Is Wireless internet essential for kiddies?

Still on the topic of wireless internet for school, I was reading an article called “ Study: Home Wi-Fi Important for School Success " . It basically talks about how according to a study, 9 out of 10 teens feel having home Wi-Fi access makes them better equipped to handle schoolwork.

Yeah right! If their school work was facebook and porn. With A.D.D, A.D.H.D and other attention disorders becoming a growing problem for kids today, I don’t see how wireless internet helps them handle their school work better. I myself have digressed to checking two different email accounts while writing this post but that’s just me.

There is of course the solution of parents monitoring the internet, which would then I would only believe that wireless internet can actually make a difference.

So what’s your stance on it? Can Wi-Fi access help students at home with their schoolwork?

Remember WeFi is dedicated to helping you find, connect, and enjoy Wi-Fi anywhere around the world. We provide the tools that allow our community to map the global Wi-Fi network. Our amazing community has already discovered over 67,000,000 access points around the world…. Just saying

Times are’ changing thanks to Wi-Fi

By The Support Chick

Times are’a changing folks, today more than 25 U.S. school districts, have agreed to allow buses with complete access to wireless Internet.

I first learned about it from a conversation with our techie guys who were busy with unusual moving networks on WeFi’s global Wi-Fi map. I understand they found some great solutions already, but it took them some time…

So remember back in the days when we used to take bus rides to school (well, maybe not everyone has had the pleasure but you know how it is from the movies) bunch of noise, spitballs and crazy kids.

So what does that mean? Kids can now do their homework on the way to school, chat with their friends, play games and finally Bob the bus driver will have the quiet bus ride he has always dreamed of.

So if this happened 10 years ago when I was in high school, I would definitely love it and use it to my advantage which would mean doing my homework on the way to school in the morning. Honestly though, I’m glad I went through the loud craziness of public school transportation pre Wi-Fi era, what kind of memories would I have had, had there been Wi-Fi.

Yes, I know technology is growing and blah blah and it’s great but it is costing kids to grow up in a completely different way. Okay, now I feel old cause I’m totally thinking, it’s a shame kids don’t play outside anymore instead of spending their days indoors and online. In the same sense, I could be outside now learning to garden but you know, eh… rather be indoors and online.

I think we can declare this Wi-Fi advancement as yet another technological achievement and are a step closer to realizing that Wi-Fi isn’t going anywhere but only progressing and invading our day to day lives….in a good way of course.
So what do you guys think? Do you have Wi-Fi buses in your own town? Would you want your kids to ride in Wi-Fi buses? Is it step up or a step down for our society?

Help us find a name for our new mascot

We have been designing a new "mascot" that will soon become part of our products and website... he is a hooked-on-Wi-Fi robot, and nothing makes him happier than finding another open hotspot that he can share with the WeFi community.

We still didn't name him - we thought our friends in the WeFi community can help pick up the right name.

Here are a few pictures and a short video sequence of this guy - why don't you jump to our facebook page or comment here in the blog, and share your ideas?

Waiting to hear from you...

Newsflash! WeFi 4.0 is released - redesigned and cool

It finally happened - the new version of WeFi software for Windows is live!
The user interface has been completely redesigned following a long process of performance analysis, and collecting comments and requests from users.


The main windows shows the Wi-Fi networks around you, with all the additional helpful info that WeFi has collected from users, such as - what type of hotspot is this?

In this window you can also choose how you prefer WeFi to connect you to Wi-Fi networks automatically. You do it by just turning the cool dial (or "knob") to the option you choose:

• Any Wi-Fi: WeFi will try to connect you to any open hotspot / Wi-Fi networks that it can find, regardless of the type of network.
• Approved WeSpots: WeSpots are hotspots that have been marked by members of the WeFi community as open and available; you may prefer to connect to hotspots that other people like you have marked as "OK".
• My Favorites: WeFi will only connect automatically to spots / networks that you have already connected before, like your home, office, your favorite hang-out places, or other networks that you have manually connected before

You can also choose to set the automatic connection mode to "off"; it means WeFi will only show you the networks around you (and recommend which are the best ones) but will not connect automatically; you will click and connect manually to the network that you want.

Another new cool feature, which WeFi provides following many requests from users, is the ability to login to WeFi with your facebook ID. You can easily do this on the "My Profile" tab: The first time you open it you will see the familiar "facebook connect" button

and after you click it and log in with your facebook account, you will see your profile picture, and some details like - how many hotspots you have mapped using WeFi so far (and if you haven't mapped any hotspots - why not start today?)

