There’s a new entrant in the free wireless network space, Sputnik, and they’re just interesting enough that they could shake things up. They make software that will turn any computer with wireless and network access into a wireless gateway, and includes a firewall and authentication; their apparent goal is to ultimately produce boxes that are just plug-and-go and would serve as “picocell” access points to a free global network.

Interesting concept, with a lot of problems but also a lot of potential.