hotspots
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Connectify: Turn Your Windows 7 Laptop Into A Virtual Hotspot
1:50AM Danny Allen | Virtual Wi-Fi was going to be a cool Windows 7 feature to turn PCs into a Wi-Fi access-point, so devices could share a connection without special software. It missed the cut, but this free app finishes the work Microsoft abandoned. More »
Networks
9:33AM Nick Broughall | When Starbucks announced last year that they were closing down a heap of their stores, we commented on how this would effect the free wireless internet access, the only thing that would inspire us to walk into a Starbucks in the first place. Well, turns out the arrangement with Telstra soured completely, and now iiNet has stepped in to fill the void by offering free Wi-Fi for their customers in 20 Starbucks stores around the country. More »
iiNet Offering Free Wi-Fi At Some Of The Few Remaining Starbucks
9:33AM Nick Broughall | When Starbucks announced last year that they were closing down a heap of their stores, we commented on how this would effect the free wireless internet access, the only thing that would inspire us to walk into a Starbucks in the first place. Well, turns out the arrangement with Telstra soured completely, and now iiNet has stepped in to fill the void by offering free Wi-Fi for their customers in 20 Starbucks stores around the country. More »
Gadgets
Option GlobeSurfer III 3G Wi-Fi Hotspot Has a Screen and USB Port
3:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | Option’s cool little 3G router makes a WiFi hotspot out of a 3G signal, providing pretty good download/upload speeds in the process. It’ll also let you plug in networked devices like hard drives and printers. More »
Networks
Clearwire Prepping a WiMax Wi-Fi Router For Portable 4G Hotspots
3:40AM John Mahoney | Clearwire early Wimax adopters will soon be able to buy a portable Wi-Fi router that will broadcast your ultra-fat 4G pipe to everyone within range of your pocketable little router. More »
Networks
AT&T <3’s Wi-Fi, Buys Wayport to Bring McDonald’s and Fancy Hotels Into the Fold
3:00AM Matt Buchanan | While having Wi-Fi everywhere is a great way to offload traffic from its 3G network, AT&T’s hard Wi-Fi push strikes me as a little anachronistic. Shouldn’t we be talking about super fast, ubiquitous 3G, 4G even? Its $US275 million pickup of Wi-Fi provider Wayport now gives AT&T customers Wi-Fi access at McDonald’s, Four Seasons, Marriott and Wyndham hotels, in addition to everyone’s standard Wi-Fi leeching spot, Starbucks.
Hardware
Broadcom Wi-Fi Chips to Have Skyhook Wi-Fi Positioning Built-In
3:40AM John Mahoney | Broadcom already makes a boatload of the GPS chips found in mobile phones and other location-aware gadgets, and now they’re adding Skyhook’s Wi-Fi positioning service to most of their mobile Wi-Fi chipsets, spreading the location-based love even without GPS. This is how iPhone regular finds your location in addition to using nearby cell towers (Skyhook IDs your position by comparing to those of known hotspot SSIDs in the vicinity), so look for even more location-based services coming to more phones in the future. [CNet] More »
Networks
11:57AM Nick Broughall | One of the only few things going for getting an iPhone on Telstra, especially in light of their terrible data packages, was the inclusion of free Wi-Fi at their hotspots around the country. But now that hotspot network looks to be a few locations fewer with the announcement that Starbucks is closing 61 of their 84 stores.
Because not every store had Wi-Fi before the closures, this probably won’t effect too many people. Unless you live in Canberra that is, where it’s likely that all three Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks stores will close.
The guys over at ZDnet got into the nitty gritty of the situation, and although there are a lot of unknown factors still involved around exactly which Starbucks stores will be closing, the loss of any free Wi-Fi hotspot is a sad day for Gizmodians around the country. Hopefully Telstra will be looking to expand their 1000+ network of hotspots in light of the Starbucks move. And hopefully they’ll make them free to everyone. Not holding our breath, though…
[ZDnet via Lifehacker AU] More »
Aussie Starbucks Closures Means Fewer Telstra Wi-Fi Hotspots
11:57AM Nick Broughall | One of the only few things going for getting an iPhone on Telstra, especially in light of their terrible data packages, was the inclusion of free Wi-Fi at their hotspots around the country. But now that hotspot network looks to be a few locations fewer with the announcement that Starbucks is closing 61 of their 84 stores.
Because not every store had Wi-Fi before the closures, this probably won’t effect too many people. Unless you live in Canberra that is, where it’s likely that all three Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks stores will close.
The guys over at ZDnet got into the nitty gritty of the situation, and although there are a lot of unknown factors still involved around exactly which Starbucks stores will be closing, the loss of any free Wi-Fi hotspot is a sad day for Gizmodians around the country. Hopefully Telstra will be looking to expand their 1000+ network of hotspots in light of the Starbucks move. And hopefully they’ll make them free to everyone. Not holding our breath, though…
[ZDnet via Lifehacker AU] More »
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