This story introduces the trend in municipal Wi-Fi by focusing on the Long Beach Hotzone.
SOCALWUG Co-Founder Frank Keeney, "a wi-fi advocate", talks about how Municipal Wireless is meant to bring technology companies and users to the city by appearing tech-friendly as an early-adopter. But the story ends with a message about the need for continuous marketing with an informal survey of people in Long Beach, "Do you know about the HotZone?" "The whaa?" etc. And closes with the comment that "Long Beach officials say it hasn't attracted any business just yet." Nice job Frank! Stream and wwebsites below... -Mike ------------------ Realplayer stream: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/play/audio.php?media=/morning_report/2004 /08/03_mktmorn0650&start=00:00:04:30.0&end=00:00:08:20.6 Web story: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/morning_report/2004/08/03_mmr.html You fi... I fi... we all fi, for Wi-Fi! Analysts now say the number of PC users is expected to hit 1 billion by 2010. That's thanks, primarily, to developing nations such as China, Russia and India. Meanwhile in this country, new technologies like DSL and Wireless are snagging more and more people off of their dial-up connections. If you happen to be one of those people terrified by the idea of summer vacation without Internet access, you're not alone. Cities across the U.S. are working on making sure On-line addicts have access free of charge. There's even a campground in Burlington Vermont that's set up wireless net access, otherwise known as wi-fi. So you can still Instant message with your friends. And Vermont's not alone. Marketplace's Lisa Napoli reports from one city that helped launch the trend.
