Wistro, the cutely-named company that supplies "Free Wifi" to a number of Paris cafes, has finally gotten hip. I don't blame them...it's a wise thing to do from their point of view, because it doubles their sources of income. But it's still a sad "sign of the times."
In Wistro-equipped cafes, you used to be able to log on with the password your waiter gave you, look at a photo of the place you were sitting in and possibly a short, written blurb about its charms, but then you had free access to the Net for as long as you sat there. Now when you log in they've found a way to force you to watch a short ad video. Your Wifi isn't really connected until *after* you watch it. Sigh. End of an era, for the cafes who went for Wistro, and weren't hip enough to figure out how to do it themselves for cheaper. Now the Wistro folks get to charge not only the cafes, but the advertisers. But it works, and I can gripe about it on the Net, for free. Not such a bad deal, really. And all I had to do was watch a commercial for some product I don't remember while scantily-clad babes danced around carrying bags of some candy I don't remember. I mainly tuned it out, and it didn't really affect me at all. Hmmmm. I wonder if they sell Skittles here? I should ask my waiter. :-)
