"And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight..."

"...lose the heavy legal verbiage and you'll have it just right!"

Borders Books
12055 Metcalf, Overland Park

802.11g
SSID:  BORDERS

Well, it didn't take long for Borders to jump in whole hog after Barnes and Noble dipped a toe into the free-and-open waters last summer with their two-hours-at-a-pop offer.  Borders has beaten that hands down, however.  Click through their landing page to acknowledge their "terms and conditions"-conveniently available on another page via a link if you really want to read through them all-and after a brief detour to an "are you sure you don't want to buy something while you're here?" page-you're off, at least for as long as you have battery power for unless you're sitting in the cafe against the south wall.  No time limit here, save for that.  Quite a difference indeed, from what I recalled in a post last year to have been my most recent visit here during 2003's "One Unwired Day" promotion, when this was a T-Mobile play-for-pay location.

I am amused somewhat, however, at why growing numbers of hotspot operators-or perhaps the vendors who power them (Verizon in this case)-feel they need to craft written acceptable use policies that are so jargonized and long-winded that they could serve as fodder for perhaps a couple of "Perry Mason" episodes (and I know I'm showing my age there).  Everyone knows no one bothers reading them, and any business who except in an obvious case of egregious wrongdoing on a customer's part actually attempted to enforce any of their more onerous terms would find such a move about as popular with the public as the Grinch is this time of year.

Here's a New Year's resolution I'd like to propose to all free hotspot operators:  Get out from in between your customers and what they're after.  If you feel you absolutely have to steer them to a clickthrough page, do them a favor and put a simple, short, common sense AUP written in plain English right on that page, and present your pitch for an impulse buy there as well.  You just might be surprised at how far a little goodwill like this could go.

And with that, season's greetings to all, and to all a good night!

Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus.

And according to the Wall Street Journal, as reported by Glenn Fleishman at Wi-Fi Networking News, he's dropped an early gift from his pack-free Wi-Fi at all unwired McDonald's restaurant locations in the U. S. beginning the middle of next month.

Make no mistake-this is BIG.  Not only will this pretty much force all of McDonald's competitors to quickly reciprocate (dollars to doughnuts says the Burger King at 47th and Troost which apparently wasn't lit up when I visited a couple of days ago will be before spring), but these new free hotspots will in many cases be the only ones in their neighborhoods save for the few nearby public library branches.

One supposes it finally dawned on McDonald's management that having all those silly play-for-pay routers sitting unused in all those restaurants wasn't doing much to drive traffic into the doors.  And I don't think it will be much longer before Ma Bell reluctantly comes to the realization that what remains of their large scale fee-based network is now pretty much of an anachronism, and finally consigns it to the ash heap of history. 

Am I being old-fashioned, or just lazy?

As I mentioned, I was caught with my laptop down yesterday evening upon discovering the unwired Burger King.  I did, however, valiantly try to rise to the occasion by substituting my Wi-Fi-enabled Palm TX, but after reaching Blogger's login page I quickly decided to wait until I was home and had a laptop-sized keyboard to play with rather than the PDA's infinitesimal hunt-and-peck-with-the-stylus onscreen version.

I'm convinced that with the possible exception of some of the bigger smartphones with physical "thumbboards," handheld devices are fine for reading online content once you've managed to navigate to its location (which I do on the TX by hitting bookmarks I've tapped into it in advance; although I do have an external keyboard for it, it's not pocketable enough to carry around).  On the other hand, if you're intending to do real work, you need keys under your fingers big enough to do the job.

And as you might expect, I don't text despite having a phone capable of it (the mere thought of trying makes my fingers ache), preferring to let my voice do the walking.  I'd rather lug a laptop than pocket a PDA if I'm going somewhere online to do something rather than just look at something, which for me is pretty much all the time.  

So, what does everyone think?  Am I simply a sore-shouldered Luddite stubbornly resisting the advance of history, or do any of the rest of you still blog, tweet, and e-mail only on keyboards wide enough for both hands at once?     

Finally found one.

Burger King

9945 East Highway 350, Raytown

802.11g

SSID:  BKHotSpot

Burger Kings all over the country have shown up in free Wi-Fi directories for years, but this is the first local restaurant I can confirm is unwired.  I'd have posted this from there, but I only had a PDA with me (more on that to follow) and I'd ordered to go, so I only had time to do a cursory inspection.  Charge your battery first if you plan to sit a while; the only power outlets I saw in the whole place were a pair under the seats against the front wall that I don't think would be reachable without physically getting onto the floor.  

Someone there also mentioned that it was their understanding that all local BKs were also lit up.  If anyone can verify this, your input would be appreciated.

Someone PLEASE tell me...

...that I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing on wififreespot's Missouri page.  Tell me that if you go there and search for the phrase "funeral home" you won't find a pair of locations in the St. Louis area.  

I can understand streaming a memorial service online for the benefit of friends and associates who can't attend in person in this day and age, but this goes way beyond that in terms of being appropriate in my view.  Seriously, if you didn't care for the deceased enough to keep your PDA in your pocket or your laptop sheathed for an hour and a half or so in his or her memory, why wouldn't you just stay home?

This is the sort of thing I'd have expected to see emerge a few years back, during Wi-Fi's "irrational exuberance" period, and then fade away upon reconsideration.  Perhaps it still will-as it should.

Downtown update

Finally made it down to the resurrected coffee/wine bar located where Latte Land was supposed to go in P&L and if what little scanning I was able to do with my moribund finder (the battery is apparently in its death throes) is any indication, you needn't bother with it. No open access points apparent.

And it looks like the company that ran the is-it-or-isn't-it-free-and-open coffeehouse a few blocks north on Grand really has kicked the bucket. There's no trace left of their ever even having been there.

Sorry to be such a downer, but happy Thanksgiving to everyone anyway.

Ohio potty training progress report

Well, the nervous Nellies who run things in Coshocton County, Ohio have overcome their Sony-induced incontinence long enough to turn their Wi-Fi hotspot back on, according to a local TV station. Seems like Sony didn't like all the negative publicity directed-wrongfully, they maintain-toward them as opposed to the bigwigs who lost their heads when the ISP passed along their "Waah! Waaaaah! Somebody stole one of our precious pieces of intellectual property, and they used your network to do it; waaaah, WAAAAAAAAH!" complaint, and thus they went hat-in-hand to the aforementioned bigwigs and asked them to restore the service.

You know, you've really got to feel bad for Sony if you're a longtime technology fancier. Those of us who remember the impact the original Walkman had-and for those of you too young for that, take my word; it was an impact the iPod only approximated a generation later-can't help but shake our heads at this company's repeated missteps since then. And what's worse, it doesn't seem to learn from its mistakes. Throw the phrase "Sony rootkit" into a search engine and see how many hits you still get. Now how do you figure a company that got itself into that much trouble trying to "protect its intellectual property" could manage to blunder into a public-relations nightmare like the present one?

