Samsung's Connected Refrigerator On Display At CES

Mashable has found one of those connected devices that I was hoping to see mentioned in the CES reporting, in this case it's a Wi-Fi enabled refrigerator from Samsung. The options discussed, while they do have some neat factor, are missing the Wow factor for me. It just seems like a lot of computing power and bandwidth usage to leave a note or search for a recipe. I do like shiny new technology but I'm not sure they've convinced me that the additional cost here is going to want me to replace my fridge magnet. You be the judge:

More Free Wi-Fi On The Horizon?

A few weeks ago I made a couple of hour journey for a shopping trip out of Province. During my shopping I found myself in a Costco wondering the aisles in search of Christmas gifts when I happened upon a display for the flip video minoHD priced at $99.00 Canadian. Double take ensued and I whipped out my smartphone and waited patiently as my cell provider pulled down the flip.ca website... $207.00 Canadian... sold!

I didn't really need the camera, I owned a flip Ultra and my Canon S5-IS takes wonderful video, not HD but very good non the less. My point, I would not have made this purchase had I not known that the manufacturer's site was selling this very product for more than twice the price of the camera within my very grasp.

To that end, here is an interesting article in the Globe and Mail regarding retailers and their thoughts on Wi-Fi.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/duncan-stewart/whos-afraid-of-free-wifi/article1803347/

Love the minoHD by the way. It's smaller, lighter, and has a built in rechargeable battery. I carry it with me all the time and the output is really quite good. I mean for $99.00 I just couldn't walk past!

Cutting The Wire On Photo Uploads

After first writing about it in December of 2007, I finally got a hold of an Eye-Fi card, and now I'm not sure why I hadn't worked harder to get one of these little gems sooner. In my defense they are not readily available in Canada and I really dislike paying the duty that comes with purchasing such things online from outside of the country. I have however very recently obtained an Eye-Fi Connect X2, 4GB+Wi-Fi and there is no turning back... awesome is all I can say. It's very easy to use and the endless memory mode means you never have to worry about running out of memory on your card as it intelligently makes space once your content is safely delivered. The card can be configured to recognize up to 32 Wi-Fi networks and upload content  to 25 different photo and video sharing sites.

Not all went smoothly with the installation on my Windows 7 machine, and I understand that my friend and coworker encountered a similar issue on his Mac. The documentation that comes in the package is sparse, to say the least, but luckily the support forum was easy to navigate and assisted in getting me over the hurdles. It seems as though we both had issues with the "helper" application that analyzes your network and firewall settings. Once resolved the Eye-Fi has performed flawlessly and is my new favorite gadget. 

The Starbucks Lean Startup - A How To

Starbucks has taken some of the financial pain out of buying a latte and surfing the web in their stores by offering up free Wi-Fi to customers in Canada and the US. "Enjoy great coffee and the Internet at your fingertips." says the companies website. 


Om Malik, is adding to the mix by letting us all in on his little secrets about lean startups and maximizing your business startup experience at Starbucks expense:

• Almost always favor a single location. It makes it easier for your contacts to drop in for meetings.
• Learn the names of most of the baristas and also take time to have a conversation with them. It helps build a human connection.
• Make the baristas involved in your venture – share your news and make them feel part of your struggle.
• Make sure you buy coffee or something at least three times a day.
• Tip generously – up to $10 a day will ensure that folks at the store don’t view you as a freeloader and a pest.
• Don’t spread out your stuff and take up too much space at the store.
• Invest in great noise-cancelling headphones (to counter the loud background music).
• Keep your mobile phones on vibrate and leave the store for conversations.
• Make sure that the number of people attending a meeting is fewer than four so that you can all circle around a single table.

Think I need a latte.

New Wi-Fi Standard Allows Devices To Interact Directly

A Texas-based standards group, The Wi-Fi Alliance, who's members include Intel, Cisco and Apple, announced on Wednesday the introduction of a new technology standard, called Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct will allow devices that have been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance to connect with each other without having to first go through a "hotspot," much like Bluetooth only with a longer range and faster connection speeds.

"The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise," said The Wi-Fi Alliance's executive director Edgar Figueroa in a statement.

Devices using Wi-Fi Direct are expected to hit the shelves in mid 2010.

Source: CBC News

Voip Enable Your iPod Touch

It may not be an iPhone but with the addition of a freeware application called truphone and a clip on microphone you can turn your iPod Touch into a Wi-Fi powered Voip phone. "There are a slew of new features we're rolling out for the iPod Touch that will let users call landlines, Skype users or send instant messages. We're talking weeks, not months, before these go live." said Geraldine Wilson - Truphone's CEO. You won't be able to make calls from anywhere like you can on the iPhone, you'll have to be in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot, but then again you won't be locked into a rediculously high priced cell phone contract either... cool!

