WeFi's "Wi-Fi Locator" Widget Now Available for iGoogle and NetVibes

As WeFi's live database of Wi-Fi hotspots around the world keeps expanding, we want to share the knowledge with more and more people.
So welcome the new Find Wi-Fi Widget!


The first release of the widget is for iGoogle and NetVibes - you can post it on your page, and with one click find where the best Wi-Fi spots are anywhere you want.


How do you add Find Wi-Fi to your iGoogle?


1. Go to your iGoogle page, and click "Add Stuff" on the upper-right corner:

2. Now type "find wifi" in the Search for Gadget box (top right):

3. Then all you have to do is click "Add it now" below the Widget:

And you're done!

When you go back you your iGoogle page, you will see the widget, and you can type in any address in the world, like this:

Then you get a list of open Hotspots in order of proximity to the location you have entered:

And if you click one of them, you will get a map of the Hotspot's area, with additional useful info about this Hotspot:

 

You can also add the widget to your home page on NetVibes - very easy:

1. Open your NetVibes page
2. Click the "Add Content" button
3. In the "Search Content" box, type "find wifi" and hit "Search"
4. Click the "Add" icon - and you're done.

We'd love to get your feedback!

WeFi is hiring!

WeFi is looking to expand and deepen our involvement with the community of users, who contribute to our growth and success, and now we are looking to hire a Community and User Support Manager to lead this initiative. The goal is to evangelize and promote WeFi, build and maintain a user community, solve users’ problems and serve as an advocate for the user community inside the company.


If you have proven track record in this field and you want to take a leading role in the WeFi adventure, or you know someone who fits this challenge - let us know! Send your details to jobs[at]wefi.com and we will be happy to talk to you!

Role and Responsibilities:

• Creatively and proactively assist customers handle their issues with our products
• Promote WeFi in blogs / reviews / communities
• Author and promote content about WeFi such as blogs, podcasts, videos, or other
• Identify opinion leaders who love WeFi and engage them to become product advocates
• Release periodic customer newsletter
• Establish metrics and reports regarding customer satisfaction

Requirements:

• Proven track record promoting software applications througth communities
• Passionateabout Internet products, Web 2.0 technologies and about people
• Independent, self-starter
• Great English writing skills (other languages - an advantage)
• Understanding and experience in using Web 2.0 platforms (facebook, twitter, blogs, youtube, etc.)
• Solid technical skills 

Is free Wi-Fi a good deal for coffee shops?

Do you expect your favorite coffee shop to provide free Wi-Fi?
Of course.
Do you also expect them to supply power for your laptop while you are sitting there?
Why Not?
Do you sit in the coffee shop for 2-3 hours, using the free Wi-Fi and power, having only a Latte and maybe a muffin?
Well...


The question of providing free Wi-Fi and power in coffee shops and similar small businesses is beginning to come up more and more.


In this interesting post in Mercury News, Chris O'Brian explores this question and interviews several coffee shop owners, like Monsieur Beans.  

Here are a few interesting quotes.

Free Wi-Fi has turned coffee shops across Silicon Valley into de facto work spaces.

That's good for a region full of digital nomads armed with laptops who want to escape the isolation of working alone. But it's been a mixed blessing for coffee shop owners, who have found the economics of free Wi-Fi a complex brew. While many coffee shops have embraced this increasingly mobile workforce by rolling out extras like power strips, others have sought to subtly discourage or limit freeloaders who can be a drain on the bottom line.

It's a tricky balance that shop owners will have to continue to manage in an age when customers have come to see free Wi-Fi as a right, every bit as vital as the coffee being served.

...

Chang said offering free Wi-Fi attracts customers throughout the day, important for cafes that often might have only a couple of peak hours around meal times.

...

To the north, Eileen Hassi, owner of Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco's Mission District, has also pulled the plug on customers. Five years ago, when she opened, it was clear she had to offer free Wi-Fi. But a couple years later, when Ritual became known as a hot spot for Web 2.0 workers, Hassi said her shop became overwhelmed and she decided to cut off the outlets. Her power bill dropped by $500 a month.

Overall, she thinks it's worth it to provide Wi-Fi, which costs her $140 a month. But the power issue still rankles some. Recently, a woman came in and ordered a $3 latte. But when she discovered there were no outlets, she insisted Hassi refund her money. When Hassi refused, the woman sold the latte to another customer coming in and then stormed out.

Read the full story here.

Great review of WeFi for Nokia/Symbian on Bright Hub

WeFi just got a cool review on the well known blog Bright Hub.

