Finally things are starting to get a little more futuristic around here. Beginning next Monday, bus riders in San Francisco will get a chance to hop at least one ride that will take them to the Columbus stop, Van Ness stop... and the World of Tomorrow. Thanks to the combined effort of SF's Muni and Cisco, the "Connected Bus" will be hauling around free WiFi and touchscreen maps on its walls (which will also carry updated connecting transit information). Sure, it's no citywide wireless coverage, but combined with the BART train WiFi rollout, it's certainly a start. Cisco tested the bus with 15 riders checking email and downloading music and movies on laptops, and say that the signal was "strong and uninterrupted," though they admit they haven't tested the system during a 15-player fragfest. Anyone up for a ride?

[Thanks, Paul in SF]

Merely hours after hearing that a contactless payment trial was going live on San Francisco's BART, along comes word that a test of a slightly different nature was also underway on the very same public transportation system. Reportedly, a recent Wi-Fi Rail installation on a select stretch of track proved that WiFi could be delivered to passengers at around 15Mbps -- up and down -- and if things go smoothly, the firm hopes to get its technology onto all sorts of rail systems across the globe. Unfortunately, there doesn't look to be any firm plans for the trial to stick on BART, but who knows, keep on refreshing that nearby network list on the morning commute and you might just get lucky.

We knew full well that a contactless payment trial would soon be underway in the city by the Bay, and now it's finally ready for use by 230 guinea pigs. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of details on the Samsung handsets and the technology itself, but we do know that the program is being closely watched in hopes of it operating quite smoothly. If indeed that happens, it could be "expanded," presumably allowing others in the area to have their bank account dinged with the swipe of a cell each time they need a lift. Furthermore, a video clip at CBS5 shows the pilot phone being used to snag some totally nourishing grub from Jack in the Box. Hungry for more? Hit up the read link to take a peek yourself.

[Thanks, Hans]

We're not huge fans of overzealous security camera deployment, but if you're going to spend taxpayer money deploying nannycams, at least make sure they're capturing more than one frame every two seconds -- the rate at which San Francisco's $900,000 system is running. A study of the city's 68 cameras found that the system has only led to one arrest in two and a half years of operation, and the main reason for the failure is uselessly slow video -- which is grainy, to boot. Compare that to Chicago's much-hated (but effective) system, which runs at 30fps, and it's obvious why the president of San Francisco's Police Commission said the city was "throwing money away." There's no word on how or when the issue might be resolved, but the city is due to review the system and issue a determination soon. Check the read link for a video of the system in (in)action.

[Thanks, Paul B.]

Details are still murky at this point, but it seems a company dubbed IDS is getting set to change the way we look at traditional data centers. The San Francisco-based startup is reportedly about to build 22 new centers, but rather than looking for unused closets and underground caverns to store hardware, it's planning to erect said data centers on decommissioned cargo ships. The plan doesn't really sound all that far-fetched -- after all, it can use sea water for cooling, there's loads of on board fuel for power generation during disasters and they can be easily used in coastal cities where free land is an issue. Purportedly, IDS will be transitioning out of secrecy in the near future, so we should be hearing a lot more on how it plans to progress real soon.

[Via DailyTech]

Sure, everybody's done it at one point or another, but San Francisco is trying to put the kibosh on traffic-chocking illegal bus lane parking with new cameras the city will be mounting on public transport buses -- Big Brother style. The cameras are mounted behind the windshield and bus drivers can use them to automatically photograph offenders. During the trial phase, parking baddies will get off with a warning, but in a month San Fran will start issuing $100 tickets. Better get that shopping done soon!

[Via AutoblogGreen]

It looks like the folks at Meraki are angling to the fill in the WiFi gap left after San Francisco pulled the plug on the much-hyped Google / Earthlink deal, although, conveniently for them, that doesn't amount to them doing anything all that different than what they've always been doing. Still, with a fresh $20 million in funding, the company is certainly better positioned to put the citywide mesh network into place, which they say could eventually use as many as 15,000 wireless antennas to bounce WiFi signals around the city (quite a boost from the 500 repeaters now providing service to a few neighborhoods). If the network spreads as far as the company hopes, it would apparently be the largest mesh network in the US and, obviously, be quite the showpiece for the company to use to attract business elsewhere.

[Thanks, Paul B]

For whatever reason, phone-based contactless payment systems have been incredibly slow on the uptake stateside, while others -- those on NTT DoCoMo's well-received Osaifu-Keitai system, for example -- have had no qualms about turning their handsets into wallets. Every so often we catch wind of a trial in the works, though, which gives us hope that we'll eventually all be able to whip our cellies out of our pockets and clog our arteries in one deft motion. Case in point: Sprint has teamed up with Jack in the Box and San Francisco's Bay Area Transit Authority to offer fare and food payments with a tap of a phone in a trial that runs from January through May of next year. Strangely, the pictured phone appears to be the somewhat ancient A920 clamshell, so we're guessing Sprint is modifying the devices for the trial; Boost Mobile customers should be able to get on the action in some capacity as well. If you live in the area, ride BART at least once a week, and are willing to sacrifice that Touch for a trial phone, go sign yourself up -- just take it easy with the bacon burgers, k?