Sounds like someone REALLY needs to grow up.

Schlotzky's Deli
12071 Metcalf, Overland Park

802.11g
SSID:  Schlotzsky's

It's really been a long time since either of us has reviewed a new location-or at least one we haven't investigated before-and been forced to deliver a "do not use" recommendation.  And the reason I'm doing it here may brand me as an old fuddy-duddy in some eyes.  Well, too bad.  Don't hit this hotspot-or any of Schlotzsky's others-until its corporate management abandons its protracted adolescence and stops disrespecting users by blasting music from the company's homepage into their unsuspecting ears as part of the connection process.

I can't think of anything more rude than this.  There's a reason the vast majority of websites that used to go in for this nonsense abandoned it years ago.  If I were to emulate the level of emotional maturity this represents by going out into the parking lot and cranking my car stereo up with the door open, how long do you think it would be before I was politely asked to leave-and if I didn't, how much longer after that would it take before my enforced departure-in the company of the police-came about?  Why, then, would anyone think that I-or any other adult, for that matter-would appreciate a company doing the same thing as I'm trying to sit down to dinner? 

And while you're at it, Schlotzsky's, you could stand to lose the Javascript clickthrough page as well once you've fixed this, since you won't need the boobytrap script anymore. 

Schlotzsky's has at least one other location around town that's listed as lit up, but I'm not going to bother with it for the time being.  Anyone else who wants to look into it is welcome to give us a report.  As far as this one goes, there are only a very few power outlets along the walls; I'm currently plugged into one against the north wall towards the front, right next to the window.  It's about 7:30 p. m. so I can't estimate how much the apparently tinted glass would help with daytime screen readability.

It's from the government, but it's NOT here to help you.

Very interesting, what happened in Coshocton County, Ohio according to both Glenn Fleishman at Wi-Fi Networking News and an on-the-scene newspaper, when media conglomerate Sony contacted the operator of the county's city-block-sized free hotzone with regard to an alleged copyright infringement by a user of the network who supposedly downloaded a movie. The operator notified county officials, who in the grand tradition of government bureaucrats everywhere at every level, promptly proceeded to panic, wet themselves and completely shut the hotspot down.

Now where do we start with this? Obviously neither the county nor the operator was exposed to any potential liability to the copyright holder, since ISPs are exempt from responsibility for their users' actions in this regard. Perhaps if they'd paused to take a deep breath and then put in a call to the county attorney before dashing to the restroom, these officials would have at least saved themselves from the well-deserved roasting they're receiving in the blogosphere for their rashness.

Then again, maybe this is just a belated example of why "muni-fi"-large-scale networks planned or in some cases actually set up by local governments during Wi-Fi's first great wave-never panned out. Not counting the local public libraries-which, of course, are a special case-the only publicly run hotspot I'm aware of locally is the one up at KCI Airport-and even it was originally built and operated by Sprint. The bureaucratic mindset is, sadly, one firmly ensconced in the twentieth century or earlier, and thus not well suited to the challenge of providing such services despite gallant efforts to do so earlier this decade.

Too bad.

Oh, and to ath64...One is tempted to suggest that had one bought a Mac to start with, one would not face the need to point out what one sees as the shortcomings of the current product line, would one?

It's baaaaaaaack...

Well, I guess in the interest of fairness I should pass on this report from Joyce Smith of the Kansas City Star that the coffeehouse in the Power and Light District which opened last spring touting "free" Wi-Fi but showed no open routers when I visited and then went belly up in September has risen from the grave, so to speak.  It's scheduled to reopen today, in fact, under new ownership.  No mention of whether the access situation will change, however, but the shorter hours noted in the story don't bode well.

I think we'll give everyone a couple of days to settle in before one of us does a walk-by to see if further investigation is warranted.

Oh, by the way, Mac-the outfit that ran the other coffeehouse north of P&L on Grand with the Wi-Fi signs in its front windows which piqued your curiosity last year may have bitten the big one, given that their website is now defunct.  Might be worth checking out in person.

No, Starbucks, you STILL don't get it.

Well, Glenn Fleishman over at Wi-Fi Networking News has a somewhat different take on Starbucks' latest machinations with regard to its "free" (read "buy something and we'll throw a little in") access than I do.  At least we both agree that it's misleading to call it "free." 

Frankly I don't see how adding "levels" and a FAQ that even Fleishman calls "insanely complicated" makes anything "easier."  Sort of like how moving the USB ports right next to each other and making the batteries non-user-swappable makes the newest MacBook Pros more appealing to us road warriors. (Sorry, Mac-I was really thinking about one until I took a close look.  Really, I was.)

When is Starbucks going to throw in the towel, do away with this nonsense once and for all and join the real free world?  From this, I guess it'll be a week or two after Apple introduces a mouse with two buttons.

The more some things change...

...the more one sometimes ends up wishing they'd stayed the same.

Remember about a year or so ago when I stopped in at the KCMO Public Library's Southeast branch and commented on the big table they'd set up towards the back that seemingly could be a boon to the building's laptop-friendliness if they'd wire it for power?

Well, they have...but unfortunately-or actually fortunately for the non-laptop toting crowd that frequents this place-they've employed the table for what they'd apparently intended it for all along-to add ten sorely-needed public-access computers, only one of which is sitting vacant as I write this just after 4:30 p. m.

It just would have been nice if they'd taken my hint and also done a bit more toward accommodating not only patron-owned laptops, but their loaners, since either would go a long way toward alleviating the pressure on their public desktops if there were more places to sit with one, and more readily available power outlets-which is important given that since this is essentially the only free hotspot anywhere around here, you've got to expect patrons to stay longer than they would otherwise.

And while I was out this way...

Panera Bread
15108 West 119th Street, Olathe

802.11g
SSID:  PANERA

First, the bad news.  The Javascript clickthrough page I complained about at the Legends location is apparently a systemwide "feature" now.  That and a user agreement that takes longer to read than eating your dinner are downers.  (Just as an aside, if that agreement actually reflects the attitude of Panera's corporate management and isn't just bought-and-paid-for legal boilerplate, they really need to think about whether they truly even want to continue offering Internet access-before, not after, they're faced with having to try and enforce it.)  On the up side, power outlets abound along the walls and the tinted windows might help with screen readability in full daylight (it's just now 7 p. m.).

And just to see what would happen...I fired up Java and jumped onto bipolarworld.net's site to try the chatrooms and guess what?  Here's another network administered by people who don't think that keeping port 7000 open is dangerous.  Gee, you'd have thought from that user agreement that someone from the KCMO Library's IT department would be moonlighting for them.

