Free wi-fi access is common in the US but here in the UK we’re not so lucky - unless you live in Islington that is. I went for a trip up the Northern Line on Saturday to check out the borough council’s free wi-fi zone, available from Angel Tube Station to The Odeon cinema on Holloway Road, and to judge whether it’s worthy of the name Technology Mile.

Arriving in Islington at around lunch time and looking forward to an afternoon’s free browsing, I wanted to find a quite pub or cafe, with a table for me and my laptop. The King’s Head, on Upper Street, beckoned. After settling in with my Diet Coke, I attempted to locate Streetnet, the name of free local area network, but (ominously) with no luck. I finished my drink and left.

Walking back toward Angel, and I spotted a franchise of the uber-progressive Starbucks. Surely, they’d be able to help? Indeed, but only at £5 a go for an hours worth of connectivity! No thanks.

Next up, still after my need of a drink and an internet connection, The York pub, right next to Angel tube station and on the edge of the Technology Mile. I’d been advised that this was the place where all my free connectivity dreams could come true… And yes, you’ve guessed it, it wasn’t my day. I immediately popped over the road to the Nag’s Head. Nader! I was now at rock bottom.

Bar staff at both these pubs advised me that wi-fi was not available. Both pubs are in the heart of Islington, next to Angel and surely within the designated zone.

I spoke to Islington Council’s Una Darrer, who has some responsibility for the Technology Mile, this morning and put to her my disappointment. Una’s advice was that the service was best accessed from the outside and not inside. She suggested that users should sit outside a cafe or on Islington Green. Una was suprised that I could not access the web from The King’s Head but questioned the level of knowledge toward the service. Islington Council, she said, have actively promoted the service to the business community. However, Una did point out that the staff I spoke to could have been new, temporary and unrepresentative of the majority. Perhaps the council are only communicating with business owners and managers, and not to the people who serve customers on a daily basis.

I will return to the Technology Mile and hope for better results. Wi-fi can only be exciting when it is accessible.

There is no doubt about it: robots will soon take over the world. From hospitals to homes and brothels to battlefields, they will be everywhere. Get used to it.

Even Russian President Vladimir Putin accepts this notion, as he promoted the future use of “gigantic, humanoid war robots” during a question and answer session with Russian citizens last week, reported the St. Petersburg Times. Putin, when asked about incorporating robots into the Russian defense strategy said, “These are unmanned aerial vehicles. And maybe the time will come for gigantic robots. However, so far we have put our main hope on people — namely border guards.” (In the same session, Putin also had to explain his bizarre belly kissing fiasco.)

Many socially beneficial robotic innovations are also coming forward, such as the robo-rockstar named MechaBonham. This robot can play guitar and keyboards better than most hair-metal enthusiasts, even though it misses a note here and there. It could also be the answer for record companies that are tired of dealing with moody musicians.

Engineers from the University of Michigan have crafted a robotic snake for use in rescue missions. In the future, the robot could be used to crawl through debris that is too dangerous or inaccessible to humans. And, of course, one cannot forget the robotic tree. Breeze is comprised of shape-memory alloy and electronic wiring hidden inside a willow tree. Breeze can sense 360 degrees around her and reaches out its branches when people walk by.

Despite their wonder, sometimes these new technological advancements make one yearn for simpler days when all robots did was befriend Ally Sheedy, like in the 1986 smash hit movie Short Circuit. “Number Five is alive!”

As Israel begins a new assault on Lebanon, with missile attacks at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, bloggers are giving their first impressions and opinions.

Greetings from the French Hill attempts to explain Israel’s view point.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Political Journal gives details from Beirut about how the attacks have affected the city. And The Lebanese Bloggers give updates from Lebanon on the advancements of the attack.

The finalists for the Digital Challenge Awards have recently been announced. Which, we are sure, is very exciting for those who have got that far down the line. Organised by the Department for Communities and Local Government we are informed that their objective is to “to create a world class example of a wired up community”.

However, we found today that The Digital Challenge themselves are excluded from this “wired up” utopia. The link to the relevant site did not work for most of the day. So we weren’t able to find out who was sharing the £1 million funding to take their proposals further.

Update: The link for this site is now working. Unfortunately not in enough time for us to examine the finalists.

Reporters Without Borders reports China has released blogger Hao Wu from detention. Wu spent nearly five months in isolation after being arrested while working on a report about an underground Protestant church. His sister, Na, maintained a blog about Hao’s detention and her campaign to free him.

Currently, 50 bloggers are imprisoned in China for writing about political and subversive subjects.

