Like just about everyone here, I've spent much of the morning looking in every nook and cranny for wifi access. It might seem strange to people who don't blog, but for those who do, coming to a tech conference like Le Web and NOT being able to publish instantly is like having your hands cut off somewhere between your shoulder and your elbow.
I've finally found dependable, or at least somewhat dependable, wifi in the start-up room upstairs. It's soon to be invaded by the hungry lunchtime masses and I fear that they'll bring our wifi router crashing down. A bit like the person in the corner I just saw knock someone else's mac book off a meter high table.
I'm also not the only member of the British press having additional, non-wifi related problems publishing today. I've written two pieces for the BBC News Online website but neither have appeared yet. It's pretty annoying when you are used to just hitting publish and seeing your post go live.
Graham Holliday, who is writing for The Guardian's Comment is Free, was sitting watching as his post didn't go live for 28 minutes - and that was maybe half an hour ago. Shane Richmond from the Telegraph also seemed to be having some issues with his posts not appearing. Gremlins all round then.
Apparently the wifi, or not, is being run by Orange - They're having a bad Xmas, to be honest, as they closed SmartGroups at the same time as advertising "Togetherness", and then cut off all GPRS access for a day (http://www.mailspaces.com/spaces/smartsupport/discussion/threads/224264)
Posted by: Nigel | 11 December 2006 at 01:34 PM
That's a very cute photo of the three of you looking concerned because your connection is dodgy.
Posted by: Ilana | 11 December 2006 at 02:19 PM
if it ever gets going it would be good to see you on irc.freenode.net, channel #leweb3 for chat straight from the hall. I'm sitting in london wondering where all the subversive voices of dissent are ;-)
Posted by: Lloyd | 11 December 2006 at 03:04 PM
I'm not at Le Web but I have noticed even the smallest of events (even non-tech events) providing free WiFi for journalists recently.
Unfortunatly my experience so far is that it's not particularly reliable - ever - anywhere - even when the event is being put on and organised by a communications company.
Posted by: Ryan Morrison | 11 December 2006 at 04:17 PM
Wifi's not reliable Ryan, but this is sponsored by Orange and they've had all day to get it sorted. It's 18:03 now and I'm now connected after having tried three different rooms on two different floors. I'm sure there are plenty of dissenting voices Lloyd, but if you're having chronic problems blogging, you folk in London aren't gonna hear them :)
Posted by: Graham | 11 December 2006 at 05:06 PM
Yeh, it's fine down in the main room now Graham. Sadly, it's been a real pain trying to find and maintain a connection and that's really limited my ability to blog the event, just as I'm sure it has frustrated other people's attempts. Let's hope they sort it out for tomorrow.
Posted by: Robin Hamman | 11 December 2006 at 05:33 PM
Amen. Fancy a beer? Shane might be up for it too.
Posted by: Graham | 11 December 2006 at 05:35 PM
What's the collective noun for a bunch of macs (as opposed to hacks) all grouped together?!
Posted by: sambrook | 11 December 2006 at 07:21 PM
I did notice that macs were particularly ubiquitous today - probably half the people with laptops had macs. Now if Apple had just provided the wifi...
Posted by: Robin Hamman | 11 December 2006 at 10:09 PM
A mélange of Macs? A gaggle? In this case - a trio of unconnected, underworked, wifi hungry information sucking machines. sigh....
Posted by: Graham | 12 December 2006 at 07:39 AM