Jeff Veen had some interesting thoughts last night on speaking at events where access to wifi might be a potential distraction to the audience and the speaker: Is anyone listening? WiFi and the new ADD. I’ve had similar thoughts at recent conferences. continued

Just arrived in Sydney this morning. Still trying to orientate myself. John Allsopp picked up Joe Clark and me (we happened to be on the same flight out of LAX) from the airport early this morning. I only have 6 minutes left on a pay-per-minute access account, so this is going to be a quick one. Dave and I have walked all over the Chinatown/UTS area looking for wireless access, or some place where we can connect our laptops to a wired connection. No one seems to know what wireless access or “wifi” is here. And all the “internet cafes” (they look more like gaming casinos to us) all require that we use their computers. And the local proprietors all stare at us blankly when we ask where we might find such a rarity. continued

If you followed my recent mention of the installed wifi at SBC Park, you’ll also be interested in Michael Myser’s interview with Bill Schlough (the Giants’ Chief Information Officer) just published at Wired News. In the interview, Schlough discusses the decision to install wifi in the park, its effects, and their past and future implementations of other technologies. Apparently the relationship with SBC benefits the team and the stadium in more ways than one. He makes a statement that the Giants have the largest IT staff compared with other baseball outfits, and added that the fans in the Bay Area are not only comfortable with more embedded technology in the game-going experience, they expect it.

Benny Evangelista writes an interesting article for the SF Chronicle on the recently installed wifi at SBC Park. I read about the new wifi several weeks ago before opening day, but this is the first I’ve seen public mention about it in local media. Note: “SBC Park has been outfitted with 121 high-speed wireless Internet access points, making the ballpark one giant Wi-Fi hot spot.” continued