A Florida State University study found 98.9% of libraries offer free public Internet access and 18% of libraries have wireless Internet access and 21% plan to get it within 2006.

The city of Orlando in Florida has pulled the plug on the city's free Wi-Fi service. Although the city has a population of over 1.8m, only around 27 people a day were using the service, which was costing the district $1,800 a month. Full Story...

Marshalltown is working to become the technology capital of Iowa.

It's the first city in the state to become a wireless Internet zone, offering free online access in a 20-block area in Marshalltown's downtown. Full Story Video

San Antonio leaders have long known that the Alamo was a hot spot for tourists. However, through a new joint offering from SA Unwired.net, Pronto Networks and BelAir Networks, the popular attraction has become a Wi-Fi "hot-spot."

This is Pronto and BelAir's first deployment together. Through this agreement with SA Unwired, downtown visitors will be able to access the Internet at several blocks of shops, restaurants and businesses around Alamo Plaza.

SA Unwired plans to charge users $3 per hour, or $10 a day for wireless Internet access. Full Story...

A Knoxville family tried to join the growing number of people getting satellite Internet systems. However, their provider has billed them for six months while they haven't had service.

Direcway is a satellite Internet service. You may have seen infomercials touting the advantages of the system. One says, "You won't need to install any software or use up any valuable hard drive space. Plus, you can install Direcway on PCs or Macs."

Lynn Hammond explains the advantage. "You don't have to go through dial up. You don't have to go through cable. The only cable that's set up is from the dish to the modem."

Lynn's dish and modem arrived in January and Direcway set up the system. But there were problems the day it was installed.

"The system never worked," Lynn says. "I got on the phone the following day and stayed on the phone for two weeks talking to one technician after the other. They said, 'Oh, you're going to have to hook your system up to the PC.' And I said, no, I don't want to do that. I purchased the Mac. It's new."

Lynn wrote to the Better Business Bureau to complain. Direcway responded, saying their modem can't talk to the browser in Hammond's new Mac.

But Lynn bought the Mac exclusively for the new system. "They were trying to get me to hook the system up to my old PC. Had I done that and had they gotten it do work, then they could say, we got it installed." Full Story...

In the rural area of Strasburg nearly 40 miles east of downtown Denver, Theresa Tuttle just got her first taste of high-speed Internet at home.

"It's amazing - all the things you can access in a short period of time," said Tuttle, who until Wednesday had only a dial-up connection.

Tuttle, whose home a few miles outside Strasburg is surrounded by open fields, is the first - and so far only - customer of satellite Internet provider WildBlue Communications of Greenwood Village.

WildBlue's plan to bring its satellite Internet service to rural areas around the United States without high-speed alternatives has suffered setbacks in recent years, so this week's nationwide launch comes a few years later than originally planned. Full Story...

McAfee said Thursday it has acquired Wireless Security, marking the company’s foray into Wi-Fi security.

“The world we live in has become increasingly wireless, yet most users do not have the proper security enabled,” said McAfee CEO George Samenuk.

McAfee plans to sell a consumer product based on Wireless Security’s technology this fall. The company also plans to integrate the technology into its small business Managed Virus Scan product. Full Story...

As they battle for data dominance on the grohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifund, cable operators and DSL providers will soon face a potentially powerful broadband rival from the heavens. WildBlue Communications, after shaking off financing challenges, is preparing to introduce its satellite high-speed data service this month.

In mid-May, WildBlue announced that it would finally start rolling out its long-awaited broadband service in rural parts of the U.S. during the first week of June. The Denver-based startup, which originally planned to launch three years ago, aims to make the two-way service nationally available by the end of the summer. Full Story...

As they battle for data dominance on the ground, cable operators and DSL providers will soon face a potentially powerful broadband rival from the heavens. WildBlue Communications, after shaking off financing challenges, is preparing to introduce its satellite high-speed data service this month.

In mid-May, WildBlue announced that it would finally start rolling out its long-awaited broadband service in rural parts of the U.S. during the first week of June. The Denver-based startup, which originally planned to launch three years ago, aims to make the two-way service nationally available by the end of the summer. Full Story....