Wardriving Kuwait: Listing Access Points

"Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer or PDA." -- Wikipedia

Ever since I got my new mobile (HTC Hero) which has both GPS and WiFi, I've been wardriving; simply run a program and it does all the dirty work of scanning for wireless networks and attaching the geographical location of these access points (APs).

The program I use is wardrive. It's written by Raffaele Ragni and is freely available in Android's market.

A quick link to reach the full map is: http://sites.mbhbox.net. If you would like a list of only the open APs, visit the program's website: http://wardrivedb.appspot.com

The purpose of this project is to collect statistics and show a map of open and secured access points along with other things.

Don't be shy. Leave a comment. Anonymous comments are enabled.

If you'd like to contribute to this project, email me: mbhkewl TheAtSign gmail Dot com.

Choosing A Sub-notebook

My sister has been whining that the Lenovo laptop I got her is too big for her to carry around in college. Since she wanted something just to type word documents, do presentations and chat with, I showed her the Asus Eee PC models, and she loved them.

The available models were 7", 8.9" and 10" and luckily they sell these in Kuwait - Hawalli area - Ibn Khaldoun street. I took her so that she can see and relate to the sizes. The 10" was "big" so the debate was whether it's 7" or 8.9".

The difference between the 7" & 8.9" is the screen size and the disk capacity, but the dimensions of both are the same!

Linux or Windows?
Now, for a sub-notebook, you have very limited resources: 512MB-1GB of RAM, 8-30GB of disk space. And the choice of the Operating System makes a VERY big difference.

If you choose to go with the Windows model, you get Windows only, without Office and without an Anti-virus (which is a must). Office 2007 would kill the poor machine, and an anti-virus would make it unbearably slow.

So it's obvious that Linux is the proper choice for such small devices, and guess what? It does come with a set of applications pre-installed, including OpenOffice.org from which you can save as MS Word 2003 format, or export to PDF.

This doesn't apply to Asus only. For any device with limited resources (sub-notebook, PDA, tablet, Smartphone, Embedded devices) I hardly see how Windows would ever be a feasible solution.

Mesh Networks and Traffic Jams: A Double-Edged Solution

Intro
Being stuck in traffic jam is horrible. Being stuck in traffic jam with only a radio & nothing to listen to but rap music, is terrifying!

What if you could see traffic flow in real-time, before you leave and while driving? Sounds great, right? But what if you could see traffic flow AND be able to surf the Internet using the same inexpensive solution? THAT'S FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Background
Let's get realistic: In the United States, it's possible to get traffic reports using GPS units. This is done by attaching an antenna to receive radio transmissions from the respective service provider (either for free or by subscription).

This solution has been debated to not provide information security, as the FM radio transmissions can be spoofed and forged, producing false reports. There's also the monthly fee you have to pay to the service provider.

Proposed Solution
What I propose here, is creating a distributed mesh network, which can be tracked in real-time and provides Internet access at the same time. Each node is a mini-router that is configured to search for similar nodes of the same network, forming a bond and a redundant, anonymous, decentralized network.

Real-Life Application
Deploy a mini-router from Open-Mesh.com in each car and let it be pre-configured to join a network of the name "adrenalin" -- And let there be edge nodes (houses/flats/shops) with also a mini-router, but connected to the Internet.

Assume you're driving on an empty road and no one is in sight. Your router will not be able to connect with any node since none exist, and thus your path is free and there exist no traffic jam! (And unfortunately no Internet :( )

If you're driving in the city, there will be both cars and edge-nodes, hence your router will connect to one of these and you'll be able to see a topology representing the scatter of cars around, and you can determine congested routes and steer away from it, while at the same time, you gain the ability to access the Internet, thanks to the edge-nodes.

And guess what, the more jammed the traffic is, the more bandwidth is available for you to surf the Internet!

Open-Mesh.com provides a web-interface to see and manage all these nodes, and there exist projects to further enhance the application of these networks.
Go to the Network Status page and enter the Network Name as "test" (without double quotes). Leave the password field empty, and click sign in.

All mobile nodes (cars) are anonymous, and the edge-nodes can choose to be anonymous as well, protecting the privacy of people.

Solution Feasibility: Technicalities
* Each router has 2 interfaces: A public one and a private one. This means while your router is hooked to other routers, you connect to your own only, using a laptop or a PDA. The router has built-in firewall and encryption.

* The router runs on 5 volts only, and any car battery can handle it easily.

* If you have a computer in your car (carputer), you can hook it through LAN.

* The antenna is detachable, so it's easy to upgrade or relocate it.

Solution Feasibility: Mass Deployment
Let's assume this is a government sponsored project. When buying a new car, the person pays a subsidized sum to implement the mini-router along with the license plate fees.

According to open-mesh.com, a pack of 20 routers cost $799; that's $39.95 per mini-router (almost 11KD). The government could sell it for 4KD, and 1KD fee for the license plate, so the total is 5KD!

Local ISPs can join the party by offering free edge-nodes that allow Internet access. They make profit by displaying advertisements in a frame at top of the page. The profit made can be split with the government, to make up for the cost of the devices.