Slacker Portable gets Wi-Fi update
(Credit:
CNET Networks/Corinne Schulze)
Wednesday, Slacker announced that Devicescape Connect, a Wi-Fi management software, will be available for the Slacker Portable going forward. This seemingly innocuous communiqué is actually great news for current Slacker Portable owners (all 12 of you), and it may offer just the right amount of incentive for hold outs who were waiting on better Wi-Fi integration. The main improvement is the ability to access "captive portals," such as the one at the CNET offices that requires a user to click through a terms and conditions page in order to access the free public Wi-Fi. Another added functionality is the ability to save and share Wi-Fi passwords with friends so that you can access hot spots all across town with minimal effort. Also requiring minimal effort is the firmware update, which happens automatically when the Slacker Portable refreshes its stations. Talk about living up to its name.
More details about Devicescape Connect:
- Works on more than 100 different devices running on 10 different operating systems.
- Supports more than 1,000 public networks, including the largest carriers in the world such as T-Mobile, British Telecom and AT&T, for access on millions of hot spots worldwide.
- Supports more than 100 university networks worldwide added by Devicescape members.
- Registered hundreds of thousands of members in 176 countries worldwide.
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine. 
