I vacationed right through the explosion of interest and news about Google WiFi. It seems clear to me that the couple of Bay-area WiFi points aren't the real story, but Google Secure Access, the WiFi client that routes outgoing and incoming traffic through Google servers, is. Like the flamed-out Google Web Accelerator, the purpose of GSA seems to be to touch Internet traffic. SEW's Danny Sullivan notes that the Toolbar accomplishes the same thing (when Advanced Features are turned on), at much less cost. But (as Sullivan also notes) wireless Internet access is a much larger arena in which to play that card.

Google is delightfully sly about the release of this thing, if you can call incognito viral marketing a "release." People all over the world are now apparently using Google Secure Access successfully with their local hotspots. Google's testing is reportedly limited to its two Bay-asre spots.