Look at this man. Just look at him. Isn't it obvious that Boris Johnson gets what Boris Johnson wants? In case you've been misinformed about the power this man's wishes hold, you should know that he's well on his way to establishing the first
muni-fi project to actually work -- or so he hopes. By and large, every attempt to sprinkle WiFi onto entire US cities has
fallen short in one way or another, but London has a motivator that no American borough ever did: the
2012 Olympics. Boris' plan is to blanket all of London in WiFi prior to the opening ceremony, with "every lamppost and every bus stop" having a router or repeater in it. The scheme is part of a larger plan to make London the "technology capital of the world," but unfortunately, your hopes of connecting for free may be dashed. According to the
London Evening Standard, "no details of pricing have been given," and we get the impression that those in charge of the rollout would've jumped at the chance to gloat about its
free-ness if that were indeed the case. But then again, who are we to question the might of London's Mayor?
posted May 18th 2010 12:29PM
Yes WIFI for everyone except for the Gingers : )
@blogwhitesitescom
I am sure they can generate the 1.21 Gigawatt's to do this from his Head / Hair alone!
@blogwhitesitescom You mean Gringos?
@Sea Urchin Nope Gingers! I can't stand Gingers they should all be made to eat chocolate to catch Chocolate Fever!
@blogwhitesitescom
I don't understand how otherwise normal people can single out gingers for such harassment based on some characteristic they were born with. Just because it isn't necessarily "racist" doesn't make it any less vile.
@Funke Tobias Dr the more people complan about it the more it stays an internet meme... just let it go and it'll die.
@blogwhitesitescom
He looks like he belongs on the set of "The Office". They need a mouth-breathing sexual predator for a few episodes.
@blogwhitesitescom Do you mean Ginger from Gilligan's Island?
@Quackula
Obviously some of you have not watched a lot of South Park.
@Pookiewood WOW Thanks for the Down Rank. Take a joke!
@blogwhitesitescom
Except as often the case with southpark people completely miss the point and latch onto whatever racist, offensive meme further purporting it.
The whole anti-ginger thing was a very British phenomenon that has spread because of bad comedians highlighting the issue thinking they are defusing it and only making it worse.
Also not sure what prompted your original comment but Boris has blond hair if thats what it was (that photo is making his hair look odd).
@Xero2 Nah I think you missed the point of his comment. He didn't necessarily mean Gingers. Replace Gingers with Black or White, People with Green Dye in their Hair, People who Drive a Smart Car, Californians or People who have been abducted by aliens. It was a joke that has thus went sour from the over-generalizing. :)
@Pookiewood
Exactly, This guy gets it!. The use of Gingers was more targeting the way to photo distorted his hair color.
@blogwhitesitescom
Boris Johnson exuding his immense IQ in that pic.
@blogwhitesitescom Duh, he's strawberry blonde!
@SLINC
Gotta love Boris. I really hope they build Boris Island.
@blogwhitesitescom Sweet, sooner the whole world will experience a global wifi - experience, especially when that 1 giga broadband plan of google is unleashed. http://j.mp/googlee-isp
@blogwhitesitescom
hahaha.... BoJo... He looks just like my avatar.. :D
Yay for wireless CCTV cameras!
Who the f*** is Boris?
@SeeKo
Boris is our incredibly awesome Mayor of London.
@SeeKo
Mayor of London
@SeeKo
Mayor of London
@SeeKo
Boris? You've never heard of Boris?
He's only the bl**ding Mayor of London. Dontchaknow.
Think of him as an upper-class, bumbling, Hugh Grant type of person (but with some actual real power).
@Sheldon
lol at censoring "bleeding"
(Sorry, I'm American :D)
@Sheldon
Why would have I heard of him? But I'm glad to check that of my "things to learn"-list for today. Now the mayors of Paris, Moscow and Beijing. Anyone?
@SeeKo
Maybe if you'd spend 10 seconds googling you wouldn't have needed to ask the question, and wouldn't have looked like a fat lazy dumbass
@SeeKo
He's the man.
@TOR epic major of epicness
@suicidebob
Actually I did. But thanks for your kind words. Though I never heard of this man and I'm sure many other Engadget readers haven't either. So let's face it, it wasn't revealed in the article so this was a legit question.
@suicidebob
hey, its suicidebob! we meet again... nice to know you're just as tactful and well mannered as ever . . . . . .
@Darren Murph
Now he changed it. Thanks Darren! ;-)
@SeeKo "But then again, who are we to question the might of London's Mayor?"
@SeeKo You should also check out Boris' brilliant speech after the Olympics handover ceremony in Beijing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsFRgIb8mAQ
@SeeKo Oh, and here's our London Mayor rugby-tackling a German footballer / soccer player: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWIUp19bBoA
@SeeKo It's Boris the bullet-dodger.
@Richard Lai
Wow, he is hilarious. Sorry guys, to all of you. I can't believe I missed out on this for so long. If he tackles the WiFi problem as boldly as this guy you can consider yourself lucky. ;-)
@skyblaze
Don't know why he did it, but I also don't know why Americans censor "damn" either while "piss" is perfectly fine...
@Richard Lai Borris is definitely one of the funnier and more interesting of our British politicians. :D
go Boris! Oh wait would it actually work in the tube?
You have been chosen, Boris.
@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa
Your picture really enhances that comment.
WIN! But is it gonna connect everyone in London? Remember there's a limit to how many users can connect for any Wifi hotspot.
@TenaciousJ728 Considering "every lamppost and every bus stop" are going to have a router/repeater, I doubt there's going to be a problem.
Besides, I see read that statement as "every damn thing you can think of will ooze wireless internet goodness."
@Nintendo Tim Epic Win if it's gonna be free! I'm pretty sure Boris is bold enough for free internet. But then again it's highly unlikely economically...
@TenaciousJ728
I'd imagine there'd be some sort of limited free access in return for a subsidy and the right to place hotspots on public property (e.g. lamp posts, traffic lights..etc).
@TenaciousJ728 I know people hate ads but you could EASILY make it free with ads. And yes ads > paying for something like this.
@TenaciousJ728 Boris and his party aren't known for giving things away for free
boris is hot. srsly.
@tigercranestyle I thought Boris was a wax statue.