip, as well. It will also support NXP's power management, and will meet the usual Wi-Fi requirements for WPA2 and WMM, plus Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) for better use with Cisco infrastructure found in enterprise WLANs.

Take a look at the picture of the chip below: (you may have to squint)

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Friday, January 26, 2007

FON Wi-Fi Connection Manager

Lot's of people have been asking about automatically logging onto FON access points. I don't have a release date to share with you but we have signed an agreement with Spotigo for our FON Wi-Fi Connection Manager. This will allow Foneros with window devices and Symbian smartphones to detect and connect to FON access points automatically!

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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

La Fonera and Mac

Hello, some users have had difficulty configuring Mac’s to work with La Fonera. We’re updating our help section but I’m posting the instructions here too.

Configuring La Fonera for Mac OS

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Wednesday, November 8, 2006

GSPACE and FON

As some of you have heard we recently purchased Gspace! There’s more at Gigaom.com if you want read about the acquisition. If you’re not familiar with Gspace it’s an extension for Firefox that allows you to use the 2 GB of space that comes with your Gmail account for storage. You can get Gspace free here.

Gspace.jpg

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Friday, May 26, 2006

Net Neutrality – follow up

There was a small victory for net neutrality yesterday as the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would require ISP’s to apply nondiscriminatory treatment to data passed over the internet. The vote passed by 20-13, not a huge victory. The bill has a long way to go as it still requires full approval both from the House and Senate and must get through the president without being vetoed. Keep letting your representatives know you support net neutrality!

Save The Internet has a number a ways you can make your voice heard.

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology, Technology
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Net Neutrality – follow up

There was a small victory for net neutrality yesterday as the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would require ISP’s to apply nondiscriminatory treatment to data passed over the internet. The vote passed by 20-13, not a huge victory. The bill has a long way to go as it still requires full approval both from the House and Senate and must get through the president without being vetoed. Keep letting your representatives know you support net neutrality!

Save The Internet has a number a ways you can make your voice heard.

Posted by Steve Ross on Technology, Technology
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Thursday, May 25, 2006

Two SSID's - just what you asked for!

A number of users suggested FON enhance the firmware to allow two SSID’s. Well it’s happening in the third release due in about 45 days. The router will now have two completely separate environments; one private, one public. Please keep the suggestions coming!

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Monday, May 22, 2006

Web 2.0 and the Social Router

I’ve had some questions about the definition of “web 2.0”. Wikipedia defines web 2.0 as “a second generation of services available on the world wide web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages.”

That’s a start. I would add that web 2.0 companies separate themselves from their predecessors by their ability to grow with little advertising. Remember Pets.com and the little sock puppet they spent millions of dollars advertising? Well, I never used Pets.com, and neither did many of you. Pets.com was web 1.0.

Skype is web 2.0. I don’t recall seeing any advertisements for Skpe, they may have some. I use Skype because they offer a service I desire, as opposed to something widely available. FON is web 2.0 in the same way. FON offers me free wifi access, so I use it. FON is also social. It allows me put my photos, websites, and thoughts on my FON router so anyone connecting will see them. FON makes the world a little smaller. That’s web 2.0.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Skype Offers Free Calls!

I know what you’re thinking but this is not just to other computers! Skype announced a new offer for US and Canadian customers. Now through the end of 2006 you can make free calls not only to others on Skype but to traditional landline and mobile phones too!

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Monday, May 15, 2006

New FON firmware (version 0.6.5)

The new FON firmware has officially been released. You can download it here.

Here are main new features:

* Two-step registration
* Highly customizable interface
* Allows SSID changes
* Internet connection protocols: static IP, DHCP, PPPoE
* Firewall and port forwarding web interface.
* WLAN (WiFi) and LAN/WAN traffic filtering
* remote version upgrading

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Friday, March 24, 2006

FONbasic Translations

Do you want to see FONbasic firmware in your language? Well, it's up to you!

Currently we have the full firmware translated into: English, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Danish and Italian. The main reason is that we found people that kindly accepted to translate it into this languages.

We have partial translations in: Estonian, Czech and Polish. This ones only require the fon.txt file (shown below) to be translated.

What do you have to do?

Continue reading "FONbasic Translations"

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Thursday, March 9, 2006

FONbasic taking some steps. New languages ready for the next release

Hello everybody from the development bunker!

We are working on improving things on the FONbasic and FONadvanced firmwares. This is some of the features we have already implemented in the FONbasic firmware:
- Automatic channel selection: selects the most spare channel
- Improved firewalling: correct the WLAN isolation respect to WAN and LAN and permit the users to disable this isolation.
- All ssids will be forced to be FON_ prefixed
- New languages: Italian, Swedish, Danish, Czech.

We will be announcing more changes soon!

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Thursday, February 23, 2006

OpenFON

I'm sitting here with the CTO of FON Juantomas and we are trying to figure out how to develop a platform for FON users to customize their router look and feel. One of the questions we have is this: what do you want on your router?

Blog?
Flickr?
News?
WiFi Thank you note?
Classifieds?
Customize your firmware?

What would you like to be able to add and have on your customized access point?