You forgot about Olathe, Mac.

Never mind, however.  I appreciated the opportunity to revisit a location I haven't used since I believe this blog's first week or so.  I'm in the main Olathe Public Library at 201 East Park downtown and I'm happy to report that if the patron KCMO so shamefully shunted aside spends any time out this way and would like to drop in with his or her laptop, port 7000 is ready and waiting on this connection.  Let's see-that makes 2 for 3 among the public library systems that still have open networks.  If keeping 7000 open were truly so dangerous as KCMO's IT director thinks it is, that wouldn't have been likely, would it?

I've got two quibbles with this location, however.  The first is that owing to the makeover they've given it since I was last here, the only laptop-friendly seating is at an eight-position carrel table towards the back.  Well, at least they thought to provide a pair of power strips so maybe I protest too much.  Quibble No. 2 is, I'm afraid, a bad one:  This is the slowest connection other than Johnson County's that I've run into in a public library in years.  Signal strength is OK so it's got to be on their side of the router.  Let's just hope I'm here at a bad time of day (5 p. m.) and this isn't indicative of the network's regular performance.  

Well, I made it...

...out to the Cedar Roe library, and you'll all be pleased to hear that JCL's Wi-Fi is still just as bad as it was a couple of years back-in other words, just as useless as it's ever been. You can't read Usenet, you can't securely access your e-mail-and you can't chat at bipolarworld.net, because just like KCMO, they're also blocking port 7000.

Of course, given this network's infamy, I'd expect that out here. Perhaps KCMO is aiming to cut its Wi-Fi usage down to JCL's levels (I'm the only laptop user here at just after 7 p. m.). Well, they've made a good start.

And now for what I REALLY wanted to talk about this evening...

...which, of course, is the issue of the hour, namely whether the KCMO library's IT department is being prudent and cautious or suffering from an advanced case of pointy-haired bossism, as evidenced by its rationale for blocking port 7000 on the Wi-Fi for patron-owned computers when they don't do so for the connection their own computers use.

My vote is for the latter, given that I'm posting this using the Wi-Fi in the Riverside branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library, and I'm happy to report that the chats on www.bipolarworld.net work just fine up here. Since Riverside was hardly a den of cyber-iniquity the last I heard, I'm of the opinion that KCMO is full of it. If they're truly concerned that leaving 7000 open will make them susceptible to spreading denial-of-service attacks, why isn't Mid-Continent-and more to the point, why isn't it happening now on MCPL's network? For that matter, why isn't it happening on the thousands of free and open networks across the country? I think we'd have heard about it if it were, don't you?

I had planned to run the same test at NKC, but since they've apparently gone members-only, we'll have to settle for you-know-where...Johnson County. Don't know if I'll make one of their locations from up here tonight, but when I do make one, you'll find out right here.

Does anyone have any idea...

...when and why the North Kansas City Public Library closed its network? Nothing on their website about their having done it.

Well, too bad. I doubt many users will bother with jumping through those hoops to keep using it. Didn't see any earlier this afternoon, at least.

Anyone with any info, fill us in.

From dumber to Dilbert

The other shoe has dropped in the saga of the KCMO Public Library and the patron who wants to access an IRC chatroom over the public wireless connection but can't because port 7000 on that connection is blocked.

I wonder if the responder actually bothered reading back his reply to himself before posting it. I mean, esentially he seems to be saying, "It's the patron's fault he or she can't do what he or she is trying to do even though the reason he or she can't do it is indeed due to something we're doing."

Furthermore, the fact that they are not blocking port 7000 on the connections for their computers makes the responder's rationalization for blocking it only on the connection for patron-owned equipment ludicrous. Since when have they been responsible for my computer?

If I'm stupid enough to want to get on a motorcycle without a helmet, you can reasonably argue that I should be prohibited from doing that since the rest of society may ultimately have to help foot the bill for the consequences. If that same stupidity, however, keeps me from protecting my own computer against malware (or-sorry, but I am going to go there-from buying one less susceptible to malware to start with) and as a result my laptop melts down and runs all over the floor, the library's only insistence should be that I bring a mop with me to clean up the mess.

You know, this is really sad. KCMO up until now had been doing the best job with public library Wi-Fi. This kind of cluelessness is what we had come to expect from Johnson County and their woeful effort before we gave up on it.

One hopes that this really is just the result an ego-fueled Dilbert moment, and that cooler heads and common sense will prevail before it goes any further.

Four more years! Four more years!

My goodness, is it the fourth anniversary of this blog's founding already? Where does the time go?

Here's hoping it's been as useful to you as it's been fun for us.

There's dumb, and then there's dumber.

Remember my post from a couple of months ago calling out the KCMO Public Library's IT department for their response to someone experiencing issues with joining a chatroom over their wireless connection? Well, the library has finally gotten around to posting some newer entries on its "comments and suggestions" board (something, by the way, that it really needs to do more often than every other month or so) and it seems that I wasn't alone in my disdain for their answer. You'd think that would have inspired them to rise to the occasion and come through for the patron with the issue, wouldn't you? Well, think again.

And how do I know they actually haven't resolved the patron's issue, you ask? Simple-I sojourned down to the Central Library myself last evening and attempted to hit the chatroom. While there really is a problem with the Java applet's certificate-to wit, that it's expired-that's not why the chat isn't coming through. (In Firefox, you can get around this by deciding not to trust the certificate; the applet will still run, but in an enhanced security mode.) No, the reason you can't get in is that port 7000 is blocked on the Wi-Fi.

Which raises its own questions, not the least of which is why this should be the case when it isn't on the connection for the library's computers (assuming the IT department is telling the truth about being able to access the chat on its workstations). And if anyone down there would care to explain why none of you could come up with a straight answer for this patron after nearly three months, we're all ears.

The really sad thing about all this is that the patron-whom I don't know from Adam or Eve-appears to be someone who really needs the support he or she is trying to obtain, and the library has let him or her down at every turn. At the very least, the decency of a personal apology would be expected.

And take it from someone who's worked in end-user support for a good number of years now: The "Gee, it works when I try it" defense is a good way to put yourself on the fast track to the unemployment line in the private sector. The person on the other end of the conversation-who is your customer, remember-could care less if it works for you. The conversation is taking place because it isn't working for them.

The library has been apprised of the situation. Updates forthcoming if and when they respond. And if anyone who stops by a library branch in the meantime should discover the problem has been resolved, let us know.

"He that soweth the wind..."

