Just one month ago, Houstonist asked the question: "Where's the free wi-fi?" We finally have our answer. On August 19th, the city of Houston announced that they'd created a large cluster of free wi-fi locations throughout the dowtown area, both in an effort to provide the free wireless access that has been long-promised by Mayor White's administration and to promote the continuing revitalization of downtown as a destination to work, live and play. They've even......

Slate takes notice of what millions of Houstonians already know: Houston, We Have No Problems (a longer version of the article can be found here, in Newsweek). Similar to the recent Kiplinger's article that named Houston as the nation's best city in which to "Live, Work and Play," the Slate article touts Houston's booming and diversified economy (we're only 50% dependent upon oil and gas, you know), the Texas Medical Center, the Port of......

::NetSquared Meetup at Stag's Head:: Join the Houston NetSquared Meetup tonight as they welcome Robin Reagler, Executive Director of Writers in the Schools (WITS). She will discuss the history of WITS and ways that her organization is reaching out to low income students and changing lives. Who should attend? Anyone who has a passion for social issues and a love/morbid curiosity for technology should attend our Net2 discussions! We welcome all techie levels, as......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Houston's Startup Corridor Startup Houston has recently posted an informative blog post on Proposing Houston's Startup Corridor. The post suggests that Houston's Starup Corridor could start with The Houston Technology Center on one end and Rice University on the other and somewhere near the middle is the latest startup The Caroline Collective. Startup Houston is seeking your comments on their idea, head over to their site......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Web Based Business Startup School The Houston Technology Center is starting a series of classes on Web Based Businesses. The first class is Wednesday, March 12, 2008 from 12pm to 1pm. The guest speaker will be Kevin Lacobie Founder and Chief Officer of Agoric Source, LLC. Seating is limited so make your reservations now. Living The iLife Next Saturday, the Houston Area Apple Users Group will......

Local Tech News in a compact, digital format....

Paging all music nerds and iPhone junkies. Two enterprising Austinites, Jon Loyens and Bryon Jacob, have created a website designed to place the full South by Southwest line up in the palm of your hand. Their site, sxswinfo.com, is optimized for viewing on your trendy little gadget. Just navigate to it via your iPhone browser. The site also works on laptops, but did not seem to load correctly on Houstonist's CrackBerry BlackBerry. The site should......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Dwight Watch Dwight Silverman, local tech guru, tackles installing the first service pack for Microsoft Vista. Dwight installs it on various platforms with various results. Dwight's also has been blogging about a workaround for Comcast's unethical treatment of bandwidth, he also unboxes the MacBook Air and touches on what could be the nail in the coffin of the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray saga. Local Calendar Feb 19:......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format....

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. State Of The Mac Address This is your early warning from the Houston Area Apple Users Group. Bob "Dr. Mac" Levitus will be giving a State of the Mac address, Saturday, February 16, 2008 starting at 10am at the Looscan Library on Willowick. Late Night Links Because Grand Stream Dreams has recently had some sleepless nights, we benefit with his Cures for Late-night Boredom. Check out......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Apple Swap Meet Next Weekend It's coming! The Houston Area Apple Users Group semi-annual swap meet is happening next weekend, January 26th at the UH Hilton. Please check the HAAUG site for registration information and fees. Good luck finding that Apple Newton or Lisa you've been looking for! Sprint Nextel To Close 35 Retail Stores In Houston From the Houston Business Journal come this interesting news......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Something's Brewing At WhiteBoard Labs Houston based WhiteBoard Labs is currently beta-testing MotionNotes, a web based app that allows messaging via video and multimedia interfaces such as Flash movies, PowerPoint Presentations and slideshows. MotionNotes is slated for release this fall. WhiteBoard Labs was founded in 1994 and is a recognized leader and pioneer in the development of Rich Internet Applications. PlaceShout It Out Loud There's a......

If you missed last year's MamaDramaConQueso blogger meet up like we did, you are probably still kicking yourself for missing a chance to see Dwight Silverman take his clothes off, like we are. (kicking ourselves, not taking our clothes off). But that can be arranged. The brainchild of two of our favorite, most hilarious local bloggers, GirlConQueso and The Bloggess, MamaDramaConQueso II, just as the first one, is a chance to get together with other......

CBSSports.com hand-picked 16 cheerleaders around the nation and decided to hold a College Cheerleader of the Week Playoff system with the winner being crowned College Cheerleader of the Year on January 21. UH's Taucha Hogue defeated what Southern Cal had to offer in the first round and now she's in the quarterfinals. Hogue took time out of her busy schedule to chat with Houstonist. First off, please give us some information about your high......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. In this edition of Tech Buzz we are going highlight the best and most notable posts and events of 2007. We covered a lot of technology and internet related Houston based stories this year and these are our top picks. Houston's Failed Citywide Wi-Fi Project The biggest tech story of the year was Houston's failure to secure and provide wi-fi services for our tech savvy netizens.......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. NASA Plans TV Coverage Space Station Holiday Delivery NASA Television is planning to provide live coverage on Wednesday, December 26th when the International Space Station will receive a post Christmas gift, a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies as well as holiday gifts. Check your local listings for coverage of this event. Grand Stream Dreams Grand Stream Dreams has been busy this week. He's got......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. No New Timing System For Houston Marathon Officials for the Chevron Houston Marathon have opted not to use a new timing system by Michigan-based SAI Timing and Tracking after it failed to operate correctly during a marathon in Honolulu. Chevron Houston Marathon officials have decided to stick with ChampionChip, the timing system it has used since 2000. Early Warning: HAAUG Swap Meet Mark your calendars, the......

