The Cloud launched it's first wireless hotspot in Manchester. The company worked a content deal with the Manchester Evening News to provide free access to the papers site in exchange for advertising the pay for use portion of the service. The Cloud aims for 9 more hotspot installations. Via [news.zdnet.co.uk]

Pipex is nearly ready to launch WiMax services. Initially targeting public services, the services aims to fill the gap in internet access in areas with poor broadband service. Full rollout is expected in Mid-2007. Via [news.zdnet.co.uk]

Dell is offering Pre-N wireless cards in thier Inspiron line of notebooks. Using an unapproved version of the spec, the cards are backwards compatible with b/g/a networks. The official version of the 802.11n spec is not due until 2007. No word if the cards are upgradable in the even they are not compatible with the...

NuVisions is slowly covering Manhattan with wireless access. Thier technology provides interior WiFi to buildings, but also allows them to offer WiFi in the general vicinity of the building. As more properties get setup, the cloud gets bigger. The already have coverage in some key spots in the city and are looking at setting up...

New Zealand is headed for a big set of problems with WiMax. The current spectrum allocations are being under-utilized, are small slices (7MHz), owned by telco incumbants that already have invested in 3G networks, and won't be reallocated until 2010. This means that anyone wanting to compete using WiMax will have significant problems. This can't...

Wireless Philadelphia has chosen a CEO for the non-profit to head up the effort to cover Philadelphia with wireless from Earthlink. Greg Goldman will oversee the installation, starting with a 15 sqare mile area and expanding out to 135 square miles covering the city. Via [wirelessweek.com]

For a week, New Yorkers were able to chat with celebrities like Billy Wagner of the New York Mets and Ms. Universe Zuleyka Rivera over the Internet through the Blogmobile, an oversized van that houses a dozen PCs and acted as a WiFi hotspot. The blogmobile used Telkonet NuVisions technology to enable connection among the...

Extricom has added technology from Airtight Networks to shore up the security on thier blanket WiFi product line. The technology will hopefully make them a contender in the wireless security market. Via [techworld.com]

An appearance on CNN by French entrepreneur Rafi Haladjian last December generated 350,000 online requests from Americans for more information on his invention, Nabaztag. The WiFi-supported 9-inch tall rabbit, which lights up when it talks, wiggles its ears and sings songs, is not yet available in the U.S. European consumers have bought 50,000 units since...

Lycos has created an online database to help people locate Wi-Fi hotspots in the U.K. The database includes details on more than 10,000 connections in 1,500 towns including free-to-access Wi-Fi points and fee-based hotspots provided by such companies like T-Mobile, The Cloud and BT. The downloadable tool also provides information on hotspots in Sweden, Spain,...

Google has blanketed Mountain View, Calfornia, the place it calls home, with WiFi using a mesh of nodes placed on the city's lamp posts. A test of the network -- access to which is not available to the public yet -- showed that reliability, speed and ease of use do not match up with cellular...

Anvil Technologies performed a demonstration of its Wi-Fi-supported emergency communications system at the Aldwych subway station in central London. The event took place a year after the London subway bombings, to which the response was considered generally efficient except for the difficulty of communication among the first responder groups. The Canadian wireless systems integrator worked...

With 12,000 comments to review, the earliest date that the IEEE Task Group E in the 802.11 Working Group can come out with a 2.0 draft on Draft-N chips is sometime in January 2007, and not next month as many had looked forward to. The panel had already tackled half of the comments as part...

Like other U.S. cities, Boston is hoping to build a citywide Wi-Fi network. The goal is to reduce broadband fees in the area from around $35 to $15 per month. Pamela Reeve, former Lightbridge CEO and a member of Boston's Wireless Task Force, is in charge of establishing a not-for-profit agency that will manage the...

Socket Communications unveiled its new SDIO (Secure Digital Input/Output) card that allows for 802.11g wireless LAN connectivity in Windows-supported mobile devices. The Go Wi-Fi! P300 card, which comes with Wi-Fi Companion connectivity and management software, is sold for $99. The Socket's website provides a list of devices that are compatible with this new card. Via...