Naomi Graychase

Grape Networks, a Northern California-based company founded in 2002, is using wireless mesh to improve both the yield and quality of grapes for vineyards, while also decreasing costs and reducing the use of pesticides.   The company’s Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks (WMSN) start with tiny battery-powered or solar-powered nodes, which are programmed to detect humidity, […]

Thanks to a new collaborative “digital inclusion” project launched earlier this month in Chicago, some of that city’s 10,000 school-aged homeless children will have greater access to computers and broadband Internet service. The EarthLink Digital Future Program, which will put small computer labs complete with free Wi-Fi (and a laser printer) into 17 of Chicago’s […]

Terrorists, speed demons, rowdy concert-goers and other ruffians may want to think twice about breaking the law in Lakewood, New Jersey. Last fall, the Lakewood Police Department (LPD) purchased a PacketHop Communication System, a mobile-mesh broadband network, which enables them to communicate more rapidly and more extensively during everything from routine patrols to tactical operations […]

It’s hard to believe that one day we might turn our backs on our fancy flat-panel high-definition televisions so that we can sit in front of our cell phones or laptops to watch the latest episode of Survivor — or whatever show has grabbed our attention by then. But according to MobiTV‘s CTO, Kay Johansson, […]

In December of 2006, MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) was named to the #2 spot on PC Magazine and The Princeton Review’s Top 20 Wired Colleges list. (Villanova took the #1 spot.) The “wired” distinction is a bit of a misnomer, however, since MIT’s campus is entirely covered by a wireless network. Begun in […]

Last month, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, received a major victory in its fight to defend its patent on certain elements of wireless LAN technology. The case began in February of 2005 when CSIRO sued Buffalo Technology for patent infringement. It ended — for now — on November […]

Last month, Minnesota-based ISP US Internet announced that it had been chosen by the city of Minneapolis to provide citywide Wi-Fi. To win the contract for the 60-square-mile broadband wireless network, the ten-year old company with no previous municipal Wi-Fi experience beat out some heavy hitters, including EarthLink.   The victory, says Joe Caldwell, US […]

On September 30, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law California Assembly Bill 2415, which will require wireless home networking equipment manufacturers to warn consumers about the dangers of unsecured Wi-Fi networks. The law, dubbed the “Wi-Fi User Protection Bill,” is intended to prevent the unauthorized sharing of open Wi-Fi networks, and aims to better […]

According to the International Telecommunications Union, hundreds of millions of Internet users worldwide don’t have Internet access at home — not even dial-up. One new company is working to change all that. “Our mission is to bring down the cost of access, to change the economics of access, and to bring access to people who […]

According to a recent report by the Maine Center for Economic Policy, only 15% of Maine residents subscribe to high-speed Internet service, a number significantly lower than the national average of 21%. The study cites geographical and financial barriers to access as the major reasons for Maine’s low penetration levels. In an attempt to increase […]

Three years ago, Matt Fanady, a twenty-something technology enthusiast living in Southern California, plugged in his first wireless Linksys router, shared it with his neighbors, and SoCal FreeNet was born. Since then, SoCal FreeNet (not affiliated with The FreeNet Project), has grown into an active, all-volunteer non-profit group with several hundred members on its mailing […]

Much as cities and towns around the country loathe to hear it, when it comes to municipal Wi-Fi, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. At least that’s how Craig Settles sees it. Settles, a Northern California-based consultant, researcher, and author of three books— including his most recent, Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal […]