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player ready...Even when people go someplace to get away from it all, they like to take most of it with them these days.
At least that’s the implication of the latest unwired cities poll from Intel Corp.
The annual survey looks at where and how easily people with hand-helds, laptops and other gadgetry can hook into the Internet without wires.
One finding this year is that more and more campsites and parks are equipped with Wi-Fi so that people can keep connected even as they commune with nature.
“It is kind of surprising, but people like to have access to their e-mail and the ability to download photos when they go camping,” said Ralph Bond, Intel consumer education manager.
“My daughter is like that. It’s not that she wouldn’t go to a campground that didn’t have Wi-Fi, but when she finds one that has it, that’s a plus for her.”
The survey may not be totally precise, but it provides a good snapshot of where the wireless world is headed, Bond said.
“We rely on Wi-Fi hot spot directories to tell us how many places in a city you can get connected and then use that to calculate the ratio of population to hot spots,” he said.
The survey holds few surprises. Bastions of computer geekery–Seattle; San Francisco; Austin, Texas; and Portland, Ore.–grabbed the top four spots.
Toledo, Ohio, was fifth, which was somewhat surprising, Bond said.
“Something is going on in Ohio,” he said.
Hot spots installed at truck stops and rest areas along interstate highways played some role in boosting Toledo’s status, Bond said, and a general trend to put Wi-Fi into any location where a person is likely to have a little free time.
“You’re seeing Wi-Fi in rooms where people wait for dental appointments, auto repairs and the like,” said Bond.
“Laundromats are becoming hot spots. Any place where people have a little down time is a candidate.”
Chicago ranked 12th in this year’s survey, virtually unchanged from last year’s ranking as No. 11.
“That’s a very respectable ranking for a diverse, large city,” Bond said.
Although the survey didn’t measure it, Bond said that wireless Internet connectivity has been spreading far beyond its initial devotees.
“This started primarily as a tool for business people who travel,” said Bond.
“But in the last few years, it has moved beyond that. Business travelers still rely heavily on wireless, but now you’re seeing students and tourists, just about anyone, using wireless to send instant messages and just keep in touch.”
Wireless climate control: Wireless communications offers more than just surfing the Web–there’s also the option of keeping track of the temperature in every nook and cranny of a really large building.
The City of Chicago has installed a wireless mesh network from Dust Networks Inc., a Hayward, Calif., firm, at a West Side health center to monitor the temperature throughout the 29,000-square-foot facility.
It took about two hours to install some 50 wireless nodes.
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The new system is intended to keep temperatures in the building at desired levels.
Officials wanted to avoid installing a wired system because of costs and because a wired system might violate building code requirements.
Also, installing a wired system would take weeks instead of a few hours.
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