Remember back in June when I told you about a couple of new locations that claimed to offer free Wi-Fi but didn't have an open router showing when I visited? Well, the one downtown-in the Power and Light District, to be exact-has apparently reaped the whirlwind, according to the Kansas City Star's Joyce Smith.

While we generally don't call out an establishment by name in such cases unless we're doing a return visit (which is why I didn't identify it in my original post), the situation with this one really got to Mac and me, what with all the anticipation of Latte Land moving into that space instead. I'm loath to crow that it serves them right, but I haven't heard of any locations offering free and open access biting the dust lately, have you?

And, of course, there's always the outside chance that having this space sit empty again will knock some sense into the apparently thick-skulled heads in the executive suite at Cordish and the Latte Land deal will end up getting done.

Well, I guess even Clark Howard doesn't know everything.

Howard, for those of you not familiar with him, is a financial guru and consumer advocate with shows on both radio and cable TV. Generally I find him both knowledgeable and skilled in sharing his expertise, but then again, all I know about money is that I want more of it. However, I've got to blow the whistle and throw the flag for something he did at the start of one of today's telecasts-he joined the chorus of those chanting the mantra that using an open Wi-Fi link is inherently dangerous from a privacy and security standpoint, repeating the old chestnut that one shouldn't do online banking or the like except at home.

And now a brief pause for the facts. While it's easy for someone "sniffing" network traffic between your laptop and an open router to intercept data that is sent in the clear, this is plainly and simply not the case if the website you are accessing is secured by a properly configured SSL installation. Just think about it for a moment. Imagine you're sitting with a laptop within range of an open router and you're using a sniffer to monitor a session between me and the SSL-encrypted website of my financial institution. What do you think you're going to see? That's right-all you will capture is the encrypted traffic between me and the remote site, and you won't be able to decrypt it because you didn't exchange keys with the site; I did. The encryption occurs between my computer and the site, not either between me and the router or between the router and the site. The data is encrypted at my computer before it ever leaves for the router, just as data from the site is encrypted at the site before it ever gets to the router from the Internet. A properly implemented VPN is perfectly safe to use over open Wi-Fi for the same reason.

Just what part of this do the many so-called experts who spout this don't-bank-or-shop-over-open-wireless nonsense not understand? What do they think happens? Do they believe the router magically (i.e., without having exchanged keys with it) decrypts incoming data from the remote site, or that the client laptop, after establishing an encrypted session, then uplinks in the clear and that the router then magically re-encrypts the data before sending it on its first hop? Remember, SSL is intended to protect the data all the way from the remote site to the client. The router, just like all the other servers between the client and the remote site, neither knows nor cares that the data it passes is third-party encrypted-it merely needs to know where it came from and where it's going so it can do its job.

All of this is not to say, of course, that there aren't risks you need to watch out for when on an open Wi-Fi connection. Jumping online with file and printer sharing turned on (and as an aside, I can't think of any good reason to ever have them turned on with a laptop) is one. Exchanging sensitive information with a properly SSL-secured site, however, isn't.

And for those inclined to disbelieve that, ask yourself this: Why do AT&T and T-Moblie leave their play-for-pay routers unsecured? If SSL weren't sufficient to protect the credit card numbers customers have to enter on their login pages, I think they'd sell even fewer sessions than they probably are selling these days.

For $311 a day...

...I can think of better ideas for a six-week vacation, can't you?

Associated Press: Internet addiction center opens in U. S.

I love the way they start out with the "dog ate my homework" sob story about the kid who blew off his freshman year in college playing "World of Warcraft." Gotta suck in those worried parents with deep pockets first, right?

Let's also award style points for the eleven signs of Internet addiction they've already come up with. Dollars to doughnuts says we'll be seeing ads for a prescription drug to treat it as soon as the lobbyists finish buying off the FDA.

Here's the salient quote from the story, folks: "Internet addiction is not recognized as a separate disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, and treatment is not generally covered by insurance."

And if We the People are truly serious about reforming health care, keeping things that way would be a good start.

Have you seen that bank commercial?

Barnes & Noble
Country Club Plaza, 420 W. 47th Street, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: attwifi

Okay, it's really not as bad as the bank commercial where the guy in the suit lets the kid play with the huge shiny toy truck for a few seconds, then snatches it away and answers the youngster's protests with "Well, that was a limited-time offer." However, be advised that B&N's new complimentary Wi-Fi does come with a string attached; you can only use it two hours at a time. It just would have been nice if they'd been up front about it, that's all.

It would also be nice if this place were a bit more laptop-friendly as well. So far I've found only one seat next to a power outlet, in the "Religion" section on the second floor outside Starbucks next to a pair of LCD-unfriendly windows facing 47th. I didn't see any seating at all on the first floor, and I'm not comfortable sitting in the cafe without making a purchase.

Searching out another location, however, might be advised; the signal strength here is terrible. I've been bucked off once already and had to resort to ye olde open-a-new-tab-and reconnect to keep from losing this post (you have to click through a pair of AUP consent pages to log on).

In short this one needs to get better. Here's hoping it does.

Oh, so THIS is what our young people fought and died for.

Associated Press: Iraq to impose controls on Internet.


I think I'll let the article speak for itself. I'm so angry that I'm speechless.

A fellow traveler weighs in

Interesting report from a freelance writer on the state of things around town in this morning's Kansas City Star Magazine. I find it particularly gratifying not only that all but one of the sites she mentions have been reviewed here at some point, but that consequently the article's emphasis is on locations that are free and open (take that, Starbucks, Borders and KCK Library!).

I'll second the writer's nomination of the Plaza Library as the best local hotspot at the moment-and while I'm at it, I might mention that it appears KCPL has either discontinued filtering its connection-at least for patron-owned clients-or has finally gotten it properly tweaked to avoid the overblocks that plagued it in its earlier years. Haven't run into any lately.

I find it curious, however, that the author apparently didn't visit the Crown Center atrium, one of ath64's favorites and a place I also often like to unwind before heading home on Friday nights.

Her endorsement of the Johnson County Library's network also gives me pause. From the founding of this blog up until a couple of years ago, ath64 extensively documented this connection's shortcomings, which my few visits to JCL branches served to confirm. Unless it has undergone significant improvement since then (and if it has and we're just not aware of it, fill us in!) we'd still list it as one to avoid, if for no other reason than that its restrictions and limitations may get in the way of protecting yourself and your computer from snooping, malware and other threats-especially if (I know I'll get in trouble for this, but I'll say it anyway) you're running Windows.

I wouldn't quibble with any of the author's "rules," especially those reminding us of our obligation to reward proprietors for their courtesy and not to wear out our welcome. I'm not really sure that's a problem around here-at least not yet-but let's endeavor to keep things that way.

