A new version of Easy Wi-Fi specifically for iPhone users with AT&T plans went live in the app store over the holiday weekend. This version is trivial to set up – you just need to enter your 10 digit AT&T iPhone number into the settings page – and simple to use: connect to the Wi-Fi network, launch the app and it will log you in. Much simpler than typing your phone number in each time, waiting for the SMS from AT&T and then clicking the link in that to get connected.

In addition to all the AT&T Wi-Fi network locations (like Starbucks), it will also connect you to all the networks that have just click through web pages in our list of supported networks. And we’re working on an option to allow you to unlock this version and add more networks, using our web portal.

By the way, if you already have the original, multi-network, version of Easy Wi-Fi, then you don’t need this one: you can simply add the AT&T Wi-Fi (iPhone) plan to your Devicescape account and you will have the same capabilities.

Do you run a Wi-Fi network? Would you like a version like this specifically tailored for your network? If so, contact us and we’ll talk about what we can do for you.

Hello Everyone,

Those of you with mulitple devices using Devicescape may have noted some inconsistency in our naming convention.  When we first started with the Devicescape automated login product we wanted simply to have the product and the company name be completely consistent.  Hence, “welcome to Devicescape” and “Download Devicescape onto your device”, etc.

Unfortunately we faced naming issues, first on the Nokia devices and next on the iPhone, and ended up deciding to use the “Easy Wi-Fi” product name for those platforms.  Now, with the Easy Wi-Fi application the most popular WiFi app on the Apple App Store (!) and just about every Nokia N and E series phone showing “Easy Wi-Fi” we’ve decided to rationalize all of our products under this name.

It’ll take a month or so to make it through all of our clients and web site, but expect to see Easy Wi-Fi being the consistent name.  Hope you like it!

So, while we’re on this topic, we made a few other changes too.  In line with this mission of making Wi-Fi, well, easy, we’ve decided to consolidate all of our various technologies into one product.  We haven’t yet released it, but this 3.0 version of Devicescape is primarily targeted at our OEM customers: the makers of PCs, handsets and new WiFi capable devices (that’s when the bulk of Devicescape’s business comes from).

We feel that mobility is critical for these types of products, and WiFi will be used in the office, at home, and of course at public networks.  Therefore, our OEM version of Easy Wi-Fi, version 3, will include:

* Our enterprise-class security supplicant
* Optional Cisco CCX support
* Our home consumer oriented, “push-button” Wi-FI Protected Setup
* The automated hotspot login and provisioning system
* A framework to allow integration into the device’s connection manager

There are a bunch of other great enhancements we are making in 3.0, but we’ll disclose those later.

I’m excited to announce the availability of Devicescape for iPhone and iPod Touch on Apple’s App Store.  Thanks to all of our users out there who have been so patient: it took us a lot longer than we thought to figure out how to make this release!

As you can see in this screen shot, the new version looks quite a bit different.  Because of Apple’s current limitations on running in the background you need to launch the app to login.  But you can manage your account and check your usage history directly, which I think is quite handy.

If you’d like to check out the application, search for “Easy WiFi” on iTunes  or download it directly from the App Store.

Wanted to keep you all posted that we’re working hard on an official release of Devicescape for Apple’s App Store.  All being well this will make it out there in the very near future.  The exact acceptance process and timeline is a little bit unclear.

I’m very excited about the new application as it’s much improved, with plenty of handy new features which improve usability.  The team here has done a very nice job.  The current limitations of Apple’s SDK don’t allow us to work in the background so you need to start the application and hit “login”.  Still, that’s a lot nicer than wrangling with Safari and tedious login pages.

Many thanks to the hundreds of thousands of you with the current “hacked” version, for your enthusiasm and patience.   Watch this space!

One of the things that always frustrates me when I travel is the high cost of Internet access, especially at hotels. Oddly enough, it seems to be the premium hotels that charge extra for access, while the lower end chains give it away for free. I checked into a hotel near Heathrow Airport in London a few weeks ago and noticed that they had an “Executive Upgrade” which included Wi-Fi access and breakfast for $20. When I asked about the costs for Wi-Fi alone they told me it was $30. I guess the thinking there was that executives would be so dumb they’d need big help figuring out which one to choose!

Anyway, I went with the upgrade, but amazingly they warned me that I likely wouldn’t be able to actually access Wi-Fi from my room but I could certainly use it in the lobby. Now that’s great service. At least breakfast was ok.

It’s long been a bone of contention for many road warriors to pay high access fees when traveling. The all you can eat cellular data and Wi-Fi plans we have enjoyed at home suddenly rack up enormous roaming fees, and we encounter high price “session islands” like these hotels. Most of the time you don’t need access for long periods of time: just a quick sync of email, a VoIP call to the office or home, or wrangling with your flight operator’s website for non existent upgrades. To pay $10, $20, or $30 for that privilege is just plain maddening.

Recently Devicescape started a field trial of a new service we’re calling Devicescape One. It allows you to get access at a wide range of commercial Wi-Fi networks and pay by the minute. Devicescape One isn’t meant to replace your existing subscriptions or change your belief that Wi-Fi should be free. It’s there as a complement and an alternate to buying expensive session passes that are more than you need.

I had the chance to use Devicescape One on my last trip across Europe and a week later in Asia. It gave me access to several large networks which weren’t handled by roaming arrangements with my home Wi-Fi subscriptions. Even better I avoided using cellular data, where you pay by the KB instead of by the minute (one Outlook sync contained a 7MB Powerpoint presentation but it transferred in less than a minute!) For me, the minute by minute approach has broad appeal.

