NWC Changelog

The wait is over, kitteh.

Thanks to our good friends at Atlantic Metro, we’ve managed to seriously boost our upload speeds, with a Metro Ethernet connection, and will be able to easily upgrade in the future as we can afford to.

Our old Business DSL connection is now up and running as a backup connection, and we’ve still got our Clear connection as a last resort.

So there you have it, three completely separate internet connections running up in here. 

FAX

No, you don’t use fax in your daily life. Odds are good you never did. But some bass-ackwards bureaucratic institution that you have to periodically deal with sure does!

We’ve got your back. Our new all-in-one printer/scanner/color copier is hooked up and ready to fax your bureaucratic pains away!

Today we cleared out our storage unit of everything we intend to bring back to NWC 2.0. All that remains are things we intend to sell (stay tuned!), give away, or toss.

That means, right now, NWC has a lot more stuff in it than it did this morning. What you’ll notice, however, is that right now the space looks like it has less stuff than it did before. How did we pull off such a stunning magic trick?

Well, it involves a lot of elbow grease. But basically, we moved a lot of infrequently used stuff into overhead storage areas, threw a lot of stuff out, and simply rearranged things to make more efficient use of space. We also organized a lot of things that were previously sort of spread out around the space. Here’s the rough rundown:

• Second set of lockers are online! They are along the back wall and will be available once they have been numbered.
• Along with this, the back area has been rearranged a lot and is now much more neatly and efficiently laid out. 
• It is now much easier to find many of the things we have available for sharing, including monitor cables, adapters, whiteboards, sticky pads, keyboards, power strips, office supplies and more. 
• We’ll soon be publishing a comprehensive list of all of NWC’s shared resources, from pens to xboxes to guitars and more, as well as where to find them
• Kitchen has been reorganized so things can be more easily accessed
• Main conference room has been rearranged and a new speaker system has been added
• Soft seating area rearranged
• Ethernet cable strung across ceiling to light up the last corner of the space that doesn’t yet have wired connectivity
• This will also get us one step closer to getting the new fax machine online!
• Initial progress has been made on a new welcome display and sign-in area for newcomers at the front desk. More on this soon!
• More books on our shelf! Some of our best books have come out of storage and are ready to blow your mind!
• We’ll be giving away some old books at the front of the space all week; come by and check out the selection! The leftovers get tossed on Friday!
• An experimental feature or two. Stop by the space to see everything!

Between the cold winter, countless events, and slowly cleaning out the storage space we filled up from our first move, NWC 2.0 has accumulated no shortage of stuff. After a long weekend cleaning up the place, we found countless gems and random things—and threw out a bunch as well. Here are the highlights:

• Rearranged reception desk, entryway area, and soft seating
• Added new lunch table
• Filled bookshelf with many fabulous books
• Launched Nap Loft beta! Our loft now has a comfy futon, an Xbox 360, and snacks! Now all we need to do is build a staircase so people can safely get up there.
• Drawer underneath printer now contains office supplies
• Monitors, cables, connectors, and any other hardware are now consolidated to the back credenza
• A lot of clutter has been cleared out

All of the changes have left us with some extra space, which we’ll be using for more upgrades and features soon!

New & improved:

We scored a big haul from an office that was closing down; thanks to Peter Dixon-Moses for the heads up and for helping us move our stuff! 

• Our bathrooms now have proper mirrors!
• We’ve now got two 4G internet hotspots from Clear as a backup to our current connection. If anyone for any reason has trouble connecting through our normal network, ask us how to connect to the Clear connections!
• We attached an antenna and digital tuner to our projector, thus allowing us to watch good old network broadcast television! 
• Lots of beautiful Dell monitors for sharing
• Two fabulous servers to mess with
• A giant rolling whiteboard
• Halogen standing lamps for events and conference room
• Small lamps for huddle rooms and desks - these have had a tremendous effect on the huddle rooms; they are far more pleasant places to work now!
• Various new markers and erasers
• Landline phone is now operational! 
• Capped off a bunch of ethernet ports
• Installed a shelf for our projector! No longer shall it rest upon a ladder.
• Cleaned up mail slots 
• A coat rack
• A labelmaker
• A new toaster

Upcoming:

• Lockers (no, really)
• Improved acoustics in all meeting rooms
• A welcome screen at the entrance, showing a rotating view of our upcoming events, a backchannel, tweets, and photos

Lots more major improvements coming in the early spring!

What’s New:

Lots has happened in December! Let’s catch up:

Big haul from the fine people at HWH Group!