Houstonist told you about Continental's new mobile boarding pass service in last week's Tech Buzz. This week we tested the service. Step 1: Check-in via the Continental PDA web site (http://pda.continental.com/) Assuming you have web access on your PDA (duh), you should be able to complete this on the shuttle ride from the parking lot like we did. Navigating to the mobile site was painless. And, the email containing our boarding pass hyperlink hit our......

Perspectives 159: Superconscious, Automatisms Now December 14, 2007 – March 9, 2008 Opening reception December 13, 2007, 6:30-9:00 p.m. Sigh. This is Houston's last hurrah with Senior CAMH Curator Paola Morsiani, and we are sad. Having been with the CAMH for over eight years, Morsiani is heading north to become Curator of Contemporary Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, an internationally renowned encyclopedic museum in the midst of a $258 million renovation and expansion.......

::Social Media & Web 2.0 Happy Hour:: Do you spend more time on Facebook than you do reading a book? Do your sentences end with, "I'm SO Twittering that."? Do you scour the internet begging for invites to Beta testing of new sites? You're not alone. And there is help and support for people like you. Join your kind tonight at Sonoma Wine Bar as Houston's Social Media Community celebrates the season at the Houston......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. City Duped By New Court Technology City officials are threatening a lawsuit against Maximus Inc, the company that was hired to supposedly make things easier for the municipal court system. Officials are giving the company until Thursday to come up with a plan to work out the bugs. The city has already dropped a cool $10 million into this flawed system. Continental Allows Cellphone Check In......

The Biomimicry Guild and the AIA Committee on the Environment will host a lecture this Wednesday (12/05/07) on Biomimicry its uses and applications. Dayna Baumeister, PhD, and co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, will give the evening lecture which will then be follow by two workshop sessions on Thursday and Friday. For those less familiar, Biomimicry is "a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and imitates them to solve human problems." But wait, aren't......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Local blog roundup Grand Stream Dreams has some defrag tools for you. Mike McGuff is back from Japan, check out the videos on his site. jkOnTheRun has some new reviews and apps for you to check out. HAL-PC Prepares To Party If you've been thinking of joining HAL-PC, now is the time because HAL-PC is getting ready for its annual Christmas party. The party will be......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Indra Vishnampet: Local Entrepeneur Indra Vishnampet who was recently named "Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year" by The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Greater Houston sat down with Purva Patel of The Houston Chronicle and answered a few questions about her local multi-million dollar software integration business which has offices in Houston, Canada and India. Missouri City Not Experiencing "Comcastic" Service Hats off to a group of......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. The $199 PC Dwight Silverman reviews the Everex/Google $199 PC whose target market includes low-income and first-time PC buyers. The Kids Are Alright The Houston Business Journal covers the emergence of Gen Y's in the modern workforce and the specific needs of this generation of workers. Must Be Jelly Cause Jam Don't Work Like That Have you heard of Jelly? "Jelly is an every-so-often casual coworking......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. So, Nobody Reads Your Blog? Mike McGuff sits down with Rick Calvert, CEO and co-founder of the BlogWorld & New Media Expo and they discuss how to get your blog read. Free Software Linkfest Grand Stream Dreams has collected a few Freeware links that he feels you should know about. Software ranging from password managers to dead link removal tools. There are quite a few links......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Keyboard Reviews Dwight Silverman over at The Chronicle has reviewed a couple of keyboards. One from Microsoft and another from Logitech. Check out his article for the lowdown on this new hardware. Raawwr! Leopard Unleashed The latest OS from Mac, Leopard 10.5 is on the loose. JKOnTheRun, Dwight Silverman and Dr. Mac have all recently run articles on this revolutionary new operating system from Apple. Metro......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Dwight Roundup Here's what Dwight Silverman over at the Chronicle has been blogging and writing about recently. Apple Leopard, what will be your next computer, analog TV's, gibbons and leopards, Firefox updates, software freebies and Comcast throttling customers. HAAUG and OS X Leopard The Houston Area Apple Users Group and Dreux Ste. Marie will bring you a review of the new Mac OS, Leopard. This event......

::OpMom Web 2.0 Launch Party at Benjy's:: Three things we love: Moms, Web 2.0, and Benjy's. Can't go wrong here. And Houstonist has your ticket to this private launch party. Unless you've been living under a Web 1.0 rock, you are probably aware that Houston has recently been a hot bed for Social Media Startups, as Brad Hem reported this weekend. One of these ventures, the locally-based OpMom, tonight celebrates their own jaunt into Web......

::Inprint Brown Reading Series - Richard Powers & Jennifer Egan:: For the 27th year, Inprint presents one of the finest reading series in the country, giving Houstonians a chance to hear from and meet some of the world’s leading writers. From September through April, 14 renowned authors will come to Houston, many for the first time, sharing their work and insights. These authors’ works address pressing contemporary issues, taking us on a journey around the......