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.