10 Wi-Fi trends to watch for in 2012

December 28th, 2011

From the good folks at /www.informationweek.in

We note that KeyWifi is at the cutting edge of several of these trends.

Wi-Fi_trends_to_watch_for_in_2012

In particular Wi-Fi Sharing: Trend of sharing broadband connection or digital contents over Wi-Fi is gaining tremendous attention lately and is expected to do so in 2012 too. Many upcoming mobile devices in 2012 are expected to have in-built hotspot capabilities to enable Wi-Fi sharing. MiFi devices specialized for sharing cellular connection over Wi-Fi, after their first launch in 2009, witnessed good growth in the year 2011, and this is likely to continue in 2012 with more carriers’ worldwide adopting and executing MiFi strategy with variety of MiFi plans and improved MiFi devices. Support of recent standard, Wi-Fi Direct, meant for peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, is also expected to arrive in a variety of consumer devices in 2012 for seamless Wi-Fi sharing. Concept of Wi-Fi sharing has also given rise to unique business models lately where users willing to share their broadband bandwidth (with others) are offered earning opportunities or reward points. Such models are also expected to flourish and witness growth in 2012.

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What Facebook’s investors think about peer-to-peer wifi ?

December 22nd, 2011

I will start this post with a disclaimer. I don’t know Roger McNanee nor know exactly what he thinks of our business. What I really like about his mindset is that he sees disruption for what it is, disruptive, not safe!

If your interested in the long term potential and why peer-to-peer wifi has a strategic opportunity, don’t  read my opinion, listen to the smart money.

Roger’s smart, He’s also a muscician, a creative, not surprising he admires the power of the individual. As he says…

” I’m in the creativity world, not the protecting world..build it first then worry how to protect it”

” I’m a bottom of the pyramid guy”

Watch his presentation at The Paley Center for Media.

Elevation Partners Director and Co-Founder Roger McNamee

If you want to see a sample of his slide deck check this out:

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Q. How will KeyWifi help people who don’t have computers?

December 20th, 2011

A. By introducing them to our friends.

A few years ago the nobel goals of One Laptop per child were embraced by many, and so they should be, however times have moved on and the conversation is now far more interesting given that access to devices, as with phone technology distribution is not the limiting factor.

One Laptop Per Child

Access to data flow is.

To put it another way we believe, as per Moore’s law, that the cost of hardware will continue to decrease. This is proven out by the wonderfull work of many low cost manufacturers such as datalink and the rather interesting paradign shift that can happen globally when technology transfer occurs. One Lap Top Per child marjked the birth of the Netbook evolution which gave us $250 laptops. However take a look at whats happening and will continue to happen with the advent of the $35 laptop in India, $60 in other markets.

$35 Tablet…what’s next, education for all?

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AT&T Drops T-Mobile Bid: Maybe it’s Time for a New Approach?

December 20th, 2011

Perhaps AT&T should consider opening up its market to the 57% of people who might opt into their services if they could pay less?  In a recent Government report, households with annual incomes of $25,000 or lower, only 43 percent had access to broadband. By comparison, 93 percent of households with annual incomes of $100,000 or higher had access.

Some consumer advocates applaud the announcement. “From the first day that this deal was announced, we have warned regulators, lawmakers, and consumers of the dangerous consequences of this merger,” said Parul P. Desai, policy counsel for Consumers Union, according to its website The Consumerist. “Regulators clearly saw through AT&T’s claims of better service and saw what we saw – a combined AT&T/T-Mobile would mean higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. It would mean a wireless market dominated by a powerful duopoly with little incentive to compete with other carriers.”

As AT&T drops its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile USA, the company will have to endure a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion in the current quarter to reflect a breakup fee it agreed to pay Deutsche Telekom. While more and more mobile devices compete for wireless space and the pressure mounts for the roll out of 4G services, perhaps the company should consider other viable opportunities? How about its underserved lower in-come market and shareable Wifi to open bandwidth?

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Car or Internet Toss-Up for Young-Adults

December 10th, 2011

Many people hate driving, and it’s not surprising since most of the time all you can do in a car is get stuck in traffic and breath pollution. Who needs it?   However what’s interesting is that more young folks would prefer to be online than in a car. Sounds to me like a sign of the times and bodes well for reducing our environmental impact, don’t you think?

In a recent Priyanka Boghani CNN post, “According to new research, it’s more of a toss-up for young adults. That not only marks a generational divide between lifestyle choices for Generation X and Gen-Y, but could have a knock-on effect for how future cars are developed, the study author says.”

The post also speaks to a new study on why more traffic deaths in the U.S. are a result of using phones or portable electronic devices while driving.

“When posed with the dilemma of choosing between access to your car and access to the Internet, 46% of all 18-to-24-year-old drivers in the U.S. surveyed said they would choose the Internet and give up their cars. That’s according to a study by Gartner research to be released early next year.”

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WNYC News Blog Census Pinpoints City’s Wealthiest, Poorest Neighborhoods

December 8th, 2011

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Erda Digital Futures Project- Posters Go Up this Week

November 30th, 2011

I just thought we should share this and thank the team from The Public Society for all their support and design work. To download a pdf of the poster click here. Please feel free to print and put up these posters in appropriate places in Queensbridge if you would like to support this effort, thanks.

Help us expand Internet access and reduce cost in Queensbridge

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East River Development Alliance & KeyWifi Start the ERDA Digital Futures Project

November 18th, 2011

It gives us great pleasure to announce ERDA, KeyWifi and the great team at The Public Society design company are beginning the Digital Futures Project by surveying the largest public housing community in the nation to measure the Digital Divide. It’s always good to measure a gap before you bridge it, which is what we will start doing very soon, watch this space.

The Queensbridge community is a great place to model how our technology will create value for similar communities globally – 73 nationalities, a diverse community of working people, school kids, students, seniors, and local businesses.  Queensbridge is big enough to have its own subway stop – so we felt it was a great way opportunity for a proving ground.

Queensbridge community wifi zone

If your curious about the project have a look at the Digital Futrues Project – Faq‘s.

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Update on US Digital Divide Concludes Gap Remains Due to Cost

November 11th, 2011

Despite the various initiatives the Digital Divide remains. More than half of low income and rural households are not online due to cost related issues.

The Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released “Exploring the Digital Nation,”on Nov. 9th. Government Technology sited the report’s statistical analysis of broadband adoption in the U.S. “Only 57 percent of rural households have broadband Internet access, compared to 70 percent of urban households. Low-income residences fared even worse than rural households. Of households with annual incomes of $25,000 or lower, only 43 percent had access to broadband. By comparison, 93 percent of households with annual incomes of $100,000 or higher had access. Numbers also differed along race and ethnicity: Asian households (81 percent) white (72 percent), Hispanic (57 percent) and black (55 percent).”

KeyWifi will bridge this divide by slashing costs up to 75% or more for some.  Sign up to KeyWifi and be the first to test the system coming soon.

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NYConvergence Takes Note

October 14th, 2011

KeyWifi is gearing up to go live with its latest technology developments at Contact Summit 2011 and with the East River Development Association (ERDA) Digital Future’s Project.  NYConvergence, a digest of digital media technology news of interest to the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut tri-state area, took note of KeyWifi’s efforts to bridge the digital divide and lower the cost of wifi access. The article cites KeyWifi’s upcoming test run at the Queensbridge public housing development in Long Island City.

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