Surfing In The Park

If you find it hard to work in your office on a beautiful summer day, take note: A new British innovation may allow you to connect to the Internet from a park, free. The U.K. arm of Microsoft's Web portal MSN plans to place the world's first wired park bench in Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

The bench will be connected to the Internet, and park goers will be able to plug their notebook computers in and get to work. Microsoft hasn't ironed out exactly what technologies will drive the cyberseat yet, but does expect to install the device in August or September.

"It's nice to see companies like Microsoft who can afford to do silly things set up something like that," says Garrison Hoffman, a software engineer for Web developer IntraSphere Technologies Inc. But ultimately, he says, devices like the wired bench will become irrelevant as wireless networks proliferate.

Grassroots organizations such as the Bay Area Wireless User Group, Seattle Wireless, and London-based Consume are working to set up free 802.11b wireless networks in their cities. Hoffman says those efforts will prove more useful because "wireless networks are much easier to maintain and much easier to set up."