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That is my favorite Wired article written by my favorite author at that time in my life, and right around the time when the internet started to gather steam, br

That is my favorite Wired article written by my favorite author at that time in my life, and right around the time when the internet started to gather steam, brings back a lot of nostalgia

fatbird 5y ago
I will never forget: "Hey, how much does that satphone cost?" "Who gives a shit?"
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
dylanz 5y ago
"Vietnam veteran Doug Shaftoe, the son of Bobby Shaftoe, and his daughter Amy, do the undersea surveying for the cables and engineering work on the haven, which is overseen by Goto Furudenendu, heir-apparent to Goto Engineering". My all time favorite book.
- qubex 5y ago
  Cryptonomicon.
rasz 5y ago
In similar vein I enjoyed 1994 Neal Stephenson “In the Kingdom of Mao Bell” article in the Wired about CT2 (DECT like cellphone technology) deployment in China/Shenzhen. Even had obligatory “Snow Crash’s Neal Stephenson Visits Shenzhen” magazine cover tag line. Article text: https://www.wired.com/1994/02/mao-bell/ https://www.wired.com/1994/02/mao-bell/ Full magazine scan: https://archive.org/details/eu_Wired-1994-02_OCR https://archive.org/details/eu_Wired-1994-02_OCR “Even people who carry cellphones carry pagers, which confused me until I found out that most of the cellphones I was seeing aren’t really cellphones at all; they are CT2 phones, which are cheaper and operate over a much shorter range. On a CT2, you can call out but you can’t receive calls, so you have to carry a pager. To cover a metropolis with CT2, tens of thousands of base stations would be needed. Coverage in Shenzhen is still spotty. When you see half a dozen young men loitering on the front steps of a building shouting into their prawns, you know there must be a CT2 station inside.”
- smiley1437 5y ago
  Wow wow wow thank you for linking this! Never read it before, and besides being a fine example of Stephenson’s writing it is quite prescient considering what’s happened in HK

That is my favorite Wired article written by my favorite author at that time in my life, and right around the time when the internet started to gather steam, brings back a lot of nostalgia

fatbird 5y ago

I will never forget: "Hey, how much does that satphone cost?" "Who gives a shit?"

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

dylanz 5y ago

"Vietnam veteran Doug Shaftoe, the son of Bobby Shaftoe, and his daughter Amy, do the undersea surveying for the cables and engineering work on the haven, which is overseen by Goto Furudenendu, heir-apparent to Goto Engineering". My all time favorite book.

qubex 5y ago
Cryptonomicon.

rasz 5y ago

In similar vein I enjoyed 1994 Neal Stephenson “In the Kingdom of Mao Bell” article in the Wired about CT2 (DECT like cellphone technology) deployment in China/Shenzhen. Even had obligatory “Snow Crash’s Neal Stephenson Visits Shenzhen” magazine cover tag line. Article text: https://www.wired.com/1994/02/mao-bell/ https://www.wired.com/1994/02/mao-bell/ Full magazine scan: https://archive.org/details/eu_Wired-1994-02_OCR https://archive.org/details/eu_Wired-1994-02_OCR “Even people who carry cellphones carry pagers, which confused me until I found out that most of the cellphones I was seeing aren’t really cellphones at all; they are CT2 phones, which are cheaper and operate over a much shorter range. On a CT2, you can call out but you can’t receive calls, so you have to carry a pager. To cover a metropolis with CT2, tens of thousands of base stations would be needed. Coverage in Shenzhen is still spotty. When you see half a dozen young men loitering on the front steps of a building shouting into their prawns, you know there must be a CT2 station inside.”

smiley1437 5y ago
Wow wow wow thank you for linking this! Never read it before, and besides being a fine example of Stephenson’s writing it is quite prescient considering what’s happened in HK