We’re running this Devicescape One field trial to check out the technology and assess the usage patterns and interest. There’s no guarantee that we’ll actually turn this into a real live service that costs our members anything, but it seems clear that this kind of scheme has its place and a partner of ours may like to use the capability.

Right now, we’re offering the trial to a limited set of Devicescape members. When you sign up we give you up to 120 minutes of Wi-Fi time. There is ZERO cost involved and no obligation. If you’re interested in joining the trial, you can sign up here. Note: you need to be an existing Devicescape member first.

The Cloud, Europe’s fastest growing Wi-Fi network provider – and arguably the coolest (they own the access points in all the pubs in London) has partnered with Devicescape to provide their customers the great Devicescape auto-connect service relabeled as “mycloud.”

We’re thrilled to be working with such a mover and shaker in the world of Wi-Fi – and oh yea – they had a great party at the chic SoHo trend-spot “24 Kingly” to kick off the fun.

What this means for our Devicescape members:
Right now it just means that you’ve hitched your wagon to a start-up that is in demand the world around. Pretty cool for you and it shows how technically savvy you are and what impeccable taste you have

What this means for Cloud members:
You’re in luck! The Cloud will automatically create Devicescape accounts for you so you can immediately start enjoying fast and easy Wi-Fi access in every pub you go to! (McDonalds and cafes in the UK too.)

Just another step in our taking the world by storm…

Slacker, Inc, the maker of the new Slacker Internet Radio Service and the Slacker Portable Player, today released a new and improved version of their firmware that integrates Devicescape Connect.

Nice – you say, but what does this mean?

Well, for Slacker Portable owners this is pretty cool news. Now they have far more places out there in the world where their radios can refresh on Wi-Fi and get them fast access to more songs and other content.

One blogger puts it simply:

“Yaaay! Devicescape now on Slacker devices”

For other device manufacturers and the network operators, this marriage between two California start-ups with innovative new technologies signals the coming of a new era of connected device – and some potentially disruptive forces in the field.

As consumers come to expect to be able to access content and services from any device, everywhere they go – manufacturers will continue to add fast and easy Wi-Fi access to every device they make. We are beginning to see this already on Smartphones – and now with Slacker and the iPhone and iPod touch – we have some new devices that really take advantage of and grow the love for Wi-Fi and always on access. And the network operators are poised to benefit greatly from these new devices joining their networks.

Some industry experts out there claim that it takes a start-up to change the world. Imagine what can happen when you combine two.

Exciting things are on the horizon in the world of devices… let the revolution begin!

Since we launched Devicescape we’ve tried to find the right balance of stability and experimentation for new features. As the size of our community grows, however, we’re aware that we need a better method to gain high value feedback before a wider rollout. With this in mind, we’ve created the Pioneer Program as a way for our members to indicate their interest in early access to new features and capabilities.

Devicescape Pioneers will receive special invitations from time to time to try out new features we’re evaluating for the Devicescape service. There is no obligation other than trying things out and telling us what you think. You can decline to participate if you’re not interested in any test we invite you to, and you can also decide you don’t want to be a Pioneer at any time in which case we won’t bother you again. Easy!

If you’re interested in becoming a Pioneer, go to the portal at pioneer.devicescape.com to read more and to sign up.

We’ve decided to make it easier for developers to access the Devicescape client source code. As our community of users grows, and as our business with device manufacturers evolves, we’ve had numerous requests for new features and evaluations. While we’ll continue to respond to those directly, we thought it would be good to open up the technology to enthusiasts as well as make it easier for commercial developers to evaluate Devicescape.

So, there’s now an application form at developer.devicescape.com which allow individuals and corporations to apply. There is a click through license agreement which we hope won’t be too onerous, and a place where you need to tell us your intended usage. We want to understand what developers are doing prior to approval and release of the code. We’re making all our various platforms available, with the exception of the S60 as it has some restrictions.

Anyone using the source code will be given a license key which allows up to 10 devices to be attached to our system. It’s completely free for non-commercial use. If you’re a commercial developer, our hope is that you’ll be able to experiment and prototype faster, without needing 10 levels of sign-off from management and legal review. For more devices, or commercial use, developers can come back to us later and tell us what they want and we’ll figure out how.

We’re excited about the innovation this may enable, and we’ve already had some superb requests after 2 days of the form being live! Tell us what you think and any suggestions you might have.

Yesterday we released the first major upgrade to Devicescape. We racked our brains for ages and consulted the finest creative minds to come up with an appropriate name for the release, and after much argument settled on “Devicescape 2.0″. Very creative! Internally the codename was “Instant Access” or as many Devicescapers ended up abbreviating: “IA”.

Whenever companies announce new products they often seem to say something like this being the results of lots of feedback from users or customers. Not to repeat the cliche, but that’s definitely been the case for us. When we launched Devicescape in its 1.0 form, we required the user to create an account at our website and then register their devices with us. They then had to select the networks they wanted to use, including their commercial accounts and any free networks in the system.

That seemed like a good idea at the time, but quite quickly things got out of hand. It just became too tedious to go through all that process, and as the number of networks in our system escalated we started hearing consistent comments and suggestions. We heard:

• Can you make this work straight “out of the box?”
• Can you make this useful for the free Wi-Fi user, since many of us don’t have commercial accounts?
• Can I enter my Wi-Fi account info directly on the device instead of having to go to your website in advance?
• You’ve got a big list of free hotspots now. Can you make it that I get them automatically without having to go add them at the website?
• Can you connect me to open, unsecured networks and maybe let me know that I’ve got a connection?

So, this is exactly what Instant Access is all about. (more…)