I'm unsure if my audience (if there is one) prefers english or german, don't hesitate to leave a msg.

Today i was asked to have a look at the two wlan internet service providers (wisp) who offer their services in Ried (where i live).

Let's see:

[disclaimer] i just did some quick research, my notes are far away from any kind of in depth analysis. I tend to be a bit sarcastic but hey - those companies like to take our money. If anybody feels offended pls. let me know and i'll think about it - don't involve your lawyers immediately ;-).

http://www.funkinternet.at
- homepage ist not very informative
- ripe -> inode
- formerly http://www.admins.at, looked like a not-so-serious garage company of some students of fh hagenberg. their support forum was full of crap and only some insiders have been involved.
- claim to be connected to hagenberg internet exchange "hix"
- nat on router is advertised as "firewall"
- traffic is 50% hix-intern and 50% extern

http://www.sinovatec.net
- http://www.sinovatec.net, not very actual & detailed
- http://iteam.co.at, pure desaster, private files, eshop-documentation, i really doubt i will trust such a company
- claim to have uta backbone - well, tele2 bought uta end 2004 and this is not reflected anyhow...
- claims to allow voice over ip but don't give any details, claims to allow "rufnummernmitnahme" - how should that work?
- claims to be "more secure" - whatever this means
- ~6month behind project plan without update on homepage

To be honest i don't have a favorite. Both companies don't look very serious to me.

two new tools in use:
- skype: hyped like no other, i use it to stay in touch with colleagues who are currently abroad, wider usage upcomming
- gmail: after getting familiar with it (which only takes some minutes for open minded ppl :)) i love it: tagging instead of tree-like organizing, intelligent filters, accurate spam filtering, a lot of space (2gb), mails are never deleted, pop access, virus scanning, ... - what else do you want for free. luckily i got my account before they included a mobile phone number in their registration process.

it happened! wie erwartet hat einer der grossen del.icio.us gekauft:
heise online - Yahoo kauft Bookmark-Dienst

ha! even dean kamen is working on stirlings, so this must be one of the things of the future!