We will add more interesting info soon...

And if you like to know where the good Wi-Fi hotspots are around your town, or anywhere in the world - now the Wi-Fi search is integrated within the WeFi software:

Many of our users asked us to help them get premium Wi-Fi connection in areas where no free Wi-Fi can be found (alas, there are a few places like this in the world still...) - so we introduced WeFi Premium - a subscription service that provides over 90,000 high quality Wi-FI hotspots around the world (mostly out of USA, at the moment). You can check it out on the "Premium" tab:

Please go ahead, try out this new version, and we are really waiting to hear from you! Comment on our facebook page or email to support[at]wefi[dot]com !

Top 10 Wi-Fi Friendly Cities in the USA - Summer list

By The Support Chick

Look no more folks; we have scoured the USA to bring you the list of the Top 10 Wi-Fi Friendly Cities in the USA. Basically, the list was ranked due to hours and hours of research and analysis (luckily, not done by me)



10. San Diego, California

The 10th spot goes to Sunny San Diego. You’ll mostly find free hotspots at Hotels so it’s great for non -residents who are just there for business trips. You can also enjoy free Wi-Fi at some cafes like Starbucks and other coffee shops. But that’s about it which makes San Diego our 10th friendly city in the USA.

9. Denver, Colorado

Denver is definitely a fast growing place for free Wi-Fi. People say that you can feel pretty confident taking your laptop or mobile with you and finding a good spot to connect. But obviously, it’s number 9 on our list, so it can’t be that awesome.

8. San Francisco, California

And we’re back to CA, though San Francisco canceled municipal wireless network that would have provided free internet access to the city of San Francisco. So no, you won’t be able to find Wi-Fi everywhere, but SF wouldn’t have been on this list if it didn’t offer a great collection of free Wi-Fi hotspots.

7. Seattle, Washington

The City of Seattle provides free Wi-Fi in the Columbia City and the University District business districts, and the City Hall lobby area. Wi-Fi is mostly available at the Seattle Public Libraries.

6. Houston, Texas

Now we’re getting to a top player in the Wi-Fi game, it wouldn’t be on our list if it didn’t have plenty of free Wi-Fi not to mention that Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, so yay for Houston!

5. Chicago, Illinois

A little birdie whispered in my ear and said that crime in Chicago does not only remain on the streets and using Wi-Fi through your neighbors isn’t always the safest thing. Best to keep it public, you’ll be sure to find some safe and free hotpsots throughout the city.

4. Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta used to be known to have the most Wi-Fi hotspots in the United States. You’ll have a better chance of finding free spots here in Atlanta then any of the cities we’ve mentioned so far.

3. Los Angeles, California

LA will always be in the top 3 spot for pretty much any type of list. With all its glitz and glamour, you will find free Wi-Fi in tons of places, even the celebrities love their Wi-Fi free.

2. Austin, Texas

And we’re back to Texas where everything is bigger and better including the Wi-Fi. So you can enjoy a juicy steak with some fried eggs as you surf the net in any good ol’ Austin joint.

1. New York, New York

As if it wasn’t obvious! You can connect to the Internet from just about anywhere in Manhattan; with an astronomical amount of hotspots available to the public this is what makes it our number 1 city. And how can it not be? The city of singles always needs to stay connected to find their next hot date!

Think your city was dissed and should appear on the list?” Go grab the WeFi software and map Wi-Fi so that everyone knows yours is Wi-Fi AWESOME!

Live outside the U.S.? Tell us what is the most Wi-Fi friendly city in your country!

http://wefi.com/

Lookator: Augmented Reality Wi-Fi scanner on Android - this is cool

If you have an Android phone, you have to try the Lookator app. It is soooo much fun.
This is one of the new "Augmented Reality" type of apps on Android - these apps let you look at the world through the phone camera, and show you, in real time, useful information (or gaming objects) embedded into reality.
What Lookator does is both useful and fun - it shows you were the nearby Wi-Fi networks are located, when you point your phone camera and look around you. The networks are shows as colorful symbols floating in the air, in the direction where they are located relative to you. Here is an example of what you will see:

You can see which of the networks is useful to you, and connect to it by just clicking on it in the window.
One of the great things about Lookator is that it also shows you Wi-Fi hotspots that are beyond the reception range of your phone - so you can walk over and get Wi-Fi, that without Lookator you wouldn't even know is there.
Lookator is doing it by using the WeFi SDK - WeFi's technology enables it to tap into the huge database of Wi-Fi hotspots generated via crowd-sourcing by WeFi's users. You can go to the settings screen and choose if you want to see hotspots that are out-of-range:

So you have to give it a try!
Just search for "lookator" on the Android Market on your phone, or scan this barcode with the Barcode Scanner app:

Let us know how it goes!

