Do you want some Wi-Fi with that beer?

By Om Malik

From http://gigaom.com/

Wi-Fi is everywhere, and thank goodness for that, otherwise we would all be stuck paying through the nose for minuscule bandwidth from greedy carriers that want to overcharge for overloaded and poor 3G networks. Now there are a lot of places where you can get Wi-Fi: coffee shops, fast food joints, some train stations and shopping malls. The latest place to join the Wi-Fi revolution, according to entrepreneurial blog Springwise? Pubs, the epicenter of British social life.

Dutch beer maker Heineken has sponsored free Wi-Fi in 100 London pubs and will add another 200 pubs across the U.K. by the end of 2012. British newspaper The Independent will provide location-specific content on the network. This is a brilliant idea; sponsoring free Wi-Fi access is much better and cheaper advertising opportunity for big brands, something we’ve been saying forever.

However, what Heineken has done right is targeting its ideal audience/customer demographic in the right location. Google sponsoring Wi-Fi on Virgin America, and at some airports, was another such clever co-branding/marketing effort that targeted the right audience.

Hey Nike, how about coming up with free Wi-Fi at baseball stadiums?

Skype Introduces Skype Wi-Fi:Now Pay for Wi-Fi on per Minute Usage at One Million Hotspots

From: http://www.techieapps.com/

Skype has just launched its Skype Wi-Fi, a free iOS app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that permits users to use more than one million paid Wi-Fi hotspots across the globe and users can pay for them via Skype Wi-Fi Access.

Unlike hotspot app Boingo which powers Skype’s mobile Wi-Fi service, which need a day or a monthly plan, Skype Wi-Fi charges Wi-Fi customers on per minute basis. Usage charges begin at $0.06 per minute, but you may be charged slightly more depending on the service provider. This service has formerly been accessible for laptops under the tag “Skype Access”.

Here’s how it works: Let’s assume that you are in Washington DC, USA and you have got your AT&T iPhone with you. You have got data roaming turned off because you don’t desire to get a mammoth bill, but you are at a railway station that proffers a Wi-Fi hotspot. However, the Wi-Fi hotspot will cost you. Maybe you don’t feel like entering your credit card details in on the spot for safety reasons, or maybe the directions for how to pay are in a language which you don’t understand, or maybe the hotspot pressurizes you to subscribe a day’s access for $20. You can bypass all of these limitations with Skype Wi-Fi.

Why would someone desire to compensate for Internet if they are having mobile phone with a data plan? In an official Skype’s blog post about the fresh innovative skype app, Skype advises it will be obliging for shunning data roaming overseas. We might include that it is enormously functional when your iPhone’s 3G signal is feeble, and you immediately desire to download that one very important mail.

If you discover mobile access to pay-per-minute Wi-Fi attractive, you can try Skype Wi-Fi for free this weekend for 1 hour. We will have to examine it out going ahead and see if it is a great a solution as it appears.

Mac propaganda at McDonalds [Photo]

From: http://www.edibleapple.com/

Yes folks, Macs just work - and this free wi-fi setup guide from an Australian McDonalds really drives the point home.

It really can’t get any simpler than this:

Step 1. Click On Airport icon.
Step 2. Select “McDonalds FREE Wi-Fi” from the list of available networks.
Step 3. Open your browser.

via Twitpic

Line2 App Turns Your iPod into a Phone -- with Unlimited Calls and Texts

For $9.95 a month, Line2 provides unlimited calls and texts for iPhone, iPod and iPad users -- and even lets you text on airplanes.

By Amanda Kooser

From http://smallbusiness.aol.com/

Toktumi (say it fast -- "talk to me") is an aptly named company. While it offers hosted PBX calling systems for businesses, it has made a bigger splash with the Line2 iOS application for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Line2 is a dual-mode calling application that uses either Wi-Fi or cellular networks -- which gives iPhone users a second line, transforms the iPod Touch and iPad into calling devices and provides unlimited calls and texts in the United States and Canada. And people are certainly taking advantage of the new all-you-can-text function, with Line2 users sending more than 1 million messages in the first four days after the updated app launched.

