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A satellite broadcasting company called Outernet wants to bring all this content many of us take for granted to the estimated 3 billion people without internet access. That catch is that, in order to get content to as many people as possible efficiently and cheaply, Outernet's connection goes only one way.
"We want to solve the information access problem as quickly as possible," Outernet co-founder and CEO Syed Karim says.
Outernet sells a simple gadget called the Lighthouse that can connect to a satellite dish and download—but not upload—information such as Wikipedia entries, public domain texts from Project Gutenberg, news, crop prices and more. The device doubles as a Wi-Fi hub, so that users can connect to it and download or browse text on their own devices. You can also build a Lighthouse-style receiver yourself, using the company's open source software and instructions. The service is free, and anyone with the proper equipment can pick up Outernet's broadcasts.
Yay, a new device to capture the spending power of the 3 billion humans who live on less than $2 per day.
Related: Facebook's Internet.org "Platform" Launches
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Wednesday July 29 2015, @02:21AM
The device costs $99.99. Here are the specifications:
You apply to have content "published"/cached by asking for it on a wiki. I wonder if you can snail mail your requests if you can't send data?
The design seems to have a number of shortcomings. It's a nice idea but appears (to me at least) that the hardware has been slapped together and the finished product lacks polish.
I wish them all the best. Hopefully these kind of hacks won't be needed for too much longer. I believe Internet access for everybody closely follows clean drinking water in terms of importance to humanity. It's all very well to "teach a man to fish", but the man has to find a teacher first. Give him an Internet connection and he can find as many teachers as he might want.
(Score: 2) by nyder on Wednesday July 29 2015, @04:00AM
I wish them all the best. Hopefully these kind of hacks won't be needed for too much longer. I believe Internet access for everybody closely follows clean drinking water in terms of importance to humanity. It's all very well to "teach a man to fish", but the man has to find a teacher first. Give him an Internet connection and he can find as many teachers as he might want.
What if these people, who have no internet because they are very fucking poor, also have no education so they can't even read? Explain to me how this "Internet" is going to help them? Remember, this is a one way internet, not the nice internet you and I enjoy.
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Wednesday July 29 2015, @06:14AM
What if these people, who have no internet because they are very fucking poor, also have no education so they can't even read? Explain to me how this "Internet" is going to help them?
Bootstrapping.
Humans; even completely uneducated ones; are just as smart as you or me. Somebody will be able to read everywhere these things are deployed - even if that somebody happens to be a tourist. Once the locals work out that these squiggles impart magic knowledge, somebody will be inspired to learn to read. Even the single Bible left after the last missionary got eaten would be enough. Humans' thirst for knowledge is boundless.
I'm not naive enough to think that delivering a library to an illiterate society is going to change things overnight. Most people will ignore it - but there will be those one-in-a-thousand motivated individuals that takes the opportunity and runs with it. Those individuals will use the knowledge to solve local problems which in turn will encourage other people to learn how to access knowledge. The process will take a generation or two.
All it takes is one person to solve a real problem; adapted to local requirements; using this newly-available knowledge for its value to become apparent. Immediate change is both impossible and highly destabilising. Effective change happens from within.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2015, @01:43PM
Keep in mind that buying a pre-built receiver is for those who desire that convenience. They have instructions and source code available for those who wish to build their own.
example: https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Outernet_receiver_DIY_kit [outernet.is]
The 24watt power draw does seem substantial, I will agree. While it might be a high estimate, when you add up the devices (Raspberry Pi, satellite receiver, WiFi, storage), it doesn't sound too far off. The solution? Size the photovoltaic panel and battery proportionally to the needs of the device.
I would hope the 5 device WiFi limit will be overcome in the near future. Theoretically, you could attach your own WiFi router to the RPi's ethernet port instead, nullifying that limit.
Bi-directional internet access is superior, no doubt. But for people that are isolated (middle of a desert/jungle/ocean/etc) or have no money for an ISP, this is something much greater than their previous nothing.