Working offsite
6Back in 2002 I cofounded a company called Sputnik, and the idea was to enable people to easilt share their WiFi access with each other and with strangers who wanted to “sip” off of their bandwidth, and in return, they would share their bandwidth as well. Back in 2002, though, that was not a very popular vision – folks were going out of business and selling their assets to Starbucks and T-Mobile.
We ended up pivoting the business to focus more on managed wifi for businesses and event locales, and Sputnik has been doing great. But I always held a special place in my heart for the original business model.
So it was with great pleasure that I met Martin Varsavsky a few months back at Les Blogs in Paris. Martin is an amazing guy, successful entrepreneur, philanthopist, and a force of nature. I’m rooting for the Fon guys.
I’m reminded of all of this because I’m sitting here doing my work in a Starbucks today, with WiFi provided by T-Mobile. Here’s a picture of my little “mobile office”:
By the way, that little cup is actually an espresso cup – I got addicted to espresso when I went to visit Rome for the first time a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, there just isn’t anything like Italian espresso here in the states, but I’m getting by with the very bitter Starbucks espresso, which is a far approximation from the rich, smooth, full-flavored espresso I had in Italy…
Technorati Tags: fon, lesblogs, mobile, wifi, technorati, varsavsky
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How do I score some of those funky Technorati stickers…?
I only have a Dell, but swag is swag!
smp
PS: I got a note in my T-Mobile bill saying they are giving away Wi-Fi on weekends for the next month.
Hi Dave
We met at Les blogs also. I have also met Martin and agree that he is a special person but unlike you I think FON is NOT the next Skpye. Fon needs to convince me that giving total strangers access to my router by downloading their firmware is safe and it does not break the WPA2 encryption certification. Sadly I think it will break the WPA2 encryption and therefore I for one will not be downloading the FON firmware. Equally FON is currently limited to only one Linksys router. It needs to be broader and I’m sure they will write more firmware. But as we all know once you get into writing firmware then the issue of updates and support comes into play! Finally will the ISP’s paly ball. I think if they detect the firmware then they might close the broadband link. Why would BT want to have me share for free their broadband line? What FON really needs to do is workout a new revenue model for people. Money for the ISP, money for the shop owners, money for the hardware manufacturers to pre-install the firmware and money for the consumer like me who pays for the original broadband and then gives it away for free.
Leute! Kauft Lilien, liebt euch…
Dave. Of COURSE you’re not going to get a good cup of espresso at Starbucks!
Go to northbeach or The Beanery in the Inner Sunset. Some place that roasts their own beans.
Kevin
Hello everybody, I want to make friend with you. Nice to meet you.
Hi there Dave,
At Les Blogs we were talking about getting some real technorati branding for your laptop! If you send me an ai file or an eps file, I will send you a laptop skin.
Best,
Antoin.