Typically when I review a Wi-Fi hotspot, it is a solo act … I mean, it would have been quite difficult to take the PingWi-Fi gypsy caravan entourage on the PWF tour, which now includes 47 states, 65 cities, 30,000 miles, hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots and several cups of coffee.
So … my one goal on [...]

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“Are you an Indian?”
Let me start by saying I have the greatest respect for Native American peoples — both for their enduring the invasion of their homeland, and for their ability to take dusty reservation land and turn it into ski resorts, billion-dollar casinos, oil/gas well bonanzas, art and more … I get all [...]

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As we continue to ping Wi-Fi locations on this ongoing tour, it is tough to decide which is best — the consistency of corporate chains or the charm of the mom/pop shops. (Note: moms get top billing. Who said chivalry is dead?)
Anyway … corporate consistency is nice in its own right … I [...]

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When I was a youth, the newspaper could never get it right.  One basketball article referred to me as “Pingelton.” Ha!  I considered changing my name to “Pringle,” after hearing that one so many times.  Another basketball article — my favorite — reported that “Pingelli” scored 20 points in one game.  My best friend’s dad [...]

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What is it with me and hotel rooms? I just blogged about an uninvited guest entering my hotel room in Santa Cruz and waking me from a really good dream. A year earlier, I intruded on a loving couple when I entered MY room. It was too much 411 that I am glad stayed in [...]

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It was a great sign when I saw the surfboards, sharks and Cadillac posters at Fins Coffee shop on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz. Second, it was comforting to see a graying old surfer and his HP on the Internet.
Yes. There is wireless at Fins — if you bring in an AT&T or [...]

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A few days before the Dallas International Film Festival began, I met this dude in Starbucks in Fort Worth, over by the hospital district. We talked for a second or two and then I drove over to his car in the parking lot. Somehow, I was able to control my Toyota and [...]

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My first Wi-Fi road trip — an 18,000-mile excursion a few years earlier — wrapped up in Austin with a quick visit to the Wi-Fi Alliance world headquarters and another music festival.
So, Austin’s recent SXSW festival was not my first rodeo, but it certainly wasn’t the end of the road either. And frankly this [...]

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PingWi-Fi man cannot live on rock shows alone. He muth have coffee … and Wi-Fi, so finally I did some hotspot exploring in St. Louis. First stop — Park Avenue Coffee.
When I finally found the coffee shop, it was very easy. It was in the last place I looked, as the old adage [...]

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As a child, I was fortunate in that my generation, socially, was given the go ahead for boys to play with dolls. We called them action figures so it was okay to spend quality time on imaginary battlefields with GI Joe and all of his dismembered friends.
I was, however, unfortunate in that I realized [...]

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