Smart New Uses for Old Technology

If you want to know what's going to happen next with a technology perhaps the smartest way to predict the future is to ask your kids - or someone else's... It's amazing what you might learn.

The other night, for example, I was having a meeting with Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher.  His son, Matt, also happened to be present.  I needed to log into their WiFi to go over a few things and as I did so I noted a number of funny networks in the area - phuckphace, for example.

When I mentioned this Matt told me how he and his friends are using the SSID - and it's both clever and surprising:  they use it to broadcast general messages to their local area.  An example:  someone's SSID might be "shutyourdogup" (the intent being obvious).  Another might be "partyatmyplacenexthurs".

Sure, this is non-specific, but if you know who the network belongs to (or you know you've got a barking dog issue) this is a quick, dirty and free way to get the word to folks that are local to you.

Have you heard about another clever new way to use a technology you thought was fully exploited?  Did you learn about it from someone half your age?

I'm curating a Pearltree on this topic, so please include links with your comments and I'll add other cool tips to the Pearltree so that you can see what other folks have discovered.