• New couch and love seat
• New fake trees
• Bookcase
• Filing cabinet
• Mail slots

As well as some more improvements:

• Ethernet in more spots now
• Landlines! You can now make a call in the conference room on a Polycom speaker
• New phone number! Behold, the 212! (212) 226-1585!
• Improved music setup in the back
• Cleaned up back area where wires / cables / other things are being stored
• A fabulous motion-activated M&Ms dispenser. Thanks to the Chipps family!
• Bucky Balls! Thanks Rob Kelley!

Also:

We resurrected a Uservoice page where we can share and vote on suggestions. We’ll be making periodic improvements to the space throughout the year, so we’ll be using this to guide what we focus on in which order!

Go here and make some suggestions! https://nwc2.uservoice.com

Many improvements and new features going in today!

New and Improved:

• Security camera! It records, it moves, it has infrared night vision, it has a web interface! It will help us dispatch justice to anyone trying any funny business!
• Glass shelving in conference room assembled and beautiful!
• Several tweaks to the optimize the network
• The heat is on! And it works!

New & Improved:

• 50 Fancy new stacking chairs and 10 new folding tables for the event space up front!
• This also doubles our coworking capacity and opens up the front space for coworking awesomeness!
• Tons of cables and adapters. Monoprice.com rocks.
• VGA and audio extension cables. Now presenters can connect their laptop to the projector from the front of the space instead of having to stand in the back.
• New credenzas for storage and old-school (literally, they came from a school) classiness.
• Big beautiful glass table in the conference room! Thanks Steelcase!
• Glass shelf unit in the conference room! Thanks Steelcase!

Network:

• Put password on network to alleviate
• Launched separate B/G, N, and Guest networks
• Implemented load balancing
• Implemented failovers
• Turned on Stickybits

New & Improved:

• Landline phone lines installed! One outgoing line from the conference room, and one fax line. Now if members have a really important call coming up, they won’t have to rely on cell phones or VoIP!
• Somebody brought us a water heater for tea!
• Beautiful new glass door in the back— now the back wall has three big windows instead of two!
• Light fixtures installed in huddle rooms
• Huddle rooms are now cleared out and online!
• Wii is set up in the ballroom!

New and improved:

• Walls in kitchen closed up (the last of the walls!)
• Plumbing added for water filter and ice maker (when we get them)
• Painting on front window sill complete
• Painting on all walls, sills, and surfaces complete
• Completed walls and flooring in Nap Loft
• Second bathroom almost almost done! Peter, go install the new faucet!
• Tons of brand new Belkin gear 
• Lots of new chairs
• Fancy space divider
• Whiteboards, whiteboards, and more whiteboards!
• Tripod for whiteboard
• New futon for Nap Loft, compliments of Rob Kelley! Thanks Rob!

New Features:

• Walls going up in kitchen area; half done!
• New wall in Nap Loft to contain air conditioning ducts
• New iPad-painted portraits in main hallway
• Trained new office space managers
• Tile in second bathroom completed!
• Construction equipment in front space consolidated & floor boards removed (now the whole lovely floor is exposed!)
• Covers added to electrical outlets

Notes:

• Battle-tested wifi with 150+ people during Startup Weekend while running on half of our backup connection— it held up way better than we had anticipated!

New and improved:

• Fancy new chairs 
• New rugs (thanks Chris!)
• All wall tile is up in the bathroom
• New step built under fire door in back
• New wall built in front of East wall
• More floor exposed 
• New light switches by front door

New & improved:

• More mud & spackle on baseboards in back area
• More mud & spackle on exterior walls of conference & meeting rooms
• More framing, walls, and cabinetry around electrical equipment by entrance
• More tile in the second bathroom
• New fab couch! Thanks Dana!
• New fancy chairs for conference room (thanks Whitney & Whitney’s parents!)

New changes:

• Assembled new desks
• Brought in new (old) chairs 
• Revamped Dashboard page with new pricing
• Began framing and drywall around electrical equipment near entrance
  — This will make the entryway look a lot prettier
  — Will also double as a trash container, reducing smell and eyesores
• Firmware upgraded on wireless router
  — Thanks Rob for coming in late last night to do this!
• More preparation of baseboards and conference room walls for painting
• New door handles on all the doors!
• Progress tiling the second bathroom

New requests:

• Work on prioritizing Skype traffic to decrease likelihood of dropped calls

• Main coworking area prepped for work
• Tables purchased & built
• Floors exposed
• Lighting hung
• Glass cleaned
• Trim painted
• Air conditioner cleaned 
• Garbage consolidated
• Construction & other belongings rearranged & consolidated