Hot Spots: Understanding Limits

Internet Access Here Sign

Image by Steve Rhode via Flickr

Limitation is an unfortunate word — and one you often refuse to consider. Taming impulses is tedious; accepting boundaries is dull. You choose instead to embrace the notion of endless possibilities…. especially within the online world.

The Internet is a cluster of exchanges and unseen encryptions. There are — you believe — no restrictions within it. And so you find yourself surprised when a network suddenly… fails: stripping you of access and ease.

Your router isn’t without fault. It instead demands a hot spot.

Explained simply: a hot spot is a designated area that provides users with ways to enter the Internet through wireless connections. They act as central hubs — with devices able to intercept their signals without requiring authentication or passwords. They are most commonly found within popular shops or attractions, where crowds are certain to gather.

Assuming that they can be reached at any location is a mistake, however. Distance defines hot spots: with their range tempered to a carefully maintained length (often no more than 100 feet). Users hovering beyond the limits won’t receive Internet access. They will instead be denied.

It’s important to remember therefore that even the strongest routers can’t manufacture signals in dead space — the miles that offer no connections, however weak. Hot spots must instead be sought. Choosing heavily populated areas provides the best chance for finding them (though it is recommended to avoid residential streets, as these signals are typically password protected).

Hot spots offer convenience. They must first simply be found.

 

Where Do i Find Hot Spots?

First it is important to define “hot spot”. “Hot spot” refers to a location that has internet connectivity, usually referring to WiFi or wireless connectivity. In a hot spot one can connect their iPhone or many other electronic devices to the internet. So in a very simple sense a hot spot is a place where you can obtain internet service by connecting to a network.

Hot spots can be found all over the place. Particularly in developed nations hot spots can be found in libraries, restaurants, coffee shops and many other business and public places. For many types of business that require the customer to wait for any length of time, hot spots are becoming a required aspect to the provided service. Places you may not have ever though of providing you with wireless service are start to offer it such as the oil change garage.

Hot spot locations are often free but this is not always the case. Some establishments still require the user to sign up and pay for the service they are providing. Other establishments require you to purchase something from them before they will allow you to connect to their password protected network. Still others only require you to be members of some sort of club to connect to their network.

With the growing availability of hot spots the Internet is definitely no longer only accessed from home. No longer are you required to stay home to use your computer on the internet. Now you can venture out and do whatever you need to do on the world wide web from many places you stop on your daily rounds.

We Are Not Human. We Are Androids.

SwiftKey on a Google Nexus One
Image via Wikipedia

It’s hard to believe that some talk casually about androids as if it’s second-nature. In some science fiction world, it’s an apocalyptic holocaust of dynamic proportions when fearless machines wage war on the sick and weakened flesh of the John Connor mentality, these cyborgs of death implanting laser-like bullets into the heads of the terrified innocent! “We are not human, we are androids”, indeed! You have to love science fiction, though.

Sadly, though, when people talk about ‘androids’, they’re not talking about shiny metal robots carrying guns. No. What they’re talking about is actually a lot smaller–and those smaller ‘androids’ don’t carry any guns.

‘Android’ in modern-day technology terminology is actually a word to describe a type of software used in smart phones. It’s software designed by the global giant called Google, and you can find the system installed in several phones already. An “android” phone is not a phone, by the way. Most “android” aficionados would cringe and shrivel up like dry plants if you had asked that. So take precautions and don’t. Please. Also, don’t confuse an android phone with a product such as the Verizon “Droid”, which is a completely different brand that has nothing to do with Google. While a ‘droid’ is technically an ‘android’, it’s not the same thing in smart phone language.

To better understand ‘Android’, know that it’s basically a bundled service powered by Google that includes basically everything and anything surrounding Google, like Google Maps, Gmail, Google Earth, Google Calendar, and YouTube. Now if you know Google well, you’d know that their capacity for state-of-the-art service is king. So you can imagine the power and efficiency of an “android” phone. Top-notch.

So here’s what you do: the next time someone says, “What is an android phone?” you’ll know what to say. Repeat everything in this little article, and you’ll be the king of conversation. Not to mention they’ll be jealous of your sleek Google Nexus One!