Google Tests Click to Call Advertising

It is no secret that Google quietly tests out new functionality of all kinds on the public before rolling it out in beta and then for good. That practice even holds true for functionality around its flagship search and keyword advertising searches. Rumors have been circulating for the past week on various IP, telephony and VoIP blogs that Google was testing a "click-to-call". function that would let Google connect keyword advertisers with searchers immediately on the telephone.

45 percent tries Mario Kart with WiFi

In its first week of availability, a whopping 45 percent of people who bought the new Mario Kart® DS racing game for Nintendo DS(TM) already have test driven its free Wi-Fi capabilities, setting a new industry standard. This remarkable play rate of Mario Kart DS demonstrates both the easy setup and access of Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's new wireless gaming service, as well as the fun game play that has always characterized the Mario Kart series.

[via Yahoo]

More Free WiFi in San Francisco

Wi-Fi provider MetroFi of Mountain View is scheduled to announce today the premiere of three free wireless Internet hot spots in San Francisco.The hot spots cover the Civic Center plaza, Portsmouth Square and the Ferry Building and will allow laptop and handheld users to access the Internet at download speeds of up to 1 megabit per second.The hot spot rollout is not connected to San Francisco's city-wide wireless project, which MetroFi and 25 other vendors are vying to win. MetroFi and Google have offered to build a free city Wi-Fi system. The company has already made Wi-Fi available in Cupertino, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.

Feds Look to Increase Wireless Space

With the growing number of cellphone users, hotspots, and municipal wireless networks, sooner or later spectrum space will be extremely limited. In a move to keep space available, Congress may require the FCC to make empty broadcast-TV channels, otherwise known as “white spaces”, available to unlicensed wireless networks. This would be aimed at the more rural areas of the country, but it may also benefit the larger population sectors. However, some in the broadcast industry say that the growth of these unlicensed networks may interfere with their signals and could also tie up emergency communications.This could be the broadcast industry’s attempt to protect their own backyard, but time will tell if this move by the government will come to fruition.

WiFi on Trains in Quebec

While Internet access on rails is burgeoning in the UK, it’s limping in North America: But this new agreement by Montreal-based VIA Rail to extend rail-Fi to all VIA 1 (first class) and Comfort (economy class) passengers on the Montreal to Windsor route by Nov. 2006. This includes adding Wi-Fi service to 22 train stations and Panorama lounges by spring. Parsons Corp. provides the service using PointShot’s system.The entire system carried nearly four million passengers in 2004, and the annual report openly admits that competition from air carriers has eaten into their business. Adding Wi-Fi is an excellent move for those who would rather have the luxury of working while they travel in comfort.There’s no mention of service in the Sleeper class, but why Wi-Fi while you sleep?I suspect the timetable reflects a rollout of EVDO and satellite (think: Inmarsat broadband BGAN service) to bring adequate bandwidth along the route. The Montreal Gazette reports that VIA Rail expects 500 Kbps to 3 Mbps performance along the route; their story is behind a subscription firewall.Two stations, five trains (probably from the long-running test that’s been in place), and four Panorama lounges are unwired already.The brandname for this service, by the way, is Opti-Fi, which is also the name of a U.S. Wi-Fi operator found in airports. Opti-Fi owned by ARINC, Parsons, and Airport Assets, which may explain the extension of the service’s name. (ARINC is also behind AeroMobile, which will offer voice and data via Inmarsat satellite in competition with Boeing and OnAir.)

Nintendo UK WiFi Launched

Nintendo will launch a free, UK-wide wireless gaming service for owners of its DS handheld console on 25 November.The scheme, dubbed the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, comes courtesy of deals struck with Wi-Fi hotspot companies The Cloud and BT Openzone, and will ensure any DS owner within range of a participating hotspot can connect wirelessly to a similarly located player and engage in networked virtual combat.Together the two hotspot providers run more than 7,500 Wi-Fi access points, and Nintendo pledged to increase that number by installing BT Openzone hotspots in "major video games retailers and other key outlets across the UK".The games company will also launch a £30 PC-connected USB Wi-Fi adaptor for the DS to allow console owners to create a wireless network from any home computer with a broadband Internet connection.Gaming is free, attracting no fees or subscription charges, Nintendo said. The catch is that any other usage will be billed at whatever tariffs the relevant hotspot owner charges, so no gratis web surfing or emailing, we're afraid.The UK roll-out will be accompanied by a similar network across continental Europe, backed by a number of local wireless service providers. Nintendo will ship DS versions of Mario Kart on the launch date, which takes place a week after the similarly network-enabled Tony Hawk's American SK8Land goes on sale.