Here’s a ‘looking at the bright side’ perspective for iPhone users in New York City and San Francisco that don’t like cars: The worse your iPhone reception, the more likely you’ll have a pedestrian-only plaza.

For those unfamiliar with the situation, it’s so widely known that New York City and San Francisco have spotty iPhone reception that Stephen Cobert on the Cobert Report, based in New York, joked that the one thing the iPad and iPhone have in common is that you can’t make phone calls on

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You know the questions visitors ask, “Where are the city’s hot spots?“  Then there are the resident questions, “Where are the hot spots tonight?“  Ideally, one ideal ‘superpower’ would be to visit every single venue in a city simultaneously to see what’s worth checking out.  Citysense was invented for us mere mortals.

Built by Sense Networks for Blackberries and soon iPhones, the free application is based on the company’s Macrosense technology which analyzes existing data (e.g. demographics,

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While the market has already assumed a digital infrastructure will succeed our asphalt one, city government leaders still haven’t accepted that by making the same financial commitment to free public wi-fi. It’s largely a generation thing and it’s inevitable the investment will come eventually, but for the cities with progressive leaders that implement them now, they’ll realize an economic and cultural windfall as a reward for ‘letting go’.

Santa Monica is one of those cities, with their City

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In 1956 the Federal Aid Highway Act ushered in the auto age, with the U.S. government funding 90% of the costs to build 41,000 miles of interstate highways over 20 years, an equivalent of $200 billion today. Highways are still being built, but they’re also coming down as cities are realizing that a digital infrastructure (ie the internet; wi-fi, fiber optic, cellular, satellite networks) negates a continued need for heavy asphalt investment, and at a much lower economic, environmental and

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Where?!!! That’s probably a fairly common reaction. Located south of Finland and bordering west of Russia, this fast-growing city of 400,000 enjoy life on the fast lane as far as the internet goes, but it’s key to success is being able to maintain life its enviable slow city, slow food culture.

Summarizing Tallinn’s profile in Spiegel as part of its Coolest Cities story:

The internet is essentially free throughout what is known as the most-wired country in Eastern Europe, with the government

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The most economically, culturally competitive cities will be the first to transition from an industrial-economy auto-oriented infrastructure to an information-economy digital one. Who’s in the lead? According to Daily Wireless’ 10 Most Connected Cities in the World:

1. Seoul, South Korea (pictured) -  The second most populated metro area in the world (22 million) plus a reputation as the world leader in modern technology helps make Seoul the undisputed leader.  With 10mbps broadband (four

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The NY-based Intelligent Community Forum recently announced their Intelligent Communities of 2007 (don’t shoot the messenger!) based on the following criteria:

- deploying broadband
- building a knowledge-based workforce
- combining government and private-sector ‘digital inclusion’ for all
- fostering innovation and marketing economic development.

One of the cities on the list, Dundee, Scotland, like in many other regions, suffered sweeping job losses in the 70s to mid-90s as manufacturing

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Above: Patrons of People’s Cafe in Upper Haight, San Francisco. Soon they’ll be able to work via their laptops too…

As we all know, since 1949 the government’s been paying for all our roads (ie our asphalt infrastructure), but since the advent of the internet we’ve had to pay for it.  Well, San Francisco is the first city to sign a contract to provide free wi-fi and internet for all in the city… a digital infrastructure.  Earthlink is providing the wi-fi network, and Google the free internet

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...and the winner is Taipei, Taiwan.  Taipei just this summer completed its citywide wi-fi network of 4000 hot spots (wi-fi transmitters) covering 90% of its 2.6 million residents.  The major reason for the unprecedented wi-fi investment?  To reduce traffic on city roads, says the city’s mayor.

Yes, there still isn’t a single major U.S. city with comprehensive wi-fi, though many are talking about it, with San Francisco apparently taking the lead (promising citywide wi-fi by year’s end). 

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With 8 million people living within its borders and a model for urban working and living, one would have thought that the City of New York had established a plan to provide free wi-fi in their parks by now.  They haven’t.  However, with the possibility of being leapfrogged by San Francisco and Philadelphia, the City may finally have a plan for free wifi in all their parks.  The reason?

The City will no longer try to make money on the wi-fi networks off of the private sector companies building

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