December 2003


Union Square subway station, Manhattan.
Something I wrote for the business section of today’s NYT: Using a Bicycle to Uplink on a Downtown Platform. Yury Gitman, above right, is the creator of Magicbikes, which are WiFi hot spots mounted on bicycles. Last week he used two Magicbikes to send what was allegedly the first e-mail message transmitted from an underground NYC subway platform. Yury is teaching a class on mobile wireless stuff at Parsons in collaboration with Eyebeam. See the class weblog.


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I won’t be posting anything new here for a little while, but I will be messing with my camera phone. Sign up here to get photos sent from my phone to your in-box.

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Two years ago: Milan, etc. One year ago: Subways.




AirTrain to JFK, Queens.
The train has no driver, so you get the eerie sensation of floating slowly over anonymous streets, propelled by unseen forces (actually electromagnets). The bad part is when your train to the awkward Jamaica transfer point is taken out of service at Penn Station, forcing everyone to cram onto another train. Total time between buying a ticket at Penn Station and getting to check-in at the last terminal on the loop: 75 minutes. See also 3.19.2001.

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Satan’s Laundromat surveys the demolition zone for the proposed basketball hypercomplex in Prospect Heights. See also 1.16.2001.

Also at SL: Homeland security.




The crazy strobe lights, which come on at the top of the hour, were first set up for the millennium celebrations, but everyone liked them so much that they brought them back. Here’s a little movie (350K AVI). See also 6.17.