Since Line2 can be powered by Wi-Fi, you might be wondering where airplanes come into the equation. Planes have long been forbidden territory for cell phones. There is some question about potential interference with aircraft navigation systems, but that hasn't really been proven. The real issue may be that travelers don't want to be strapped in next to a person loudly sharing personal details with Aunt Bertha on a four-hour flight.

You may not be able to exercise your cell phone in the air, but a number of airlines now offer paid Wi-Fi on flights. Knowing that Line2 works for calling over Wi-Fi means users could theoretically yap away through the entire flight. Airlines have put in place technology that blocks voice calls, but workarounds are constantly popping up. For those with more restraint and sense, the app's new text messaging feature is a much more polite way to stay in touch with the office, colleagues, friends and family while zooming along at 35,000 feet. The interface is clean and simple. Texting is unlimited in the United States and Canada and costs 10 cents per text for international messages.

The new texting feature is all fine and dandy, but the real business proposition here involves saving money. Line2 includes unlimited calling in the United States and Canada for $9.95 per month. If you can route a chunk of your calls over Wi-Fi, then you can go with a lower priced calling package. It also brings calling and SMS capability to the iPod Touch and iPad, so you can act like you have an iPhone whenever a wireless network is handy.

Line2 makes sense for business users who are often hanging around Wi-Fi hotspots at the office or on the road. There are other text messaging apps and VoIP apps for iOS, but none of them have the smoothly combined feature set of Line2. With text messaging added to the equation, it makes the 30-day free trial worth checking out. Business users who want to get into a more robust calling system can upgrade to Toktumi's $14.95 per month deal that includes an auto attendant, custom greetings, visual voicemail and other PBX features.

New York City Subways & Car Services To Get Free Wi-Fi

by Jennifer Johnson
from: http://hothardware.com/

After three years of stalled progress, New York subway riders will soon be able to surf the Web via free Wi-Fi. Transit Wireless, a conglomerate of wireless and construction companies that was awarded a contract back in 2007 to embark on a Wi-Fi project with New York Transit, has come up with the money it needs to move forward with the project.

Broadcast Australia will foot the bill that is expected to cost $200 million. As part of the deal, Broadcast Australia will take a majority stake in Transit Wireless. In 2007, Transit Wireless promised to complete the job in 10 years. Now, it will have two years to wire six subterranean stations near 14th Street on Manhattan’s West Side to transmit mobile-phone signals to passengers on the platform. It will also have as many as four more years to complete the remaining 271 underground stations.

The Wi-Fi will come by means of smoke detector-size antennas which Transit Wireless will begin installing within the next two months. Once the project is complete, riders will have mobile service on the platform, mezzanines and portions of the tunnels. Because the work on the subway system is limited to the platforms, it is not expected to interfere with regular train service.

As early as this fall, car passengers and anyone else who happens to be within 400 feet of Internet-enabled vehicles may be able to surf as well. Venture capitalist Alex Mashinsky plans to outfit 1,000 livery cars in New York City with free, ad-supported Wi-Fi. The mobile hotpots will enable car passengers as well as anyone who is within 400 feet of the Internet-enabled vehicles to surf the Web.

In the beginning, cars from LimoRes Car & Limo Service, UTOG Corporate Car Service, and Velocity Limo will get the Wi-Fi service. Eventually, Mashinsky hopes to be able to offer Wi-Fi beyond just the inside of cars. Since livery cars idle extensively, many people on foot will be able to take advantage of the initial free Wi-Fi offering. Once a person walks beyond the range of the hotspot, however, the individual must find a new hotspot or stop surfing. Mashinsky hopes next-generation wireless technology will address this and make it easier for cars to provide Wi-Fi to the streets of Manhattan.

Call Your Facebook Friends for Free From Your Android or iOS Device

VoIP giant Vonage has just introduced a new iPhone, iPod touch and Android app that allows users to call their Facebook friends for free. Vonage Mobile for Facebook [iTunes link] is similar to VOiP apps like Skype or Fring, but with a twist: It’s all about Facebook.

