Here’s a novel idea to expand your company’s vending machine marketability, offer free WiFi to customers and potential customers.

That’s what the Asahi soft drinks company of Japan decided to do this month and their test machines have been a huge success.

Users don’t have to register or even buy a drink, they simply connect to the signal for up to 30 minutes. When users first log-on they are then taken to a home screen with information about local attractions, a screen Asahi can fill with sponsored adds that are hyper-locally targeted.

The company says they will install 1,000 machines across Japan in 2012 with 9,000 more expected over the next five years.

According to the company the machines WiFi capabilities extended 50 meters (150 feet).

Perhaps the best part is the fact that with no registration users with multiple devices can stay connected for even longer periods or they can simply be disconnected and then reconnect afterwards.

With the potential to earn passive income from advertising the new machines could be the type of jolt the Japanese vending machine industry needs, especially in a country where just about everything can be bought in a vending machine.

Would you like WiFi connections at rest stops and other travel destinations in your area?

Japanese Vending Machines Begin Offering Free WiFi is a post from: The Inquisitr

Researchers for the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) have issued a warning regarding a Wi-Fi router vulnerability for users of the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) PINs

Researcher Stefan Viehbock found that the hack allows users to easily gain access to routers through the practice of brute-force attacks and specialized software tools to guess the PIN codes.

While eight-digit PIN numbers allow for more than 100 million possible security combinations Stefan found that just 11,000 or less combinations were needed to hack systems.

The system uses so few attempts because an incorrect PIN guess sends a system notification that tells a user if the first half of their 8-number pin was entered incorrectly and then reveals the last digit of the PIN as a checksum.

According to the US-CERT warning:

“It has been reported that some wireless routers do not implement any kind of lock out policy for brute force attempts,” and “This greatly reduces the time required to perform a successful brute force attack.”

Vulnerabilities exist for some D-Link, Netgear, Linksys and Buffalo routers (others likely suffer from the same issue but were not tested).

Viehbock says he has been ignored by hardware vendors despite using a proof of concept Python tool to break router codes in just a few seconds.

This should make users think twice before implementing the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS).  Are you surprised to learn that Wi-Fi company’s have so easily turned their backs on a system that can be hacked with very little effort in a matter of seconds?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Wi-Fi Pin Vulnerability Discovered By Research Team is a post from: The Inquisitr

Holiday travelers with access to a Skype Wi-Fi account will be able to take advantage of the service for free starting on Wednesday, December 21st through December 27th.

Under the program Skype is offering one hour of completely free access to travelers passing through 50 different U.S. airports.

To activate the free service users of Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac and the Skype Wi-Fi iOS app simply log-in at any one of Skype’s accepted locations which can be found on Skype’s website (pictured above).

This isn’t the first time a tech company has offered free Wi-Fi, Google offered unlimited access to Wi-Fi networks (airports and in-flight) over several holiday periods , however unlike Google’s generosity Skype has a specific motive, introducing potential customers to their new Wi-Fi hotspot service.

Do you plan to take advantage of Skype Wi-Fi when traveling through any of their U.S. supported free Wi-Fi airports over the holiday season?

Skype Rolls Out Free Airport Wi-Fi For The Holidays is a post from: The Inquisitr

Those lucky Brits, they get to have all the fun, or at least they will after 2013 when UK mobile provider O2 doubles the size of its existing network and in the process turning on free wi-fi access for everyone, not just their own customers.

According to the report by BBC the initial hot spots will be available in 450 of the O2 owned sites but will be increased by expanding to other locations, locations that will include shops and restaurants.

O2 said access to the hotspots would be through a simple sign-up process and would be free to both O2 and non-O2 customers.

For Jeremy Green, a principal analyst with Ovum, the move is a “step in the right direction” to sorting out O2′s capacity issues, brought about by high iPhone ownership and the increasing desire for data on the move.

