Rose Cantine

Lots of WiFi related news, including how technology and culture have turned cafes into Zombie Cafes, the unpleasantness of Starbucks, the delights of free WiFi in Bali:
A reflection on Starbucks in the US: lack of cafe culture and the role of WiFi
Travels with an iPod Touch: Free WiFi experience in Asia

There’s nothing more amusing than the sight of hundreds of people pummeling one another with pillows. Every year, San Franciscans bring their fluffiest pillows, preferably the ones that burst open releasing thousands of feathers into the air, and gather in the square in front of the Ferry Building. Between 6:00 pm and 6:15 pm, they [...]

I have had it up to here with misleading press releases. I received a press release that read: “XYZ Wireless, one of the nation’s largest wireless broadband operators, has just launched service in  . . . ”
What do you conclude when you read the line “one of the nation’s largest wireless broadband operators”?
When I [...]

Find out if your ISP is blocking or degrading P2P (Bittorrent) traffic with a simple tool called Glasnost and also find out your true broadband connection speed:
http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/01/28/find-out-if-your-isp-is-a-bad-isp-with-glasnost/

Girlfriends, mistresses and wives of fallen bankers can now find solace in a support group to lament the end of shopping sprees at Tiffany’s:
New York’s Dating a Banker Anonymous (DABA) “is a safe place where women can come together — free from the scrutiny of feminists — and share their tearful tales of how the [...]

Phishers are active on Google Calendar. I opened my Calendar today to find an entry purporting to be from Google Customer Care. It read:
“THIS Email is from Gmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Gmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Gmail [...]

Pagolac: delicious inexpensive Vietnamese food in downtown San Francisco
Mapplr’s favorite ryokans in Japan
Macworld: traditional conference trade show format is dead, what’s next?
Will VC funds produce the next Madoff?
No Exit: venture capital firms struggle to sell startups
Make Skype calls from your iPhone and iPod Touch via Truphone

It’s the end of the week and Fiona, my Mac Book Pro, is still somewhere out there, probably Texas, in a damp intensive care unit (dry places have static electricity, not good for computer repair). I’m typing this on Wilbur, an ancient Dell raised from the dead for the duration of Fiona’s absence. Early this [...]