The Fonera will have 4MB of free memory for developers to hack it and add their programs. The future foneras will have also USB for external memories uploading and downloading but also for all sorts of USB connected gadgets. There are USB motion detectors (when there´s movement in your house the fonera sends you an e mail), there are USB Bluetooth devices (you can pair your bluetooth devices with Fon or offer a bluetooth based Fon). We are also looking at audio input/output like the Airport Express and regular phone plugs so you can do VOIP for regular phones. So far USB, audio, regular phone jacks, and Bluetooth seem to be preferred as enhancements. We thought of adding a large hard drive but then why pay people pay for what most already have. USB and external hard drive seems to be better to keep the price of the fonera very low.

And we are continuing with our policy of licensing our brand and systems at no charge to hardware makers so they can make their gadgets Fon ready.

Many Bluetooth devices allow other Bluetooth devices connect to the internet through them. At Fon we are interested in contacting software developers and manufacturers who can work with us so we can introduce BlueFON. BlueFON is Fon taking to Bluetooth. A device with Bluetooth and 3G for example would allow others connect to the internet through it. Also devices can share files, so if a group of kids for example want to download a video from youtube one downloads it and then shares it with others through Bluetooth. But the key here would be that the phones offer a bluetooth portal of services to others. Also phones like the N80 from Nokia which I use have so many radios, 3G, GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth that the combinations are endless. We are also studying putting Bluetooth in the Fon Router to allow pairing with the router that is web controlled.

At Fon listen to Cory very closely. This was last night in Helsinki.

Cory has a very complex plan to radically change things in the US telco world. We also have a plan. We think there´s a better way in which everyone gains: ours. So far 51,000 hotspot builders seem to agree. This was filmed in a very dark room with the Nokia N80 that Marko Ahtisaari gave me yesterday.

At FON we don´t have a WiFi phone service. But our telco partners do.

5) To port Fon to VX Works and Supertask

6) To Find a way that when laptops and other gadgets detect FON, they stay with Fon even when Fon is a relatively weak signal. This client should also distinguish open networks from locked networks and, should their not be any FON networks around, they should to attempt to connect to open networks.

7) To automatically authenticate all sorts of gadgets in a quick and safe manner to the FON network without need of browsers.

Here you will find the first 4 ideas for R&D projects we have at FON. You are welcome to read them and to comment. You are even welcome to “steal” our ideas, but what we ask in return is that if you copy them, you let us know and make them “FON ready”.

1) To port FON into macs, so macs can get ethernet or 3G internet and send WiFi signal. A FON ready second WiFi USB radio that makes laptop pc’s beam FON WiFi signal when connected to the internet by ethernet or 3G.

2) To port Fon into phones that have 3G and WiFi so they can become Fon WiFi access points for people nearby.

3) To port FON into an 802.11n router (a MIMO router) as so far we are only on 802.11g with shorter range.

4) To have the foneras send two SSIDs rourter, one with WPA and the other with FON.

Yat Siu is a remarkable entrepreneur based in Hong Kong. I am happy to announce that Fon and Yat Siu have reached an agrement by which Yat Siu will
be a key Fonero Leader in the region and help us get organized throughout the region.

For enquiries please e-mail asia@fon.com

Most businesses believe in secrecy. We don´t. Most businesses believe in patents. We don´t. We are an open source company. We are also a blogged company that has so far not done any advertising, nor currently engages a PR firm. We live off the originality of our ideas. So after presenting my latest R&D ideas internally, I have decided to blog them one by one so readers have an opportunity to comment on them.

You are welcome to read them. You are welcome to comment. You are welcome to “steal” our ideas, but what we ask in return is that if you copy them, let us know and make them “FON ready”. We are open source, so you can just download our firmware. If you are a hardware maker you are welcome to conctact me directly. Same if you are a programmer. You should also know that FON licenses its brand at no cost. We pay nothing to have products be FON ready and use our brand and we ask for no money either. We already have very large hardware makers such as Accton, who have signed licensing agreements with us.

As you read these ideas, think that FON will sell 1 million Foneras at whatever price clears the market over the next 12 months. Fortunately, we have the funds to invest in seeding the world with social routers that will create a fertile environment for all sorts of gadgets: mp3 players with WiFi, games with WiFi, WiFi phones, digital cameras with WiFi, printers with WiFi, hard drives with WiFi.

FON didn´t invent WiFi obviously, there´s tons of it. FON is simply a standard, a piece of open source code and an authentication system so WiFi donors can travel with their WiFi signal, roam the world for free, and non donors can purchase it at the price of a bus ticket for a day. So, in a world with ubiquitous WiFi, what would you like to see?