(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Between the WiFi that recently came to Rockaway and downtown’s new WiFi-equipped “beach,” we’re living in a golden age of surfing the web while, like, actually surfing. And now there’s this: in recent days, a vast swathe of Jones Beach — including the picnic tables and lounge seating at SmorgasBar — became WiFi equipped, thanks to a program that has also beefed up WiFi at East River State Park.
Though the state park on the Williamsburg waterfront got Wifi last summer, it’s been somewhat of a secret. But Mark Saferstein — publisher of American Park Network, a partner in the so-called Oh, Ranger! Wi-Fi program along with Toyota and the NY State Parks Department — tells us that in recent weeks, more access points have been installed and the signal has been upgraded to reach all the way from the park’s gates to the water. Signs now let everyone know to tap in.
We’ve been taking the signal for a test-run and while it varies in strength throughout the park, it’s good enough that we were able to (sloooowly) upload the photo above and post this. Right now, the park is pretty empty except for some geese and some sunbathers that are not wearing office-appropriate attire, so y’all cubicle gossips might find yourself starved for water cooler water fountain talk, but if you’re a work-from-your-kitchen freelancer who’s going to lose it if your girlfriend’s cat jumps on your keyboard one more time, it doesn’t get much better than this. I mean, a goddamn seaplane just flew over my head and landed in the East River (is that supposed to happen?).
Now if I can just find a plug around here… ARGHHHHH.