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Sunday, February 5, 2006

Working with the ISP

The largest concern we have received from our very smart board of advisers is how receptive ISP's will be to FON. Although it's not illegal to share you connection many ISP's have restrictive End User License Agreements (EULA) that prevents you from sharing with anyone outside your household. There are some exceptions to the rule, for example Speakeasy has a very open policy. There are many ISP's that are similar to Speakeasy but the difficulty is with the major broadband cable companies that most people use.

To some extent the restrictive EULA's make sense from a business standpoint. The ISP's don't want one person in a building to sign up for broadband and then have his entire neighborhood leech off of it instead of paying. But that isn't an issue with FON. A big part of what I have been doing in the USA is trying to educate ISP's that FON is actually GOOD for their business. And this is why:

We give free roaming to their clients at no expense to the ISP, encouraging more people to sign up with them

We share revenues from aliens with the ISP

FON is a nation of people who share their broadband in exchange for having access to other broadband access points

We are not creating a network of free loaders. This is something that is very important to Martin because he founded Spain's second largest Telecom and ISP companies. So he believes it’s critical to our success to work with ISP's and I think his background has been a great help. We have already signed a deal with one major ISP in Europe and are currently talking to several others. It’s a win/win situation for our foneros and for the ISP's. Soon we hope to have a list of ISP's that explicitly allow FON, until then you should contact your ISP to encourage them to embrace FON.

Posted by Teo on Technology
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New firmwares in sight

Hi FONeros,

This is Iurgi from the development department of FON. We are proud to announce the upcoming release of two new firmware versions at the same time.

The first one will be an update of our previous firmware. It will be mainly a bugfix but will also have some additional features, such as PPPoE support, fallback system if no Internet connection is detected (showing wan configuration interface), default password, inter-network isolation (WLAN users cannot access LAN) etc. But the main feature is a much more simple and efficient way of registering the access point. I can foretell you that the ones that have already registered your access points will be requested to do it again after reflashing; but only for this time. Future eventual reflashes won't require you to register the router again.

The second firmware we are going to release will be much more powerful. Whilst the other one will stuck to simplicity, for those who just want it to be plug and play, this second one will be based on the famous dd-wrt firmware by Brainsalyer. Being based on such a powerful firmware, will provide you with the capability of fine tuning many features. This firmware is recommended for those who want to have full control of their boxes and want to redirect specific ports to their own servers, need special configuration protocols for their Internet connection etc.

So we will have 2 different firmwares supported simltaneously: FONbasic, for those who want it simple yet usable and reliable and FONadvanced for the more exigent ones.

It's up to you which one to use.

Release date? We can't say it yet, but I can promise you it will be soon, during this month.

Posted by Teo on Technology
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Wireless Security

Most people are concerned with the security of their wireless network and it makes sense for them to be. A lot of people don't know how to actually secure their wireless access point or add encryption to it. It is becoming easier now, and many manufacturers give very detailed steps on how to encrypt your wireless network. But FON does something a little different.

We add security to your wireless network without encryption in two ways. The first is that when you install FON or buy a FON router it creates two segmented networks. One network is for people that connect over the wireless antennas (the visitor network) and the other network is for your personal computers that are connected locally (your home network). We separate the visitor and home networks using a firewall. So someone that connects to your wireless visitor network would not be able to connect to your personal computer if it’s on your home network.

The second thing we do is we give you the ability to restrict access to your hotspot only to FON users and specific people you trust, of course you can leave it open to anyone, but our default policy is to limit it to Foneros, Aliens and your family. When someone connects to your network over the wireless antenna, we restrict their access and only allow them to visit the FON authentication page. If they are Foneros then we allow them to browse the Internet, but not connect to your personal home network.

We take security very seriously here at FON, especially me since I built my career in the security industry. And these are just some of the steps we are taking. But the underlying belief we have at FON is that Foneros should be able to share safely, securely and worry free.

Posted by Teo on Technology
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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

FON firmware update

You can now download the updated version of the FON firmware (0.5.2) for the Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL. The firmware is now also available for the WRT54GSv4.

For those of you who are new to FON, all the software if free for download on the FON website:

Posted by William on Technology
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Friday, November 4, 2005

List of all the routers that will work with FON

FON software is open source. We are inviting anyone interested to improve the software. Here's a list of all the routers that will work with FON a couple of months from now. Basically, to work with FON, a router has to be a sort of mini Linux computer.

Posted by Martin on Technology
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The Linksys WRT54G is ready to go!

We officially have the first version of the FON software running smoothly. The access point it works with today is the Linksys WRT54G. This model is sold in most computer/IT stores including FNAC and PC CIty. Why this model? Because it works wth open source software and it's great quality. If you already own this model, all you have to do is download the FON software, connect your Linksys, install the software onto your Linksys and convert into a FON access point. Soon, all this is going to be explained in detail in the FON website. If you don't already have a WiFi connection, we recommend you buy this model in any store or you can buy one from FON on our website. If you buy it from us, you'll have it already configured and ready to go. Obviously, for some, it's not fantastic news that FON only works with Linksys, but rest assured, in less than 4 months, FON will work with many more models. To make up for this, we're thinking of how we can make Aliens pay Bills and Linuses without FON pocketing anything, until the price of the units bought is amortized.

Posted by Martin on Technology
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