Here are a few highlights:

Introduction

Auto WeFi is available from Nokia’s Ovi store and stands out from the rest of the apps available with its aesthetically simple logo. The application is quite a bit larger than many other utilities and is 796 kb to download and requires one megabyte when fully installed. In todays age of large hard-drives on most s60 devices however, the size of Auto WeFi shouldn’t pose a problem. Stored in the applications folder Auto WeFi, when opened, asks the user if they would like the app to start-up automatically when the handset is switched on.

Screenshots

Management and Usage

Once the relevant option is chosen by the user, they are greeted by a ‘status’ screen which shows the connection status. Next to the connection status there is a small picture of the earth that is grey when not connected and green and blue whilst a connection exists. Below this lies a list of four possible wi-fi connections;

• Internet Verified Spots
• Open Spots
• Spots require login
• Locked Spots

Auto WeFi picks up available wi-fi connections automatically upon booting up and catalogues them intuitively into the list described above, whilst also providing you with the password for any other wi-fi connections that you had previously connected to on your s60 device.
The user can also switch to a more detailed screen by scrolling right to the ‘spots’ page. This page contains the actual list of all wi-fi connections available to the user, with small icons highlighting whether the connection is locked and/or requires a password.
You can even manually refresh the list from this page or manually connect to a specific wi-fi service also. The other option of connecting to the Internet is to open the embedded browser on your s60 device, and select the ‘Automatic-WeFi’ whereby Auto WeFi connects to the internet via a previously used wifi connection or the one manually selected in the application.

More Screenshots

Conclusion

Auto We-Fi is a mass usage s60 application that everyone can use without being befuddled with various menus, sub-menus and even more options. Simplicity and straight-to-the-point handling is the direction in which the application was surely created. Automatic connections and two indicative picture help menu’s means there isn’t much that can go wrong. The text is also of a perfect size and the design is very good.
The only small negative is that a user cannot manually input the details of an available wi-fi connection, should Auto WeFi not pick it up. However, that shouldn’t detract from what is essentially an excellent and useful wi-fi application, one that is certainly far easier to use than ones included in most s60 devices.

Screenshots

Read the full article here.

Wow! New iPod Nano with Video Camera!

Could this be the next big thing since sliced bread and the invention of MP3 players?

Apple just announced the new generation of iPod Nano with a Video Camera, and it looks real awesome.

In this post on Mashable, writer Christins Warren spills her opinion - why this can be a real game changer.

Why Video

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Over the last few years, we’ve all watched the explosion of the internet video market. From YouTube to Flickr, shooting and sharing video is becoming more and more common.

However, the pocket-video space hasn’t really taken off. Sure, products like the Flip have been breakout success stories, but pocket video still hasn’t had its “iPod” moment of becoming totally mainstream. That is, until now.

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Why It’s Brilliant

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By offering up standard quality video recordings in a tiny package — a package that already contains a device consumers know and love — the new iPod nano might just be pocket video’s breakout moment.

The price is right — $149 for 8GB, $179 for 16GB — that’s cheaper than the competition. The tipping point for consumers and pocket video might not be a separate device, but added functionality to a device we already use every day. Not everyone wants or needs a video-capable phone. As handy as that can be, it isn’t always the most sensible choice — if your battery runs out shooting video, how will you get phone calls?

By integrating the video camera with the music player, the whole process becomes that much more seamless. Not only that, because Apple is offering customers a way to upload video to YouTube,Facebook and MobileMe when they sync their devices (just like when you sync your iPod with music), the publishing step is that much easier too.

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Why It’s a Game Changer

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I know I’m not the only person who never seriously considered getting a Flip or a Zi6 or equivalent camera, but is bursting at the seams to buy the new iPod nano.

The combination of a low price, easy access to social media networks and integration with an already established product makes the iPod nano the most compelling pocket video solution to date.

I’ll go ahead and be brash: I think this thing is going to be huge.

I am going to get one for sure next time I am in US...

Will you change your Airline to get Wi-Fi in mid-air?

Until recently, a flight on an airplane used to be one of the last places of refuge where we arereally out of reach, and can take a break from the email attack, text messages etc.

Well, it seems that more an more people are willing to give this one up too - in an article by mashable, Ben Parr quotes a research by Wakefield Research and the Wi-Fi Allianve, which discovered that 76% of frequent fliers would change their airline to have Wi-Fi. 55% would change their flight by a full day to have it. And another 71% of fliers would rather have Wi-Fi access over meal service.

