Then again, there are those who DON'T learn from experience.

Remember my last sojourn out to Independence Center, the results of which were described in this post from more than a couple of years back?  If not, that's understandable.  One of my more underwhelming experiences, to understate matters.  Well, it just so happens I was out that way again earlier this evening and decided to stop in for a bit to see if things have changed. 

Sorry to say, they haven't.  OK, they've changed a little bit.  The login page loads maybe once every three to five tries, and even if anyone is stupid enough to put his or her real name and e-mail address into it (why do they even ask?), he or she still doesn't go anywhere-even with both cookies and Javascript enabled. 

Too bad.  They've added a "charging station" with a couple of pairs of power outlets in the seating area just inside the 39th Street entrance on the upper level.  It's a shame there's really not much use for them as things stand, except perhaps for smartphone, tablet or mobile hotspot users with a generous data plan. 

Come on, people.  This isn't something really hard like enrolling people for healthcare.  Once again, I refer you to Crown Center.  They make do without jumping customers through hoops.  Why can't you?

Eighth anniversary reflections

I'll have to admit to being a bit melancholy as I contemplate how different things are from how they were when I published this blog's first post this very evening in 2005.  I'm sure part of that is simply due to Wi-Fi's having been something new and exciting around town in those days, whether it was free and open or not.  Going months without posting, as I'm sure you've noticed I've done lately, was unthinkable then.  Well, the world has kept turning, of course, and booting up a laptop or powering on a tablet or smartphone and finding you've got free Internet without wires doesn't provide the joyusly electrifying jolt to the psyche it once did.  

And to be honest, my life has changed a bit since that night, too.  I just don't get out as often as I did before I got broadband at home; in fact, I now work from home about half the time.  Makes it a bit harder to keep up on where the latest local hotspots are popping up and whether or not they're play-for-pay, among other things.  

I did drop in again at a local fast-food establishment previously reviewed here this past Monday, though (got to take advantage of the Chiefs' sudden resurgence and grab those buy-one-get-one-free burgers, you know), and what I saw there late in the afternoon could have been either a sign of success or maybe just a little sad, depending on your outlook.  There was what I took to be a high-school student in the back hunched over a laptop and, I hope, digging into her homework, but even if she were simply tweeting or Facebooking the day away, so what?  She was there and taking advantage of a local business' efforts to bridge the digital divide, and rewarding those efforts with her patronage.  There was also, however, an older gentleman sitting up front, whom I passed on my way out.  I really didn't pay too much attention to what was on his screen, but the presence of a cable lock securing his computer to the base of the table was somewhat disheartening.  I pray that he was moved to this by caution rather than experience.  

In addition, I'm sure it probably doesn't help that many of our recent posts have been of the look-at-what-some-criminal-used-Wi-Fi-to-do type, and while I'd like to thank Macenstein for those (and feel free to put up more of them, Mac, if you find them interesting), it's just that those seem to be the kind of stories about Wi-Fi that make the news these days.  As an example, here's one from the Associated Press about how and where they caught the black-market drug website operator who's been in the headlines.   

In the end, it really doesn't matter.  Change is inevitable, and if the changes over the last eight years as well as those still to come mean fewer and less frequent posts, so be it.  Thanks once again to you, the reader, and rest assured that we aren't going anywhere, so don't you either.

   

21st Century Opportunity, shake hands with 20th Century Thinking.

New York Post:  Wi-Fi-using freelancers persona non grata at growing number of NYC cafes.

At first glance it all makes sense.  Camping at a table in such an establishment without making frequent and continued purchases does cost the proprietor revenue.  No one can rationally argue that.

But is the knee-jerk solution really the best one?  I mean, you throw out one customer and you have to go out and pull in another from somewhere.  And in New York City in today's economy, what are the chances that your new customer will just be one more freelancer?  See how you could just be starting a vicious cycle-chasing your tail in a race to the bottom?

Why not, therefore, look at the problem in a new light?  Wi-Fi has done its job by drawing in the customer; now it's your job to provide the range of services that will make his or her patronage profitable for you.  Obviously, lattes and sandwiches aren't cutting it.  How about turning some of the other things you offer into sources of revenue from these users?  Power, perhaps?  In fact, this might-just might, mind you-be one circumstance where going play-for-pay could possibly be a good idea.  A nominal monthly charge for "business" customers, which would cover your costs for power and bandwidth in return for perhaps a quiet place for them to work and collaborate, in conjunction with an incentive program to encourage more purchases, could go a long way toward turning what you see as liabilities into assets.

Of course, you have to be the forward-looking and forward-thinking sort in order to see people with the drive and energy to work for themselves as potential partners in your success, and want to partner with them in the quest for theirs.

