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"CBS is acting like the Google of Manhattan.  It has announced its upcoming CBS Mobile Zone, which is a free Wi-Fi network for laptops and other wireless devices, granting Internet access.  From Times Square to Central Park South, and 6th Ave. to 8th Ave., the free wireless zone is an experiment between CBS and the MTA.  \nNo word on how many devices the system will be able to support.  So what's the catch?  It's an advertising ploy for CBS Outdoor, the company's out-of-home advertising sector (things like billboards, bus stop ads, etc.).  So when you access this free network, you'll get a CBS-branded home page that's riddled with local and national news, local search with community reviews, and even a social network.  I can't imagine how extensive this social network will be, and if it will be incorporated into a larger CBS network, or specific to the new Mobile Zone.  But with the upcoming holidays that do nothing less than take over Manhattan, it's good timing for CBS to push such an advertising campaign. \nCiti and Salesgenie have already signed on to be early sponsors for the CBS Mobile Zone, and surely there will be more to come.  Is this a sign of the Internet truly replacing the television, from an attention-based perspective in addition to the dispersement of information?  I always felt that television would just keep merging with computers and the Internet.  Maybe CBS will be promoting its television content through the Mobile Zone as well.  \nAs more ad-supported methods are applied to more devices and businesses (mobile phones and mp3s), we'll surely be seeing more of these free zones popping up across the nation, in some senses taking the burden off the local and national government to match other countries' free wireless offerings.\n\n\n\n\n[via centernetworks]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2007/11/15/cbs-mobile-zone-manhattan/>