Wi-Fi Hotspots: Am I hot or not?

Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) predicts that WiFi hotspots will grow globally to more than 160,000 locations by 2007, from approximately 28,000 this year. It's good news all round according to ABI, despite issues yet to be tackled such as the finer points of billing and fixing up roaming agreements: 'There are some terrific opportunities for operators to start bundling services, offering consumers a more data intensive usage model, as well as a more compelling package of benefits and value,' says Tim Shelton, ABI's Director of Wireless Research. The report: 'Wi-Fi Public Hotspots - Business Case Analysis through Deployment and Subscriber Forecasts' claims that 'there is tremendous momentum building, but this should not be mistaken for over-hype, as many players in the market are facing the reality of commercial deployments'. ...more

Comdex Fall is cancelled

Comdex Las Vegas 2004 has been postponed, with the organisers resting the show in order to reshape the event for a future relaunch. The event had been scheduled to take place in November 2004, but now an advisory group has been set up to consider how best to meet industry demand. This will contain representatives of the 'IT industry's foremost companies' according to MediaLive International, which took over the brand one year ago. ...more

Fetch 4 released

The Mac-based FTP management program Fetch has been upgraded and carbonized for OS X. The upgrade incorporates a 'long list' of new features including: compatibility with the Mac OS from System 7 to OS X; one-click website updating; drag and drop transfers between servers; remote text and image file origination and editing with BBEdit and Graphic Converter; extended proxy server and security support; image, sound and movie preview; resume-able downloads; and folder size calculation. Fetch is the most popular file transfer application on the Mac, but remains cheap - just $25 for a single-user licence and free for charities and education. ...more

Panic, but only in the way we have planned

The design of stadiums and other public buildings could benefit from a new computer model that predicts how panicking crowds will behave. According to a report from the BBC, scientists in Germany and Hungary created the program to track how people respond to being pushed together during emergencies. Obviously, the model could be used to test the ability of concourses and corridors to cope with disasters. ...more

Online telecom advice for small businesses

The revamped TelecomsAdvice Web site has received an Oftel stamp of approval. www.telecomsadvice. ...more