“450 sites is not fantastic coverage and wi-fi isn’t something that smartphone users will be able to rely on but it is a gesture in the right direction,” he said.

He said it was “surprising” that O2 was prepared to offer it free to non-customers, something the firm is hoping to fund via advertising.

Could you ever imagine anything like this happening in the US or Canada? Not likely.

Free wi-fi network coming to all of UK is a post from: The Inquisitr

For better or worse, up until now, New York City subways were famously a bastion of no service.

Descending into the pee-soaked maze would render electronic devices incommunicado in the past, as attested to by the cluster of morons blocking the stairway down during rush hour while finishing up a phone call. Every New Yorker has been both cursed and saved by the lack of service at one time or another- either by missing an important call or email while stuck on the train, or using the excuse of servicelessness and frequent delays to cover your ass when oversleeping or ignoring a persistent beep. (“Sorry I’m late! I was underground!” will become far less tenable of an alibi soon.)

Mashable reports that after three years of bickering over the deets, you will soon be able to use the series of tubes while in a series of tubes. Meta!

According to Bloomberg, after three years of stalled progress, Transit Wireless LLC — a conglomerate of wireless and construction companies that was awarded a contract to undergo this project with New York Transit — has finally found the money to move forward. Broadcast Australia has footed the bill, which will bring NYC up to speed with Singapore, Berlin and Tokyo — all of which currently have Wi-Fi in the tubes.

You’ve got a few more years of hangover-related coverage, however- it’s going to take two years to outfit six stations near Union Square with the capability, and another four years before the other stations catch up. The cost? $200m. Being able to check in as “on the L” with Foursquare eventually? Priceless.

NYC Subways getting wi-fi access! is a post from: The Inquisitr

With the following quote in an article posted at MIT’s Technology Review Ranveer Chandra, a Microsoft engineer, suggests that the current incumbent internet providers could be bypassed

“Imagine the potential if you could connect to your home [Internet] router from up to a mile,”

This can be achieved by the use of the unlicensed spectrum previously used by broadcast television, otherwise known as the white space. To do this Microsoft has been working with researchers at Harvard University to develop the protocols that would be needed to access this white space and apparently they had some serious success.

One of the big obstacles to using this spectrum is that it would have to comply with the FCC’s strict regulations when it comes to the white space. The main part is that use of the white space spectrum cannot interfere with its primary user which is usually a TV broadcaster.

And it’s not easy to predict which part of the spectrum that incumbent is using at any given time. It’s also tricky because wireless microphones, which operate in the same spectrum, can suddenly become active without warning, and even a single-packet transmission can cause audible interference.

Microsoft dealt with this by creating an “adaptive spectrum assignment algorithm” with which devices measure the spectrum around them and work with other gadgets to find available frequencies, much like laptops search for and identify Wi-Fi networks. If interference occurs, the devices move to a backup channel in a different frequency range. In Microsoft’s experiment, its devices would switch to the backup channel within 3 seconds of a wireless microphone being turned on.

Other researchers have already focused on the first step: finding a way to establish a single link between an access point and user device without interference. Microsoft made the next move, designing an entire network with an access point and multiple clients (like Wi-Fi), leaving for another day the task of tackling multiple access points.

Source – GigaOM :: Simon Juran – Microsoft Makes White-Spaces Breakthrough for Rural Broadband

One of the advantages, besides being free, is that this “White-Fi” has a longer range than our current 2.4GHz Wi-Fi which would give it an advantage in rural areas.

Microsoft could help change the rural broadband game is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wi-fi allergy, or “electromagnetic sensitivity,” might keep 2% of the population away from Starbucks and McDonald’s for the foreseeable future.

Steve Miller, a UK DJ who really loves your peaches and wishes to shake your tree, has come forward with the newfangled illness and a tale of woe including having to ditch his work at parties in Ibiza. Now that’s sad. Miller claims he is increasingly trapped in the concrete walled home he purchased to escape the ever-present connection that permeates our lives.

