Editor's Blog: You're not travelling, you're atlarge.com

Before the end of the year I wanted to take the opportunity to use (abuse?) this blog to talk about atlarge.com.

Not being averse to dot-coms - and not shying away from a suffix that I know in some ways sounds so dated - over the past few months I have been involved in this new launch.

Why? Let me tell you that before how.

Through my work at silicon.com I have come across literally thousands of frequent business travellers. These range from uber-travellers - such as our columnist Peter Cochrane - to those of us who go through the usual slog of planes, trains and automobiles, not to mention hotels, restaurants, cafés and other public spaces. At the same time, to state the obvious, plenty of our audience is tech-literate and up on the different ways of getting an internet connection, often over some form of wireless.

Marry the two and we have literally millions of people out there who want to know about wireless and fixed-line connections around the world. They also want to know things about these 'hotspots' such as the availability of electric power-points, safety, quality of coffee or seating - you name it.

So there's a demand. And people I spoke to over the past year, such as the silicon.com Editorial Board, kicked the tyres of this idea.

What I heard when I started asking around was that existing ways of finding out this info don't always work. A top-down directory has its flaws. It can be quickly out-of-date (even online). A service provider might not know when an access point goes down or environmental conditions change. Or - most importantly - such providers are biased. Wouldn't you promote your own services above others, especially if some of the others are free?

So I come to the 'how'. Our idea was to create a user-generated service, letting travellers tell each other about what they find useful around the world.

To start with atlarge.com focuses on the world's commercial airports (meaning we exclude military facilities and private air strips). It's a limited universe, though it encompasses around 2,500 sites.

Yes, we'd love to add hotels, cafés and more but that will take some time.

The best bit so far? Without great fanfare - the team behind this silicon.com offshoot will be shouting more in January - users out there are already getting it. Take this post for IAH, Houston International Airport.

There's free wi fi at the Continental Presidents Club and you don't have to be a member to connect. The wi-fi is unsecured. The trick is getting close enough for a good signal. All you have to do is get up against the outside wall of the club. This works in any airport that has a Continental Airlines Presidents Club. As long as you are in a public area no one will complain, just don't stand in the club doorway. The most popular spots are near an electrical outlet. They're not hard to spot if you know what to look for. Walk around any major airport and look for people sitting on the floor against a wall with laptops out.. (Posted by David Bray, 11 Dec 2006 08:34AM)

I don't know David but clearly he gets it, as do a few hundred other early users. Which is all very gratifying.

But the proof will be in getting the ball rolling in a big way. Next year will see the site offer membership (so if you like that thallett70 review for London Gatwick, for example, why not click to see his other nine posts), uploading of photos and a proper mobile experience. I'm off now to meet Paddy Falls and the guys at iOra about how users (got to stop myself writing 'readers') can take the site mobile while offline.

In general, I know its early days. As this valuably critical blogger (and user) writes, we need to work more on that homepage and do more with the data we capture, showing off the flow of information and global reach.

But it's an exciting way to enter 2007 and sits as a complementary service to lots of the other things happening on the pages of silicon.com and other CNET Networks properties.

Want to 'travel connected', as the site's tagline says? Or just want to have a nose around a new launch? Make me happy - visit www.atlarge.com, post an airport rating or two and tell people you know about it. Rumour has it one or two of you might be travelling over the next couple of weeks.