Another Day, another Person Pissed at their Neighbor

By The Support Chick




So I received an e-mail with “I have a big problem!” as the subject of the email. After hearing so many “problems”, I’m always kind of excited to see what problem I would be tackling next (yes, it’s the thrill of my day)

I opened the email and get a few sentences of someone (who wrote with all capslocked might I add) that their Wi-fi has been recently locked by their lousy neighbors and they need help , she even sent me her neighbors home address hoping I would give them a virtual spanking, “bad neighbor, how dare you lock your Wi-Fi !”

We’ve all seen the video where that clueless woman calls the Tech Show when her stolen Wi-Fi Disappears.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in free Wi-Fi, I encourage it, but when someone locks it then obviously it’s their right, so what advice can I give you when someone locks you out, maybe some baked homemade cookies will do the trick or of course : (cough cough..pay up) I think I just came up with great idea, charge your neighbors half of the price that an internet company would charge….hmmm…Cha-Ching!

Could SSID’s be the New Twitter?

SSID’s could be the new twitter in the world of Wi-Fi, if you ask me. With just one or two words, you can really get an idea of what the person is feeling, plus the user can change it whenever they see fit. There are more than 57,000,000 hot spots on the WeFi community and I’ve managed to come across plenty of SSID’s. You do find more names that are, well, boring, you have your typical SSID which are only names of the user and then you have the SSID’s that are fun, creative and can even tell what kind of person the user is.


We have our funny names like: Reluctant Cowboy, I Love Donuts, 2cool4school,betty’s bedroom, welcome to hell and so forth.

We also have the names where the user wants to tell the world something: Stayoffthisnetwork , the sopranos will get you, GET YOUR OWN ROUTER, BITCH , ......bitches, my neighbor has better wifi, I really hate you, go eat poo, Piss-Off, I am awesome….

You get the idea…

Though some of the names can be a bit off, there’s still fun and creative and it beats boring names like “craig’s wifi and “avenue cafe” – so what kind of SSID names have you run into on WeFi?

The Following is One Easy Way to Win an iPad

Hey everyone,

We're happy to announce "WeFi's Hotspots Discovery Challenge"  and I promise you, it's one easy way to win an iPad.

Sign up, discover hotspots and win an iPad ... simple as that

So this is what you have to do to win:

1. Go to http://www.wefi.com/challenge/

2. Register

3. Map as many spots as you can until July 24,2010

3. Win

Prizes:
First Prize: Apple iPad 32GB.
Second Prize: Google Nexus One phone.
Third Prize: Apple iPod Touch 8GB.

For more info go to :
http://www.wefi.com/challenge/


*Only US-based hotspots will count

Good luck!

Android developer? You can now win $10,000 in WeFi's Android Developers Challenge!

WeFi invites all of Android developers out there to take part in WeFi’s new challenge! All you have to do is create an Android App that uses the WeFi SDK

You think you have what it takes to create a winning Android App? Prove it and you may just win up to $10,000 !

So here's what you have to do: 

How to participate and win

1.  Submit your proposal or concept by June 16th: Write a short email to devchallenge@wefi.com; explain what you plan to develop and feel free to attach some sketches.
2. WeFi will examine all proposals by July 15th. If your proposal is accepted, you will receive an email reply from us with a permanent activation key. You can download the SDK with a temporary key here, and start programming with the SDK already. Note that you must install the WeFi app through the Android market in order for it to function as service for the SDK client to communicate with.
3. Submit your final contest entry by August 14th: upload your app to the Android market, and send an email to devchallenge@wefi.com with the final name and details of your app.
4. The contest will be finalized by September 15th , and then WeFi will evaluate all the submitted apps.
5. Winners will be announced by October 1st!!!

  

So there you have it guys, for more information, go to http://www.wefi.com/devchallenge 

If you have any questions, you can contact us directly at devchallenge@wefi.com  or give us a shout out at one of our social sites:

http://Twitter.com/wefi_twitt

http://Facebook.com/autowefi

Good luck everyone!


And say hello to our new Android mascot... we still don't have a name for this guy: