Earthcode's sweet Wi-Fi finder mashup

Andre Lewis, who writes the geek blog Earthcode, told the crowd at the recent New Tech Meetup at our offices about his little mashup, wifi.earthcode.com, that tracks free Wi-Fi hot spots.

More than a few Wi-Fi finders are on the Web (including JiWire, started by a former CNET exec), but Earthcode's system wins points for its simplicity and speed. You just select a city and zoom in on your location (using the embedded Google maps), and it will show you Wi-Fi locations that other users have added. If you want to add one yourself, it's very easy, and you can also rate the food and the likelihood of finding a convenient AC outlet for your laptop. I put the CNET lobby (free Wi-Fi, nice tables, no food) in the database before Andre had finished his 60-second pitch.

Andre might want to add a way to find your location on a map (this might be necessary if you're visiting a new city), and it would be helpful if the list view sorted by proximity. And, of course, more entries would be good. But this is a great start.