It's got many predicting that "the next big thing" in wireless is right around the corner. 'It', developed by researchers at Winchester University, WA; is a simple as this: wi-fi and bicycles. That's right, by combining two objects one would never think to combine, the result is revolutionary. Coined Wificycles by the team at Winchester, these devices work in a relatively simple way. Let's break it down.
The issue faced with wi-fi today is its limitations. Found only in about 20% of restaurants, chances are that where you're going won't have wi-fi. The team at Winchester University believes they have a solution. Each wificycle has installed a "signal repeater" which works by receiving a signal from satellites, amplifying that signal, and then re-transmitting it. The signal given from the satellites alone is far too weak to be used as a wi-fi signal by the general population, although this re-transmission gives enough strength for users within a 50-mile radius to surf the web. All electronics on the device are powered by the bicyclist's operation of the bicycle.
Wi-fi specialists say there would be without a doubt wi-fi almost anywhere if the device were to catch on. In order to implement such an idea, they stated that the bicycles would be given away at no charge, and in return the
users would be providing wi-fi wherever they go.In order to put this in perspective, it would take only about 37,000 users to theoretically cover the entire U.S., and 1.5 million users to cover the entire world. Seeing as how there's over 6.5 billion people in the world, the whole idea is starting to seem a lot less far-fetched. We'll keep you updated with more information and pictures, when they're released.
-MicAarZur, Gadget Gallery
