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San Francisco starts offering free WiFi, but only on Market Street
San Francisco promised city-scale free WiFi nearly seven years ago, and today it's finally acting on that promise -- if not quite with the same ambition it had in 2007. The city is now offering up to 50Mbps of gratis wireless internet, but only along a 3-mile stretch of Market Street between the Embarcadero and Castro Street. This is effectively a test run for the future park WiFi project, CIO Marc Touitou tells AllThingsD; any wider coverage will depend on how well this initial experiment works out. Despite the limited coverage, this could still be a boon to poorer residents and tourists who would otherwise stay offline.
River Thames to bathe in upgraded long-distance WiFi
Not that a view over the Thames ever gets old, but commuters should soon find it a bit easier to check their inboxes while they're on or next to the water. Californian WiFi specialist Ruckus says that its wireless steering technology -- which increases network range by up to 4x by directing signals around obstacles and interference -- has just been picked for an upgrade to BT's Thames WiFi service. The new "carrier-grade" equipment should be activated within the next couple of months and will stretch out along the full 27 meandering miles of river that are already covered by traditional antennas. With better hotspot access spreading across the Tube network, black cabs and now the water, EE's central London LTE service will have even more to prove in terms of raw speed. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Ruckus music service calls it quits
While there's clearly demand for downloadable music, there's clearly not enough of it being funneled to Ruckus Network. The oft forgotten music service -- which somehow reckoned it could take on the likes of Rhapsody, Apple, Microsoft and countless others in the saturated digital download space -- has officially folded. Quite honestly, we're shocked that it managed to hang on for this many years, though we suppose its demise was always just a matter of time. Ruckus' homepage now directs to the image you see above, giving the four avid users no indication of whether any partial refunds or gratis hugs will be given out. Rest in peace, Ruckus -- we're sure you'll find comfort in knowing that you were already dead to 99 percent of us.[Thanks, nizzy1115 and Gabriel]
Ruckus Wireless' MetroFlex DZ brings outdoor WiFi inside
Although we wouldn't advise that you use Ruckus Wireless' latest gizmo on a faraway neighbor's stray WiFi signal if you're housin' it in Singapore, the MetroFlex DZ allows you to pull (legal) "outdoor, metro wireless internet signals" into your home with a single device. This dual-zone device didn't change much in the design department from the media-centric 2825 MediaFlex router, but its patent-pending smart antenna technology "dynamically selects the best sending and receiving antennas for incoming and outgoing WiFi signals," allowing subscribers of outdoor broadband to provide WiFi in the home. You'll also find the usual bevy of security measures here, such as IP management, discrete SSIDs, WEP, and WPA2, but those hoping to snag a bit of draft-N action here will be sorely disappointed. No word on pricing or availability just yet, but hopefully it'll help out you lucky souls with citywide WiFi floating around.[Via TheWirelessReport]
Ruckus Network offers "free" stipulation-laced tunes to college students
Some folks just don't know when to quit, and apparently, Ruckus Network falls clearly into that category of beings. Looking past the brutal failure at American University and the growing data proving that stipulation-laced music simply doesn't fit in at college campuses across the nation, Ruckus is giving this idea one more go, and this time, it's 100-percent kinda-sorta gratis. While it's not too unusual to hear of indie / unsigned bands being distributed for free, this new deal supposedly offers up "major label bands" without charge to students holding an email address that ends in ".edu." The service will be completely ad-supported, and doesn't require any official "vow of support" from a university itself, and for alumni / faculty registering with their educational email, a $8.95 per month charge will purportedly be levied. The catch, however, is that the "free music" can only be played back on the person's PC, and transferring it to a DAP -- which must support DRM-WMA, by the way -- will run students $4.99 per month. Aside from this music rental fee, the service completely shuns Mac, iPod, and Zune owners, leaving us to wonder just how effective the service could be if the terms were even remotely attractive from the start. Regardless, the rigid service is available now for the few folks interested, but from the looks of things, we doubt it'll reverse the fortunes of Ruckus Network.
Ruckus Wireless teams with Slim for 2825 MediaFlex router
Sure, your standard old WiFi router might serve up the internets with little hesitation, and should work just fine with the 802.11b/g Squeezebox, but if you want to crank your multimedia streaming chops up a notch, Slim Devices has teamed up with Ruckus Wireless to build a new MediaFlex multimedia router that does your generic box one better. The router includes fancy tech that purportedly will deliver "longer range and unprecedented Wi-Fi stability by directing signals over the best path through the air at any given time." We can't be certain of how these magiks are performed, but we've got a photo of their special antenna, which can be viewed after the break. The 2825 MediaFlex router is also designed to prioritize audio streaming over other traffic, so you should get a steady stream, no matter what interference or BitTorrent action may come. If you've got the smarts, and Squeezebox isn't your game, it's also possible to set video streams as a top priority, or even data if you're a torrent fiend. All of this is to ensure you can keep your media streams hic-up free, which can sometimes be rather difficult with normal WiFi routers, though it's your call as to whether to problem warrants a specialized $159 router. The MediaFlex is available now by its lonesome or as a bundle with a Squeezebox .
