Summer is here! Even though I'll be working (nope, no vacation scheduled) I'll be posting less frequently during the month of July.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Free Wi-Fi on way to becoming standard of service

Is free Wi-Fi the way forward for hot spots? It sounds "very 1997" but more and more venues are actually seeing this strategy work.

I'm still not sure what I think of the "commercial but free" Wi-Fi offerings. When I'm travelling any hotel who gives me free broadband (wired or not) has an advantage over one that (over-) charges for it. But I simply can't see for example a coffe shop make enough money long term from added sales of cookies and refills to profit from their Wi-Fi investment. But if it works, great!

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Surfing Cornwall, new style

Getting a broadband connection in Cornwall (south east UK) is cheap, fast and comes with great customer service. Kieren McCarthy writes about a positive experience with providers ActNow.

World's first Treo 600 review

Handspring's new Treo 600 won't be available until the autumn, but PC Magazine have reviewed an early prototype of it.

Changed Smith Barney Is Thin on Analysts
Requires NYT online subscription - free

Now you see them (everywhere) and now you don't (anywhere). Interesting piece in the NYT on how many big Wall Street firms lack analysts for key companies. For example, SB doesn't have an Oracle analyst right now. Ouch!

Browsers Still Matter

eWeek on Microsoft, Mozilla and software strategy.

"The less browsers improve as an application, the easier the argument that they should become irrelevant as stand-alone products."

Blogs in the frame

Another update on moblogging from Mike Butcher at The Guardian. The artcile mentions 20six, a UK company that offers blogs, and crucial to moblogging, image uploads via cell phone. I like the simplicity of 20six. They have a good introduction to blogging and also offer easy step by step instructions on how to post images from cell phones. 20six is a good case study for other companies who have left usability at the wayside in the name of "core blogging".

Is Palm merger a shotgun marriage?

The link above is to some ok comentary on Palm buying Handspring.

As expected there are a lot of people sharing their two cents on this topic at the moment. One of them is Jeff Hawkins who came up with the original Palm Pilot and later left Palm, Inc to found Handspring. He cut straight to the point yesterday when he said "This is not a reunion, there is no nostalgia here". Very straight to the point.