Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Veni, vedi, fish velocipede

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                     

WiFi Solar Server

Host you own website on a portable device for free.
  (+5, -2)
(+5, -2)
  [vote for,
against]

Okay so I heard how you can take a PSP and turn it into a server, and how they've designed $100 laptops for kids in third world countries.

Now imagine you want to share your music, run a porn site, illegal gaming site or just put up some simple propaganda site, but don't want to pay the fees for someone to host your site and have a little anonymity at the same time. The technology exists to have an extremely small server (maybe the size of two ipod nanos) with no screen maybe a usb port for direct access to it's memory. The major components would be a wifi card, a cpu (maybe like dragonball z?), a solar cell (to keep the thing charged), flash memory, a usb port, linux and batteries. Now you get the thing in the mail preconfigured with your domain name, user name and password (or a build your own kit). Then your only mission is to place it in one of those free wifi zones towns are setting up all over the place and make certain it is in a sunny location and glue it in place somewhere inconspicuous. You go back home log onto you site and start uploading until your flash memory is full! No more webhosting fees. No more need to worry if you server will be down (unless there's a lot of really bad weather - that's why you pick someplace like downtown Tucson). If you position it so it can be charged by street lights at night and sunlight when available you're better off. And the only trace back to you is the domain name registration and your mailing address.

Thanks for the community feedback on my use of the word terrorist. I did mean it in a facetious sense. A christian website could be considered "terrorist" by folks not wanting to be converted.

Willie333, Dec 06 2005

(?) $100 laptop for third world kids http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
[Willie333, Dec 06 2005]

(?) PSP Server http://www.hawaiist...News.php?itemid=284
[Willie333, Dec 06 2005]

(?) WAP with 2.5" internal HD and file server - $115 http://linuxdevices...s/NS7538129611.html
Tiny, linux on x86 compatible, cheap and low power. Just add solar panel and HD [BunsenHoneydew, Jul 08 2006]

Dragonball Z http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonball
manga [BunsenHoneydew, Jul 08 2006]

Freescale/Motorola Dragonball http://en.wikipedia...reescale_DragonBall
CPU ... "from Palm OS 5 on it has been superseded by ARM-based XScale processors" [BunsenHoneydew, Jul 08 2006]

(?) Suppressed Photos http://www.thememor.../war/coffin_photos/
Made public thanks to a webmaster who remains unafraid [James Newton, Jul 10 2006]

Whistle-blowers not protected http://www.csmonito...24/p02s01-uspo.html
Bush et all circumvented or removed the laws that protected them. [James Newton, Jul 10 2006]

[link]






       Aside from the fact that the dragonball z is TOO SLOW, this is probably possible. You could set up the machine to use one of the dynamic DNS services. It would start working as soon as it had real internet connectivity.
NoOneYouKnow, Dec 06 2005
  

       Dragonball Z is a kid's cartoon/card game/marketing scam. The CPU is just called a Dragonball.
BunsenHoneydew, Jul 08 2006
  

       why are we talking about dragonball?
tcarson, Jul 08 2006
  

       /The major components would be a wifi card, a cpu (maybe like dragonball z?)/   

       A discontinued CPU at that. See link for a ready to wear solution.
BunsenHoneydew, Jul 08 2006
  

       //put up some simple terrorist propaganda site// I'm voting against because of this phrase. It's not funny.
zigness, Jul 08 2006
  

       One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. What would you say to someone wanting to host government-banned info in China? Zimbabwe? North Korea?   

       However being radio devices, I think these things would actually be more easily detectable than a landline based server.   

       Rather than teh w@y k3\/\/l cypherpunk uses envisaged here, I think these things would be more useful for rolling out telecoms infrastructure in the 3rd world.
BunsenHoneydew, Jul 09 2006
  

       //One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.// Bullshit. A terrorist is a terrorist. A terrorist preys on and kills the innocent in an effort accomplish their end... whatever that end happens to be.
zigness, Jul 09 2006
  

       And if you lived in China, and the government told you that those nasty Falun Gong people were terrorists, and threatened the security of the glorious People's Republic, what would you think?   

       Anyway, this really has little to do with the content of the idea. I have a feeling there's something about the process of getting a server on the net that's a little loose here, but I can't quite pin it down.
BunsenHoneydew, Jul 09 2006
  

       BH... I'm not so interested in a political debate with this thing, but I at least am compelled to add that I couldn't care less what a government says about anyone. What I say is that if someone decides to take an innocent life in an effort to make others afraid, then they are a terrorist. Period.   

       I agree with you about the looseness of the idea otherwise.
zigness, Jul 10 2006
  

       I pretty much agree with you [zigness], war, terror, and all that aren't funny and shouldn't have been included in this idea. But just out of curiosity, what would you call someone who reveals the identity of a secret service worker in order to make others afraid to speak out against war? Or someone who wiretaps thousands of phone calls with no justification other than that they are international calls and without asking for a warrent? Or who removes the legal protections of whistle-blowers? My point is that hosting a website or posting information without being traced could be something that is important to your own freedom at some future time. If you happen to find something out or know something that is critical and that you know our current government will try to suppress. You know, little things like data about global warming, photos of the caskets of returning G.I.'s or perhaps you know where to find a recording of the president talking to his aids about killing a reporter who has been causing a lot of problems for him. In todays frighting world, how else would that sort of information see the light of day?
James Newton, Jul 10 2006
  

       [JN], I get where you're headed... good point.
zigness, Jul 10 2006
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle