NYC Subway’s Finally Set to Get WiFi and Cell Phone Access

If you live in New York and use public transportation lately you probably also know that the subway, no matter how hot or smelly or crowded it can be, is also a brief reprieve from digital leashes that are harnessed to you the entire today. At least that’s what you could tell yourself to try and make the smell of urine more palatable.

Now, even that “silver lining” is about to come to an end.

After an almost three-year delay, work is set to begin on a $200 million plan to bring mobile- phone and Wi-Fi service to New York’s subway stations.

After three years with no progress many New Yorkers assumed the project had fallen by the way side. Thanks to Broadcast Australia’s injection of a new revenue stream the project is once again gearing up and will reportedly have six stations wired up and ready to go within the next two months.

Does anyone want to get in on the over/under on the first cell phone related brawl happening on a subway platform?

Waiting for a training on a hot, smelly platform while running late for work can be stressful enough. Add into that equation a hundred or so people with no sense of “inside voice” having conversations on their cell phones around you.

This is quite possibly the worst thing I can imagine happening to the MTA Subway system.

Starbucks to Offer Free, 1-Click, No Registration WIFI at all Locations Starting July 1

Starbucks used their Twitter account to announce, what will undoubtedly turn out to be a brilliant marketing move, free WIFI.

Between the recession and Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks has been taking a beating for quite a while now. I’m not going to go into a whole business class lecture about what caused Starbucks to stub their toe, but suffice it to say, I think that this announcement, small as it may appear, is a big step to Starbucks righting itself again.

What AT&T’s ‘Rethink Possible’ Ad Should Say

Talk about truth in advertising.

AT&T Rethink Possible

Via robhue.

Are you a Metrotextual?

guytextingAccording to new research by T-Mobile, men aged 18 – 24 are becoming a lot more affectionate when sending and receiving text messages. Not to feel left out men age 55+ are turning into metrotextuals at a rate of 1 in 10.

“Metrotextuality” is most widespread among 18-24 year old males with three quarters (75 per cent) regularly sealing texts with a kiss and 48 per cent admitting that the practice has become commonplace amongst their group of friends.

Nearly a quarter of this age group (23 per cent) even appreciate an “x’ in a text exchange from people that aren’t close friends.

The research also revealed there’s a certain etiquette within metrotextuality. A lower case “x’ is the preferred sign-off for most (52 per cent) compared to 17 per cent for a bolder upper case X), with one in three sharing the love in a big way with multiple lower case kisses (xxx).

Could texting be what the male species needed in order for it to finally get in touch with its softer side? Thousands of years of war and aggression set aside by a simple, “lol, ttyl…x”? Is there anything technology can’t do?

DeadCellZones.com is Dead

When I heard about the site deadcellzones.com I naturally jumped at the chance to have another tool in the fight against myself to leave AT&T. I thought if could actually see a visual representation of the amount of dead cell zones people reported in NYC it would push me over the edge. I got there only to find out that Dead Cell Zone was using someone else’s PushPin API key. That’s a no-no.

deadcellzones_alert

So instead of a cool map filled with all the dead cell zones in my area I get this.

deadcellzones

A blank map is not nearly as compelling.

WordPress 2 App

I just downloaded the WordPress 2 app. It’s has a few more options for bloggers, with a heavy focus on content moderation.

Like the old app it allows you to publish posts on the go as well. This time you can type your post body in landscape mode, which I’m not sure was an option in the first app.

A cool new feature is that it autosaves your post so if you drop connection, which you most definitely will since you’re on AT&T’s network, you can come back to it later when you’ve reconnected.

Below are a few screenshots and a few test photos.
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