This holiday season, Boingo and Google have cooked up a little something to take the edge off your travel excursions: the gift of airport Wi-Fi. That’s right: from November 10th to January 15th, you can access complimentary Boingo Wi-Fi at select airports in the U.S. (see list below).  This limited time offer is brought to you by Google, a premier sponsor of Boingo’s Sponsored Wi-Fi Access program. Our sponsorship program benefits everyone involved by allowing:

• Travelers to enjoy complimentary Wi-Fi
• Sponsors such as Google to have the opportunity to interact with potential customers
• Airports to preserve non-airline revenue needed to offset decreasing airline-related revenue

Love is all around!

Here is a list of participating airports:

1. Austin (AUS)
2. Baltimore (BWI)
3. Billings (BIL)
4. Buffalo (BUF)
5. Bozeman (BZN)
6. Des Moines (DSM)
7. El Paso (ELP)
8. Greensboro (GSO)
9. Houston Airports – Hobby (HOU)
10. Houston Airports – Bush (IAH)
11. Kalamazoo (AZO)
12. Louisville (SDF)
13. Memphis (MEM)
14. Milwaukee (MKE)
15. Monterey (MRY)
16. Nashville (BNA)
17. Newport News (PHF)
18. Norfolk (ORF)
19. Oklahoma City (OKC)
20. Portland, Maine (PWM)
21. South Bend (SBN)
22. Toledo (TOL)
23. Traverse City (TVC)
24. State College (UNV)
25. Spokane (GEG)
26. St. Louis (STL)

Have a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Wi-Fi!

Read the Google press release here.

Read the Boingo press release here.

Introducing  Dr. Enoch Choi, a Family Medicine partner in urgent care at Palo Alto Medical Foundation. In his spare time, Enoch is a prolific blogger, a clinical instructor at Stanford University School of Medicine, a volunteer at the Community Pregnancy Center of Mountain View, a member on various boards including the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church Medical Missions, an advisor for venture firms, a doting father, a dedicated husband, and a fantastic  karaoke singer. This is far from an exhaustive list of all the things that make up Dr. Enoch Choi. That’s why “Renaissance Man” is an apt description for him.

Recently, Dr. Choi spoke  about the H1N1 virus (”swine flu”),  emphasizing the importance of getting vaccinated. Even if you rarely get sick and don’t usually get the flu shot, he says, this year is the time to do it. People who are  most vulnerable to H1N1? Pregnant women, those with already compromised immune systems, young children,  and travelers.

That’s right, you globetrotters! Even if you’re as  healthy as a horse, get vaccinated because on the road, you’re exposed to a considerable amount of germs, including H1N1. To listen to Dr. Choi’s entire chat, please click here.

Meanwhile, we delved into one of Enoch’s many pastimes: traveling. Here are a few of his travel tips:

1. Is there a gadget you can’t live without?

The iPhone.

2. When you travel, what is the one item you always take with you?
I always pack a corkscrew.

3. What is your favorite city in the world and why?
Singapore because it’s multicultural, clean, affordable, accessible, and a gateway to Southeast Asia.

4. What is your favorite dining spot in the world?
The hawker stalls in Singapore.

5. What book is on your nightstand?
Testosterone for Life by Abraham Morgentaler.  

6. What’s the most surprising/unexpected place you’ve ever visited?
Poyang hu, in the Jiang Su Province of China.

7. Can you offer an insider tip or recommendation for your favorite vacation place?
Get unlimited data / wi-fi access for wherever you’re going. I confess: I’m a big Boingo Wi-Fi fan.

Thanks, Dr.  Renaissance Man! Keep saving the world!

You asked for it, and we’ve delivered! Boingo Mobile, our Wi-Fi service for mobile devices and smartphones, is now available on the Blackberry® Curve 8900, Blackberry Curve 8320 and BlackBerry® Bold.

For just $7.95 per month, Boingo Mobile gives you a high-speed alternative to cellular data so you surf the Internet, download large files, upload pictures, and stream video — all on your Blackberry. Usage is unlimited and you can connect all over the globe. That’s right, surf to your heart’s content while you travel for business or pleasure and save on international roaming costs.

To get Boingo Mobile, first download our free login software directly to your Blackberry. The software tells you when you’re in a Boingo hotspot and automatically connects you. Next, sign up via the software; or alternatively sign up on a PC.

We’re constantly working to expand our portfolio of smartphone support, which now includes the Android™, iPhone®, Symbian™ Series 60, and Windows Mobile™ platforms. We know how much y’all love those mobile devices of yours!

To download the free Boingo software for Blackberry, click here.

To download Boingo software for other mobile devices, click here.

To sign up for Boingo Mobile Wi-Fi for your Blackberry, click here.

Read the press release here.

Fritz Faerber of the San Francisco Examiner shares some helpful tips for traveling abroad with your iPhone (or any GSM phone) without incurring a hefty bill:

1. Disable “Data Roaming”
2. Turn off email “Fetch” option
3. Consider adding a temporary international calling plan
4. Consider adding a temporary international data plan
5. Keep track of usage statistics
6. Connect to Wi-Fi whenever possible

Need to locate a Wi-Fi hotspot? Check out our Location Directory. We have a feeling you won’t have any trouble finding a Boingo hotspot overseas.

