InterContinental Hotels tests tiered WiFi options

by Melanie Nayer on

It’s not free, but it’s something…

The InterContinental Hotels & Resorts chain are experimenting with a system of tiered WiFi in a few of its hotels.

Guests at InterContinental Times Square in New York City, InterContinental Chicago and InterContinental Mark Hopkins in San Francisco are being offered the choice of WiFi options: low-bandwidth WiFi for $10 or high-bandwidth service for $15.

InterContinental is not the first hotel company to test the tiered option – other hotel groups including some Hilton brands and Golden Tulip Hospitality Group have offered varying levels of WiFi access for a price, allowing guests to choose how much they want to spend. Still, we’re standing firm on the notion that hotel WiFi should be free.

Readers: What are your thoughts? Does a tiered WiFi plan seem logical?

PC Tools survey: 29% of computer users say it is OK to be online during their honeymoon

by Scott Carmichael on

If you ever needed any evidence that we live in a connected world, consider the results of a recent poll by Harris Interactive. Apparently, being able to keep our online lives up to date means 29% of the 1012 people interviewed said it was perfectly acceptable to stay connected during a honeymoon.

Thankfully only 6% would have no problem staying connected during the wedding itself, though it doesn’t say whether that only applies to guests.

Probably more disturbing is that 12% of those surveyed said they would rather have a colonoscopy than deal with removing spyware from their PC. Waiting in line at the DMV scored 20% and going to the dentist scored 34%. Of course, a survey like this is usually commissioned to promote a product or service, so the results are quick to point out that many of the problems on a PC “can be resolved with the newest version of PC Tools“

Still, commercial survey or not, the fact that you’d rather have a camera shoved up your backside than deal with spyware is a pretty troubling thing to admit to.

Oh, and 79% of those interviewed said they want to keep all their computer files hidden from others, including their children (39%), parents (26%) and spouse (17%). Results like this show that people have a lot to hide. Or, it could just be an admission that 79% of people keep porn on their computer. You be the judge.

Nirvana for aviation fanatics – live flight tracking in Google Earth!

by Scott Carmichael on

Look, you don’t need to be a total aviation nut to enjoy the thrill of live flight tracking. But a new mashup of Google Earth and Flightwise data may be the ultimate in aviation geekery.

The combination results in a live map overlay of every single tracked flight in the country – and the best part is that you can zoom in on any flight, and pull up its information, flight path, delay information and more.

Using the tool is simple – head on over to the Google Earth Gallery, and open the Flightwise KML overlay file. You’ll need to have Google Earth installed, which is free, as is the flight track overlay. You can also play with it online using the Google Earth map on that page.

Admit it – if you are reading Gadling, you are bound to have a little aviation geek inside you, so don’t feel too bad that you are about to waste an hour of your day playing with this new toy, I won’t tell anyone!

New York parks get free wifi and plenty of strings attached

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you thought cable companies Time Warner and Cablevision had any goodwill in their corporate veins, give up. The two companies are sinking a modest $10 million into wifi networks for 32 New York City parks. In exchange, they get a decade-long renewal on their cable market access to the city. So, $10 million in trade for more than 8 million people, some of whom are just dying to sink money into their television habits … not a bad deal, right? That’s just over a dollar a person!

Try again.

Since these two companies can’t be seen as caring about the community, they’re only willing to pony up three 10-minute sessions per person per month for park wifi access, with any extra use costing $0.99 a day. The users, rather than the cable companies, pay the proverbial dollar.

Or, you could just head over to one of the streets that surrounds the park and try to nab an unsecured connection from one of the residences.

[photo by Tony the Misfit via Flickr]

What Middle Eastern country bought its Twitter name from a porn site?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

@Israel hasn’t been used much since being registered on Twitter in 2007. Back then, well before the company crossed the 100 million-user mark, you could get just about any Twitter name you wanted, and Israel Melendez decided he wanted to use his first name. Think of the glory! If this Twitter thing ever hit it big (which, obviously, it did), he’d have the equivalent of a first name Gmail addressor AIM handle. This can be a real badge of honor in some circles.

Well, right away, Melendez thought better of tweeting under @Israel. It turns out that some people thought he was tweeting on behalf of the country, and the Miami resident – and porn site owner – found himself on the receiving end of hefty amounts of political anger and anti-Semitism … 140 tiny characters at a time.

The NY Times reports:

“My account was basically unused because I was getting dozens of replies every day from people who thought the account belonged to the state of Israel,” Mr. Meléndez said.

The country bearing the same name as Melendez was more than happy to take it over, but it didn’t get to do so as a favor to the original owner. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the country did have to pay, and it refused to disclose the terms.

Follow @Gadling on Twitter!

[Via Gawker]