[Thanks, Allan]

It's hard to deny San Francisco's infatuation with solar power, and a new plan could further showcase its adoration for the sun (and Mother Earth, too) by throwing out tax credits, rebates and even loans for individuals and businesses that choose to equip their buildings with solar panels. Under the proposal, businesses would reportedly be "eligible for rebates of up to $10,000," while residents could fetch somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 to help offset the high cost of installing panels. Furthermore, the city itself would underwrite loans that could be paid back "through annual tax assessments on properties." As it stands, the plan still has to be approved by voters and legislators, but Mayor Gavin Newsom is aspiring to have the whole shebang in place by next summer.

[Image courtesy of San Francisco Sentinel]

We're floored! Over a thousand people braved lines to join us at tonight's Engadget reader meetup in San Francisco, our biggest ever event by far! We're completely humbled, but you're not out of the woods yet. Do us a favor and share your photos and video from tonight, would you? We'll post 'em up tomorrow for everyone to check out. Thanks again, SF!

Please add your pictures to the Engadget Flickr pool here.
And please add your videos to YouTube with the tag engadget2007sf.

We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, who really helped us make this whole thing happen!

Tonight's the big night, SF bay area! Our FREE and ALL AGES reader meetup goes off at 7PM at UCSF Mission Bay, where we'll have:

• Free food and drinks
• Product demos
• Audience Q&A with execs and Engadget editors
  
• ... and will be giving away literally hundreds of devices -- tens of thousands of dollars of gadgets.

Hit the read link for details -- hope to see you there!

We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, who've been instrumental in getting this thing off the ground!

Just a reminder to everyone in or visiting the SF bay area about our reader meetup that's going on tomorrow night, 7PM at UCSF Mission Bay! We'll have product demos, audience Q&A, free food and drinks, and will be giving away literally hundreds of devices -- tens of thousands of dollars of gadgets -- on the spot. Hit the read link for details -- hope to see you there!

P.S. -Also, a note to the local hackers in the audience! We'd like to try out the "lightning talks" round here in the US -- let us know if you have something interesting and electronic that you might want to show off! (Email us at event att engadget dawt com.)

Last week in Tokyo was pretty amazing, but this Wednesday's reader event in San Francisco promises to be possibly our most amazing yet. Here's a bit about what you can expect:

• We're giving away literally tens of thousands of dollars in gear, including...
• A free Sandisk Sansa Connect (4GB with WiFi) to the first 200 people! (And free Flickr Pro accounts for the next 250 people.)
• We'll also have free food and drinks!
  
• Live Q&A session with Engadget
• The event is ALL AGES and FREE ADMISSION
• As well as giveaways from: Drobo, Motorola, Nokia, OQO, Plantronics, Samsung, SanDisk, Sling, and others!

When: Wednesday, October 10th, 7:00PM - 10:00PM [Listing on Upcoming]
Please note, however, that we have changed our event location! We are no longer holding the event at Mighty, the event is now at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF.

Also, a note to the local hackers in the audience! We'd like to try out the "lightning talks" round here in the US -- let us know if you have something interesting and electronic that you might want to show off!

We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, who've been instrumental in getting this thing off the ground!

Oh, and please leave us a comment if you're thinking of attending so we can at least try to estimate how many to expect. See you there! (Map, directions, and full list of companies at the event after the break.)

Tokyo, San Francisco! We're coming to town to hang out, so please join us THIS WEEK in Tokyo as we host our first ever Japanese readup in Google / YouTube Japan's offices. Next week in San Francisco we'll be at Mighty. Directions and info below.

Both events are ALL AGES and FREE ADMISSION (as usual).

Tokyo - October 4th, ~6:30PM - 9:00PM, Cerulean Tower (7th floor) [map]
Please note we have limited capacity, but we will do our best to accommodate everyone that shows up!

San Francisco - October 10th, 7:00PM - 10:00PM, Mighty [map]

We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, as well as our host in Tokyo, Google Japan!

Note: If you're thinking of coming to the Tokyo event please let us know in comments! It helps when we're figuring out catering and all that stuff. (Don't worry about San Francisco, we'll have more reminders on that one soon. And for everyone else who wants Engadget to come to your town, we'll do our best next time!)

Not long after hearing about England's newfangled auto-ticketing system comes word that San Franciscans could soon be facing something similar. If signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, "forward-facing digital video cameras would be installed on city buses," which would then be used to automatically ticket the owners of vehicles that are caught "blocking buses." The cameras would presumably be used to photograph vehicles that are in bus-only lanes, and interestingly enough, the proposed law also authorizes Municipal Transportation Agency "employees to access sensitive personal data" from the DMV for ticketing purposes.