Earthling

Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.

Here's a collection of municipal wi-fi-related stuff that's ended up in my bookmarks (currently straddling myFavorites and del.icio.us).

• A Times-Picayune story went over EarthLink's Wi-Fi efforts in New Orleans in some good detail. Some of the highlights -- we're on track for a September 1st launch of the first 15 square miles of coverage, and that we'll continue to build after that date, as we are doing in Anaheim. Prominent local blogger Ernie The Attorney was quoted in the piece. Best wishes to outgoing NOLA CIO Greg Meffert, who resigned earlier this week.
  
• Google (who else?) released a really nice and simple Google Maps implementation showing their Mountain View Wi-Fi network, its access points, and holes in coverage.
  
• In Anaheim, Mayor Curt Pringle announced that the city just started providing streaming video of City Council meetings on Anaheim.net. Mayor Pringle also has a sort-of blog (trackbacks but no comments) in the news and commentary section here.
  
• A couple of weeks ago, Katie Fehrenbacher at GigaOm wrote on EarthLink's plan to sell Wi-Fi phones and service for use on our municipal Wi-Fi networks. Today Skype announced that in Q3 2006, they'll be offering Wi-Fi phones as well, though only for use with Skype and on open (unauthenticated) hotspots.
  
• Glenn Fleishman published a counter-editorial to Nortel Executive Richard Lowe's editorial on Cnet about the Google/EarthLink Wi-Fi network plans and 3G vs. Wi-Fi. Note: this is Wi-Fi nerd territory.
  
• Taylor Wimberly runs a blog to cover news about the city Wi-Fi network in Corpus Christi, TX. There's also an official site. EarthLink is in negotiations to provide retail Wi-Fi service on the network .