Here's the best FAQ I've found on the subject.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fbasic...

I can't think of any questions that aren't addressed.

And none of these guys seem to have heard of Village Telco and the mesh potato... huh.

Just run a wire from one house to anothe,r hook it up to one of these and plug a phone in. eventually someone plugs in a connection to the internet, and ALL of them have internet.

What wire? what do you got? Works with twisted pair, ethernet, coax, and even wireless a bit.

http://villagetelco.org/mesh-p...

Way ahead of you there. Three stages so far. to be better defined later.

Stage one is drop in, bring your own laptop and we will tweak and try to print what you are trying to make. Stay over there please.

Stage two is you get trained in the tool, you get to touch it. Name not on the list... no touchy! You also get to help stage ones. Some tools require a lot more training than others. Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Stage three is "here's your key, you signed off on everything." You have to help stage two's get trained. and sign off on them.

The Maker movement is awesome. and is a lot like shop class from back in the day, but with a lot more access to tools and retention of fingers. It needs some sort of small grant or funding initiative to get these things off the ground.

I just joined one still getting off the ground in the Everett-Lynnwood area (North of Seattle). Lots of potential, suffering from lack of funding. We get funds, we get tools. We get tools, we get more members.We get more members, we get more funds.

But just starting out... that lack of funds is a killer. We have multiple 3d printers, a laser cutter, and an electronics parts bin the size of a walk in closet, but its hard to find a big enough place to PUT it all, who won't mind us using a laser cutter on pleather or 3d printing vinyl, or using some louder equipment to cut and drill some t- slots

Its happening... but slower than any of us really want. and none of the places we have looked at for a permanent home are really big enough yet.

I like it and want it to succeed. but I'll buy the cheaper knockoff that doesn't require an app and lets me install my own software a year or two later.

Junior bought the second one himself. quit yer bitchen'. got some chores if you want to earn the money.

heh, my oldest part is the case. I think I bought it in 1992. Power supply replaced around '98 swapped motherboards three times, put in and took out wifi access. Ethernet currently better. Haven't modified much this decade, Haven't needed to. Swapped out modems and routers this year. I don't think it was an improvement, so reading up on Open WRT.

Running windows seven now with a Ubuntu backup. Three monitors.

I have several laptops. not surprisingly, my desktop is far more robust and useable, and I hate using the laptops for any serious writing or work. The form factors don't fit my styles.

Now I DO want Augmented Reality Glasses. and will get a non windows ten version from the first company that makes a good pair. I see it as a better form factor than screens. Preferably hooked up to a modular pocket computer that may or may not make phone calls. My ideal set-up right now would be AR goggles bluetoothed to a keyboard with a dozen project ARA style modules underneath.

I want a modular device like this so bad.

I plan to buy five of them. Me, my wife, and each of my kids.

I'm hoping tablet and laptop versions soon follow so I can mix and match more modules over time. and I'll get multiples of them, too. it just makes sense to be able to repair them year after year, instead of buying another bloatware crap machine.

Even later I'm hoping I can use the modules for other projects. using the same standardized data bus for a huge variety of things. wearables, pet projects, maker movement stuff.

This is grownup LEGO.
AND a way to save money over time,
AND a way to escape the damned branding going on.

I'm not going to buy a phone until I can get something like this, and I don't really care if it's made by google or someone else.

The day this happens is the day I pay my coworker to wear my bracelet. or give it to my seven year old. or leave it on the dryer during spin cycle.

absolutely.

I'm a 50 year old old school gamer.

I've met you several times over the years, but you almost certainly don't remember me, including playing xbugs with you at a small game convention in Bellevue. and years ago in Austin. Long time GURPS fan, long time games fan.

You have a game called "Awful green things from outer space" that I loved as a teen. I've been thinking about it off and on for years, and figured out how to upgrade it into a slightly different game while using the same basic look and feel and mostly similar game mechanics..