Here are some more numbers:

- 94% agree with the statement that in-flight Wi-Fi is “the best thing airlines have done” in the last three years.

- 50% of business travelers take red-eye flights so they are “reachable” during business hours.

- 82% said Wi-Fi would help solve this problem

Airlines would be smart to be getting Wi-Fi on their flights, and fast. Not only is it high in demand, but you can charge for it and turn it into an additional revenue stream. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

I have experienced it myself - and trust me, it can be addictive... although still expensive on Virgin America flights:

Read the full article here.

Nokia releases N900, first Linux smartphone (with Wi-Fi)

Nokia finally announced the release of a full fledged smartphone running the Linux operating system.

The story about it in Fierce Wireless fails to touch on an important question - what is the connection between this and Nokia's vague announcement from a couple of months ago that they are going to have an Android device - which is basically tunning Linux too?

Here are a few quotes from the story:

Nokia released its first smartphone running Linux-based Maemo software, a day after a Reuters report indicated it would do so. The company said the device, called the N900, represents an evolution from its Internet Tablet devices (which did not sport cellular connections) that had run on Linux.

The company said that the phone would allow users to multi-task and have a better Web browsing experience. Despite the emphasis on the benefits of Linux, Nokia said the gadget would complement its Symbian OS--its standard smartphone operating system--and not replace it.

"This is in no way putting Symbian in jeopardy," Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's head of sales, told Reuters. He said Symbian would remain Nokia's main platform and that it would look to continue to expand its presence in the market. Vanjoki told Bloomberg that the N900 was aimed at "technology leaders, who represent about 200 million on this planet."

Research firm CCI Insights echoed Vanjoki's sentiments. The firm said Nokia likely would use Symbian to flesh out its portfolio across a number of market segments and price points. The firm said the N900 was essentially an experiment, to see what stick on the high end.

"CCS Insight believes the N900 will be a niche product that will primarily be purchased by early adopters," the firm wrote in a research note issued today. "Its uninspiring design further reflects its experimental nature and signals that the appeal of the device lies more in the software platform than the hardware. The N900 has an extensive set of features and adheres largely to well-established open Web principles (such as OpenGL and WebKit). Nokia's goal may be to get developers to use this 'Swiss army knife' device as a test bed to establish what is possible on a computer-like mobile device. Advances would signal the next steps it needs to take to be successful in this emerging category."

The N900 runs on Maemo 5 software and will have a 3G cellular connection (WCDMA and HSPA at 900/1700/2100 MHz), a WVGA touchscreen display and a Qwerty keyboard. The phone will run on a ARM Cortex-A8 processor, features up to 1 GB of application memory and includes OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration. Nokia boasted the device would be able to perform "PC-like" multitasking. The phone's browser will be powered by Mozilla, makers of Firefox, and it will have Adobe Flash 9.4 support. The N900 also has 32 GB of storage, which is expandable up to 48 GB via a microSD card.

Nokia said the device would be available beginning in October for around $712, before taxes and subsidies, though it did not say where.

In other Nokia news, the company announced the formation of a new Solutions unit to drive Nokia's solutions business and bring it into line with its device portfolio. Nokia has made services a major focus of its business strategy going forward. Alberto Torres, currently the head of Nokia's devices category management, will lead the new unit. Additionally, Nokia said that Robert Andersson, who currently heads up finance, strategy and strategic sourcing in the company's devices units, will transfer to Nokia's corporate development office to run the company's corporate alliances and business development operations, which includes Nokia's recently announced partnership with Microsoft.

Read the full story http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/nokia-debuts-first-linux-smartphone/2009-08-27.

Article: Operators embracing WiFi

The wave of Wi-Fi grows higher and stronger: in an article in Fierce Broadband Wireless, Writer Lynette Luna describes the shift in Operator's approach to Wi-Fi. WeFi is mentioned in it too...

Here are a few key paragraphs:

It's no secret mobile operators are now embracing WiFi, but will they go so far as to actively encourage customers to roam onto WiFi?

Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless, sees big business in operators looking to WiFi hotspots as a way to offload the heavy 3G data traffic that is generated by flat-rate pricing and iconic devices such as the iPhone. Once the vendor was stonewalled when it requested meetings with carriers. Today, operators are calling Ruckus.

The key to encouraging 3G offloading, however, is enabling seamless roaming between WiFi and 3G. "A single sign-on is the thing to master," Lo said. "People want WiFi if it's easy to use. If they have to re-authenticate every time, it's a big pain."

