Codebreaker

Lost your Internet connection? There’s an app that might be able to help

Larissa Anderson Jun 5, 2012


I was taking a walk yesterday. In nature. And there was NO WAY FOR ME TO GET ON THE INTERNET. It was terrible. I just had to listen to nature out there, no podcasts or music or anything. I couldn’t even read an email. It’s like we lost a war. A new app could make it easier for people to get online when there isn’t a Wi-Fi signal. MIT Technology Review writes about Open Garden, an app that lets you use other users’ signals to connect to the Internet. It’s a mesh network. The app is currently on Android devices, Macs and PCs, and a version could be available for the iPhone when the developers get approval from Apple. “Open Garden sniffs around for available Web-connected devices, choosing the best way to get online automatically, and that the person with the original connection is prioritized over others.”

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