Public Wi-Fi hot spots

The Wiltshire town of Swindon has another claim to fame – other than being the birthplace of Diana Dors (hence the photo ). Swindon is also now to be crowned as the UK’s first Wi-Fi town – this means offering ‘free’ public Wi-Fi to all 186,000 residents. By April 2010 the Wi-Fi “Signal” service will be in place and residents wont have to pay a penny for line rental or connection. The deal is that peeping at low-bandwidth sites is free but users will be able to pay for a 20Mb upgrade. This fee would be “significantly less” than current broadband suppliers, scheme bosses ... Read Full Story

Trying to grab a free Wi-Fi connection when you’re out and about can be a bit tricksy – especially if you’re not in the largest of towns. Soon sidling up to your nearest Phones4U may help. Phones4U has become Freerunner’s (the free public Wi-Fi network) first UK commercial retailer . Freerunner Wi-Fi will head to 450 stores across the UK will start immediately. Ok – Technically this Wi-Fi roll-out across Phones4U stores in the UK is supposed to be for staff and customers so they can test the handsets online grooviness before deciding on their new tech. But there’s a new place in town ... Read Full Story

On Amazon.com's Kindle: "This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." - Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker. News release from Amazon.com: Introducing Amazon Kindle Revolutionary Portable Reader Lets Customers Wirelessly Download Books in Less Than a Minute and Automatically Receive Newspapers, Magazines and Blogs No PC Required, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 2007--Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today introduced Amazon Kindle, a revolutionary portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight. More than 90,000 books are now ... Read Full Story

Many will argue that radio, information, and life will be increasingly accessible to all of us via Wi-Fi, but we’ll always need a signal. Montreal-based designer Stefan Dukaczewski helps us envision the day when our clothing helps lead the way. His Wi-Fi sneakers light up to indicate signal strength whenever you walk near a zone. Each week, JoshSpear.com explores the latest projects by top creative professionals in the Behance Network and highlights a few that are pushing the edge of creative industry. Josh Spear also serves as an Advisor and Guest Curator for the Behance Network . Read Full Story

Section: Computers, Laptops, Networking, Security, Wireless Ah, summer.  Time to relax, go visit friends, vacation.  No worries, right?  Well, there may be a small one if you like to use public Wi-Fi on your travels. The latest trend for the in hacker is what has become known as “vacation hacking.”  It works by the hacker setting up fake Wi-Fi hot spots where they can lure in unsuspecting travelers.  Some favorite locations are airports and hotels.  Vacationers think everything is safe, especially if it is set up to somehow include the name of the place they are currently in while trying to connect.  Little do ... Read Full Story