wi-fi

Buzz Out Loud 688: I like your photos

I like that photo of you that you posted on Facebook. You know, the private one? Yeah. I saw it. It was pretty cool, although I'd never wear that T-shirt again if I were you. In other news, Netflix DVDs are coming late! The end of the world is nigh! Also, the DOJ approves the XM-Sirius merger and Sony BMG wants to get on your iPod in a decidedly nonrootkit way. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 688

Netflix glitch to delay deliveries http://www.news.com/newsblog/8301-10784_3-9902294-7.html

XM, Sirius move closer to improbable merger http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120638514923860085.html … Read more

Gadgettes 82: The Cake Tech Episode

Have you ever looked at a gadget and thought to yourself: "Self, that would make a mighty delicious cake!" Exactly. No one has. So we go where no gadgette has gone before. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 82

Lampposts mystery solved! (thanks Joe) http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/17/ padded-lampposts-in-london-not-really-being-tested/

Jeff Bezos Kindle cake: http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9899249-1.html

Icon watch (easy cake): http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/03/icon_watch_just.html

USB slide show for your computer’s vitals (nice-looking cake): http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9899114-1.html

eMotion’s solar-powered media player http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9899007-1.html… Read more

Polaroid takes another shot at media players

Polaroid is one of those Old Economy companies (remember them?) that seems harder to figure out all the time. Buried long ago in the digital photo revolution, it's been dabbling in various products not exactly in its traditional wheelhouse ever since, such as DVD players and other technologies. But perhaps one of the most curious forays of all is its move into portable music devices.

In fact, Polaroid has been trying its hand in the MP3 market for years, from its eminently forgettable "Juke Jam PDP 600" in 2004 to various models in development shown at last year's CES. … Read more

Apple's AirPort Express gets extra juice with 802.11n upgrade

Apple has updated its AirPort Express portable wireless base station to make it compatible with the speedy 802.11n wireless standard, the company announced Monday.

802.11n, the latest iteration of the wireless networking standard, more than quadruples wireless-data rates to 248 megabits per second from the current 54 megabits per second offered by the 802.11g wireless standard; there are also some security improvements over 802.11g.

Apple's current lineup of laptops, iMac desktops, Apple TV set-top boxes, and Time Capsule backup devices already come with 802.11n.

An AirPort Express allows up to 10 Wi-Fi users to … Read more

New business models for citywide Wi-Fi

Minneapolis is quickly becoming the new poster child for the municipal Wi-Fi movement.

The city is expected to have the majority of its 59-square-mile network finished by the end of this month, and already experts are pointing to the nearly completed network as a model other cities should follow.

Over the past year, citywide wireless networks have gotten a bum rap. Halfway through 2007, EarthLink, which had been leading the charge with big contract wins to build and run networks in San Francisco, Houston, and Philadelphia, started unraveling its Wi-Fi strategy.

By September, the company had pulled out of proposed networks in San Francisco and Houston. And in early February, EarthLink put its citywide Wi-Fi business up for sale.

The rise and fall of the movement has been well-documented by the press. Many critics have said citywide Wi-Fi is dead. I'm inclined to believe the movement is still alive. But the business models used in future deployments will be very different than those the industry has seen from EarthLink and others that have failed to deploy successful Wi-Fi networks.

Currently, Minneapolis' approach seems to have the most legs. In this model, the city government and public-safety agencies act as anchor tenants guaranteeing the service provider, USI Wireless, a contract. In 2006, the city agreed to pay USI Wireless $1.25 million a year for 10 years to build and operate its network.

But USI Wireless is not relying entirely on the city to fund the network. The company is also offering service to residents and small businesses.

Having an anchor tenant, like the city, helps guarantee a hefty stream of revenue, but the residential consumer market also provides USI Wireless with an opportunity to grow its business and increase profits.

"For large to midsize cities, Minneapolis will become the standard model," said Craig Settles, an independent wireless-technology consultant.

Minneapolis city officials recognized the value of having a citywide Wi-Fi network. But during the planning stage, they were unwilling to front the money to build the network. So they looked for a company in the private sector to build and operate the network for them.

"From the beginning, we were focused on the institutional benefits of having a citywide Wi-Fi network," said Lynn Willenbring, CIO for Minneapolis. "But we recognized quickly that we could not create a viable business case for the network operator with just our business. The vendor needs to make a profit. So it's important for them to sell to residential and business users too."

The network asset already proved its worth last year. A portion of the newly constructed network had already been completed on August 1, 2007, when the I-35W Bridge collapsed, allowing the city to use Wi-Fi as part of its emergency response effort.