Finally I'm a little puzzled that with so much free and open Wi-Fi readily available, she'd even mention cellular broadband as an option-and that she'd fall for the "free aircard" gimmick. Sixteen hundred bucks-which over the course of the two-year contract you'll have to sign is about what you'll spend on average in order to keep your "free" aircard fed (on a five gigabyte per month diet over a much slower connection)-will buy a lot of sandwiches and lattes, with plenty left over for gas and parking.

Of course, there are beginning to be some interesting alternatives to the above. I'm told you can now hop onto Verizon's 3G network for $15 per day with no further commitment if you pay full retail for the aircard. There's also Virgin Mobile's newly announced Broadband2Go offering; pay $150 outright for the aircard at Best Buy, then pay as you go for as little as $10 for 100 megabytes over ten days. If it weren't Windows-only at present and if I really needed it badly enough, I might be tempted.

Bada bomp-bomp-bomp...Another one bites the dust...(Sorry, Freddie Mercury, wherever you are)

Another big bunch of play-for-pay hotspots, that is-more than 700, in fact. Glenn Fleishman over at Wi-Fi Networking News reports that bookseller Barnes and Noble has joined the free world.

Look for a review as soon as Mac or I can get away to visit a local store and write one up-unless one of you beats us to it.

And here's hoping we can look for Borders to quickly follow suit, and for Books-A-Million to do away with its half-baked free-if-you-join-our-discount-club effort.

Remembrance and reflection: July 20, 1969

One of my most enduring memories from forty years ago today is the Bible verse the Kansas City Star published below the fold on its front page that morning, as it traditionally did on Sunday. That day they chose Isaiah, Chapter 65, Verse 24: "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."

The rest of the day is a blur. I recall the anxiety of the powered descent-which became my favorite part of the moon missions-given that nothing like it had ever even been tried with a manned vehicle up to that point. A rocket flying backwards to descend softly onto the surface of an alien world? That only happened in the movies. Well, to be fair, it had been done with unmanned spacecraft, but even then we had only gone 5 for 7 with our Surveyor program. If the Russians had even tried it again after their one announced success, they weren't saying. And the Lunar Module, unlike any of its robot predecessors, would then have to perform the feat in reverse as an encore.

The exhilaration of hearing Armstrong's proclamation that "the Eagle has landed" was indescribable. I immediately resolved to call in sick to my evening job so as not to miss the start of the main event (the moonwalk had originally been scheduled for the early hours of the next morning, and I suspect I wasn't alone in not being surprised it was moved up). Like everyone else, I puzzled over the grammatical ambiguity of Armstrong's first-step words-and I'm sorry, Neil, but I've got to say it: You flubbed the line, pal. I really feel for you. That pause after you realized it must have seemed like an eternity.

(Just for the record, I watched the day's proceedings on NBC. I was never really a big fan of Walter Cronkite, but his reaction to the touchdown, which I've often watched since, was a great moment. Cronkite set an example many of today's so-called broadcast journalists would do well to follow. My condolences to his family and friends.)

All right, I'll admit it. I was a space buff and a hopeless astronaut wannabe as a kid. But you know, I don't regret that. Even though I wasn't successful in obtaining the engineering degree I was inspired to pursue, I'm only sorry I wasn't successful, not that I went after it. We must test ourselves through striving to achieve in order to discover our limits. That is the most important lesson I have taken away from the example of the space program.

Sometimes, however, I do wish I had been a bit more prescient. I wonder whether I'd still have followed the path I did had I known that the year of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing would also be the year of the 37th anniversary of the last one. It's too bad there weren't big headlines trumpeting another 1969 event that in some ways became more important to us today than those footprints in the lunar dust-the establishment of ARPANET. Oh, why couldn't I have gazed into a crystal ball and seen not moon bases and suborbital spaceliners flying from New York to Beijing in 45 minutes, but ubiquitous computers and a maze of global networks linking them, with the prospect of largely obviating the need to physically travel to Beijing at all?

If I had, I might even be able to afford my own moon base by now.

Waldo wrapup

Sad to say, it was only a one-for-three night.

Memo to the proprietor(s) of The Sweet Guy at 7439 Broadway: Have you tried using your connection yourself lately, as we've preached on this blog since day one? Well, you ought to-and once you get it back up, you need to keep doing it on a regular basis.

Anyone who happens by once they get it working again is welcome to drop us a line and let us know. Don't bother with The Coffee Girls, however; they've gone to a closed network. Too bad.

Oh, that's right-you can order iced tea in these places TOO, can't you?

One More Cup
7408 Wornall Road, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: onemorecup

BIg unshaded east-facing windows and only one pair of power outlets (towards the front to your right as you come in; you'll have to sit at the front corner table to use it) make this one appear to be best for midday or later with a charged battery if you're using a laptop. By the way, the iced tea isn't bad.

UPDATE: Apparently there are some additional power outlets available here that I missed (sorry about that!). See comment below.

Because coffee at this time of day just didn't appeal to me...

...I thought that instead of heading out to Waldo and checking out the new location of The Coffee Girls and its competing shops in the neighborhood, I'd venture over to Bonner Springs as I'd earlier promised to do once their new library opened, which it did this past Sunday. It's located at 201 North Nettleton and as was promised during my earlier visit to the temporary location it moved here from, it's lit up. Not only that, but the table I'm sitting at has a lamp clearly designed for use in an unwired building, what with a power outlet built into its base. There's even what I suspect is a functional Ethernet jack (which if it really is functional must be fed via powerline networking since I don't see any Cat 5 running anywhere from under the table).

That and the fact that any filtering present shouldn't give you any problems with overblocks are the good news. The less-than-good news is that both Usenet and, at least, secure POP and SMTP e-mail connections (over ports 995 and 465, respectively) are a no-go. Since my ISP, like many others these days, no longer allows e-mail to go over the standard unsecured ports, I can't check them-but, of course, you shouldn't be pulling e-mail through them anymore over an open wireless link anyway. One hopes that given enough complaints, this will get fixed in due time.

Oh, that's right-the access points are 802.11g broadcasting a SSID of BONLIB.

Well, I'll have to roll it up here in a little bit since they close at 5 on Fridays. Waldo awaits. Maybe I'll try and hit it tonight, maybe I won't. Time and the next post will tell.

Why is it that you can still ask such a smart question-

-and receive such a silly answer?

Saw this gem on the KCMO Public Library's website. I think the phrase "Wi-Fi" didn't register with someone. If I'm wrong there, I'd certainly like to hear just how accessing even something that is actually as dangerous as this "IT person" thinks Internet Relay Chat is on my own computer which is (or at least had better be) on a separate subnet from any client owned by the library can possibly pose a threat to those clients.

