A mobile tip - turn your smartphone into a free hotspot

Here's another fine mobile tip for you travelers... how would you like to never again have to pay those crazy fees for WiFi that hotels like to slam you with... I'm sorry, but I'm not about to pay a hotel for WiFi if I'm already paying $200+ a night to stay there! Enter JoikuSpot. Simply pout, if you have a smartphone (Symbian OS.. sorry) like an N95, N82 etc... you can grab this free app ( a pro version also exists) and you can turn your device into a hotspot... very simple. no more sniffing for free wifi from lounges and other hotels, coffee shops etc... all you need is your device and a data plan. The app was recently recognized in the Forum nokia innovation series. For more information www.joikuspot.com. Remeber, paying for WiFi is for suckers... much like paying for free GIS data!

Samsung goes BIG with BlueZone at the Sydney Festival

Samsung has created what they call the biggest hotspot in the World inside and around the Samsung Mobile Festival Garden in Sydney’s Hyde Park. The hotspot is being billed as the Samsung BlueZone. Some 20 Bluetooth access points have been networked across the area so that any patron entering the zone is invited to download videos and animations of the artists plus MP3 ringtones.

Got data? Check out the Tele Atlas ContentLink Program

Spotigo is the latest company to take advantage of the recent launch of the ContentLink Program from Tele Atlas. The company has made available their huge directory of WiFi hotspots to Tele Atlas. Leveraging Tele Atlas ContentLink, developers can search, acquire and download the hotspot directory to create highly targeted applications and personalized downloads for personal and in-car navigation systems, mobile and wireless devices, Internet, location-based services (LBS), and geospatial solutions. This is a great way for developers to acquire data for use within their apps and services and those of you developing databases can now licensu your data for use via the program, turning your data into cash. See www.spotigo.com & http://www.teleatlas.com/Pub/Partners/ContentLink/index.htm

Need Wi-Fi? Try this new database with more than 180,000 hotspots

Ever been on the road and in need of Wi-Fi? No doubt you have so this database will likely be useful to many of you. Given the proliferation of WiFi enabled cell phones and the increasing reliance on mobility by most of us this is a handy utility. Spotigo boasts some 180,000+ hotspots in their database and in a test run it appears to be so. Simply select a country, then a town and wait for the database to load. You can then pull hotspot information by carrier (e.g.. perhaps you have a Sprint account etc...) The database is a bit of a pig due to its size but the results are definitely adequate and useful. Remember, WiFi doesn't mean access is free so beware of fees that may be involved. Most major carriers offer monthly plans and are a great alternative for those of you that constantly pay for web access from your hotel room. See http://hotspots.spotigo.net

SkyPilot Networks delivers downtown Boston Wi-Fi HotZone

SkyPilot Networks, the leading provider of carrier-class broadband wireless mesh networks, and Galaxy Internet, the regional leader in Internet services and municipal wireless networks, announced that they have partnered and delivered the downtown Boston Wi-Fi HotZone. The Quincy Market HotZone will provide service throughout the marketplace area and will also cover the area around City Hall Plaza. Two companies, Galaxy Internet Services and SkyPilot, donated the service and equipment. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103 (IBEW) donated time and labor for the radio installation. The network will deliver free Wi-Fi world-class Internet service