The free app does not require a Vonage subscription, but does require both parties to have the Vonage Mobile for Facebook app installed. Once installed, calls can be made over 3G or Wi-Fi.

The app is pretty simple to set up and only requires that you enter in your Facebook () credentials once. Friends are displayed in different groups; those that can be called with the app have a “V” logo next to their names. If a friend is online but doesn’t have the app installed, you can chat with him or her and also send an invite to download the app.

Like the most recent Skype Mobile release, the app can run in the background, meaning that even if it’s not open, incoming calls can still come through. When an incoming call comes through the app, the caller’s Facebook photo and most recent status update are displayed on the screen.

This video shows how the app works:

The concept of making voice calls over Wi-Fi or 3G using a VOiP mobile application may no longer be new or novel, however, we appreciate that Vonage is targeting a specific set of users. For many individuals, Facebook is the nerve center for all online communication — building a VOiP app off of Facebook is pretty smart.

An iPad version of Vonage Mobile for Facebook is poised to join the iPhone, iPod touch and Android () versions soon. We hope that Vonage will also consider bringing the app to BlackBerry handsets.

What do you think of Vonage Mobile for Facebook? Do you use any VOiP apps on your mobile device?

How to Get Free Inflight Wi-Fi This Holiday Season

Holiday travel can be a tiresome experience. If you want to relax with a little Wi-Fi on the plane, MyMoneyBlog.com has compiled a list of the codes you can use to get free internet access during your holiday excursions.

Yesterday we showed you the inflight Wi-Fi cheat sheet, and according to the chart there are really only four airlines where you even have a chance of finding the internet: Delta, AirTran, American Airlines and Virgin America. The first three require a code to get free Wi-Fi, but Virgin America doesn't.

According to FlyerTalk and MyMoneyBlog.com, these are the codes you'll need to use on Delta, AirTran or AA. All expire on December 31:
• Delta: DELTATRYGOGO
• AirTran: AIRTRANTRYGOGO
• American Airlines: AATRYGOGO

Edit: Reader Fo just reminded me that these codes are for new users only, and work once per email address. The same likely applies for the codes below. (But if you have a Gmail account, you can insert random periods in the username to create "unique" addresses that all go to your account.)

Edit 2: And a friendly reminder: If you end up using inflight Wi-Fi, check out how to join our Mile High Club

If those don't work for whatever reason, FlyerTalk and MyMoneyBlog.com also reference these three codes. They should be valid until January 7:

• 2287548427snk
• 2472564126dvu
• 2285632980tlk

If you're flying Virgin America, you don't have to do anything. Google partnered up with the airline to provide free Wi-Fi throughout the holidays until January 15.

Those are your best bets. Hopefully free Wi-Fi will make your holiday travels a little more tolerable. [My Money Blog, Virgin America]

Send an email to Chris Jacob, the author of this post, at cjacob@gizmodo.com.

McDonald's to offer free, unlimited Wi-Fi

Fast-food chain wants customers to stay longer

By Matt Hamblen

Computerworld - McDonald's restaurants may soon be the easiest spot to find free Wi-Fi and browse the Web as long as you like.

The restaurant chain is lifting a $2.95 fee for two hours of wireless Internet access starting in mid-January, according to the Wall Street Journal and other reports.

McDonald's officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

The free Wi-Fi will reportedly be available at about 11,000 of 14,000 U.S. locations. McDonald's has used Wi-Fi provided by AT&T Inc. for several years, after first launching the service at 75 locations in San Francisco in 2003.

The free Wi-Fi will come with no time limits, all the better to encourage visitors to stay longer and buy McDonald's coffee drinks and hamburgers.

2009 Annual Hotel WIFI Report

Best Hotel WiFi 2009

In the past, the budget brands like Holiday Inn and Best Western always topped our Best list. While those brands still offer free WiFi, we're happy to report that several new budget-ish boutique brands have arrived on the scene. These new kids offer hip spaces to sleep in and play in all the while providing free WiFi. So you don't have to sacrifice style — and, in some cases, cleanliness — just to get free internet.

1. Element and Aloft Hotels: Starwood Hotels have routinely made our Worst Hotel WiFi lists largely because nearly all their brands charge for daily internet in guestrooms. But thanks to the new Element and Aloft Hotel chains, Starwood has finally given road warriors what they need: free WiFi.

Element Hotels are created for the extended-stay traveler in mind, so the in-room work stations accommodate guests when they need to get down to business. But the option of WiFi lets guests sit on the couch and watch TV while downloading iTunes songs and waiting for the microwave popcorn to finish.

The same goes for Aloft. While we wouldn't want to hole up in these minimalist rooms all day, having free WiFi at least lets us check our email from the bed. If we want to be more social, we can take our laptop down to the re:mix lobby area to meet new friends and Facebook 'em on the spot.

If there isn't an Element or Aloft near where you want to stay, try a Four Points by Sheraton, which also offers free WiFi.

2. Kimpton Hotels:

Using the Kimpton complimentary WiFi in the lobby and poolside at the Hotel Palomar Westwood

In 2007, we were mad at Kimpton for taking away their once-ubiquitous WiFi service (free in the lobbies, free in the rooms) and requesting a $10+ daily fee for internet. At that time, we were too stunned to consider that if we'd signed up for the hotel chain's loyalty program, InTouch (with no minimum stays per year), we could have surfed the web for free. We only saw a brand who had once offered free WiFi and had called takebacks on their generosity.

By 2008, we had come around to their InTouch plan and had put them back on our Tried & True list. Now in 2009, with so much uncertainty and doom and gloom in the hotel market, we've come to see the reliability of Kimpton wireless as a beacon in the darkness. It's always there, and with your InTouch membership, it's always free. And in our personal experience (we've stayed at Kimpton properties many, many, many times), their staff goes above and beyond the call of duty to make sure you can get online in your room.

3. Hotel Indigo: Hotel Indigo came onto the scene a few years ago, but it wasn't until this year that a significant number of Indigos came online — and we do mean literally online — with free WiFi in guestrooms. The boutique brand from Intercontinental Hotels strives to make the hotel stay a more personal, comfortable experience, and with free WiFi in the rooms, it's almost like we're at home.

4. Hyatt Place Hotels: Hyatt Place is Hyatt's answer to the budget boutique hotel craze, and thanks to free WiFi throughout, we can finally add a Hyatt brand to our Best Hotel WiFi list. Also cool at Hyatt Place for the tech-dependent set? Plug panels in the rooms that allow you to hook up all your media devices — laptops, DVD players, MP3s and gaming systems — directly to the 42" flat-screen HDTV.

5. Courtyard By Marriott: The budget brand from Marriott has long offered free WiFi in their lobbies, but we never found hanging out in a Courtyard by Marriott lobby to be particularly awesome — until this year, that is. Courtyard has introduced these ultra-modern new Media Pod booths with flat-screen TVs and plug panels. Having a meal, a glass of wine and our fave TV show in front of us as we work is just about as good as it gets.

Always Free, All The Time
· Holiday Inn Hotels
· Best Western Hotels
· Personality Hotels (San Francisco)
· Gansevoort Hotels

Always Free, For Members
· JDV Hotels: The majority of Joie de Vivre's properties offer free WiFi in the public areas and guestrooms. But for the few holdouts that still charge, all members of the Joy of Life Club (JDV's loyalty program) get complimentary internet access, regardless of status level.
· Omni Hotels: Most Omni properties charge a fee for WiFi access; however, signing up for the Omni Select Guest loyalty program — which is free to do — earns you complimentary WiFi at all levels.
· Hyatt Hotels: This Spring, Hyatt began offering free WiFi for guests of certain loyalty program status (Diamond and Platinum) at all Hyatt-owned hotels, from Park Hyatts to the Hyatt Flagship properties. But the new Andaz hotels have free WiFi and so do Hyatt's budget brands, regardless of loyalty program membership.
· Fairmont Hotels: There is a fee for internet in guestrooms, but if you are a member of the Fairmont Presidents Circle (membership is free) you can get complimentary internet access during your stay.