U.S. operators besides AT&T have yet to enable devices to seek out a WiFi connection before a 3G connection. PCCW in Hong Kong, a Ruckus Wireless customer, deployed that capability two years ago when it began rolling out hotspots and other operators in Asia and Europe are aggressively adding that capability.

Should operators necessarily follow AT&T's lead and own hotspots? Lo said money can be made as a managed hotspot service provider in addition to the benefits of reducing network capex and aiding customer retention.

Already, companies like WeFi are coming up with app stores for use on WiFi only, while other companies like Bango are coming up with ways for operators to monetize apps via WiFi.

Since the iPhone sets the trends for the types of features we see in competing iPhones, it's only a matter of time until we see auto-authentication features on competing handsets outside of AT&T's network--both from a consumer demand standpoint and a 3G offloading one.

Read the full article here - recommended!

WeFi gets round B investment - moving forward fast

Well, it's no secret - WeFi secured a new investment round from top-tier Venture Capital firms Lighspeed and Pitango, who believe WeFi is well on the way to led the world of mobile Intenret over Wi-Fi.

We got some great coverage on the investment from TechCrunch and many more blogs and websites.

Here is the full announcement text:

WeFi Secures Round B Funding To Expand R&D, Marketing, and Business Partnerships

Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pitango Venture Capital led the funding round for WeFi, which has reached 30 Million Wi-Fi hotspots in its global database

Delaware, USA – August 04, 2009: WeFi Inc. (www.wefi.com), creator of the world’s largest community-based global Wi-Fi network, announced today that it has secured an undisclosed amount of second round funding. The funding round was led by venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pitango Venture Capital. The funding will support WeFi’s business and financial needs, and is being allocated toward expanding development, marketing efforts, and strengthening strategic business partnerships.

The financing round continues an eventful year thus far for WeFi, which has announced a number of new launches over the last few months, including a version of its software for the Google Android mobile operating system, an integration with mobile VoIP provider fring, the launch of WeROK - a mobile entertainment and communications portal powered by WeFi’s community-generated Wi-Fi network, and the opening of WeFiApps, a Wi-Fi powered application store for data-intensive mobile applications.

After having established itself as a leader in bringing open Wi-Fi hotspots to people around the world, WeFi has in the past year significantly penetrated the mobile market as well, making finding and connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot easy for mobile users. WeFi automatically connects the user to the best connection available, as opposed to the tedious, multi-step process that previously existed. WeFi always seeks to connect users to Wi-Fi access points where Internet access has already been verified by other WeFi-enabled devices – dubbed “community-verified spots” - in a growing network of 30 million access points recorded. In addition, WeFi recently released its first generation of carrier-grade solutions for offloading mobile Internet traffic from congested 3G and 4G networks onto Wi-Fi access points.

WeFi was established in February 2006. The company is incorporated in Delaware, U.S. with R&D facilities in Israel.

Barry Eggers, Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners, commented: “We are thrilled to lead this round of funding together with Pitango and invest in an outstanding company such as WeFi, with whom we’ve had a close relationship the last 3 years. With the current sharp increase in mobile Internet use, a trend that is expected to continue over the next few years, increased Wi-Fi availability is instrumental in unleashing mobile Internet applications and services. It is clear to us that WeFi is well positioned to become a true global industry leader.”

”Using its innovative technology, WeFi is the only company today, that has a solution for consumers, handset manufacturers, wireless applications and carriers to use mobile Internet, faster, easier and everywhere,” said Rami Kalish, Managing General Partner & Co-Founder, Pitango Venture Capital

“We are delighted to keep working with top tier investment partners like Lightspeed and Pitango,” said Zur Feldman, CEO of WeFi. “With our rapidly growing number of users, and our ever expanding database of Wi-Fi access points record around the world, WeFi is providing the fastest, easiest and most reliable mobile Internet experience available. The new capital will help WeFi expand its technology reach to additional platforms, to accelerate sales and marketing worldwide, to support new partnerships, and to continue to spread our innovative technology. These funds will support the company’s growth over the next couple of years," added Feldman.

Another attempt on your privacy by Facebook...

In case you didn't know, Facebook sometimes uses your profile picture in advertisement impressions shown to other Facebook users.

You can control the exposure of your picture from your settings, but by default Facebook is allowed to do that.

If you want to protect your picture from appearing in Facebook ads, this is what you have to do:

Click on Settings up at the top right corner (where you see the "log out" link).

Select Privacy - Manage.

Select News Feed and Wall.

Select the tab that reads Facebook Ads. There is a drop-down box - click it and select No One.

Spread the word...