Mountain View, Calif., hospital offers free Wi-Fi: For now, service is free for everyone, but visitors will probably be charged $3 per day starting in September. The service will expand to include bedside computers between 2007 and 2009 when a new hospital opens. For now, customers must bring their own computers or handhelds. A filter will prevent access to what the hospital considers is inappropriate content.
As more diseases become managed instead of fatal, more people than ever before will feel fine and be productive members of society, but forced to spend large amounts of time in outpatient care. I've spent many hours on two occasions in the last year in an outpatient surgery waiting room, and while the surgery itself wasn't life-threatening, there's nothing worse than idle hands when you have no information.