Quoting Major Variola (ret) <mv@cdc.gov>:
A satphone is under $2K and its under $3 minute. Cost-cutting measures, eh?
It's more that I'm not willing to take my nice new thinkpad and satphone and other stuff into the desert, as it would either be left unattended, or carried around while distinctly non-sober. Plus, it's a bit hot out for electronics stored in a tent all day; without a car, it's a bit more difficult. And the salt... Next year, an RV, but I don't have a drivers license yet. Camping is nice, but not around other people; I'd rather be in a very small group hiking and camping, or in a 4+ star hotel; an RV would be good enough for a week. Also, way too many of my bay area friends are broke this year, actively searching for jobs, and thus can't show up -- hopefully next year. I think people actually have 802.11b working pretty extensively, with a Tachyon-based uplink (originally provided by John Gilmore; not sure about this year); I have a spare tachyon setup which I'd take if I had a nice vehicle on which to mount it, and in which to mount the indoor unit, generator, etc. HAL2001 was 100x better than burningman anyway, and had gigabit connectivity. Just going off into the desert to do experimental rocket launches is probably even better.
You'd think some enterprising yahoo local would futz around with yagi'd pringles and sell bits by the bucket. Slackers.
-- Ryan Lackey [RL7618 RL5931-RIPE] ryan@havenco.com CTO and Co-founder, HavenCo Ltd. +44 7970 633 277 the free world just milliseconds away http://www.havenco.com/ OpenPGP 4096: B8B8 3D95 F940 9760 C64B DE90 07AD BE07 D2E0 301F