So, just how many NYC cafe operators fall into that category? 

We shall see.

Well, at least they got the category right...

BBC:  British Library's Wi-Fi blocks Shakespeare's Hamlet as "violent."

Which, of course, is not to say that it isn't.  Been a few years since high school (had to read it for senior English Lit) but I'd put its body count on a par with, say, a more contemporary offering like, say, the movie The Wild Bunch.

Come to think of it, the ol' Bard kind of had a thing for not sparing the stage blood, if you ask me.  Seems I now recall having to suffer through Julius Caesar as a sophomore, and the "Speak, hands, for me"/"Et tu, Brute?" sequence jumps out in my memory.

Anyway, that's enough reminiscing.  I'd held off commenting on Brit Prime Minister David Cameron's harebrained scheme to require Internet service providers over there to filter all their customers' connections unless they opt out, but this episode, as more than one commentator has pointed out, shows what some of the problems could be with that.  Let a filter vendor-or a government-decide what's appropriate, even for children, and you get these silly attempts at a one-size-fits-all solution and what inevitably results from them.  

We had our fling with that sort of nonsense Over Here with one of George W. Bush's pet projects, the "kids.us" domain.  Its ultimate failure was due to the arbitrary roadblocks erected by those given control over content decisions within the domain-barriers that eventually drove off even those few entities which ever even expressed an interest in hosting sites there.  Just as time and tide wait for no one, technology swamped Bush 43's cookie-cutter solution.  What content provider today would even seriously consider investing a dime in developing a site that had to be hosted entirely within one domain-and meet the whims of the domain administrators to ensure its continued existence? 

And it's disheartening that British ISPs, British media and most of all the British people seemingly aren't up in arms over what Cameron''s proposing.  Eventually, the Austrailians came to their senses and dumped plans for a similar scheme, so hope springs eternal. 

Funny, though, that when it comes to the question of whether a government-or an entitiy empowered to act on its behalf-has any business deciding what the people living under it should be able to read, hear or watch, it appears more and more that the word "conservative" doesn't mean what it used to.

Four dreaded words...

...seen yesterday afternoon at the Johnson County Library's Central location.

It really wasn't, of course-what was down was their Internet access, both wired and wireless.  The SSID was visible, but connecting to the network didn't take you anywhere.  Yours truly just made do with ye olde Bluetooth-tethered cell phone, which was (barely) sufficient for the search-engine access I mainly need to augment my research.  It was really creepy, however, to see the dozens of desktop workstations sitting idle.  They're usually just about all in use at that time of day on a Friday. 

A staffer I spoke with said no one had much of an idea as to why or how long; it had already been more than 24 hours and the best info she had was something about a "configuration problem."  And now that I think about it, I should have asked if it was a systemwide issue or just a problem there at Central, but didn't.

Interestingly, there's no mention of the problem anywhere I can find on the library's website.  An oversight, perhaps?

Anyone with more info is welcome to weigh in.

Ma Bell kicked to the curb! (?)

Los Angeles Times:  Starbucks to hook up with Google for Wi-Fi ten times as fast as AT&T's.

All 7,000 locations are supposed to be upgraded within the next year and a half, according to the story.

Hmmm...now where have we heard anything that sounded even remotely like that before? 

Well, just as with the Coming of Fiber, I'll believe the above actually happens when I see it.  And when-or if-either does happen, you'll read about it right here.

Foolish in Fresno

From the Fresno Bee:  Yet another laptop-wielding child predator caught red-handed after being brazen and stupid enough to peruse potential additions to his collection in what was essentially a public place-the Wi-Fi at the Fresno County Public Library in California.

Good for us he was that dumb, too-he was homeless, meaning that had he somehow gotten access to a private connection somewhere he'd likely still be out there, beyond the easy reach of the law enforcement agencies who made masterful use of the library's network being open in order to reel him in, per this second story from a local TV station.

And contrary to the expected reaction from the library administration, I wouldn't go any farther in "locking down" things than to block file-sharing, which no one has any business doing on a public connection anyway. 

No, we want these types to continue to stumble into the tar pit of public Internet access, thus facilitating their apprehension and prosecution.  While it doesn't prevent the initial victimization inflicted by the production of child porn, continuing to go after its consumers-and publicizing collars like this one-can have a chilling effect that may eventually reduce the ongoing exploitation of those poor kids.  Besides, admit it-watching someone accused of something this disgusting doing ye old perp walk just feels so good.

Of course this is just the first stage of the proceedings, mandating the standard disclaimer that all suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Anyway, until you make bond at least, enjoy your stay.