Video: Pirate Wi-Fi on New York City subway

WeMakeCoolSh.it “L Train Notwork” Behind the Scenes from Matthew McGregor-Mento on Vimeo.

There was recently a pirate wi-fi network on New York City‘s L train. Available only in the last cars of the Brooklyn-bound train and only from 8am until 10am, this underground pirate wi-fi network was live and available only for a week. If you’re wondering why or how or who put this together, allow me to fill in those blanks as best as I can. WeMakeCoolSh.it tends to do precisely what their name advertises–they really are masters of cool. The L Train ‘Notwork’ was just one of their endeavors and here’s how it went. The people over at WMCS powered the ‘Notwork’ with person-portable battery-powered web servers. The wi-fi didn’t connect commuters to the internet, though. Instead of connecting train passengers to the whole world wide web, it connected them to content provided by local artists in addition to a chat room. Check out the behind the scenes video above for a look into the the world and work of the people who put this project together.

Find out more about what WMCS did for the L train here on Laughing Squid and keep up with WMCS so that you might be tuned in for their next cool endeavor here on the WMCS website.