Mostly Free, Depending on the Brand
· Choice Hotels: All brands except Clarion, Rodeway Inn and Ascend Collection. (The GEM hotels in New York, however, are free.)
· Intercontinental Hotels: All brands, including Holiday Inn (domestic) except for Intercontinental Hotels and Crowne Plazas.

BlackBerry Storm 2 Will Have Wi-Fi

One of the major sticking points for the first and only touch-screen BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Storm, was its lack of Wi-Fi.

But BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is looking to make that right with the release of the BlackBerry Storm 2.

Citing unnamed inside sources, Slash Gear reported that Verizon Wireless has green-lighted the BlackBerry Storm 2 for September of this year. The Storm 2, the second-generation of the BlackBerry Storm, is expected to include Wi-Fi connectivity to complement the 3G it already offers, sources told Slash Gear.

While Slash Gear did not divulge its sources, it said it has no doubts that the Wi-Fi rumor is legit.

"The source gave us their assurances that the Storm 2 would have Wi-Fi, and would be an even better pro-sumer device than the first Storm," Slash Gear wrote.

The report added that Wi-Fi isn't the only new addition the Storm will see in its second-generation makeover, but additional details weren't available.

RIM and Verizon debuted the BlackBerry Storm last November, marking RIM's official attempt to unseat the Apple iPhone 3G in the clash of the touch-screen titans.

The release of RIM's first touch-screen smartphone generated a host of comparisons between the Storm and the iPhone 3G, many of which called the iPhone the superior device.

The Storm also encountered a host of speed bumps along the way, with users critical of the touch-screen interface, no Wi-Fi and its lack of a physical QWERTY keyboard, which BlackBerry users have grown accustomed to.

Earlier this year, several news organizations called the Storm a flop, saying it got off to a bumpy start with poor sales. Verizon, the Storm's exclusive carrier, quickly went on the offensive, saying that 1 million Storms had been sold in the smartphone's first two months on the market.

Posted by Andrew R Hickey at 9:28 AM

Does the White House Have Wi-Fi?

By: Chris Dannen

Is the White House more of a museum than a working office? Does it even have WiFi?

MSNBC has reported that on their first day on the job, Obama's White House staffers suffered from downgrades on every front. During the campaign and the transition, Obama's team was a Mac shop; they arrived in the White House to find six-year-old Windows PCs and a mess of disconnected land-line phones. (Windows! The horror!)

Not only that -- staffers were forbidden from accessing outside email accounts or chatting online, too. MSNBC quotes one Obama spokesperson as characterizing the transition as "kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari." Bummer.

However, Andrew Rasiej, co-founder of the blog TechPresident, notes that the President won't be as isolated as we thought. "Obama is keeping his BlackBerry, or at least that's the latest word," he says. Even still, the White House doesn't sound anywhere close to the standards of business 2.0. But what about life 2.0?

Not much better. "They are going to ban instant messaging from the White House," says Rasiej, "so staff don't get caught writing something as casually as if they were speaking it." Putting as little information as possible into digital channels means less is lost in the event of a security breach. A casual attitude towards Internet communication could spell trouble, Rasiej says.

So no IM for Sasha and Malia. What about email? Can the girls and Michelle keep up email correspondence the way they used to?

"Internet Access will be available for the whole family, but under greater security control," Rasiej says. Personal emails from the first lady and the kids are considered private, and won't be subject to the post-Nixon Presidential Records Act, so the girls can feel free to dish to their friends without worrying those emails will ever become public domain.

Luckily, Obama's staff won't be stuck in the dark ages forever. MSNBC says that White House counsel had approved the use of Gmail accounts and personal cell phones, allowing staffers -- many of whom arrived to their new offices to find neither computer nor phone -- to get communications up and running. Many of the other restrictions on White House communications can be lifted or altered with a stroke of the President's pen.

