Facebook's Latest Experiment: Helping You Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots (macworld.com) 32
Users of the social network's iOS app report seeing a new feature in the More section that lets them find nearby public Wi-Fi access points. From a MacWorld story: The feature does not appear to be widely available at the moment, which means this is probably something Facebook is only testing. The social network tests numerous features all the time but this one is particularly notable. Helping users find public Wi-Fi could enable more people to use Facebook Live. If your cellular connection isn't strong, a nearby Wi-Fi location can be a big help -- unless, of course, your Facebook Live broadcast is dependent on your specific location. There could be other uses for finding Wi-Fi beyond live video broadcasts. If you're desperate to upload a photo or recorded video, then locating the closest public Wi-Fi point helps. On top of that it's just one more reason to open the Facebook app, which Facebook obviously wants to encourage as much as possible. Check where the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot is, see that unread notifications indicator at the top of the screen, and before you know it you're engrossed in the news feed.
Keep It Up, Facebook. (Score:3)
Eventually Facebook will collapse under all its bells and whistles same as AOL.
Trying to be everything to everyone is never a good plan.
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Eventually Facebook will collapse under all its bells and whistles same as AOL.
Trying to be everything to everyone is never a good plan.
Unfortunately AOL is still not dead, more than thirty years after it debuted and a decade or more after dialup itself was ostensibly dead.
I have noscript on my browser and I see a lot of pages with embedded script from Facebook. I suspect that even if they collapse under their own mass, they're still going to be an Internet Force of Nature for some time.
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and by work you mean 8th grade history class.
Automated Wardriving (Score:2)
I thought unsecured wireless networks were supposed to be a way of supporting terrorism, kiddie porn, or worse -- copyright infringement!
Now Facebook is corporatizing wardriving? (yeah, I know they mean open municipal and business wi-fi, but it's not like they are going to be able to detect if it's a private residential access points that is open)
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You're right, its an obvious trap.
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Hey, nothing nefarious ever happens in their Internet Utopia. It is _YOU_ that has the problem. You must believe harder!
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I don't mind the insecure ones, or the ones that demand you click "accept" before using. My phone has a VPN that automatically fires up, so the worst that the Wi-Fi operator can do is block or slow down the connection.
Nice try, NSA! (Score:2)
What if you're offline? (Score:3)
If your cellular connection isn't strong, a nearby Wi-Fi location can be a big help
What if you don't have a cellular connection?
I can already easily use Google Map with limited connectivity to find restaurant with free Wi-Fi. What I don't have is an helper to help me find free Wi-Fi hotspot when I'm driving in the USA and I "don't" have cellular connection.
Oh yeah, and on the sideline and while I'm talking about the USA, why there's no free Wi-Fi in your airport yet?
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It's not communism if it's used as an incentive to get you in the door to use their paid services.
By the time you're able to use "free wifi at the airport" you've pretty much already paid for the services the airport has to offer. Your ticket has the airport fee included. You'll pay for parking on the way out. You'll pay the site fee for any rental cars.
If you're referring to the "paid services" like overpriced food and convenience stores, well, when you're busy surfing the web you're not in the stores spending money. If you're doing it while in a store, you're likely using the free wifi to compare pri
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"Free Wi-Fi" is like a place offering "Free beer". TANSTAAFL. That "free" Wi-Fi is a reason I'm paying $12 for three tacos and a drink at a place near my work for lunch, or why a local RV campground costs $50/night when it was less than half that a few years ago.
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That "free" Wi-Fi is a reason I'm paying $12 for three tacos and a drink at a place near my work for lunch,
The point I was making is that you may choose to eat at that taco place instead of a cheaper place across the street because it "gives" you "free wifi", but nobody decides to go to airport XYZ instead of the airport across the street because XYZ has "free wifi" and the other one doesn't. That is why the "paid services" at the airport aren't getting a boost from the airport authority providing that "free wifi".
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Download the openstreetmaps data for offline use and store it on your phone. Look up the nearest fast food joint. They probably all have WiFi at this point.
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Download the openstreetmaps data for offline use and store it on your phone. Look up the nearest fast food joint. They probably all have WiFi at this point.
Isn't similar to Google Navigation Offline maps? Doesn't work too well as the search doesn't work 50% of the time and the GPS is less efficient without the cellular data.
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If your cellular connection isn't strong, a nearby Wi-Fi location can be a big help
Meh. I was travelling in Melbourne a while ago without a data roaming package, so i was relying on 'wifi' and it was a PITA.
A bunch of the free wifi spots I connected to weren't even routed to the internet; just an intranet advertising site for various stores around me.
A bunch more had various 'registration' processes to deal with; that needed to fill out forms and enter phone numbers etc to receive codes... and promos etc. Or i needed codes from inside the store... this last wasn't too bad but in theory, b
WiFi Sense? (Score:2)
Kinda sounds like Microsoft's WiFi Sense in Windows 10 devices.