In Egypt, pro-democracy blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah has been recently released from prison after being arrested for street demonstrating. Abdel-Fattah bravely managed to smuggle blog posts written on scraps of paper for his blog detailing his detention. The Manalaa blog is a beacon of the pro-democracy activist movement in Egypt and a tremendous example of bloggers’ commitment under attempted crackdowns by anti-free speech governments.

The little brown dress is missing!

What started as one woman’s blog and developed into a widely publicised anti-fashion phenomenon has ended with a bizarre kidnapping of the much-adored “little brown dress that could”.

From 7 July 2005 to 7 July 2006, Seattle-based choreographer Alex Martin donned a brown dress of her own design. She danced in the dress, she threw snowballs in the dress, she played with her son in the pool in her dress. Then, for a final hurrah, 300 people joined her for a brown dress farewell party. After dancing for the crowd, Alex took off the dress and left it on the stage for partygoers to see.

Only, someone took off with it! Now the mystery dress theif is sending her photos of the captive drowning in a pool of water, visiting the space needle and {gasp} in the hands of a thrift shop worker.

The little brown dress may never be seen again.

Any ransom offers, or plain comments, may be sent to the theif’s e-mail account: littlebrowndress@gmail.com

Michael Rogers, columnist for MSNBC, filed an article yesterday suggesting that the destiny of the internet may well be decided by K Street. K Street, a major thoroughfare in Washington DC, is the preferred address of America’s elite lobbyists and law firms. The address achieved further fame in 2003, when George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh created a television series named and inspired by the address.

Michael details how key issues such as neutrality and flags are now being fought over by some of America’s most powerful lobbyists. He explains that neutrality is essentially a dispute between network owners and the companies like Google and Yahoo! who pay large amounts of money for bandwidth.

Of course the issue is not that simple; both sides of this debate employ the “Gucci shoed lobbyists” referred to by Michael. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported on Google’s decision to hire Podesta Mattoon, a powerful Washington lobby firm. Google also retain the services of DCI, a lobby firm with links to Karl Rove.

A quick glance at Political Money Line, a site focused toward campaign finance transparency, reminds us that firms like Microsoft pay large amounts of money to election candidates. As we have previously reported, the policy of firms such as Yahoo! and Google toward China has attracted censure, and reminds us why they need friends in Washington.

However, Jack Abramoff is a cautionary reminder for all concerned.

Americans are getting bigger and bigger. Poor diets and exercise regimens have caused 60 percent of Americans to be currently overweight.

Msn.com has launched an interactive map showing the rise of obesity in America through the last 20 years. By clicking on particular states, users can learn more about states’ obesity action plans and specific problems. Users can also watch the caloricific horror of colours quickly morph from blueberry blue (less than 10 percent obese) to the rare- cooked steak shade of red (more than 25 percent obese).

This is, of course, one more example of America turning from blue to red.

The UK has not escaped the dilemma of its pudgy peers. Here, two out of five adults are overweight.

The National Health Service has created a body mass index calculator to help people determine if they are of healthy weight. A BMI of more than 25 is considered over weight.

Luckily, the web offers several helpful tools for weightloss, including a calorie counter, information about healthy diets and exercise plans.

No playing online poker games, no visiting pornography sites AND no reading political blogs! What are state employees to do now that Kentucky has blocked Bluegrassreport.org from their computers, along with online gambling and web sites of ill repute?

BluegrassReport.org looks at Kentucky politics with an “unfiltered and candid” view. The site had been heavily read by state employees until the New York Times ran a quote by Mark Nickolas, who runs the blog, that was critical of Republican Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher after his indictment in a political scandal. The next day, state employees could no longer access the site, while conservative blogs, such as the Drudge Report, and mainstream news sites were not blocked.

The public interest organisation, Public Citizen, has filed a lawsuit claiming the state cannot block access to BluegrassReport.org. The lawsuit states Kentucky is practising illegal content-based discrimination by selectively controlling employees’ reading material.

A web site launched last month offers people living with cancer a new outlet to heal. My Cancer Place is a MySpace- type site for cancer patients and survivors that helps people form a community, discuss related issues and make lasting friendships.

The site’s forum gives users the opportunity to discuss new cancer therapies and questions about different types of cancers. Users can also browse profiles and web sites of other members, view members’ photos and artwork and answer users’ cancer queries through an online poll.

Cancer Research UK is also experimenting with ways to link up cancer patients through its e-befriending programme. E-befriending is a service that matches cancer patients together to start discussions through e-mail. The organisation also offers assistance in teaching cancer patients to set up blogs where they can record their life with cancer.