Our good friends at Tropos Networks have selected the top 12 pictures in their “Coolest use of CityWide Wi-Fi Photo Contest!”. We’ve been running a link to this contest on our front page of Devicescape - so couldn’t ourselves submit photos - but they’ve got some great ones showing people connecting in some surprising places. Check out the photos and put in your vote. The lucky winner gets a brand new 17″ Apple MacBook Pro laptop. Runners up get the Sony Mylo. Check out how and where people are using wi-fi these days and cast your vote!

Just a quick reminder that we’ll be presenting in the Web 2.0 Open beta room this afternoon at 4pm. We’re going to be talking about the ways that Devicescape is currently helping enable Mobile 2.0, as well as some thoughts for what we can enable in the future through web APIs for our service, and even APIs that let web applications communicate with devices.

It’s always so fabulous when a customer completely understands the value of what you provide and even shares the vision of what you are striving to deliver in the future. A recent post to the Off Beat Mammal site so perfectly defines the Devicescape value proposition that I want to share it. Check out this post titled: “Never Log on to a Hotspot Again” where Off Beat Mammal writes:

“I’m hoping one day to be able to go anywhere in the world and not have to think about connecting but just enjoy ubiquitous connectivity with services like Devicescape performing magic in the background.”

Thank you Off Beat Mammal - for the post and for getting the vision of what we do and sharing the vision of where we are going!

Devicescape has been invited to a give a scheduled presentation at the Web 2.0 conference next week in San Francisco. And what, you may ask, is Devicescape *doing* with Web 2.0? Enabling the next revolution…Mobile 2.0.

Devicescape has always been involved with making connecting easier - especially when you are on the go - and now this phenomenon has take on the meme “Mobile 2.0.” This (r)evolution of the Mobile 2.0 space started with cell phones getting connected to the internet in early and simple ways - like downloading ring tones and SMS. The focus of late has been on increasing the access of phones to the web, email and other data services over traditional cellular networks.

We think things are going to be much bigger than this. First - there will be more devices than just your cell phone in this picture. All types of devices will evolve to be able to access all the content and applications available on the internet. Game systems, media players, GPS are just a few. Even the phone will continue its evolution to become more an appliance that just a simple cell phone. Today, you can hardly find a cell phone that doesn’t have a camera - and Blackberry’s and Smartphones are completely redefining the only device you carry wherever you go. But that’s not all - access to networks will change too. Accessing data over cell networks is akin to dial-up and can be expensive and slow. Devices will likely be able to access all the new applications and services not only on cell nets, but over the proliferating Wi-Fi networks as well. Brought together, multiple new devices along with more network coverage will spawn new mobile services, applications and businesses. A true Mobile 2.0 revolution.

It’s an exciting time, and there’s so much to discuss and debate - and Devicescape is entering the conversation at the upcoming Web 2.0 Conference that is happening in San Francisco this coming week. Systems Architect John Gordon and I will be discussing “Enabling Mobile 2.0″ in a conference session in the Web 2.Open segment. We hope you will join us in the discussion and weigh in with what you think, what you want for the future, and where you believe this development will take us all.

Here’s the details:

Enabling Mobile 2.0

Web 2.Open (A part of O’Reilly Web 2.0)

Moscone Center West, 2nd Floor

San Francisco

Wednesday April 18

4:00pm - 4:50pm

Linksys has a promotion running at the moment on the iPhone; their iPhone family that is, which includes the WIP300 device that Devicescape supports. With Devicescape’s software upgrade for the WIP300 you get hotspot access without a browser, so I’ve updated their WIP family comparison table:

The WIP330 comes with a browser, which is why it can login at hotspots, but entering username and password information using a numeric keypad, especially if you use punctuation symbols in your password for security, is painful.

The big news from last week was that we released a Mac client for all our creative friends who use Mac laptops. We find that loads of press people, designers and artists are all Mac users and due to popular demand we’ve added them to the ranks of people who can take advantage of automatic wi-fi network connections. Even though these people are used to having the ease of the Mac interface, they still had to slog through finding available networks, logging in with user name and password and waiting for the connection to be made. No longer! Life just got easier for you Mac-a-philes (OK Connecting just got easier – but doesn’t that make life easier too?)

See the official press release, and what people are saying about Devicescape on the Mac:

• TidBits
• Wi-Fi Planet

Welcome to the updated Devicescape blog! With its latest product offering, Devicescape has evolved from being a supplier to the worlds leading electronics companies, like Sharp, Epson, D-Link, Palm and Samsung (to name just a few of our valued customers), to also providing a service to the end users of those cool new wireless devices.

This new blog reflects that focus on you, the user. We’ll be publishing information about events we’re holding, new services we offer through our website, new devices & hotspot networks that are Devicescape enabled, and anything else happening in the world of wireless that we think is exciting.

We’d love your feedback on what you’d like to hear about as well. Feel free to leave a comment here, or in our discussion forums to let us know.