Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Free WiFi Gets Axed | Say goodbye to free WiFi in Central Park. The service has become the latest casualty of the recession, now that city officials say they can no longer afford the expense of maintaining the network without any a sponsor willing to foot the bill. On the upside, you probably won't notice its absence for a while, since there aren't too many people sitting in Central Park with their laptops out in the middle of winter. [Crain's]

O, munificent Howard Schultz: starting today, Starbucks is offering free WiFi! The only problem is, the "free" WiFi has more strings attached to it than a tennis racquet. First, you have to buy a Starbucks card, which has to have a minimum of five bucks on it. Ready to log on and read nytimes.com while sipping your tall skim Cinnamon Dolce Latte with foam? Not so fast. Before you do so you have to register online for the Starbucks Rewards Program. Going forward, if you want to keep your free WiFi, you're going to have to use that Starbucks card at least once a month, otherwise it's voided. Oh, and you can't even squirrel away your time: Each purchase earns you two free hours, which you'll have to blow in one sitting. So it's kind of useless. But the timing worked out nicely! Mayor Bloomberg just proclaimed this to be Internet week in New York, "a weeklong festival of events saluting New York’s thriving Internet industry and the many talented companies, organizations and innovators creating the future of online media!"