The network is also getting good response from consumers. So far, more than 8,000 residents have signed up for USI Wireless' service, which is being offered at three different speeds: 1-megabit-per-second downloads for $20 per month, 3 Mbps downloads for $30 per month, and 6 Mbps downloads for $35 per month. The service will compete with DSL service offered from Qwest Communications and cable modem service from Comcast.

How Minneapolis model differs Minneapolis' model differs from that of other cities, which have been less successful in deploying citywide Wi-Fi. EarthLink, the biggest company in the municipal Wi-Fi market, won several high-profile contracts by focusing exclusively on offering residential service. The company also promised free access or reduced access in certain cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco to help bridge the digital divide.

EarthLink did not require city governments or agencies to become customers of its networks. Instead, EarthLink negotiated deals in which it would actually give away service to city agencies in exchange for using city-owned infrastructure like utility poles.

Tempe, Ariz., is another example of a city that did not buy network services, but instead expected to use the network free of charge in exchange for providing access to utility poles. Less than two years after its Wi-Fi network went live, the project is basically dead. Tempe contracted with a network operator called Kite Networks, a division of Richardson, Texas-based Gobility. At the end of 2007, the company cut off service, because it couldn't make any money.

A ComputerWorld article published last month quoted Dave Heck, CIO for the city of Tempe, blaming the failure of the network on Kite Networks for not marketing the service aggressively enough. At its peak, the company was only able to sign up 800 subscribers to the service in a city with 160,000 residents.

"Their rates have been half the cost of wired Internet services, and they could have gotten subscribers if they marketed it right, but they didn't market it well," he was quoted as saying in the article.

But if Tempe had agreed to become a customer of the network, maybe the service would have survived.

Philadelphia's network is nearly 80 percent built. But with EarthLink now out of the citywide Wi-Fi business, the project's future is uncertain. The city is unlikely to finish building the network with taxpayer dollars and it also won't likely run the network. Terry Phillis, CIO for Philadelphia, told the Associated Press earlier this month that selling the network would be the best thing for everyone. But Phillis acknowledged that finding a buyer wouldn't be easy.

But if Philadelphia revised its Wi-Fi contract and promised to buy a certain amount of services from the network provider, it could make the deal more palatable to potential buyers.

"If they aren't willing to support the network as a customer, then the whole thing falls apart," Settles said. "And they've missed a great opportunity." … Read more

Wi-Fi is not dead

Are Wi-Fi hot spots going the way of public telephone booths?

Johan Bergendahl, chief marketing officer for wireless-equipment maker Ericsson, thinks they are. During his keynote address on Monday at the European Computer Audit, Control and Security Conference in Stockholm, Bergendahl told an audience that as more people use wireless broadband fewer people will use Wi-Fi hot spots in public places.

"Hot spots at places like Starbucks are becoming the telephone boxes of the broadband era," Bergendahl was quoted as saying in a post by the IDG News Service.

Bergendahl argued that wireless broadband is growing faster than … Read more

Prizefight: Cowon Q5W vs. Archos 705 WiFi

In the past few months, these two mastodons of Wi-Fi portable media stampeded through the CNET office, leaving a trail of awestruck and dumbfounded reviewers in their dust. It seemed only natural to pit these two behemoths against each other in a prizefight worthy of their intimidating giantism.

Will the Cowon Q5W's Bluetooth and GPS functionality beat out the Archos 705 WiFi's 7-inch touch screen and higher storage capacity? Click through to witness our prizefight's five rounds of gadget-on-gadget brutality.

Denver airport censors free Wi-Fi network

Travelers using Denver International Airport's free Wi-Fi service may be shocked to learn that some popular Web sites with supposedly racy content is blocked from viewing.

That's right. Officials have blocked access to content they deem provocative on the airport's free Wi-Fi service.

The Denver Post points out that some of those questionable sites include, Vanity Fair, the gossip column perezhilton.com, the hipster-geek site boingboing.net, and photos from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Of course, hard copies of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue are displayed on newsstands in the airport along with issues of Penthouse … Read more

Biz travelers beware: Airport ad-hoc hot spots could be dangerous

Public Wi-Fi hotspots in airports can be a lifesaver for many business travelers, but a new study released this week suggests that road warriors could be vulnerable to hack attacks if they aren't careful about which networks they connect to while waiting for their flight.

Jason Hiner, executive editor at CNET News.com's sister site TechRepublic, wrote a blog on Wednesday about the new study published by a company called AirTight at the Gartner Mobile and Wireless Summit in Chicago on Monday. AirTight Networks, which sells wireless-intrusion-prevention software, conducted its study in 11 U.S. airports and three … Read more