I have just installed a brand new Wifi net, to test my superfast 54Mbps 802.11g D-Link AccessPoint (and related desktop and laptop adapters). Now I am finally ready to move to the new house (code name: Grotta 2.0, Cave 2.0; I will write more about the moving later this month).

And I am so excited that I need to write more about Wifi and HotSpots. A list of Free Wifi HotSpots in Milan? Why not. Let's start.

• Bitage Free Wifi. Bitage is the first to bring this service to Italy. You just need to register and give your mobile number in order to connect to Bitage hotspots. All locations are in Milan, with the exception of a couple of restaurants in Rome.
  
• Free Wifi restaurant and cafe list, via MilanoTonight. Very accurate and updated.
• Free Hotspot directory, via FreeHotspot.com.

Note. My new superfast HotSpot is protected and not free. But if you ask or if you are my guest...

Posted by giusec in Milano, mon amour, Web & Tecnology at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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New Milan SMS parking system, uploaded by giusec.

This is the latest Milan photo-set. During the crazy Xmas shopping time. And this is the new Milan SMS-based parking card system. Brand new stuff for the city. Let me explain.

You buy a card. It's a rechargeable card. Ten, thirty, fifty Euros (for loooong parking). After some time spent to find a parking spot - can be also one, two hours during the Xmas break - you finally use the card. You send an SMS to a service center, specifying: "pole" code + your card code + your pin + number of parking hours.

Interesting to discover the concept of the "pole code". Since the parking cost is based on zones (more you are in downtown, more you pay) you need to specify how much the parking is going to cost you to the service center. Per hour. Well, the code is written on metal poles which limitate the entire zone.

And this is the interesting concept. Looking around for the metal pole. Because we Italians like to simplify our life.

PS: Forgot. This is the website. In Italian. Only. If you don't speak Italian the pole will not be your only issue. You are supposed to translate the site, first.

Posted by giusec in Milano, mon amour, Photoset at 2:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (778)

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OECD released few weeks ago an economic outlook of Milan and its metropolitan area. Nothing really new. But interesting to read it back on white on a OECD report.

Milan ranks among wealthy OECD metropolitan regions and is often identified with the “Made in Italy” brand on the international arena, notably for fashion and design. Once a successful industrial city, Milan has grown into the core of a wider industrial metropolitan region that is home to more than 7 million people. 

But

(...) public goods and services such as transportation have not kept pace with the continuous urban sprawl and the widening commuting flows across the metropolitan region. This has led to a deterioration of the region’s liveability, hampering the region’s buzz and capacity to attract knowledge workers.

And 

 Milan suffers from the lack of a well-structured and coherent innovation policy for its metropolitan area. Following the restructuring of large companies during the 1980-1990s, Milan’s productive fabric has been mostly composed of SMEs, which has contributed to delaying investment in research and development (R&D) compared with European competitors. The Lombardy regionspent consistently less than other leading European regions such as Paris-Ile-de-France, London, Baden-Württemberg in Germany and Lyon-Rhône-Alpes in France between 1998 and 2000.

Here, the full report. 

Posted by giusec in Finance and Economics, Milano, mon amour at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (352)

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