January Newsbits

Today, ASUS Computer International (ACI) announced a new chipset designed to aid in the “quest against global warming” by reducing power consumption by 80%. The P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP @n green motherboard, an Intel X48 chipset-based solution, is the latest in the ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) family of motherboards, which, the company says, “combine top-of-the-line performance with excellent energy efficiency.”

The ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP @n ships with onboard IEEE 802.11n draft technology. And, with a reported five seconds of boot-up time, the ASUS Express Gate offers an optional boot-up selection screen that allows users to instantly get online without entering the Windows OS—a great feature for users who enjoy Skype, IM, etc.

January 29, 2008

FreeFi Networks announced yesterday that it has partnered with Disney-ABC Domestic Television to provide video-on-demand rentals over Wi-Fi at Denver International Airport. The downloadable movie rentals will include films from The Walt Disney Studios, including new and older releases from Walt Disney Pictures, Disney-Pixar, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Miramax Films. “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Ratatouille,” and “The Invisibles” are now among those available for download at DIA. FreeFi funds WLANs through advertising-generated revenues. For more on the DIA free Wi-Fi deployment, read DIA Deploys Free Wi-Fi.

January 25, 2008

Earlier this week, Boingo Wireless and JiWire announced that JiWire’s targeted advertising will soon be appearing on some of Boingo’s most popular airport-based networks. Boingo users will see JiWire-supplied advertising throughout the Boingo Wi-Fi login process at 28 major U.S. and U.K. airports, including Atlanta-Hartsfield, JFK and LaGuardia in New York, Chicago’s O’Hare, and Heathrow in London. JiWire customizes its advertising based on a consumer’s location and device. Among the companies Boingo’s users can expect to see advertising are Charles Schwab, Dell, HBO, Land Rover, Microsoft, Nokia, Sony, and Toshiba. Stay tuned next month for our feature on ad-models as a means of monetizing WLANs.

January 23, 2008

January 16th, 2008

Naomi Graychase is Managing Editor at Wi-FiPlanet.com