Rasiej says Wi-Fi isn't out of the question, either. "I'm not sure if the first family will have Wi-Fi access, but I don't see why not, under the right security," he theorizes. Staffers won't care either way; White House-issued laptops are reportedly scarce.

It's not known whether the White House currently uses Wi-Fi, but the network security news site Dark Reading used a long-range antenna to scour the White House environs for vulnerable wireless networks in 2007. They found 104 networks and 66 wireless access points in the area, many of them encrypted with easily-hackable WEP passwords -- mostly coffee shops, hotels, and offices. They couldn't trace any of them back to the White House itself, until they access a database that mashes up WAP data with Google maps. They find eight networks coming from inside the building, but none of them visible or accessible to outsiders. (As they note, these could belong to press organizations or other non-governmental entities camping out at the first residence.)

Other buildings in the Capitol were more vulnerable. Sitting in front of the Treasury building, they picked up a EV-DO signal -- a wireless broadband card connected to a laptop. If an employee were to access the Internet with one of those (say, to get to a site that might be restricted from a government PC), and then re-attach the computer to the government network, a virus could easily jump the virtual fence.

Should Obama's administration bring change to the way the White House does its daily business, they'll have to be wary that some of our most-loved Internet conveniences might not be worth the risk. Isn't bureaucracy fun?

How To: Add Wi-Fi To Your Xbox 360 Smartly and Cheaply

By matt buchanan

The Xbox 360 is the best console you can buy. Except it's inexplicably missing something the Wii and PS3 have: Wi-Fi. You could buy Microsoft's $90 dongle. Or you could follow our guide.

The Xbox 360's lack of Wi-Fi is a totally killer hardware flaw—if you're not right on top of your router, you've either gotta string miles of ethernet cable or buy that pricey ass dongle from Microsoft. Unless you check out one of the cheaper alternatives. Here's every major way to get your Xbox going on Wi-Fi, sorted by easiest to hardest (but most satisfying).

Donglage
Dongles are, by far, the easiest way to get your Xbox 360 on a wireless network. But they also tend to be the priciest.

• Microsoft's official wireless adapter is $87, which is absolute horseshit for a Wi-Fi antenna attached to a USB cable. But it looks the nicest and is super easy to use—just plug and play. Update: This weekend you can get one for $69.

• The next stop is a third-party wireless adapter, where you've got your pick from Linksys ($65), Belkin ($70) and hey, Linksys ($90, but it's 802.11n). Same deal, plug and play.

• Finally, your cheapest option is from...Microsoft. Turns out, a regular Xbox wireless adapter (which is a supercheap $50), works just fine, with a tiny bit of finagling: Don't put in its actual install CD. Just plug it in, and set your encryption. It might take two tries to get it to work, but it will. And, it won't eat up a USB port like the official Xbox 360 one. Spoiler alert: This is our pick for best option, based on its combo of cheapness and convenience, if you can find one.

Share Your Computer's Connection
Sharing your computer's connection is the cheapest option—it's actually the freest one. It'll work with a laptop or desktop, though a laptop is more truly wireless—the desktop bit is an option if your router's just a step too far out of the way. Basically, you're plugging your Xbox into the computer's ethernet port, and then having it use your computer's wireless connection to connect to the internet.

Windows
It's actually harder to reliably share the internet love on Windows with its cousin, the Xbox 360, than it is on a Mac: No method worked reliably for us across multiple Windows computers. But here's how it should work:

1. Share your computer's wireless connection. Microsoft actually details the process here, and it's pretty easy. From the Network and Sharing center, click on the manage network connections option on the left. From there, right click on the connect you wanna share (probably wireless, unless you're daisy-chaining 'cause your box just won't reach) and hit properties. Under the sharing tab, just check the box to allow that connection to be shared. Plug your Xbox into the ethernet port.

2. There are a few other ways to proceed at this point, and you're probably going to have try at least a couple of them to find one that'll work. You could bridge the two connections (dicey), or you could manually assign the ethernet port an IP address, detailed here (PDF). This Instructable relies on automagicalness to resolve the settings, and I have had that work in the past, though not when I was sorting through methods for this how to.

All in all, expect to do some Googling and troubleshooting if you go the Windows route.

Mac
You'd think this would be easy, 'cause I heard somewhere that Macs just work, and internet sharing on Macs typically ain't hard, but there is a tiny bit of jujitsu involved here. This method, from Joystiq, is the most reliable one I used.

1. On your Mac, pop open Terminal, and type "ifconfig en0" (number zero, no quotes). A whole bunch of crap will pop up. Find where it says "inet 192.xxx.x.xxx" (it should be 192, anyway). Write that junk down. It will probably be 192.168.2.1, like mine. Also find out your router's IP address, which is most likely 192.168.1.1 (Linksys) or 192.168.0.1 (D-Link uses this), depending on your manufacturer. If you have Apple's Airport gear, the router will be at 10.0.1.1.

2. Then plug your Xbox 360 into your Mac, open up Sharing in Preferences. Turn on internet sharing, and share your Airport's internet connection with ethernet.

3. On the Xbox, flip to your network settings (under system settings), and enter the IP address you got from the terminal freaky deaky earlier but + 1, like 192.168.2.2 to my original 192.168.2.1. Subnet should be 255.255.255.0, and then set your gateway as the ifconfig number, 192.168.2.1. Under DNS (back one screen, then down), put in your router's actual address for both. Test your Xbox Live connection. Your NAT might suck, but you can get on Xbox Live.

Hack Your Router
This method is the least straightforward, and requires a little bit of work on your part. Essentially, you're buying a second router (a cheap one, for about $40) and installing custom software on it that turns it into a giant wireless antenna that's hooked up to your Xbox 360.

There are tons of Linux custom firmwares for routers nowadays, with DD-WRT and Tomato being the most popular. Tomato is a bit more user friendly, but it works with far fewer routers than DD-WRT. DD-WRT works with dozens of different routers (click for the list).

Whichever firmware you go with, the method for putting on your router will vary from device to device, with Buffalo routers being a notorious pain in the ass. Tomato includes instructions with the firmware download—but here are some of the details, and Lifehacker's complete guide to installing and using Tomato.

DD-WRT is my preferred firmware. Here are the detailed install instructions, but with most Linksys routers, you can just drill into the router settings from the web address (192.168.1.1) and upload the DD-WRT firmware, directly, making it pretty easy. But some routers require different, exceptionally specific install methods. So check out the list before you run out to Best Buy or Circuit City.

My preferred router for this because of its tininess and cheapness (under $40), was the Buffalo G-125, which required you to flash it over TFTP backdoor the DD-WRT firmware onto it during a brief window of time, like Luke dropping those bombs into the Death Star's vent shaft. It's a pain in the ass, but everything else about the Buffalo routers make it worth it. Unfortunately, you can't buy it in the States until the next month or so, so your cheapest bet is is Linksys's $40ish WRT54G, which unfortunately, has different install methods depending on the revision. The DD-WRT wiki is very good, so you shouldn't run into problems following it.

Once you get either firmware installed, you're going to set your hacked router up as a wireless client.

1. You're going to need to go into the hacked router's settings. Set the hacked router to client mode.

2. These numbers are going to vary slightly based on your router, but you need to assign it an IP address—if your main router's IP address is 192.168.0.1, set your hacked router at 192.168.0.2 or 192.168.0.101 (a number that's in your main router's DHCP server range). Then make the gateway and DNS the same IP address as your main router.

3. When it reboots you're gonna have to re-login to whatever IP address your hacked router is. Do that, go back in, and give the hacked router the same SSID (name) as your main router (Linksys, gizrox, whatever you have it named). You can also configure wireless security at this point, though for me, it's always been kind of flaky, WEP in particular, so you might have to play around to see what works.

