Thursday, August 07, 2003

More on the Sunday Business Post

(I know, I know, it's Thursday, but I only got around to reading last Sunday's papers last night).

I read the Computers in Business section, which had a feature article on Wi-Fi. For those who don't know, Wi-Fi is basically a means of connecting computers to a network (including the internet) without wires. I've read a lot about this and am considering buying an access point and Wireless card for my laptop. That way my house would be a "hot-spot" and I could surf the internet wherever I am in the house.

However, the gist of the article was about the development of "hot-spots" in airports, hotels, etc. All very positive. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I also only got around to last Thursday's Irish Independent Digital Ireland section. They also had an article on Wi-Fi, but it was negative.

Now, I'm no tech head or anything, but having seen Wi-Fi in action in the US and heard people raving about it, I can't understand the Independent's line on this at all. I know that these kind of theories are tremendous stretches, but my first instinct was to wonder if Wi-Fi represented a threat to Eircom, which is owned by Valentia. And, among Valentia's key investors is Tony O'Reilly, who is also the principal owner of the Irish Independent.

This is how my mind works - sort of like hot-linking on the web. I'm sure there's nothing to it, but still I can't understand the Independent's negative line on Wi-Fi.