The City of Portland has released an iPhone app so that citizens can report potholes – pretty cool!

Urban Wireless is expanding and we want to REALLY expand fast! How can you help? Tell your favorite bar, restaraunt, or any place else where you and others hang out and would love free wifi to get in touch with us.

There is no cost involved for the venue and of course none for their patrons. And, we’ll toss in a little free advertising just for joining our network.

Have them call Brian at Kharma Consulting at 371-0012 and we’ll rush right out.

Today and for the next week we are going to be experimenting with some new technology for serving the ads that sponsor your free wifi connection. You may experience happiness and the desire to sing!

One of the biggest changes today is that the ad bar at the top of your browser is going away this week and if things go as planned – PERMANENTLY! So, wish us luck.

Urban Wireless would like to welcome River City Gift Company to our Urban Wireless family. If you haven’t been there, you have to go check it out. A web review said…

“Walk into this dimly lit, wood floored store and you’ll instantly be overwhelmed by the scent of freshly ground coffee and exotic teas. Dozens of blends are available daily and in increments as small as 1/4 lb and are reasonably priced. Try the Razorback Roast, a fairly mild Costa Rican type blend. A wide variety of elegant coffee mugs, teapots and high-end espresso makers are also available.”

After our mention on Station X, we got to know Doug and Brant, the wizards behind the scenes. We took a trip over to their office yesterday and of course Scott and I spent our time looking out of the 7th floor window to see what all we could see wirelessly. Just for fun we slapped a node in the window and it connected up! So we left it there.

Connect Arkansas is mapping broadband in the State of Arkansas through an NTIA grant. Urban Wireless would like to thank Connect Arkansas and especially Thomas Melton for their help in getting our mapping data into the project. If you have not heard of Connect Arkansas, their about us page says…

“Connect Arkansas, a private, non-profit, is implementing a community-based initiative to promote internet access and education. The Connect Arkansas Broadband Act was signed into law by Governor Beebe on March 28, 2007, to ensure the creation of a competitive broadband, or high speed internet, infrastructure that will not only improve personal lives, but also the economic capabilities and of all Arkansans.”

You can view their website here.

This morning we upped the maximum speed for users on the network to 2 Mb. Your mileage may vary and subject to local conditions.

Enjoy!

For the last few days I have been playing around with Skype across the network. So far, I have tested it on a gateway node and a one hop neighbor repeater. Seems to work pretty good but I need to try on other sections of the network other than my front yard.

If your running skype, try it out on the network and let us know how it goes.

Click here to get your unique SkypeIn number

Today we lit up the free wifi goodness at Midtown Billiards. Don’t leave without getting one of their famous burgers!

Esquire magazine said…

“During the day, this bar is dank, with the aftershock of the night before hanging in the air and old men playing dominoes in the back. Fast-forward to midnight, and it starts all over again: the after-hours frenzy that’s made this bar’s name an epithet among wives whose husbands stumble home at 4:00 a.m. “smelling like Midtown.” People arrive here drunk and leave wicked. But it helps that they have those hamburgers cooked behind the bar, coated so thickly with spices and so indulgent at 3:00 a.m. that you’ll see eyes rolling back in ecstasy with each bite.”

Located at 1316 Main Street in Little Rock, as if you didn’t know, or call them at 501-371-9990.

Urban Wireless got a mention for its Little Rock expansion in the Rivermarket today on Doug Kriles’s Rock in Review webcast today!

Check it out here.