From Smart Mobs comes news of a way cool new use of podcasting and mobile radio;,homegrown mobile networks that transmit and receive from any node. If you’re stuck in a traffic jam, just chill out and surf the mobile nets around you, listening to whatever’s happening in that area. No telling what you might hear. Maybe someone might even broadcast why the traffic is slow and a good alternate route to use.
Roadcasting: a potential mesh network killer app.
Roadcasting is collaborative, mobile radio. The concept was created by a team of five students at Carnegie Mellon University.
It is a system that allows anyone to have their own radio station, broadcasted among wirelessly capable devices, some in cars, in an ad-hoc wireless network. The system can become aware of individual preferences and is able to choose songs and podcasts that people want to hear, on their own devices and car stereos and in devices and car stereos around them.
Roadcasting provides a set of methods to transform radio into a community-driven interactive medium. Using collaborative filtering technologies, it enables rich passive and interactive experiences for ‘DJs’ and listeners in a way that has not previously been possible.
The roadcasting software has been released into the open source community, which means anyone — even GM’s competitors — can try to find commercial uses for roadcasting.
Read in MIT Technology Review: Roadcasting: A Potential Mesh Network Killer App