hotspot

Owners of Nokia's Lumia 610 can use their phone as a hot spot to provide Wi-Fi coverage for up to five different devices.

Nokia's Lumia 610 Web site specifically lists that feature under the Sharing and Internet category. The feature pages for the Lumia 710 and the 800 don't yet make any mention of hot-spot capability.

But sit tight, Lumia owners. A Nokia spokesman confirmed to CNET that the company will add hot-spot functionality to the 710 and 800 in a future software update.

Nokia's Web site doesn't yet provide details on the Lumia 900, … Read more

The bottom line: The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks.

Review: The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks, but it's also an excellent tool for ensuring on any network connection that you can access sites … Read more

commentary AUSTIN, Texas--If you've been reading South by Southwest-centered blogs over the last 24 hours, you've probably gotten a sense of the outrage over what's being called the "homeless hot spots" program.

If you don't know what that's about, let me catch you up. A marketing agency sent some Austin homeless folks out on the streets, wireless hot spots in tote, with the idea that SXSW attendees in desperate search of Wi-Fi would pay a few bucks for the connectivity and for the chance to help out someone in need.

Some of the … Read more

The advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty's BHH Labs launched a campaign at the film, music and interactive festival South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, that is raising ire among critics.

In what appears to be a case of poor judgment, BBH Labs kicked off a campaign called "Homeless Hotspots." Yep. It is exactly what it sounds like--walking, talking homeless people who provide access to a 4G network in exchange for a donation (BBH Labs suggests $2 per 15 minutes). … Read more

The sun is starting to show itself to the East Coast, which means you probably won't see Jeff outside without a hat, sunglasses, and industrial-strength sunscreen.

Joseph Kaminski hangs out in the studio with us this morning and helps us with the rundown that includes rumors about the next Xbox, a review of Mass Effect 3, and homeless 4G hot spots at SWSW 2012.… Read more

Despite the overwhelming appeal of being able to tether your iPhone to your laptop via the Personal Hotspot feature included in iOS, the cost of doing so keeps many iPhone owners from getting the most out of their device. Tether, however, has a solution.

Back in November, Tether was able to briefly get an app approved on Apple's App Store. The $14.99 app allowed users to bypass the Personal Hotspot method of setting up a tether for their laptops and instead use a USB cable and Tether's software. The app, iTether, was quickly pulled.… Read more

There seems to be some confusion on the Web as to which carrier will support Apple's hot-spot feature for "the new iPad" it announced yesterday morning.

Well, I got the information straight from the horses' mouths. Verizon will support the feature for the 4G LTE iPads it starts selling on March 16, and AT&T won't.

"Yes, we currently have hot spots on other tablets, and we will continue to support it," Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney told CNET in a phone call. "We will support the iPad mobile hot spot at launch.&… Read more

Joining a carrier Wi-Fi hot spot on your smartphone or tablet will soon be as simple as turning on your device. That means no more scrolling through lists of available Wi-Fi networks, and no more typing passwords to join networks.

Wireless carriers all over the world have been turning to Wi-Fi to alleviate network congestion, but the onus of actually getting on those networks has been on individual subscribers. A set of new standards being developed will soon change that.

The IEEE technical standards body is developing 802.11u and the Wi-Fi Alliance has developed its Hotspot 2.0 initiative … Read more

T-Mobile USA's stores may not offer the Double-Double burger, but they do have their own secret menu a la In-N-Out.

Starting January 25, existing and new customers who sign up for a T-Mobile premium data plan--which consists of signing up for 5 gigabytes to 10GB of data each month--can get the mobile hot-spot capability for free--as long as they ask for it. TMoNews first reported the news, noting that customers could also ask for a mobile album feature, which provides 10GB of cloud storage for media.

That's $19.98 in additional value for signing up for the higher … Read more