Google seems to have expanded its WiFi initiative, in some sense, to Bryant Park in New York. The park, located in a broad expanse of concrete, lawns, and hundreds of small tables behind the New York Public Library, is one of the most delightful outdoor lunch spots in the city, and provides free WiFi. Mark Evans put a picture of the Bryant Park wireless network plaque on his blog, with a recently added "Sponsored by Google" slug on the sign. Indeed, the Bryant Park Web site notes the sponsorhip also. Unclear is the nature of the sponsorship. One blog commenter notes that Bryant Park has done a superlative job providing anonymous access, and the park is a role model for civic-service WiFi. It would be a shame if Google disrupted the model, and so far that seems not to be the case.
1. This is old news. Google has been sponsering bryant park for several months. Here is a link to a picture someone put on flickr that was taken in May.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dov/17044401/
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Allen Hutchison