.: Cath’s Blog:.

And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours….

When I moved into a new neighborhood last week, I expected the usual hassles. Then I found out I’d have to wait more than a month for a DSL line. I started convulsing. If I don’t have Net access for even one day, I can’t do my job. So, what was I supposed to do? There’s an Internet caf� on the next block, but they close early. I had no choice-it was time to start sneaking on to my neighbors’ home networks.

Every techie I know says that you shouldn’t use other people’s networks without permission. Every techie I know does it anyway. If you’re going to steal-no, let’s say borrow-your neighbor’s Wi-Fi access, you might as well do it right. Step one: Lose the guilt. The FCC told me that they don’t know of any federal or state laws that make it illegal to log on to an open network. Using someone’s connection to check your e-mail isn’t like hacking into their bank account. It’s more like you’re borrowing a cup of sugar. (Unless you hog their bandwidth by watching lots of streaming video-that’s like hijacking a sugar truck.)

In the end, it’s your neighbor’s Internet service provider-not your neighbor-who will pay for the added traffic, and the ISP has already factored a small amount of line-sharing into their price plan. It is true that your surfing could cause the folks next door to break their service contract-many broadband providers do specifically forbid home customers from sharing a connection. But let’s deal with those abstract ethical issues later-you have important mail to answer!

If you want to find a Wi-Fi network, don’t start by looking on the sidewalk for chalk marks. “Warchalking ,” a technique for writing symbols in public places to alert neighbors to nearby wireless access points, is a cool concept that’s been undermined by the fact that no one has ever used it . The best method to find some free wireless is to treat your laptop like a cell phone. Since Wi-Fi and cell phone signals travel on a similar radio frequency, the same tricks you use for getting a better phone connection might work on your computer. Sit near a window, since Wi-Fi signals travel better through glass than through solid walls. Stay away from metal objects. Pay close attention to your laptop’s orientation-rotating your machine just a few degrees could help you pick up a network that you couldn’t see before. Raise your laptop over your head, put it flat on the floor, tilt it sideways while leaning halfway out the window-get out the divining rod if you have to. You might get a reputation for being some sick laptop yoga freak, but isn’t free Internet worth it?

If you live downtown or in a suburb where the houses are close together, a few minutes of laptop gymnastics will probably reveal several Wi-Fi networks. Certain names are a giveaway that a network probably won’t be password-protected. Look for “linksys,” “default,” “Wireless,” “NETGEAR,” “belkin54g,” and “Apple Network 0273df.” These are the default network names for the most popular wireless routers. If a network owner hasn’t taken the time to change the default name, that’s a good clue that they probably won’t have a password either. You should also look for signs of hacker culture. Since hackers love giving away Net access, an all-lowercase name like “hackdojo” is most likely an invitation to log on. On the other hand, a name in all caps is typically a network under corporate lockdown.

If you do get prompted for a password, try “public”-that’s the default on many of Apple’s AirPort units. You can also try common passwords like “admin,” “password,” and “1234″-or just check out this exhaustive list of default passwords. You should also try using the name of the network in the password space. A generic password could mean that the network’s owner didn’t have the sense to pick something less obvious or that they’ve decided to welcome outsiders. But who cares? You’re in. And again, there’s no specific law barring you from guessing the password, as long as you don’t crack an encrypted network and read other people’s transmissions.

You can tell that you’ve successfully joined a wireless network when your laptop’s IP address changes as it’s assigned a local number by the network’s router. To watch it happen on a PC, keep the Network control panel in Windows open; if you have an Apple notebook, look at the Network section of the System Preferences program. (And if you’re running Linux, I don’t need to tell you where to look.) Once your laptop has an IP address, your next hurdle is getting DNS to work. DNS stands for Domain Name Service-it’s what translates Internet domains like “slate.com” into IP addresses like 207.46.141.216. On most networks, DNS works automatically. But if you get a browser error like “Cannot find server,” go back to your network menus and configure your laptop to use a public name server -144.162.120.230 in Dallas, for instance.

Once DNS is working, you should be good to go. While you should be able to surf the Web with no problems, you may have trouble sending mail from Outlook or other desktop programs because of restrictions on e-mail routing that have been set up to stop spammers. If you have problems, just use a Web-based mail service like Hotmail or Gmail instead.

Keep in mind that the neighbors may not be thrilled that you’re sharing the line. One guy next door to my new building shut off his network the day after I moved in, probably because he got spooked by all those blinking LEDs on his router. Even neighbors who are happy to share may see you in a different light if they check their router’s URL logs and find a few hundred hits on porn sites. While your browsing will show up under an anonymous address, the short range of Wi-Fi means that they’ll at least be able to figure out that one of the laptop owners within 100 feet of their living room is a stuffed animal fetishist. (As a San Franciscan, I need to point out that a stuffed animal fetish is perfectly normal. It’s your neighbors who have the problem.)

Since everyone isn’t as eager to share their network as I am, it’s only fair to explain that there’s an incredibly easy way to keep neighbors and drive-by geeks off your network. All you have to do is set a password that isn’t as obvious as “1234.” There’s an eye-glazing list of Wi-Fi security measures you can implement to block overachieving Russian teens from monitoring your keystrokes, but in real life the only people sniffing your wireless signal are jerks like me who need a place to log on until the phone company wires the apartment. An unguessable password sends as clear a message as a shot of Mace: Go find a Starbucks, creep.

