My curiosity piqued by ath64's mention of bookstores as hotspots on the guide page, I decided to conduct a brief expedition to some of the bigger locally owned independent locations in search of Wi-Fi signals. Sadly, there weren't any-and perhaps more sadly, even if there had been they would likely not have been of much use to a customer.
I couldn't help contrasting the claustrophobic atmosphere of the locals-narrow passageways amidst too many books crammed into too little floor space-with the much more relaxed and inviting look of the big chains. One wonders if this is because Kansas City is too small a market to support an independent bookstore that could afford premises large enough to give the big boys a run for their money with regard to amenities like Wi-Fi and convenient places to sit and use it. Can anyone imagine an establishment like Politics and Prose in Washington D. C.-a listed hotspot on wififreespot and a place regular viewers of C-SPAN's Book TV are familiar with as the location of frequent broadcasts of author appearances-flourishing here? As reluctant as I am to admit it, I can't.
No, I think we're consigned to the second tier when it comes to bookstores-the nationals and their big boxes if we want all the bells and whistles, and the few surviving locals out of either loyalty or special needs such as works by regional authors or the like. And if the pundits who argue that we are in the end times of the era of the printed word are right, things are already as good as they'll ever be, and will only get worse from here. Too bad.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Well, if McDonald's isn't going to do it...
Burger King
4351 Blue Parkway, Kansas City
802.11g
SSID: BKHotSpot
Perhaps, as Macenstein intimated in a recent post, it was premature to suggest that the decision of the Empire of the Golden Arches to give away its Wi-Fi would be a boon to underserved areas, given that (as I'm embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten) there really aren't many Mickey D locations left in those parts of town where the need is greatest.
Therefore it's gratifying to note that this newest Burger King location, in the Shops on Blue Parkway center between Cleveland and Elmwood, is not only unwired but seems to have been designed at least in part with laptoppers in mind. There are at least three pairs of power outlets along each of the east and west walls, so finding a seat next to one shouldn't be a problem unless the place is really crowded. The only potential issue would be the windows, especially early and late when the sun is low. At other times, you may simply need to let your eyes adapt for a bit.
4351 Blue Parkway, Kansas City
802.11g
SSID: BKHotSpot
Perhaps, as Macenstein intimated in a recent post, it was premature to suggest that the decision of the Empire of the Golden Arches to give away its Wi-Fi would be a boon to underserved areas, given that (as I'm embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten) there really aren't many Mickey D locations left in those parts of town where the need is greatest.
Therefore it's gratifying to note that this newest Burger King location, in the Shops on Blue Parkway center between Cleveland and Elmwood, is not only unwired but seems to have been designed at least in part with laptoppers in mind. There are at least three pairs of power outlets along each of the east and west walls, so finding a seat next to one shouldn't be a problem unless the place is really crowded. The only potential issue would be the windows, especially early and late when the sun is low. At other times, you may simply need to let your eyes adapt for a bit.
Oh, by the way...
...I haven't seen anyone surfing on an iPad while out and about yet. Has anyone else?
Nose...spite...face...
The depressingly long list of locations that for whatever reasons are purveying Wi-Fi via closed networks continues to grow, as a brief visit to a recently opened River Market coffeehouse yesterday served to demonstrate. Maybe-just maybe-I ought to keep my mouth shut, but having had to dig out my old backup laptop to perform the Patch Tuesday ritual reminded me of an issue that I'm not sure many of the proprietors of these establishments have stopped to consider.
The Wi-Fi card in my old rig is a 2002-vintage model that can only support WEP encryption, not the much more secure WPA or WPA2 protocols that are currently state-of-the-art-which means that when the second Tuesday of each month rolls around I'm faced with the choice of whether to head into the den to harness the old gal directly to the router via an Ethernet cable, or hitch her to my slightly newer USB finder/adapter, which can do WPA, albeit only with difficulty and not all that reliably.
Which raises the question: How many potential customers who might still patronize a business despite its Wi-Fi being play-for-pay are being deterred by their older equipment not being compatible with the WPA encryption virtually all of these establishments are employing?
In other words, by closing their networks in the mistaken belief that doing so will increase per-customer revenue, how much money are they actually leaving on the table instead?
The Wi-Fi card in my old rig is a 2002-vintage model that can only support WEP encryption, not the much more secure WPA or WPA2 protocols that are currently state-of-the-art-which means that when the second Tuesday of each month rolls around I'm faced with the choice of whether to head into the den to harness the old gal directly to the router via an Ethernet cable, or hitch her to my slightly newer USB finder/adapter, which can do WPA, albeit only with difficulty and not all that reliably.
Which raises the question: How many potential customers who might still patronize a business despite its Wi-Fi being play-for-pay are being deterred by their older equipment not being compatible with the WPA encryption virtually all of these establishments are employing?
In other words, by closing their networks in the mistaken belief that doing so will increase per-customer revenue, how much money are they actually leaving on the table instead?
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