ALSO NOTED: United to offer in-flight WiFi; New Orleans uses WiFi for storm prep; and much more...

> United Airlines will begin to offer WiFi service on some of its flights. The airline is beginning to offer the service after Verizon Airfone said it would no longer offer in-flight phone service to United passengers after the end of the year. Report [1]

Going WiFi
> New Orleans is getting ready for another wave of hurricanes--among other things, by rolling out WiFi networks. Report [2]

> Loveland, CO is considering downtown WiFi service. Report [3]

> Appleton, WI, Harry Houdini's birthplace, is also mulling turning parts of the city into hot zones. Report [4]

> But here is an argument, accompanied by aerial photographs, of why making Silicon Valley into one large hot zone is not going to work: Too many obstacles, too much money to overcome them. Discussion [5]

> Terrestrial Digital is showing four new WLAN antennas. The four antennas are different from each other, but all are 802.11b/g compliant and all operate in the 2.4 GHz band. Press release [6].

> The specifications of the 802.11n standard are yet to be agreed upon, but Linksys is already shipping pre-n devices to the Australian market. Report [7]

>  Some industry heavyweights--KPN Mobile, Orange, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile International, Vodafone Group--have formed a nonprofit organization in the U.K., called Next Generation Mobile Networks, or NGMN. The group's goal is the deployment of 4G devices by 2010. NGMN Web site [8].

> If you want to know more about the emerging 4G technology, see this useful Cedric Paillard's article [9].

> Good news for EarthLink: Direct TV and AOL will sell EarthLink WiFi services to their customers. Report [10]

And finally... There are always winners and losers. Consumers benefit from the spread of VoIP, but operators lose big on calling and roaming revenues. Study [11]