Reminds me of an old riddle from the earliest days of personal computing, offered here with apologies to those of you who, like me, are old enough to remember it.

"Q. What's the difference between a used-car salesman and a computer salesman?
A. The used-car salesman knows he's lying to you."

I suspect, however, that in the present case, someone in the library administration knows that as well. Denying a service to the public which pays for it on a pretext doesn't strike me as good public policy, but hey, what do I know? I'm just a lousy taxpayer, that's all.

Didn't even know they liked coffee that much out there.

Just happened to catch this little item on one of the Kansas City Star's blogs mentioning that The Coffee Girls on Southwest Boulevard, which was reviewed here a couple of years back, has closed and is in the process of moving to Waldo-where apparently it won't be alone. I guess either Mac or I will have to gear up soon and head that way to check things out. Well, maybe if it stays relatively cool for a bit. Temperatures hovering around the triple-digit mark don't exactly leave me craving a caffeine fix-iced or otherwise.

And not as if any more confirmation was needed, but I'm currently in the Blue Springs South branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library, and their Wi-Fi is just as free and open now as were the others we've found the past few months. It would still be nice, however, if MCPL would see fit to trumpet the news. Their website still makes no mention of it. Why?

Banker's hours, wordplay and...pigs?

Well, I tried. Really, I wanted to add some new reviews of recently opened local sites, along with at least one I'd been trying to hit for most of the past year. Sadly, however, it won't happen, which in the case of the long-term target is particularly distressing.

Memo to the operator(s) of the coffeehouse in northeastern KCK: Did it ever occur to you that some of your potential best customers might be those who'd stop in after work? You know-people who'd like to sit for a bit and unwind on their way home, and have the additional advantage of coming into your establishment with money in their pockets owing to their being employed? Obviously this hasn't occurred to you, or you wouldn't be closing at 4 p. m. It's not like anyone's competing with you for this extra business, by the way, what with the KCK Public Library closing its network to non-cardholders and no other free and open commercial locations I'm aware of between you and the speedway. What gives?

Then there's the case of a couple of recently established cafes across the state line-one downtown, the other in the Union Station/Crossroads area. Both at least claim to offer "free Wi-Fi" but just how either accomplishes that feat with WPA-encrypted access points boggles the mind. If you're giving it away, there's no reason to lock the AP down; if you aren't, you need to be honest up front about that. "Free" access that requires a purchase in advance really isn't, the semantic gymnastics engaged in by its purveyors notwithstanding.

Finally, to end things on a lighter note, have a chuckle on this little play on words, courtesy of cartoonist Stephan Pastis and of Glenn Fleishman over at Wi-Fi Networking News, who also thought it was good for a laugh.

There's a reason they call them "drive-bys," you know...

Panera Bread
#15, Legends Shopping Center, KCK

802.11g
SSID: PANERA

Not bad as Panera locations go, what with conveniently located power outlets along the bottom of some of the booth seating. The one thing I'd quibble with-and I hope it's just something users will run into here and not systemwide, given that I don't stop at Panera as much as I once did-is the clickthrough page. Oh, I don't mind the page itself; it's good to be reminded not to take up a table for four with my gear, etc. It's that in order to click through the page, I have to enable JavaScript and reload it.

Savvy Internetters know that allowing websites to run scripts should be done with discretion, especially in today's environment with its emphasis on Web-based browser exploits delivering malware via compromised servers. JavaScript or its Internet Explorer equivalents should be turned off except when visiting a known, trusted site which requires them, then turned back off once that site is left. Yeah, it's a hassle, but in a decade and a half of surfing with browsers ranging from ye olde text-only Lynx (come on, oldtimers, how many of you remember that one?) to the latest version of Firefox, I've never fallen victim to a web-delivered exploit. It's the user's choice whether to be safe or sorry, but Panera really ought to be helping the odds here. It's possible for you to provide a clickthrough without client-side scripting, and you should.

Oh, and while I'm here, I was hoping I'd be able to deliver kudos to Books-A-Million for taking me up on my suggestion of a few years back that they offer free WI-Fi..but unfortunately, the network behind the open access point my finder saw carrying their corporate name is only free for members of their loyalty club, and play-for-pay for everyone else.

Great-I put my privacy at even more risk and allow my mailbox to be stuffed with even more dead-tree detritus in return for maybe a few cents off on the few books I buy each year, and however much-or little-"free" surfing I can shoehorn into my visit.

No, thanks. Ma Bell will pick up the tab for me at Barnes and Noble, and they're not as far out of my way as you are.

One slight correction to the preceding...

...and it's a happy one. If you're planning on visiting this branch to do historical research that will involve viewing microfilm, you're somewhat in luck. There's a strip of power outlets running along the wall behind the readers. In fact, one of them has a convenient multi-outlet extension strip plugged into it, adjacent to the microfilm reader that's to the right as you face the wall.

However, I don't think I'd risk what one intrepid laptopper is doing as I'm writing this-running his Dell off that strip after plugging into it and taking a seat at a table across the passageway from the microfilm machines. If someone doesn't send his rig crashing to the floor after tripping over his cord, it's likely only a matter of time before someone from the library politely suggests he remove it. He ought to anyway, of course, without being asked.

Sorry I don't share my partner's command of Scripture, but...

Mid-Continent Public Library, Lee's Summit Branch
150 Northwest Oldham Parkway, Lee's Summit

802.11g
SSID: MCPLIBRARY.FREE.WIFI

Looks like Mid-Continent really has gone whole hog when it comes to free Wi-Fi. About time, too. Eleven of the twelve public-access workstations behind and to the right of me have been occupied since I walked in, and there have been at least a couple of fellow laptoppers that have dropped in for a bit.

That's the upside of things; on the distaff side, I'm sorry to report that not only is there nary a power outlet in sight, but unless a major renovation is planned for this place, there won't be any. They'd have to tear up the floor to run power to the vicinity of these tables in the middle. Oh well, laptop battery life is getting better all the time.

And if you don't live out this way, here's a heads-up: The place can be hard to spot if you're not familiar with the neighborhood. I had to hang a u-turn in a shopping center parking lot after not seeing it until I'd driven past. Oldham Parkway is essentially the south frontage road for U. S. 50 (actually it lies west of the highway, which runs north and south in this area). If you come off the highway at Third Street, go back west (north) on Oldham and look for a dark brown bank building that actually resembles a church more than a bank to your left before you get to the shopping center. The tan library building will be just beyond it across the street.

As to whether the rest of MCPL's branches are lit up, I think it's safe to assume they are, so unless anyone knows differently, we'll probably leave it at that.

Oh, and to the library administration: A little blurb on your website letting everyone know about this might be nice.

I sincerely hope...

