Vehicle living

SYDNEY, June 20 (Xinhua) — As CIA whistle-blower Edward Snowden hides out in Hong Kong over his expose of U.S. government data mining, we must prepare for the fallout of our plugged-in, wired-up world.

Technology promises to make our lives easier, linking us together and putting vast amounts of information at our fingertips, but many of us are generating data without any real idea of where it’s going or how it may be used.

Speaking at the University of Sydney last week via videolink, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange commented on the pervasiveness of technology in our everyday lives, and how data is now collected on every single person plugged into the system — regardless of whether they’ve ever committed a crime, or been innocent or guilty.

“Edward Snowden revealed something that I have been speaking about for a long time… That as the Internet has penetrated every aspect of society, riding on with it is mass surveillance,” Assange said.…

When Joe Pearce broke up from his girlfriend he couldn’t afford rent and he was ready to broaden his horizons. So he saved himself £5,600 by buying a run-down old yacht and living aboard.

Now he has completed his degree in Physical geography from the University of Aberystwyth in Wales, but Joe has kept his home and moved the vessel from the boatyard where he completed his studies to a river on the Isle of Wight.

The 23-year-old bought the yacht online for £800, …

Renzo piano has designed some of the world’s most iconic buildings from the giant glass shard in London to the Los Angeles Motion Picture Academy.

Ever since the 60s he has been experimenting with tiny, low-cost, one-person homes – back when he taught students at London’s Architectural Association in Bedford Square.…

Satellite telephones were the stuff of off-gridders’ fantasies – until now. The new SPOT Global Phone is a portable sat phone that will retail for $499 (solar chargers not included). And it handles data at claimed speeds that are relatively fast, compared to older models.…

Once you depend on your cellphone or Smartphone, finding yourself in a phone dead zone can be pretty traumatic.

The first thing you need to do is establish whether your difficulty is related to your area, your carrier, your house, or your phone. The remedy to your problem will depend to some degree which of these proves to be the difficulty. The steps given below by
alienintelligence-ga are pretty comprehensive. You can purchase gadgets for as little as $10 (such as the RF SuperBooster Cell Phone Signal Booster) and as much as $250 (Wilson Electronics Desktop Adjustable Gain Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home or Office – For Multiple Users …

The giant software company has worked out a way to deliver cheap high-speed Internet to remote locations where there are no power or phone lines. Their new patent application transforms the options for people who are doing long-term planning about where to live or work, if they need to tap into the Internet for any reason such as health, or client communication, or just entertainment.…

What do you have do to get Internet access when you don’t have a fixed phone line?

Which service do you use and why? – We are trying to find out what works best in different parts of the country – it can make a huge difference to your quality of life. Please let us know through comments at the end of this story, or in the forum if you prefer.

There are three main options
1. Satellite Internet – like Dish network and HuughesNet – relatively inexpensive but surprisingly high power consumption.

2. Mobile broadband via your cell – either on your cell or using it as a wireless hotspot and connecting your computer to it – lowest power consumption.

3. A purpose built device, like a roof-top antenna for 4G signals, connected to a wireless router inside the house like Home Fusion from Verizon.…