You Are A WiFi Finder

The ultimate in Internet geekiness may be available through ThinkGeek. It's a t-shirt that glows to indicate the strength of nearby WiFi hotspots. Put this on and Internet addicts will follow you anywhere. Better yet, BE the hotspot and you'll have them eating out of the palm of your hand... or at least the signal you're radiating.

The Wi-Fi Detector Shirt by ThinkGeek is a black cotton t-shirt with a removable decal that shows a tower and radiating signal lines. Those lines light up in proportion to the signal strength of a nearby 802.11b or 802.11g WiFi hotspot signal. The closer you get, the more it glows.

Oh, wait. I can see a couple on the beach running toward each other. Their detector shirts get brighter and brighter as they approach until finally...ZAP. The power of love was just too much for the detector circuits and they fizzled.

OK, that's probably a bit far-fetched. But there is a way to make your detector shirt glow brighter as you approach the object of your affection. All they need is to be carrying a MiFi Personal Hotspot. That's the cool new device that slips in a shirt or jacket pocket, or can be tucked into a laptop bag or purse. The MiFi combines a wireless modem aircard for Sprint or Verizon Wireless Internet service along with a WiFi card to create a completely wireless roving hotspot. It can be used to secretly give you broadband access where others have none. Well, not so secret when someone with a detector shirt nears.

Say, are you still in pursuit of a compatible significant other? In that case, YOU bring the MiFi hotspot and wear the shirt. Geeks in the know will immediately recognize your radiating 2.4 GHz powers to connect and gather near. You can let up to 5 of them share your walking broadband connection. Will they love you for it? Will they buy you food in return for your generous connectivity? They better. Otherwise, they get shunned as a more promising follower is enabled for WiFi Internet. As Tom Petty said, "It's good to be king."

By the way, if you aren't into being a hotspot on the hoof but still want to draw attention to yourself, there's also an equalizer T-Qualizer Shirt. It has one of those spectrum analyzer displays with the signal bars that you see on many stereo receivers. It's got a built-in microphone, so all you need to do is swagger into a club or party and switch on the EQ display. Why, the moving lights in time to the music might even have a hypnotic effect on those you wish to impress. It will be up to you to use that power for good and not evil... as I'm sure you will.

T-Mobile 3G Aircard For PC and Mac

Would you like to be able to connect your laptop computer to the T-Mobile 3G mobile data network? How about free access to T-Mobile HotSpots? Ah, what you need is the T-Mobile webConnect USB Laptop Stick.

This "stick" is a wireless modem aircard with a swiveling USB connector. It plugs into a USB port on your PC or Macintosh computer. For PCs you'll need to be running Windows XP or Vista. For Macs, it's OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

An advantage of this aircard is that it gives you access to the Internet just about anywhere you can get a T-Mobile cellular signal. That's much of the U.S., although you should check the coverage maps to make sure you'll get a strong signal where you expect to be. In strong 3G signal areas, you'll be connected at speeds comparable to DSL or Cable Modems using the HSDPA protocol. In weaker areas, you'll still get EDGE 2G connectivity for broadband or near-broadband speeds.

You'll also be connected to T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots with unlimited free access. Normally you have to pay a fee to connect to these in Starbucks coffee shops, Borders Books, FedEX Kinko's Office and Print Centers and various airports and major airline clubs. But buy this aircard and data service plan and you'll get the HotSpots thrown in free.

Note that the built-in T-Mobile Connection Manager finds you the best connection for where you are, be it 2G, 3G or WiFi, and makes the connection. That greatly expands your ability to operate at broadband speeds just about everywhere.

But there's even more. The webConnect USB Laptop Stick features a built-in microSD slot that supports up to 8 GB memory cards. Use this instead of another portable flash memory drive when you are on the go.

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