...this isn't starting a trend.

Stopped in at Crown Center tonight and about the time I was finishing my sandwich and soda from d'Bronx, I happened to see the Paul Blart impersonator on duty at the time stroll over to another laptop user in the atrium and engage him in some rather animated conversation. After Blart walked away I decided to shut down and take a stretch break before picking up a malted at Sheridan's and firing back up. On the way to the restroom I detoured past the table where the object of Blart's interest was sitting, and asked him what that was all about. Seems as if the management here has taken to discouraging folks from "hanging out" in the atrium for some reason, according to him.

Granted, that's just one side of the story, and in the interest of journalistic integrity, I'm going to have to regretfully report that had this gentleman been sitting in one of our public libraries doing the same thing, it's possible he'd have been asked to leave there as well, particularly if the branch were crowded, owing to, shall we say, not being in compliance with the library's policy dealing with "personal hygiene." Whether the poor guy was homeless or not, I can't say for sure. Given the times and the fact that laptops are rather cheap these days, it's not inconceivable someone without a roof over his or her head could be schlepping one around with his or her backpack and bedroll.

At any rate, I'm not going to criticize Blart or the management, except for this: If you don't want to end up being held in the same well-deserved disregard the Cordish Company has brought upon itself with its shenanigans downtown, you ought to perhaps print up some more of those little cardboard triangle thingies you used to have on the tables down here that clearly spell out what you do and don't expect from your customers with regard to how long they can stay and how they should behave. Better yet, perhaps you could initiate a clickthrough page showing your policy that users will see when they first connect. You have the right to discourage "parkers" who don't buy much of anything, as well as others who legitimately detract from the experience of other patrons, but don't run the risk of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Don't repeat Cordish's mistake. Specify up front what's acceptable and what isn't, and put it in writing.

And are you people EVER going to fix your stinking DHCP so that it STAYS fixed?

The Great Firewall of Australia, revisited

Another article from the Associated Press concerning the push Down Under toward what looks more and more like the start of a retrogression by what had grown into one of the most advanced societies outside the Western Hemisphere back to the mentatlity and sensibilities of the 1950s.

And what's worse, it appears that the technical skills of the filter vendor(s) must harken from that period. If you're going to filter using the blacklist method, you have to keep the blacklist up to date, people. This is just going to do so much to make Australia a desirable destination for business and tourism. I can just see all those bottom-line-conscious executives and vacationers who perhaps skipped traveling for several years to afford a once-in-a-lifetime trip-adults all, remember- queueing up to fly off to a magical place where the government will once again treat them like children.

I was going to link to the copy of the purported blacklist mentioned in the story as being on Wikileaks, but they're (ahem, ahem) having what I suppose could be called a "senior moment" with their servers right now. Seems they're overloaded...but not enough that they can't dun you for donations. Well, maybe-when I get the first installment of the fee I'm collecting from that Nigerian prince for helping him access his inheritance...

As if there wasn't already reason enough...

...why America's auto industry is in such bad shape, now you can be the first kid on your block with a rolling cellular-fed hotspot, courtesy of GM's Cadillac division. Glenn Fleishman over at Wi-Fi Networking News has all the gory details.

Never mind that it'll only support WEP encryption-which has essentially been nothing more than a no-trespassing sign for the past half-decade-and will cost out the wazoo, as cellular data all too often still does. If this catches on you've got to wonder how long it'll be before the first bans on surfing while driving are enacted-and how many innocents will be maimed or worse between now and then.

Besides, I'd bet anyone who regularly carries passengers who really need something like this has already rigged up a cellular-to-Wi-Fi router and AC inverter to provide it using the service they're already paying for. At least that's what I'd do.

"Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us." (Psalm 2: 3)

Mid-Continent Public Library, Claycomo Branch
309 NE U. S. 69, Claycomo

802.11g
SSID: MCPLIBRARY.FREE.WIFI

At last, at long last, it appears that Mid-Continent has unequivocably joined the free world. Oh, the Wayport/AT&T SSIDs are still here for those of you nostalgic for them, but hook into the library's once you're up and running and you can just boot and scoot (thanks for that, Macenstein-it's one of the better lines you've come up with here)-free and open (and apparently either unfiltered or not so heavily as to be subject to overblocking).

I managed to find a table next to the wall with a pair of convenient power outlets in the back (go to your left as you come in and go all the way back into the corner), but I think I'd plan on going cordless for an extended stay just to be safe.

And heaven only knows if all of Mid-Continent's other locations have converted yet-unless any of you do.

I just hope Cass County and KCK-now the only unwired library systems in the metro with closed networks-will take the hint.

Not that I'd have sat there and eaten the whole 20-piece bucket, mind you...

An open letter to the nice folks, whoever and wherever they are, currently responsible for upholding the legacy of Colonel Harlan Sanders at KFC:

Dear Folks: Dropped in at one of your nearby locations to pick up a weekend's worth and while I was waiting for it I just thought I'd pull out my finder and see how good a job you were doing in protecting those vulnerable credit card numbers. You know-hidden SSID, WPA instead of WEP and all that. Well...imagine my surprise upon coming across a wide-open 802.11g access point with a SSID that let's just say would be quite familiar to both of us.

Now, what would you say should have been the proper response of the restaurant's manager upon being informed of my find and asked whether it's intended for customer use? Should it have been:

1.) "Why yes, we've just implemented that. In fact, here's a little brochure explaining how to log on and detailing our terms of service. Sorry we haven't gotten around to putting up the window stickers to let everyone know about it yet."

Or, perhaps:

2.) "Thanks for pointing that out. We'll shut that down and get hold of our IT department as soon as we can to properly secure that. Again, thanks for looking out for us and our customers."

I think we'd all agree that the one response I should NOT have heard is:

3.) "Duh..."

I know I'm probably going to get into trouble for this...

...but so be it.

As you've no doubt noticed, it's been quite a while since either Mac or I have reviewed a new location. Well, I guess that's to be expected, given that Wi-Fi has matured now and the big-boom days of circa 2002-05, when everyone rushed to unwire every place anyone might conceivably sit with a booted laptop for more than a minute or two are long past. New sites just don't pop up as often as they did when I started all this.

But that doesn't, in my view, mean that new and growing businesses that might benefit from offering wireless Internet to their customers should hesitate from taking the plunge. And given also that Wi-Fi's newness has worn off, meaning that new locations don't get the media attention they once did, there's always a chance that some establishment here or there has unwired and we just didn't hear about it.

So, on the outside chance of coming across such a location and to satisfy my personal curiosity, I decided to cruise through the jazz district-also referred to as the 18th and Vine historic district in some circles-this afternoon, looking for likely candidates for hotspots, which I'd then survey on foot, trusty finder in hand.