Experts are not impressed by the claims, however, citing a plethora of reasons why the condition can’t exist. A bit in the Telegraph roundly debunks the claims of Miller and others who feel they may be “sensitive” to Wi-fi, positing that the people may just be suffering from pervasive ignorance about science.

Wifi consists of electromagnetic waves, just like light or radio waves, with a frequency of 2.4GHz, giving it a wavelength of around 12.5cm. There is some variation but not enough of a range to make any difference. 2.4GHz is on the long end of microwave, getting close to radio, rather similar to mobile phone signals. It transmits at much lower power than a mobile phone mast, so even if those signals were harmful, Wifi would be less so.

Mr Miller makes no mention of mobile phones, he is only bothered by Wifi. If it is electromagnetic radiation in general he’s sensitive to, he’s in real trouble as radio waves and visible light flood our atmosphere every minute of every day.

Experts don’t think that Miller is faking it per se, though- their diagnosis? Agoraphobia.

“Wi-fi allergy” allegedly tormenting 2% of the population is a post from: The Inquisitr

How can you tell when technology has become totally mainstream?

Well when a major marketing campaign centered around something totally different targets the growing  number of people who live online regardless of where they are. The perfect example of this kind of marketing comes to us from Toyota as they launch the 2020 3rd generation Prius in the US.

Rather that paste billboards all over the place and plaster us with all kinds of print advertising Toyota is heading right to the minds – and wallets – of those people who will most likely be their future Prius customers. They’ve done this by planting 18-foot high flower sculptures that are doubling as public comfort zones as well as solar powered wi-fi stations. As well you can also plugin to the portable charging stations that are a part of the ‘green zone’.

You gotta admit it’s a great idea but unfortunately they are only temporary and will soon be moving from their current location in Boston to other temporary homes during the campaign.

hat tip to My Modern Metropolis

Very cool Toyota, too bad the flowers are only temporary is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wayport runs the hotspots at McDonald’s restaurants across America, as well as at several hotels such as selected Wyndham, Marriott Vacation Club, and Four Seasons branches. It also provides Wi-Fi at HealthSouth and Sun Healthcare locations.

The move brings AT&T’s Wi-Fi locations to about 80,000 places around the country, the company says, including all U.S. Starbucks stores. Just last week, the company finally moved forward with opening those hotspots to iPhone users for free (after mistakenly announcing plans to do so twice before and then pulling back).

AT&T predicts the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices on the market to more than triple by the year 2012. Its new deal is worth $275 million and is expected to be finalized before the end of the year.

AT&T Adding 20,000 New Wi-Fi Hotspots is a post from: The Inquisitr

iPass announced it’ll include airborne Wi-Fi provider Aircell in its network of services. Aircell is expected to launch its GoGo in-flight internet access on selected flights later this year, starting with American Airlines and Virgin America. Passengers will have to pay a per-flight charge of about $10 to login.

Anyone with the iPass software, though, will be able to get instant access with a single click, according to the company’s just-released plan.

“Mobile workers have become accustomed to high-speed Internet access at home, in hotels and airports, and even in the car, but when they get on planes they have been unable to communicate,” iPass VP of Business Development Michael Moore stated.

“Our partnership brings together the new Gogo service with iPass’ ability to integrate connectivity with mobility management. Our enterprise customers will be able to keep their employees productive but maintain the necessary policies they need to support their business,” he said.

iPass offers remote access for mobile companies across 160 countries. It provides hotspot points at hotels, airports, and other various locations for a flat monthly fee.

I may not have iPass, but I nevertheless look forward to making my first posts from 35,000 feet in the air. Maybe from the lavatory, just to make it seem more scandalous. Hey, it might not be as cool as the mile-high club, but in-flight blogging’s gotta give you some kind of bragging rights, doesn’t it?

Sky-High Surfing To Stay Fee-Free For Some is a post from: The Inquisitr