Automatic, and free, for the people
Shameless plug for my employer follows:
If you're going to be in the South Elm Street area of downtown on Friday -- or if you can be -- don't miss the launch party for free wifi.
The free wifi -- "wireless fidelity,"* or wireless high-speed Internet access -- is being provided along South Elm between February One Place and McGee Street. You might be able to use it inside South Elm businesses with your laptop or PDA, but it's primarily an outdoor network.
The launch party will be from noon to 1 p.m., with a brief program beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Elm and Washington streets.
Obligatory sponsor note: The free wifi is being made possible by GoTriad.com, Time Warner Cable Business Class, IT Training & Solutions, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the Weaver Foundation, Phoenix Networks and synerG, the initiative by the community group Action Greensboro aimed at attracting young professionals to Greensboro and keeping them once they come here.
*UPDATE, from Wikipedia:
Despite the similarity between the terms "Wi-Fi" and "Hi-Fi", statements reportedly [1] made by Phil Belanger of the Wi-Fi Alliance contradict the popular conclusion that "Wi-Fi" stands for "Wireless Fidelity".According to Mr. Belanger, the Interbrand Corporation developed the brand "Wi-Fi" for the Wi-Fi Alliance to use to describe WLAN products that are based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. In Mr. Belanger's words, "Wi-Fi and the yin yang style logo were invented by Interbrand. We (the founding members of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, now called the Wi-Fi Alliance) hired Interbrand to come up with the name and logo that we could use for our interoperability seal and marketing efforts. We needed something that was a little catchier than 'IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence'."
The Wi-Fi Alliance themselves invoked the term "Wireless Fidelity" with the marketing of a tag line, "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity," but later removed the tag from their marketing. The Wi-Fi Alliance now discourages propagation of the notion that "Wi-Fi" stands for "Wireless Fidelity".
Thanks to commenter darkmoon for the heads-up.
Comments (4)
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...and, due to Carolinanet's generosity and our good idea, you can SEE the launch if you can't attend, here:
http://greensboro.carolinanet.com
Posted on April 18, 2006 11:54 AM
Sue, I meant to include that link as well because I thought I had seen it on your blog, but when I went back through your recent archives, I did not find it. Did you take it down, or am I misremembering that it was you who posted it? (Not a huge deal either way; it's just that anything that points to a possible memory flaw on my part eats at me.) Thanks.
Posted on April 18, 2006 3:45 PM
Just a little thing, but wifi is not "wireless fidelity". It's just wifi. Mainstream media put wifi to wireless fidelity, but there is no such thing.
Posted on April 20, 2006 10:43 AM
Actually (see quote from Wikipedia entry in the update), it wasn't the MSM who began the practice, although they certainly are perpetuating it. Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted on April 20, 2006 10:54 AM