A notion...

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The radio was not a sanctum and Harry would rarely if ever release Bob.

[g33k]

The radio was not a sanctum and Harry would rarely if ever release Bob.

I don't think the "sanctum" effect is necessary to create speech.  Bob was able to make the brass lion go "raawr" in Skin Game.

Harry *could* have assigned Bob some specific directions, not a general "release."

But honestly... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness is probably the most-likely explanation.   

[Ed0517]

Bob can project on the walls, floors, ceilings of the Castle and can pick up electro magnetic frequencies. You just need a wireless router in one of the neighbouring houses too far away for Harry to disrupt to him to patch into the internet, and a nearby cell tower to patch in for cell phones.

Harry doesn’t need a computer, the Castle is now a computer. Harry has entered the silicon age. Literally.

Bob is capable of multi-tasking (at least at watching porn) so he should be interact with multiple users as his own local network for the castle users.

Initially his projections will be blue BUT we have seen him use other colours and Blue, green and red should be possible so he can go full colour. Harry will be so excited when the Mandalorian streams in the Dresdenverse (it’s currently late 2014) so several years to go.

Sound reproduction may be a problem, Bob isn’t a mimic and has only ever reproduced his own voice. In doing so it is either telepathic, of he is manipulating the air molecules to create sound. However as he can interface with a loudspeaker that ceases to be an issue.

Loudspeaker technology is old, Harry uses an old style radio but decent valve driven speakers date from 1912, over a hundred years old, so it would be relatively easy to custom build speakers using that tech (older by thirty years than the Munster mobile and amplifiers use valves today) with Bob acting as a carrier wave for them (he communicated via Harry’s office radio early in the series), Harry should be able to get full sound reproduction, even if Bob cannot provide it directly.Using a magic circle would cut off Bob’s carrier wave, but the tech would be old enough to likely hardly ever burn out because of Harry.

Whilst Harry can speak to Bob to dictate things it might be possible to rig up a keyboard. Get a slab of Castle Stone and have Bob project a keyboard touchpad on it. Bob should be able to discern the keys being touched and make the corresponding alpha numeric notation.

Bob needs a browser and other software - an unprocessed signal will look like static.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Bob is the operating system, software and browser - spirit of intellect. If he can interpret the extremely complex and dense signal of Demonreach, and present is in a format Garry can understand the internet is a snap, especially as it means unlimited porn as an incentive.

Harry can actually therefore get a credit card and some use out of it even after it gets ruined, the chip or strip isn’t needed for on-line purchase.

An AI is really just a new type of spirit of intellect, not born from a brain but from a circuit board. The Fae can come into existence in so many ways, why not? Bob may be the bridge, so we might get Bob Junior born of Bob and the internet.

What a horrifying thought.

[g33k]

... we might get Bob Junior born of Bob and the internet.

What a horrifying thought.

I'm pretty sure that would be 99% porn & 1% magical theory & practice.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

98% porn, 1% magical theory, 1% cat videos.

[Ed0517]

Bob is the operating system, software and browser - spirit of intellect. If he can interpret the extremely complex and dense signal of Demonreach, and present is in a format Garry can understand the internet is a snap, especially as it means unlimited porn as an incentive.

Harry can actually therefore get a credit card and some use out of it even after it gets ruined, the chip or strip isn’t needed for on-line purchase.

An AI is really just a new type of spirit of intellect, not born from a brain but from a circuit board. The Fae can come into existence in so many ways, why not? Bob may be the bridge, so we might get Bob Junior born of Bob and the internet.

What a horrifying thought.

I don't know if Bob is all that creative... he's more a reference work of what he has seen others do. Where has he seen the code for all this? OK, some stuff is open source, but... otherwise he should have been able to pick up wifi previously, no cable required, 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

He has been living with Butters for years, Bob is now his own coder.

[Fcrate]

Not every geek knows how to code mate, that's a hurtful stereotype.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Not every geek knows how to code mate, that's a hurtful stereotype.

Butters is a genius, as a vanilla mortal he cracked magical theory, so he can almost certainly write code. And one day someone will downliad the App he wrote which can turn any song or tune into Polka.

Besides who do you think set up the Paranet website? Harry?

Butters is the Emperor of Geekdom (but in a good way)

[Fcrate]

That's like saying that all scientists are astronauts. Or all engineers are pilots.
AFAIK, Butters had nothing to do with the paranet. Harry and Elaine took Anna's weregild and used it to set up the site. I assume that Elaine hired a professional web developer. Otherwise. It wouldn't take much money for an amateur to put up a website. You can do it for as little as $6/month. All you need to do is rent a domain and some hosting. For a niche market like this one, you won't need much space /options. And there are a ton of forums that you can use for free, without paying a license.
Editing code to your personal preferences only takes brains and a little technical know how (and lots of frustrating trial-and-error). Actually creating new code takes years of study.

[g33k]

Do we even know what "the paranet" *IS*?
Is it a website, with user-forums?
Is it a wiki space?
Is it just mailing-list and FTP archive?

[Mira]

Do we even know what "the paranet" *IS*?
Is it a website, with user-forums?
Is it a wiki space?
Is it just mailing-list and FTP archive?

I don't think we do yet..

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I don't think we do yet..

Everything we have seen has been filtered through Harry, who can’t use. Butters POV was Day One which didn’t reference it.

Perhaps we need a Paranoid Gary POV as “the man in the chair” with the Paranet. I bet Jim can’t write a good cyber punk story in the Dresdenverse where it’s protagonist doesn’t even leave his chair. Not his style at all.

You could have Gary tracking Harry because of the effect he has on Electronics like CCTV cameras, cell towers etc question does each Wizard have their own “fingerprint” as regards the interference pattern? Unless they go thorn manacles, it would allow even the best screened wizard to be tracked and identified by non-magical means. Perhaps Gary has been keeping tabs on Harry this way for years.

[CrusherJen]

Oooh! I want this story now!