How does one go about doing that? Do I just ask permission? Pay a licensing fee? or just make the game so different it doesn't resemble the original at all (which is least preferred) I'd rather just make a prototype,, give it to you and _maybe_ make a little money off it. To tell the truth, I'm not particularly greedy, and I could whip out the rules and basics over the weekend, The hard part is what YOU do... making all the bits, marketing, packaging, and distributing. All I'd contribute is the upgrade idea.

You probably get people all the time with stars in their eyes not understanding the business side of things.who get weird and upset and think the idea is the only work that goes into all this. Me, I just want to give you the idea and see it on a shelf at some point.(I wouldn't turn money down, mind you, it's just not my focus)

If in a city, I'd make sure conduit was in all the walls, to account for any pipes or wires of the future. designed in a way to always be able to get at them. maybe wainscoting. That's really all for tech in the city, whatever makes sense and is affordable at the time I suppose.

If in the country (more likely for me) I want a monolith dome (a brand of concrete dome created by filling a bladder with air, then adding basalt rebar and spray on concrete in multiple layers. I'd bury said dome deep into the side of a hill, with the top open with a patio and large skylight. windows all around the unburried parts. Same deal as the city dwelling with the wainscoting, prepare for change.

This hobbit hole would be designed for comfort, and I'd hire a permaculture specialist to landscape the area with a variety of complementary plants in layers to create a food forest. Integrating solar panels, a water still/desalinator, and a geodesic greenhouse and workshop or two into the landscaping as well.

From the outside you would not be able to tell there was a 2000 foot radius three story specious dome built into the hill. It would look far smaller and more humble. ALL wiring and plumbing designed for easy access and upgrading just in case the standards change.

I want this building to be able to last a thousand years. Hopefully, with me alive in it. Meh, depends on whether we get a few medical breakthroughs before I get too old.

But that's just the fancy of an old nerd who's vision of technology is a little different.

I Like Google+ a lot as well. Facebook is where my clueless family, neighbors, and random work associates find out what each other did last weekend. its gossip and bullshit. "Who is dating who" or what relative has the cutest cat pictures.

On google plus I have meaningful discussions on the latest tech developments, can get into depth on why I like a particular artist or musician, ask a question and get answers from actual experts in their field, and have circles devoted to just role playing games, or 3d printers, or contact juggling, or mesh networking routers, or auquaponics gardening, or food forests. I'll post my health issues on facebook, but if I want to talk about the latest Hans Rosling Peak Child video, its not going to be with my cousins.

The closest I come to that sort of thing is Reddit. not facebook, and reddit is LOUSY for one on one conversations and following particular people.

Google+ is absolutely my favorite platform. I love it. I use it every day, I have fifteen thousand followers, and I launched a collection of short stories due to help and support from people I met on there. I have the maximum number of people I'm allowed to follow, and the content of my stream changes every few seconds. There ARE things I don't like about it. just like there are things I hate about slashdot, reddit, and facebook. but I almost completely stopped using slashdot, and replaced it with streams on g+

I will not buy a new car unless it's fully electric. I made that vow when I was first able to drive, and have bought used ever since. My car has only twice been made in the same decade I live in, and I'm fifty years old. I've been able to afford a new car for some time, but not a new electric one... yet.

They wouldn't shut down all cell phone service over a bomb threat. They'd shut it down to stop an organized flash mob.

But the flash mob is already working on specific apps that do not need a working cell tower to run. The serval project and firechat come to mind. both can contact other smart phones without needing a cell tower. plus people are working on p-cells and modified routers that can work as cell towers just fine in very limited areas, Microsoft is working on white space routers that can handle thousands of transactions at once, and is testing it in several places. not to mention the 802.22 standard already implemented for a router with a 40 mile range.

So the stingray is a police run cell tower designed to track phones by their sim or imei handshake. Is already up and running in most places, but doesn't actually carry traffic.So what would stop the government from using stingray to "brick" all phones through an over-the-air signal?

But then again, a rooted phone can probably be set to ignore that....

and the dance continues.