We were once again present at Barcamp Sydney on November 15, at UNSW’s Roundhouse. Liam brought in his Meraki with a booster antena, so we promptly recruited him to keep an eye out for things on the network. We started out unthrotled, using the university’s network, but it turned out some people were abusing it, so we had to throttle it down to 512down/92up, which is unfortunate for everyone else.
I have to remind myself to prepare something next time, some folders or posters maybe, to get people to play nice. If they need a connection to stream video or live podcasts, then they can talk to us, so we know, and even maybe set up a separate network. Else, if we see any p2p traffic happening, we block access for those devices. If people then see that they are being blocked, and they don’t know why, they can talk to us. It might then very well be that they’ve got a trojan, and are part of a botnet…
And I blame myself too for not being prepared enough, and having Free Australia Wireless promo material ready. I was pre-occupied with my own presentation earlier in the week. We do need to convert more new souls…
Next month in November I’ll be travelling across to Perth for the Edge of the Web conference – both to see some great speakers and presentations but also to be providing the wireless mesh network hardware and support to provide conference attendees with free Internet access throughout the conference.
In just over a week Web Directions South, the major Australian Web development conference, kicks of with 2-day workshops and a 2-day conference at the Sydney Expo in Darling Harbour. Free Australia Wireless will be meshing the conference area, so meet us there!
The traditional Port80 pre-Web Directions South (night before the conference) drinks are on again on September 24th, 6.30pm at the Harlequin Inn, with a sponsored bar-tab (thanks Clever Starfish, Radharc and Free Australia Wireless):
Harlequin Inn
Cnr Harris & Union Streets
Pyrmont NSW 2009
After a 12 month hiatus, Webjam v8 is back for a splendid night of quick-fire presentations of new, innovative web projects, September 25th, the first evening of the WDS conference. If you haven’t registered yet, do it now, ’cause places are limited and sure to fill up quickly! And while you’re at it, why not register to pimp your project! Upstairs at Bar Broadway at 7:30pm.
Bar Broadway
Cnr Broadway & Regent Streets
Ultimo NSW 2007
BarCamp Sydney v3 has passed again. We set up a wireless network for attendees to use. With the Internet connection handled by UNSW, so plenty of bandwidth, we set up two gateway nodes and one repeater (one Outdoor and two Mini’s). Of course, we could easily manage the splashpage with a BarCamp welcome, as well as have BarCamp and Free Australia Wireless text banners.
The Meraki’s handled traffic pretty good, with people playing WoW, watching youTube, surfing, demoing,… with the Meraki’s handling about 50 users and transferring 1.8 Gb over each day.
You can clearly see when lunch was on…
We talked to lots of people, mostly in the hallway, and in our presentation on Saturday we focused on the Meraki Dashboard and its settings. We also had a group discussion on developing meshing software for mobile devices or laptops. And then there was even a presentation on how, with the help of a couple of Merakis, a student circumvented his school’s net censorship… Some people signed up for a group buy (we’ll get back to you soon!).
Sunday afternoon, we had a Meraki Mini to give away to the attendees.
Another great day at Wireless World. More positive feedback, support and best wishes – which was really encouraging. Mark Pesce gave a presentation titled “Everywhere” at the main speaking slot at the Wireless and Mobility Summit.
Lots of people were interested in being involved in the project with some even committing to participate in the next hardware bulk buy. We also gained some valuable contacts with vendors, organisations and government bodies which we will be looking for opportunities to work with in the future.
Day 1 at the Wireless World expo was quite successful. Lots of positive feedback (nearly non negative), and great industry contacts. Read Nat’s write-up:
“Really good day, got lots of people interested in the project and got a chance to hone our project spiel and a better idea of which points to emphasise or explain in more detail or in different ways.”
Big thanks to Nat for driving up to Sydney from Canberra in the morning (4 hours!), and back again in the evening! And big thanks also to Alison to show up and help out (on her free day, and with beautiful weather outside). Sometimes the two of us just wasn’t enough to handle all people at the booth.
Come say hi at booth 65 of the Wireless World 2008 expo in Darling Harbour this week Wednesday and Thursday. The expo is free to attend, though you do need to register at entry. Heckle us with your questions, get touchy-feely with a Meraki up-close (oooh), or just say hi!
“Now into its fifth year and still experiencing unprecedented growth, Wireless World has become the region’s biggest dedicated end-user, solutions-focused event.
The event brings together mobile workers and wireless enterprises and provides them with an effective way to research the industry and then choose the best fit technologies, solutions and suppliers for their organisations.
In short, Wireless World is all about the integration and convergence of wireless, mobile, RF and IP solutions and how this can be applied to improve the way we all communicate and do business.”
I know most of us need to work during the week, so meet us next weekend Saturday and Sunday at BarCamp Sydney v3! Free again!
NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS
BarCamp Sydney April 5 & 6, a whole weekend!
When you come, be prepared to share with BarCampers.
When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment.
It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.
Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to participate.
What’s Next?
Sign up on the wiki, check out the blog, tell all your friends, prepare your presentation, ask your company if they’re interested in sponsoring…
Go!: http://barcamp.org/BarCampSydney
