Word: urbanism
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...because of it—the Tangierino’s restaurant seems to lack cultural authenticity in both food and atmosphere. For better or worse, Tangierino’s tries to give its diners the exoticized, eroticized version of North African style and cuisine. It’s the Urban Outfitters of Moroccan restaurants; everything looks great, and seems tantalizing, but there’s no substance or story behind the first impression...
...military action - as Israel did in its 1981 air strike on Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak. To be effective, however, a pinpoint strike requires intelligence on the precise location of all of the relevant nuclear facilities, some of which are believed to be hidden in hardened, camouflaged urban locations. It would also require preparation for the likelihood that Iran would likely respond with missile and guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, and via its Hezbollah proxy on Israel...
...there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Spokane is actually a radical experiment in urban wireless technology, a live-in laboratory where city-employed nerds are crash-testing the wireless technotopia of the future. All of downtown Spokane, including the park that I was sitting in, is a massive wi-fi hot spot, a whole neighborhood enveloped in an invisible field of high-volume Internet access that covers 100 city blocks. The same way some libraries and coffeehouses offer wireless Internet access, all of downtown Spokane is a wireless surfing zone...
Meanwhile, a local commercial ISP called 180 Networks had been studying ways that urban wi-fi could attract more people to Spokane's downtown area, which was in need of a little revitalizing. As Starbucks has learned, people tend to hang out more if there's free Internet access to be had. They check their e-mail. They linger. And while they're lingering, they spend money. Light bulbs started appearing over people's heads all over town. Why not make downtown one big wireless zone? The city geeks, the Vivato geeks, the 180 Networks geeks and a local business...
There you have it. The future of free urban wi-fi looks bright. It just might cost a little more than we thought...