Wi-Fi Killed My Baby! - California town gives in to fear - dslreports.com

Wi-Fi Killed My Baby! - California town gives in to fear - dslreports.com: "The town of Sebastopol, California had planned to throw up a few wireless access points downtown, until a few locals, obsessed with 'electrical sensitivity,' derailed the effort. According to the O'Reilly blog, said locals banded together and signed a petition against the project, citing research that shows Wi-Fi is hazardous to your health.

Helge: Gone are the days for ubiquitous computing. Mobility is a distant dream.

The only problem being, as we've stated repeatedly, that there is no such research. That doesn't seem to stop a growing number of anti-Wi-Fi groups who like to cite the non-existent evidence anyway. Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper says his company was going to install the system at their expense (not taxpayer funded), and blogs about the plan here:

If you’ve got concerns at this point, please let me put things into perspective. Wi-Fi signals are typically 0.1 watt. Compare this to the mobile phone that you keep in your pocket, which is typically three to ten times this power level. When it’s at it’s highest power level, you hold it next to your head to conduct a conversation. Ever notice that your skin gets warm after a long call? That’s the only side effect of RF energy - warming. That is how microwave ovens work, at a much higher power level of 500-700 watts.

Another one rides the bus on ZDNet.com

Another one rides the bus on ZDNet.com: "Another one rides the bus Taking Wi-Fi on a ride

Cisco Systems is collaborating with cities around the world to see if broadband can be exploited to cut down energy consumption and traffic. In San Francisco, the company has rigged up municipal buses with free Wi-Fi to coax commuters out of their cars. CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos grabs a transfer and checks it out.

Helge: The connected city, commuting, bus riding and wi-fi while you ride. Mobile phoning while on the move hasn't been a big deal for ages. Internet is now ready for the ride. Green and Connected while on the bus. While you are going green. Cisco is showing a pilot project in SF. There is a pilot in Amsterdam as well. Hamburg and Madrid are also among the cities. If this concept succeeds they take this around the world.

Hightouch: Free Wi-Fi from Starbucks!

Hightouch: "Free Wi-Fi coming to a location near you An article by Mike Elgan of Computer World predicts: Starbucks will start rolling out free Wi-Fi access within one year.

He makes the point that people with the newer Wi-Fi devices will demand such services, and that McDonalds is already moving to rollout free Wi-Fi in all its locations in the UK. I think his prediction is right on the money.

Once I got my iPod Touch I completely changed my morning coffee routine to shops offering free Wi-Fi. Starbucks is going to have to go free if they're going to compete. I know of at least one customer they've lost already.

UPDATE: I realized a couple of other things. I've also altered where I eat lunch. The second reason free is important is that the authentication piece on small devices is a pain. We just want to turn them on and join a network. One reason why I don't care for the free Wi-Fi at Panera Bread."

Helge: Which is a great thing. Skype announced mobile phone application. Calling is free from places like Starbucks.

Scripting News: 7/4/2007

Scripting News: 7/4/2007: "If Apple had *really* wanted to be revolutionary Permanent link to this item in the archive. They would have made a wifi-only cell phone.

I wrote about this earlier this year. As I talk with people from home on my iPhone it seems so silly. The place is saturated with wifi bandwidth, and the device uses it, for everything but telephone calls.

6/15/07: 'You gotta wonder why Apple went with such old, expensive, customer-hostile and likely obsolete technology.'

And then I read this article by David Pogue in today's Times saying that T-Mobile introduced a phone last week, in the middle of all the iPhone euphoria, that routes phone calls over wifi if a signal is present. Seems the iPhone should be doing that."

Dave Winer, 52, pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in Berkeley, California.

Helge: I agree. There are people in this country thinking that VOIP is the future of mobility as well. Why not go for Wi-Fi? We should be digging more into this. Is T-Mobile doing the right thing?