Clarification, Nov. 22, 2004: There are some laws that could be used to charge you with unauthorized computer use, but my legal sources say that because there are so many networks left open to the public on purpose, it would be tough for an individual to make the legal case that their intent was to keep everyone off their network if it’s not password-protected. If you stick to surfing the Web and not other people’s PCs, you’ll probably be safe from prosecution.

On a great drive, the destination never surpasses the journey. In Europe, with the densest highway system in the world, good roads are easy to find, but great drives come once in a blue kilometer.

The drives that follow are more than means to an end, more than concrete curls along countryside contours or asphalt assaulting towering peaks. They transcend the danger of the road, the thrill of driving, or the response of a well-tuned machine. Rather, they are sublime sensuous weaves of man-made and natural beauty.

1. The Amalfi Drive, Italy
The Amalfi Drive winds for 45 miles along sheer rock cliffs just south of Naples and Pompeii. Though traveled for centuries, the drive with only a squat three-foot wall separating the road from a precipitous drop to the sea, still retains an unspoiled grandeur. The day-long Amalfi Drive is best experienced traveling south from legendary Sorrento, where the sirens sang their deadly songs to Ulysses.

2. The Causeway Coast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Curving around the northeast corner of Ireland, from Larne to Dunluce Castle, a thousand shades of Irish green play against the deep blue of the Atlantic. Here you’ll find the Giant’s Causeway, a fascinating geological structure of crystallized basalt. Legends provide plausible interpretations of its formation. The locals were convinced that the walkway was built by a Scottish giant who upon arriving in Ireland was tricked by the Irish giant, Finn McCool, and retreated to Scotland destroying most of the causeway behind him, thus the name for the sight.

3. Through the Dolomites, between Bolzano to Cortina, Italy
Far in northern Italy, only a one-hour drive south of the Brenner Pass and two hours north of Verona, the soft Dolomite limestone and the winds of erosion have created a fantasy lunar-like landscape where the shifting play of light creates colors that change with the moment. Head for the jagged hills on this 65-mile winding road squeezed between sharp peaks. The tortuous route weaves its way through spectacular scenery from Bolzano to Cortina.

4. Around the island of Madiera, Portugal
Plan an early start for this full-day drive twisting and turning - kilometers along the coast and across the rugged interior of Madiera. Start from the capital city, Funchal, and head counterclockwise around the island. The road tunnels through cliffs, skirts the ocean inches above the raging surf and passes not under, but through a waterfall - you’ll swear you’re in a movie. After successfully timing the surge of the ocean, dodging the pounding surf, and splashing through the waterfall you can’t help but step out of the car and breath in the brisk salty wind.

5. The Ard�che, France
Fifty miles north of Avignon in Provence the emerald Ard�che River races to the Rhone River between precipitous white limestone cliffs dotted by ancient castles, tiny villages and natural caves and arches. The road curving with the lip of this grand canyon dips to the riverbank and climbs hundreds of feet above the swirling water. There are numerous lookout points with plenty of parking. On hot days, tiny sandy beaches tempt drivers to swim in the surprisingly warm water.

6. The Via Mala and the San Bernadino, Switzerland
Connecting Chur with Belinzona in southeastern Switzerland, the San Bernadino pass provides some of the most dramatic driving of any Alpine crossing. The partially restored castle of Hohen Ratien stands guard over the entrance to the Via Mala, Switzerland’s deepest gorge. Turning off the modern highway the old Via Mala road enters the ominously dark chasm. It clings to the rocky walls with views upwards to but a sliver of sky and down to the ribbon of water thrashing below.

7. The Picos de Europa, Spain
Twenty miles southwest of Santander stands the Picos de Europa, the highest mountain range on the Spanish Atlantic coast. In this perpetually snowcapped fortress the final Christian enclave withstood Moorish attacks and eventually began the Spanish reconquest. The range is encircled by 150-miles of narrow, twisting two-lane roads that for the most part follow rivers which trace the perimeter of the mountain reserve. These roads provide a challenging seven-hour drive and frequent opportunities to explore the rugged mountains themselves. Here changing shades of rough rocks and pliant vegetation combined with the rivers’ wildly swinging shifts and narrow gorges make for a magical drive.

8. The Rhine River, Germany, from Koblenz to Bingen
Castles perch on every possible hilltop and overlook the riverbends; waters swirl below the Loreley; riverboats glide downstream or churn slowly against the flow; and vineyards step down the steep banks. Perhaps no other thoroughfare is so steeped in legend nor praised in story. Over the last few years the drive along the Rhine - once natural and rugged - has been changed by relentless urbanization, which has produced a picture-postcard visage. But even through the traffic the beauty of this valley shines.

9. The Grossglockner Road, Austria
The grandfather of all modern Alpine highways, the road was opened in 1935 and inspired other Alpine road builders to begin the modern road conquest of the Alps. Today the engineers’ esthetic sense of road design still impresses. The modern drive over this pass will take just over three hours with time to scan the alpine peaks. Only open during the summer, the 47-mile drive begins south of Salzberg near the town of Zell am See. The Grossglockner Road skirts storybook waterfalls and weaves through wooded valleys so narrow the sun shines only a few hours a day.

10. The Ullapool to Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland
Northwest Scotland offers the perfect blend of moor with woodlands and sea with mountains. Opposed to anticipation of visual thrills around the bend, this drive has a soothing meditative effect of natural balance. Start with a full tank of gas. Some road stretches may be crowded with tourist traffic but the next turn will bring you back to the solitude of the road and nature. At times only one lane wide and often overrun by wandering sheep, the route offers surprising steep climbs and tortuous turns with incomparable views over the rocky headlands.