Where’s the Wireless?

As wireless networking becomes a more and more important amenity, it has become helpful to know where you’ll be able to tap into a publicly accessible WiFi signal. Yahoo! Maps now offers just that: Just click on the “WiFi Hotspots” icon below the map and an overlay appears identifying all the restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and other venues where you can surf the Net and check your e-mail on your laptop through the magic of wireless. (It’s quickly evident that Starbucks dominates the public WiFi scene, lest there were doubts.) You can find out details for every hotspot, such as the signal strength and access cost. Here is the wireless action in the vicinity of the Technology Review offices in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA; here’s what’s available near the White House. Go ahead–find where WiFi is making waves in your corner of the world.