Wi-Fi

CBS, MTA to bring free Wi-Fi to midtown Manhattan

A chunk of 36 city blocks in Manhattan will have free, ad-supported public Wi-Fi access by the end of November, thanks to a new initiative from CBS Corporation in conjunction with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and New York City Transit.

Called the CBS Mobile Zone, this area of coverage will stretch through a bustling, tourism- and business-heavy swath of midtown from 42nd Street north to Central Park south, from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue. (Landmarks-wise, that's roughly Times Square to Columbus Circle.)

The new effort will be supported largely by advertising. Upon logging on, Web surfers will … Read more

Here comes Slacker

MP3 players are great if you know what you like, own it, and want to listen to it exclusively. But what happens when you're sick of your music collection? Or when you're simply feeling lazy and want somebody else to do the programming for you?

Slacker has the answer: portable Internet radio. The company's been demonstrating its devices since the South by Southwest music conference in March, but it looks like the company's finally taking pre-orders.

You can get the basic idea just by visiting the Slacker home page, which has an embedded version of the … Read more

Episode 605: It's the price point, stupid

Bust your home network through the walls without busting walls

In my folks' house, built in the early 70s, it is impossible to get a Wi-Fi signal to travel beyond one room. We've tried numerous routers, always with the same head-scratching result. And I know many others who've encountered similar Wi-Fi Kryptonite issues. So how's a home user supposed to ferry their Internet connection from, say, the downstairs den to an upstairs bedroom?

Answer: a powerline networking kit. Buy.com's got an IOGear package for just $46.49 (shipped!) after a $20 mail-in rebate. (First-time Google Checkout users can knock another 10 bucks off the price.)… Read more

Slacker Portable and Premium Radio coming soon...very soon

I'll tell you one thing: Slacker sure does like to drag out its buzz. Now, you tell me: Did it work? Or are you over it already? Actually, we should give them a little leeway for making us wait so long, for a couple of reasons. First, they're starting something totally new with the whole Wi-Fi/Satellite radio-hopping thing and worked out all the kinks, which in a configuration like this, can be time-consuming business. Second, it takes some serious negotiation (hence, time) to get the type of audio permissions they need. Still, all the waiting makes me … Read more

Photos: Cracking open the Nabaztag Wi-Fi rabbit

Crave sister site CNET News.com has been posting some of TechRepublic's photos of major invasive surgery performed on popular electronic devices in its "Cracking Open" series. Today's installment is on the Nabaztag Wi-Fi rabbit, which people pretty much either love or hate. At least everyone more or less agrees it's cute--but how does it work? As it turns out, the bunny holds some interesting secrets beneath its darling exterior. Find out what it's made of over at Cracking open the Nabaztag Wi-Fi rabbit.

Bus is a roving hot spot in Singapore

You may be able to get free Wi-Fi almost anywhere in Singapore with the Wireless@SG initiative that aims to wire the whole island state, but that's still insufficient for the true Internet junkie. While commuting each day, a Net addict has to go cold turkey as his notebook becomes nothing more than a slab of plastic and silicon without wireless access. Well, a fix has been found.

Nokia has brought Wi-Fi onto 12 buses in Singapore so that commuters can surf for free when riding them, using the existing cellular HSDPA service. The best thing is that users … Read more

Hands-on with the Eye-Fi Card: Give any digital camera Wi-Fi capabilities.

Last week I wrote about the Eye-Fi Card, a special SD card that enables digital cameras to upload their photos wirelessly. Well, I've had several days with the card, and I'm ready to give you some first impressions. Unfortunately, the card I've been using doesn't include the firmware the Eye-Fi Card will use at release, so I can't yet give this product a formal score.

The card comes with a USB reader, a small instruction booklet, and nothing else; all the pertinent software is included on the card, and it autolaunches when you connect it … Read more

Archos 705 WiFi PVP on preorder

Amazon.com is now showing preorder pages for the mythical Archos 705 WiFi portable video player. If you're in the market for a super-sized, Internet-ready PVP for the holidays, the 705 WiFi comes in 80GB and 160GB capacities for $399 and $499, respectively. For the price, you get a 7-inch, 800x480 touch screen, Mac/PC compatibility, and all the features found in the latest Archos 605 WiFi--most notably, the online content portal.

What do you think? Is the 705 making you salivate? Can a PVP ever be too big?

Buy One Laptop Per Child, get One Year Free WiFi for You

Techluver reports that T-Mobile USA is partnering with the One Laptop Per Child Project to give individuals a great reason to buy an OLPC laptop: free WiFi:

T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced it is partnering with One Laptop per Child for its Give One Get One initiative. T-Mobile is offering one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot access to people who donate an XO laptop to a child in a developing country through the campaign.

Nice. Self-interest at its very best. This is a Very Good Idea.