wireless
Android users sue over software they say spies on them
By adamg - 12/6/11 - 7:31 amTwo users of Android mobile phones yesterday filed class-action lawsuits against the manufacturer of their phones and a software company that boasts it can track what Android users are doing even when their phones are in airplane mode.
New broadband service launches in Boston area
By adamg - 9/1/10 - 1:27 pmI met today with some folks from Clearwire, which today launched a wireless broadband service in the Boston area. I'll have a more complete report later (and a coverage map), but for now, here are answers to questions folks asked me on Twitter:
- Clearwire is working with Sprint and Comcast. It has no plans to work with Verizon or AT&T.
- Clearwire does have a mobile hotspot gizmo that lets you connect an iSomething (Pad, Phone and Pod) to its network (it has a similar gizmo for PCs and other devices that can connect to WiFi)
- The company has not talked to the MBTA about putting antennas in T tunnels; says it will once it finishes the buildout of its above-ground antennas over the next year or so.
- The company plans to blanket the entire area within 128 first (looks to have about 60% covered now), then the area within 495. Currently uncovered areas include large parts of Roxbury, Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury and parts of Mattapan, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester.
- The company is still looking for testers (will get contact info).
If Verizon won't give us FiOS, maybe they'll give us wicked fast wireless
By adamg - 6/23/10 - 8:25 amBostInnovation reports Verizon has finished up Boston technical tests of its 4G wireless, which promises download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps, and will now begin looking for users to test it out - with actual service to be offered by the end of this year. No word on cost.
Starbucks to catch up with Oak Square Dunkin' Donuts
By adamg - 6/14/10 - 11:51 amTim O'Reilly tweets that as of July 1, Starbucks will eliminate fees for using wireless in its stores.
So who's still paying for wireless at Logan?
By adamg - 11/23/09 - 6:35 pmOK, savvy travelers know there's free wireless at Logan for the holidays.
Ben Ostrander reports, though, that when you connect to loganwifi, you're given a choice: Free wireless or the traditional $10 wireless.
Anybody know if the paid WiFi is better somehow (better throughput?)? Or is it just for the sort of person you'd expect to see on a Chance card in Monopoly, using a $10 bill to light a cigar?
we dodged the bullet, but next time my winter disaster communications tips might help!
By WDavidStephenson - 1/14/08 - 11:16 pmIn Medfield I think we lost power for less than an hour today, but it was a reminder that reallly bad weather (even in '78 we didn't lose power, but remember that Quebec ice storm???)normal communications might be disrupted, and we'd be on our own.
Wi-Fi or libraries?
By adamg - 12/8/06 - 8:41 amSharon Gartenberg cannot believe Framingham is considering spending $1 million to create a downtown wireless zone:
... OK, so we can't afford to replace the terribly inadequate branch library in Saxonville, but we have a million dollars to spend so "Police, fire, public works, and health inspection services personnel all could work away from the office more efficiently with laptops and wireless Internet access"? Um, I don't think so.
And by the way, Framingham is 26 square miles, not just 3. If the service is for public employees, what possible rationale could there be to spend a million dollars to offer wireless very close to town offices, and not offer it in areas of the town more remote from town hall? ...
Free Wi-Fi to fly is nigh?
By adamg - 11/1/06 - 5:25 pmCNet: FCC: Boston airport can't block airline's Wi-Fi:
Markj is happy:
... Finally, Boston may get a chance to catch up with all of the other places that have free WiFi at the airport, with no thanks to AssPort. ...
In what is supposed to be a public place, it seems absurd to pay for wireless access, especially in a city that's supposed to be a high-tech leader.
Herald editor doesn't get brain tumor at Quincy Market
By adamg - 10/16/06 - 9:24 pmHerald Managing Editor Joe Dwinell checks in from the Quincy Market rotunda, where he files a blog post via the marketplace's free WiFi - and where he learns from a visiting Mayo Clinic physician that the wireless service won't be giving him a brain tumor:
... He has pulled up a seat next to me to blog along. He's also asking about Mitt Romney and how a liberal Massachusetts can elect a Mormon Republican. Checks and balances, I say. ...
Citywide wireless plan stupid and pointless, he says
By adamg - 10/7/06 - 7:12 pmJohn Keith explains why:
... Free and low-cost wireless is available - I use it all the time, at the public libraries in Copley Square and in the South End. Starbucks has monthly plans costing $29.99 and $39.99. The city has also announced plans to install wireless along its "Main Streets."
If there was a demand for wireless access, throughout the city, you can bet that a private company would have already entered the market.
That no one has, shows there is really no interest in this, beyond a few, good-intentioned, but misguided politicians. ...