I really shouldn't have bothered. There was what appeared to be one open access point provided for customer use by a restaurant at the vaunted intersection above, but walking past and peering into the windows didn't really tell me anything. And now here's where I'm likely going to start trouble.

Dear Mr./Mrs./Mr. & Mrs./Ms. Restarurateur(s): Did it ever occur to you that someone walking past your establishment during the hours it's closed just might be a bit curious as to your cuisine? Ever take a walk past your competitors' establishments on the Plaza, in Westport, or down at Power and Light? If so, did you by any chance notice that practically all of them post their menus on their windows just so that someone walking by like me can satisfy his or her curiosity, and maybe-just maybe-make a mental note to return a bit later with a healthy appetite and with credit card in hand?

And if that Wi-Fi router is indeed intentionally left open for your patrons, it might be a courtesy to say so. (And if it's not, drop what you're doing, go dig the router's instructions out and learn how to change and stop broadcasting that SSID and set up WPA, then go and do it-RIGHT NOW!!!)

Now for the trouble part. No, I will not give anyone a pass out of consideration of where this is located. Good business practices on one side of town are good business practices everywhere else. Inexperience? An explanation, but not an excuse. Besides, feedback like this is how experience is gained.

And a bit more experience and expertise is what this development sorely needs, and soon. The rather imaginative facades of long-gone businesses just don't have the decorative impact they were intended to when they have to compete with the high vacancy rate in the renovated structures. And I know that given the emphasis on jazz and nightlife, one would expect bars to predominate. However, here's a memo to the developers: You have enough liquor licenses down there already. How about some family and youth oriented establishments such as a non-alchohol serving restaurant or two, a bookstore or perhaps a coffeehouse or ice cream parlor? You know, the kind of place that would attract someone other than nightcrawlers, and encourage them to stay awhile? Free Wi-Fi could help with that, too.

Or you could keep rolling the sidewalks up at 3 a. m. instead of leaving them for the day shift.

I feel your pain

On a day set aside to honor the memory of one who sought to remove barriers by calling upon all of his countrymen to truly live up to their ideals, and on the day before another who walked the path he helped make takes the oath of office as president...well, leave it up to me to come here and write about a subject apparently having nothing whatever to do with any of the above.

Anyway, I've just had to replace my router for the first time since unwiring my humble abode more than six years ago, and the experience has given me some insight into what some of the hotspot operators we've taken to task here over the years may have encountered. The radio conking out on my venerable old 802.11b access point led me to go out and pick up a name-brand "draft-N" model (just as an aside, the 802.11n standard-already five years late-is supposedly to be finalized by the end of this year, leading one to ask where we've heard that before) on sale for $40, or about one-third what I paid for its predecessor back in '02. Given more than half a decade, you'd think there'd have been some progress by the manufacturers to make configuration of one of these things easier for an end user, wouldn't you?

Well, think again.

After maybe a half-dozen attempts to simply change the router's default IP address (which I had to do because it was the same as my DSL modem, which, suffice it to say, wasn't going to work), change the SSID and enable WPA, I gave up and went to bed. The next morning, after fortifying myself with a good breakfast, I trudged once more unto the breach, and decided just for the sake of it to try what the quick-setup sheet suggested as a prerequisite for using the built-in setup "wizards"-power everything off, hook it all up and then power back on in sequence. Wonder of wonders, it worked. It's been up for a couple of days now without a hiccup, so I guess I can uncross my fingers. It just would have been nice for the manufacturer to specify that powering off and connecting everything was necessary for manual setup as well, that's all.

Which brings me to those other hotspots. I can only imagine what some businessperson-especially these days-must think when he or she runs into problems like these. It's got to make them wonder if offering Wi-Fi is still worth it. And bear in mind that what I've related above involves consumer-grade equipment. I shudder to think what anyone running a big location with an enterprise-class router might be faced with. No doubt some of the no-longer-hot spots we've run into were the result of experiences like this.

Get a clue, manufacturers. The easier you make your gear to set up and use, the more people will be inclined to set up and use it. And it might serve to remember that in order to do that, they'll have to buy it first. Money and resources invested in making your documentation clear and concise-and meaningful to people who make their living in fields other than IT-should be seen as an investment in both your future and ours.

In keeping with the theme of today and tomorrow, it's all about removing barriers and encouraging others to walk the path.

Friday Night Fumblings

Got my new copy of the Yellow Pages the other day, so naturally I spent a bit of time flipping through it to get leads on potential new locations (okay, I'll save you the trouble and say it myself-I need to get a life). Anyway, it just so happened that I came across the name of the company that ran the defunct downtown coffeehouse I've mentioned a couple of times here and guess what? The reason that location is defunct is that it moved a couple of blocks north on Grand. So, I cruised by this afternoon to find them up and running just like their Johnson County sister shop. And also, just as in JoCo, their signs out front don't specify whether their Wi-Fi is free and open, code-restricted or play-for-pay either. A website updated with the correct address and a little more upfront information would be appreciated, folks.

So much for the bad news. Now for the worse news. Looks like we can forget about free Wi-Fi in P&L proper, at least for the foreseeable future. There's a Starbucks going in diagonally across Main from the still-empty building where Latte Land was scheduled to open. The way things are these days I can't imagine they'd risk going ahead, free Internet or not.

And since my later travels took me out west today, I thought I'd satisfy my curiosity and see if Bonner Springs was among the outlying communities with a public library unwired courtesy of Sunflower Broadband, or that perhaps had taken the initiative to do so on its own. Well, no. That may be due, however, to the fact that the library is currently in a rather cramped temporary location, on the lower level of the town's community center. Someone there mentioned that the city's new library should open around April or May and that it will be lit up, although whether through its own efforts or Sunflower's isn't clear. If and when we find out more, you'll find out along with us.

Australia: The Great Leap Backward?

A disturbing story from the Associated Press regarding governmental efforts Down Under to implement what would appear to be the most extensive Internet content controls outside of the world's few remaining Communist countries.

Just how such a proposal ever gained so much traction in a First World democracy is beyond me, particularly now that we are well into the second decade of the Internet Age. Have its proponents stopped to consider that right now just might not be the best time to make their country less attractive to business and investment by doing this? Laptop-toting executives won't think much of a country whose hotspots aren't more useful than those in China.

And don't give me that garbage about this being "for the children." One would think Australia would be the last place on earth where the government would propose-and the public would tolerate-such an attempt to usurp the responsibility of parents like this by substituting its judgment for theirs.

What a sad thing to contemplate on New Year's Day, a holiday that is supposed to be all about looking forward-and a holiday that Sydney is always the first big city to celebrate.