wiPod

July 21, 2004 9:54 AM

If you're ever looking for free wireless in the Bay Area, and you've got an iPod with you, a project from Bay Area Wireless called wiPod has you covered. It's a listing of all known free points in the region, sorted by city and location, and can be viewed on any iPod (screenshot, direct download).
posted by mathowie (5 comments total)

I found it interesting, Matt, and look forward to the day when someone brings this service to the DC area. Thanks for the link.
posted by terrapin at 11:46 AM on July 21, 2004

It first I thought this would be really cool. An offline list of hotspots I can refer to when I need to find a hotspot. Right now I keep a copy of Austin hotspots as a PDF on my powerbook. Then I realized since 100% of the time I'll want to use wireless I'll have the powerbook, it seems like the logical place to put the list.

But I like the concept of adding non-music-player utility to the iPod. In theory someone like Vindigo could port its content to the iPod. Having a zagat's guide would be cool.

My 15GB iPod is full [~13GB music and the rest my contacts, and a copy of the US Constitution]. Utlitilities like the wireless locator might be another reason for me to trade up to the 40GB 4th gen.
posted by birdherder at 12:27 PM on July 21, 2004

Huh. So they have one of the new, unreleased iPods?
posted by eyeballkid at 9:17 PM on July 21, 2004

What I want is for GPS to be built into all wireless cards. (They already have an antenna, all they need is a different chip on board to be allowed to use it for part of the time.) That way all wireless LAN devices can always log their position as well as AP information, and can run an info daemon that will relay this information to anywhere they want, including a central repository. (Not to mention all the regular benefits of GPS.)
posted by azazello at 11:48 AM on July 22, 2004

Another useful utility for the iPod, the pPod helps you locate the public loos in London.
posted by birdherder at 11:50 AM on July 22, 2004