While politics and telecom companies stifle area-wide Wi-Fi networks in metro areas, a single entrepreneur is able to set one up over 700 miles of high desert. Businesses, law enforcement, even the feds are using it.
Missouri officials say there's no Big Brother agenda in a state project to manage traffic on the highways by snagging data from commuters' cell phones. But privacy advocates are cautious.
Google bids on a plan to provide Wi-Fi service that would enable anyone in San Francisco to connect to the internet for free. A dozen other companies are competing to create the citywide service.
The little search engine that could continues evolving into a Hydralike monster. Its newest head will chew its way into the wireless internet world, making Google a direct competitor of ISPs and telecom companies.
Millions of migratory birds cross continents every year, but their routes are largely unknown. Now scientists hope to track their flight paths in great detail by giving birds tiny cell phones. By Mark Baard.
After a New York man's cell phone goes missing, he logs onto his Sprint phone's website and sees pictures and videos taken by the gadget's new owner. By Kevin Poulsen.
Not in my back yard: Even those who use cell phones would rather the providers locate towers someplace other than their neighborhoods, for health and other reasons.
Personal, Portable, Pedestrian offers a rich, textured look at the role keitai culture plays in Japanese life, and a glimpse of what the future holds for the rest of us. By Xeni Jardin.
Scientists work to turn mobile phones into a distributed network capable of measuring pollution levels -- and possibly detecting biological weapons before they can be launched. By Rachel Metz.
Civil liberties groups line up against a proposal that would enable the bureau to tap into airborne internet services in order to snoop on passengers. By Kevin Poulsen.
Mobile phones are beefing up with multimedia applications, including video and live TV. Is this just the kind of jingle that wireless investors have been waiting for? Commentary by Joanna Glasner.
The iFiber-Redwire team, competing in the Wi-Fi shootout at DefCon, breaks an SUV and a leg making an unprecedented low-power computer link across 125 miles of desert. Kim Zetter reports from Las Vegas.
At their annual meeting, cable television operators dream of a future in which they hawk wireless devices to their customers, seeing big bucks in pulling the plug. Michael Grebb reports from Philadelphia.