Blogger Felix Geisendorfer points out a clever URL hack that scored him free Wi-Fi at the Atlanta airport.
I found that I could easily visit sites like slashdot, Google, or even this weblog, when adding a ?.jpg at the end of the url. The next logical step was to automate that. I downloaded Greasemonkey and wrote a 4 line script that would add ?.jpg to every link in a document. That way I was able to browse most sites without a hassle.
This trick will only work on Wi-Fi networks that allow images to go through without a redirect, and though it may seem like a bit of a stretch, it's better than shelling out $7 for 30 minutes of Wi-Fi. Unfortunately the author didn't make the Greasemonkey script available, but even without it you could get in some decent browsing. The post isn't new, and I haven't tested this, so if you've ever used this trick or you're at an airport or Wi-Fi hotspot and can give it a try, let's hear how it worked for you in the comments. Photo by Jace.
Hacking a commercial airport WLAN [Debuggable Ltd. via Hackszine]