Free Wi-Fi locations are getting more use than ever and more locations, provided by our corporate friends, are increasingly popping up around the world.

Barnes & Noble, Borders Books and McDonald's have recently added thousands of new locations by switching from paid to free Wi-Fi.

Over the Christmas period Google supported Free Wi-Fi at a number of airports, and many have decided to continue providing free Wi-Fi on their own volition, most notably Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo and Osaka.

Now you can get any of your neighbouring WPA passwords cracked for US 34$, a new cloud-based hacking service can crack a WPA network password in just 20 minutes!

The WPA Cracker service bills itself as a useful tool for security auditors and penetration testers who want to know if they could break into certain types of WPA networks. It works because of a known vulnerability in Pre-shared Key (PSK) networks, usually used by home and small-business users.

To use the service, the tester submits a small “handshake” file that contains an initial back-and-forth communication between the WPA router and a PC. Based on that information, WPA Cracker can then tell whether the network seems vulnerable to this type of attack or not.

Introduction

A Wireless Repeater, also known as a Wireless Client Bridge, or Range Expander, is just a wireless client (like your laptop) which, at the same time, can also be an access point, independent of the SSID and type of encryption used.

This How-To provides step-by-step instructions for creating a Wireless Repeater appliance: a device that you can place anywhere and it will wirelessly repeat a signal, onto another wireless network (with or without security).

Researchers say they have created a special kind of paint which can block out wireless signals.

It means security-conscious wireless users could block their neighbours from being able to access their home network - without having to set up encryption.

The paint contains an aluminium-iron oxide which resonates at the same frequency as wi-fi - or other radio waves - meaning the airborne data is absorbed and blocked.

By coating an entire room, signals can't get in and, crucially, can't get out.

Developed at the University of Tokyo, the paint could cost as little as £10 per kilogram, researchers say.