Read the entire article here.

Good news for Boingo members who live or travel frequently in Europe: we’ve just added 4000 new Wi-Fi locations in Sweden, courtesy of our partner TeliaSonera!

“The locations include: convenience stores and gas stations such as 7-Eleven, Bilisten, OKQ8, Pressbyrån and Statoil; hotels such as Best Western, Clarion Choice, Ibis Hotels and Quality Hotels; grocery stores and supermarkets, including City Gross, Coop Sweden, Hemköp and ICA; camping sites, including First Camp; retailers, like Wayne’s Coffee; as well as airports, marinas, train stations, and Surfzon Wi-Fi hotspots.”

Read all about it here.

Ad network JiWire just published a great report on Wi-Fi usage trends that are quite similar to the data Boingo published back in June. The meat of the data, as summarized by Christina Warren of Mashable:

“In the first half of 2009, JiWire saw mobile device ad-request usage while on a WiFi network increase 79%. WiFi-capable smartphones and net-connected devices are a hot trend, so this isn’t surprising, but check this out: in North America, 97.8% of all Wi-Fi device ad requests were from either an iPhone or an iPod Touch.

Even more interesting, these numbers completely align with a study that Boingo published in June. In Boingo’s study, which evaluated mobile device usage at WiFi networks in airports, the iPhone and the iPod touch accounted for 93.9% of all associated devices.

Two studies with from two different companies are showing essentially the same results: iPhone and iPod touch users really take advantage of public WiFi.”

I just installed the new Facebook app for iPhone 3.0 and am thoroughly impressed by the cleaner, more intuitive user interface. Here is a list of things that are fixed/added in this new version:

• An icon-driven homescreen grid that allows for easier navigation through the various functions within your account
• An adjunct page from the homescreen (just scroll over) that lets you add shortcuts to “favorite friends and pages”
• Landscape mode view
• The ability to upload videos from the iPhone 3GS (best to use this over Wi-Fi, of course)
• The ability to make friend requests and flag that you “like” a post
• Newsfeeds that are truly up to date. One of my pet peeves about the previous app was that the newsfeed didn’t reflect the real-time updates displayed in the PC view. In fact, this is a problem I’ve noticed with Facebook apps across all mobile platforms. But now the iPhone Facebook app has pulled ahead of the pack!

For me, the best thing is the app doesn’t have the look and feel of a re-purposed PC app. As evidenced by the icon-driven homescreen grid, this upgrade was designed for the iPhone.

Have you installed the new Facebook app on your iPhone? If so, what are your thoughts?

A newsfeed that is up to date

Clean, easy-to-navigate homescreen

Accessible by scrolling over from the homescreen

Mark Sigal of technology site O’Reilly celebrated his 10-year wedding anniversary with the wife by taking a trip to Europe. What made their trip a little unusual is that they brought an iPod Touch as their only communication device — no cell phone, no pager, no laptop. And guess what? They survived the trip with flying colors (and probably saved a lot of moolah)!

Here are some (free!) Apple apps that helped them:

• Google Mobile Maps (pre-installed): visually navigate to destinations in real time and push-pin favorite destinations.
  
• Yelp: search for restaurants and other businesses, then use Google Mobile Maps for directions.
  
• Facebook: share vacation adventures and pics with family and friends.
  
• Kindle: read your travel book on-the-go.
  
• Notes (pre-installed): capture daily food and water intake and other related health data.

Additionally, Sigal shares a caveat about traveling with just the iPod Touch:

“Not having reliable connectivity in mobile contexts crippled some of the utility of Google Mobile Maps since it essentially removed the Real-Time goodness of the app. Moreover, it crimped the ability to search for nearby restaurants when on the move.”

And, in true technologist form, Sigal gives Apple a helpful recommendation for the Wi-Fi connection experience:

“… it seems that Apple could make MobileMe even more essential for iPod Touch owners by bundling into it a Boingo-like Wi-Fi Universal Pass so at least queue-level store and forward services can autonomously be negotiated for the mobility-oriented user.

I have to be honest: I couldn’t do it. But I have an unhealthy dependence on my numerous devices. What about you? Do you think you can vacation overseas with just an iPod Touch?

Read the entire article here.

Nokia issued a press release today announcing their foray into the PC market. The Nokia 3G Booklet, “a mini laptop,” features the following functionality:

• Intel Atom processor
• 12 hours of battery life
• 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi
• A-GPS for navigation and geotagging

Sounds like a compelling device!

It’s interesting that a handset manufacturer is crossing over to the laptop market, and clearly the reverse strategy is also in effect. In a related article, Lorraine Luk of the Wall Street Journal discusses how PC-makers such as Dell, HP, Acer, and of course Apple have recently forayed into the smartphone market.

Nothing like a down economy to spur innovation and more choices for consumers! Let’s sit back, relax, and enjoy the mobile computing race!

A plane at Newark airport had been stuck on the tarmac for quite some time before the pilot asked if anybody on the flight had a laptop with a Wi-Fi connection. The reason? The pilot needed to identify where the storms were so that he could bypass them (evidently, some planes just aren’t advanced enough) . A passenger named Evan brought his Wi-Fi connected laptop to the cockpit and voila! a hero was born.

Read the rest of the story here.