BBC Story here.

McDonalds Not Serving Up Wi-Fi In Canada

With the exception of a few "hot spots" McDonalds customers in Canada are being shut out by the fast food giant when it comes to Wi-Fi access. While the company has been rolling out service in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan and Australia on a large scale. In some markets McDonalds charges a small fee, $2.99 for 2 hours in the U.S., while in others like the United Kingdom the service is free. In Canada however only a handfull of the company's 1,400 restaurants are designated as "hotspots." Depending on who you listen to the reasons vary "If you look at who owns the wireless networks, it's all telcos, and they have no interest in promoting Wi-Fi because it competes with their network," said Eamon Hoey, senior partner of market strategy consulting firm Hoey Associates. "We're just behind on the technology. We're lacking terribly in competition and innovation." While Lawrence Surtees, principal telecommunications analyst for IDC Canada. says "There are a number of chains and retailers that have Wi-Fi so technically it's not a problem," and "That kind of rules out some nefarious carrier factors." So what's up in Canada McDonalds?

Wirelessly upload your digital images without a Wi-Fi enabled camera!

Here's a handy little package that turns your digital camera (if it accepts an SD card) into a Wi-Fi enabled cam. According to their website, "The Eye-Fi Card comes with everything needed to make it simple to set up and connect to your home Wi-Fi network. After that, pop the card into your digital camera and start capturing those memories. It stores pictures like a regular SD card no matter where you are, and uploads your photos automatically as soon as you return to your home network. All you have to do is turn the camera on." At $100 for a 2 GB card it's a little pricey, but a lot less pricey than springing for a new digital camera! I'm interested in hearing from anyone who's actually purchased this little guy... as it's moving to the top of my "gadgets to purchase" list.

Black Hatter demonstrates webmail - Wi-Fi vulnerability

Here is a story from the BBC that comes from the current Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. According to the report, Robert Graham of Errata Security has developed tools that allow hackers to sniff traffic on public Wi-Fi networks and intercept cookies that an unsuspecting web-mail user may be passing from their laptop to their web-mail host. The information contained in the cookies could allow the hacker access to the user's web-mail or social networking site's account but would not likely allow them the ability to change passwords, as this often requires knowledge of the current password. To quote an 80's TV classic, "Let's be careful out there!"

iPhone's use of Safari makes browser target

Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) of Baltimore has published an iPhone hack that targets the Safari web browser and would allow hackers to take over control of the handset via a Wi-Fi connection. The explanation giving in this article by the CBC sounds a little far reaching but not beyond the realm of possibility. According to the article "the hacker would have to create a network with the same name and encryption method as one the handset already uses", I guess it becomes more likely if the user is accustomed to surfing public Wi-Fis, which we can assume many users will. What makes this interesting is that the Safari browser has gone largely unnoticed by hackers and virus writers as has most Apple devices, now with the hype surrounding the iPhone I suspect we'll hear more of these stories. At least in this case it was researches who discovered the potential exploit and this will hopefully allow Apple to respond before any real damage is done.

Not everyone happy about community Wi-Fi

In this post I discussed the opening of city Wi-Fi networks sponsored by the Government of Saskatchewan, and at the time I thought that the residents must be thrilled. It never dawned on me that those who already have their own wireless networks might suffer from the data crowding that would ensue. I know that it is increasingly becoming a problem in my neighborhood as my own incidents of dropped connections is becoming more and more prevalent. There are usually a couple of 'default' SSIDs, a 'linksys' or two and a few other networks that actually show up as secured, or at least the owner has taken the time to change the out of the box setting. This Wired article discusses the onslaught that open community Wi-Fi's bring to the residents and also provides a couple of useful tips that may help alleviate the issue.

Government embraces free Wi-Fi

The Saskatchewan government is backing what is being touted as Canada's largest Wi-Fi network. The switch was turned on yesterday in the downtown, the 13th Avenue business district and in the historic warehouse area (Note: I'll try to dig up some more info and provide a google map). There are some restrictions, porn and hate sites will be blocked, and since it is open Wi-Fi it is suggested that you don't do any Internet banking or other sensitive transactions. The cost to the Province is $1.3 million in infrastructure and startup costs and $340,000 per year in operational cost. Later this month, similar networks will be opened in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw, and the Province's University campuses will go live in the fall. See the CBC story here.