4. To test, try to get online using the hacked router as your internet connection, with all of your computer's IP settings left on automatic. If it works, plug the hacked router into your Xbox. If not, check out the DD-WRT wiki for more halpz.

4. On your Xbox, you can leave everything set to automatic—the hacked router does all the work.

The hacked router method might take the longest, but at least you won't have a useless dongle when the Xbox 720 comes out, you'll have a full-featured router, and it's cheaper than the official dongle. Plus you'll have a feeling of accomplishment that will carry over to gaming, so you should kill a lot more people in Call of Duty.

Read More: Xbox 360, Wi-Fi, Wireless, How To, Xbox, 360, Microsoft, Gaming, Games, Xbox Live, Live, Top, Feature

WiFi goes green: solar-powered outdoor nodes coming soon

By Glenn Fleishman

Mesh WiFi firm Meraki released an addition to its hardware family of routers today with a wall-plug adapter ($179). The Meraki Wall Plug, which features a hole to screw the unit to an outlet, complements the existing Indoor ($149) and Outdoor ($199) nodes. Meraki's hardware includes access to (and requires use of) a hosted back-end management console.

The Wall Plug is part of Meraki's push for apartment buildings and complexes (multiple dwelling units or MDUs, in real-estate parlance). The company said it will offer a $5,000 bundle aimed at MDUs that will cover 100 to 150 apartments or other units.

The company also said that their long-awaited Meraki Solar would ship December 4. A worldwide run on solar power equipment when oil prices spiked increased the price of the panel required for the unit. The price of the Solar model runs from $749 for a bring-your-own-panel model up to $1,499 for areas with shorter days or less light.

Company cofounder Sanjit Biswas said that Meraki also decided to change the battery type after receiving feedback from beta users, which is part of what led to the 1-year delay. In winter or monsoon season, the beta product "would run out of juice in a couple of days with no sun." Customers said that they needed guaranteed 24-hour performance, and Meraki switched from sealed lead-acid to lithium iron-phosphate for greater capacity. Biswas said this dropped the weight, too, which reduces shipping costs for the many remote areas that the Solar unit has been tested in and will likely be used.

Meraki Solar is available with different
panel options, including bring your own

Biswas said that Solar was used in a lot of places the firm didn't expect–anywhere that power wasn't available, such as parks, but also where even though an electrical outlet would be installed, there were ancillary costs.

Some customers would say, Biswas noted, "A union electrician is going to cost me a couple of thousand dollars." He said that many Meraki customers were "choosing to do Wi-Fi because it was a relatively low-impact amenity to offer," so the higher initial price of Solar was easily canceled out by lower installation and recurring costs.

Biswas said that Meraki continues to extend its market into areas it didn't predict, such as small enterprises: firms of 50 to 200 employees that cover large areas, such as doctors' offices or shopping malls, and that outsource their information technology services. "That's a surprise for us: it's not just about public access, sometimes it's just about plain Wi-Fi access, even internally," Biswas said.

The centralized management console is a plus for this segment because Meraki customers can manage accounts and operations themselves after a system is set up, or use an integrator for remote help. Biswas noted that the console and hardware now support enterprise features, including WPA2 Enterprise (802.1X plus WPA2), quality of service (for VoIP and streaming), and multiple SSIDs (for running several virtual networks with different access privileges). The system has scaled to manage thousands of devices on a single network, as well.

Meraki sticks a pin worldwide on where networks are operating.

Meraki highlighted a customer installation in Chile, which they only found out about after the network lit up on their map showing active installations. In Lebu, a fishing village 300 km from Santiago, residents had no real Internet access, although there was both a satellite feed and an E1 (similar to a T1) leased line. A local integrator lit up the town for about $20,000 in less than a week, and the network now has over 1,000 regular users. Biswas said, "They're using all the same sites that you and I would use."

The city isn't charging for service, because it found "the collection costs would be too high," Biswas said. He noted, "We've seen this model replicated elsewhere in Latin America," where a feed is spread throughout a town, taking residents from no Internet access to low-end broadband. (Meraki allows bandwidth shaping for shared access.)