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New Orleans has inadvertently become a test case for the efficacy of WiFi and VoIP. Still trying to rebuild itself in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans businesses are left with little else than the wireless mesh network for communication. Landlines and cellular networks were destroyed by the hurricane.

"It's easy to try something new when you don't have to deal with the old network because it's in the lake," New Orleans CIO Greg Meffert told PCWorld.

The wireless system was originally installed for security cameras and use for police communication. It's now also used for a free municipal WiFi service. Lawyers and other businesspersons are making lemonade in the sultry city, employing VoIP phone calls from recently reopened coffee shops.

It's little wonder the big telecoms are more than a little spooked by the implications of wireless networks and VoIP services. As New Orleans is demonstrating, it's time for Verizon and others to evolve or die (and maybe pay a little penance for the years of nickel-and-diming and substandard customer service). The Big Easy is a sharp contrast to the Big Difficult.

Meanwhile, in other WiFi news, researchers say they've successfully developed a wirelessly controlled implanted microchip that can administer doses of medicine. Doctors say those capabilities would be beneficial for patients who have trouble following their schedules, or who need to have doses increased or decreased.

But the conspiracy theorists are already at work, imagining the potential for abuse and assassination.

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