One of the greatest things about the new iPad 2 is FaceTime, a super-simple video chatting app and service that allows you to well talk to anyone else who has the FaceTime on the devices — iPhone, iPod touch (with camera), iPad 2 and a Mac. I’ve been using it incessantly, while sitting on my couch, chatting up a storm with the loved ones.

FaceTime is an app built for the Wi-Fi network. It’s hard to imagine the phone bill if all this data was streaming over the 3G networks. And the same goes for Netflix, Hulu, Spotify and Pandora, which are key parts of our new connected digital life. These services have blossomed, thanks in part to the increasing ubiquity of the Wi-Fi network.

Applications such as these, not to mention our desire to check out tweets, Facebook friends, watch YouTube videos and occasionally even do work, has doubled the network traffic on the wireless networks since last year. These networks use gear from companies such as San Francisco-based wireless gear maker, Meraki. That traffic is expected to double every year, according to Sanjit Biswas, CEO and co-founder of Meraki.

Multiple Device Wi-Fi World

“We used to have one device on Wi-Fi: our laptop,” says Biswas. “Then we had two devices — laptop and our phones using the Wi-Fi.” Soon, we will have multiple devices that are piggybacking off the Wi-Fi based network connections.

Biswas predicts that by 2012, we will have between four and five devices around us with Wi-Fi built into them. (I actually have more than that even now: a phone, a tablet, a computer; an Internet-connected set-top box (Apple TV) and a digital camera with Eye-Fi.) Tomorrow, it wouldn’t be preposterous to imagine your microwave communing with a server over a wireless connection.

It’s quite a remarkable change. I remember buying Lucent-made Orinoco PCMCIA cards for an early variant of Wi-Fi and networking hubs with limited coverage. I used to wonder when it would really be possible for me to sit on my couch and get a decent Internet connection. That of course was in the last century; today, Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, and we want continuous coverage of at least 10 Mbps from our Wi-Fi routers. Tomorrow, we’ll want 50 Mbps and soon 100 Mbps wireless connections.

iPhone Lifts All Boats

The demand for Wi-Fi networks is lifting the fortunes of many, including some with suspect business models. Take Martin Varsavsky’s FON for example. The company has been through some ups-and-downs, but now it has started to grow and is profitable: about €4.9 million (.83 million USD) in 2010.

Where is all the money coming from? Offloading of data from 3G to the Wi-Fi networks. For FON, the growth has come in the U.K. and in Japan. Nearly two million FON access routers with auto connectors to the Wi-Fi network are handed out to buyers of Android-based smartphones and the iPhones. In-Stat, a market research firm, recently predicted that by 2012, nearly half of the Wi-Fi connections from hot spots are going to come from handheld devices.

Martin said in an email that while the company is still making money selling Wi-Fi routers and Wi-Fi passes to travelers, the future growth for the company is going to come from other gadget makers who are going to auto-connect to the FON network for a year via Wi-Fi, then sell subscriptions. “For example certain multiplayer games will come with prepaid Wi-Fi access so people can play them everywhere,” says Varsavsky.

Five years ago, FON had no idea that this future would unfold, just as Biswas and Meraki had no idea the iPhone would one day be its savior. It started out as a company based on MIT’s Roofnet project, and its ambition was to sell its wireless mesh networking hardware to hotels and other establishments, particularly in non-western markets. It proved to be a tough proposition, to say the least.

In 2009, the company, which has raised over million from the likes of Sequoia Capital and Google, went through a metamorphosis and shifted focus to the enterprise market. Being at the right place at the right time, the company has seen the total number of deployed networks hit 17,000 at the end of 2010. Its growth has followed the trajectory of the wireless LAN market; in 2010, WLAN sales were up 23 percent to .7 billion, according to Infonetics Research.

The Smartphone Boom and Network Effects

At my request to find out what devices were connecting to the networks, Meraki took a random selection of over 7 million devices (roughly a fifth of the total devices connecting to Meraki-based networks) and found the iPhone accounted for nearly a fourth of the total Wi-Fi connections.

In aggregate, Android, iPhone and iPad accounted for about 16.53 percent of the total connections in middle of March 2010. As of March 14, 2011, these three devices now account for about 33 percent of the total connections to network.

Why the growth? While laptops were used for wireless access, it’s difficult to walk around and use them as easily one can use a smartphone or an iPad. The smart devices encourage anywhere computing, which, in turn, puts a different load on the networks. Dominic Orr, CEO of Aruba Networks, put it best when he said, “The network model has shifted from hotspots to ubiquitous and uniform networks access.”

One of Meraki’s clients has data to show that. Westmont College, a liberal arts college campus in Santa Barbara, Calif., showed in a study that nearly 3137 distinct clients connected to the Meraki wireless network in February 2011, and about 10.12 terabytes of data wer transferred.

A year ago, the data transferred was about 5.06 TB and a total of 2458 distinct clients used the network in the month. Why? Because there was a sharp increase in the number of iPhones, iPod touches and yes, there were a few iPads too.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Biswas, who has been involved with Wi-Fi for a long time, believes a future version of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 ac) is going to become an apt replacement for the gigabit Ethernet wired connections in a couple of years. Currently under development, we’re likely to see the earliest devices show up in late 2012.

But one thing he knows for sure: Wi-Fi is going to be the default network connection in our homes. Today, we might sit on the couch and be amazed at the novelty of FaceTime on an iPad, but in a few years, it will be as normal as life with Facebook.

With more devices connecting to this network, it’s only a matter of time before we see even faster wireless connections inside our homes.

This is good news for developers and innovators, who don’t have to wait for the carrier’s wireless infrastructure to catch up to their ingenuity. What are you waiting for? Time to get going!

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

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Leveling up in Farmville can be a lot less problematical than a lot of people would have you believe. You can do without cheats, super crops, or millions of ribbons. All that you need for you to continually level up is to find a plan that you can use sensibly, persistently and efficiently. Do this and you’ll fly past your friends on Farmville and will have them question just how you managed to get so far in advance.

To level up in Farmville you need to acquire more coins and experience points (XP). The faster you make these, the quicker you level up. Now, clearly one of the easiest methods to do this is by earning ribbons. There are two ribbons you really ought to earn right away; the Good Samaritan and the Local Celebrity ribbon. To earn the “Local Celebrity” ribbon, all you have to do is get fifty friends to become your neighbors in the farmville game. This may be easily completed by inviting your Facebook friends to join you on Farmville, joining in on Facebook groups dedicated to Farmville, and additionally forums and message boards where people discuss Farmville in all its wonder. Here you’ll find a regular stream of Farmville players that will be keen to be your neighbor and consequently have you as their neighbour too.

Once you have got some neighbors about you, help them out when they need it. Do this enough times and you’ll be rewarded with the “Good Samaritan” ribbon. So now with these two ribbons you’ve got over 600 XP and over 36,000 coins. Nice.

You can also watch the Farmville news feed section to catch sight of just what your friends are talking about. Every so often you’ll see posts that allow you to adopt a pet. If you adopt two pets, you’ll then earn the “Animal Shelter” ribbon. 3 straightforward ribbons you have earned without doing very much.

While ribbons are good to earn and are significant, they are only one portion of the overall strategy you ought to have. You need to in addition focus on the type of crops you harvest.

You have to keep in mind the different rewards produced by the different crops. Some crops are a complete waste of your time, just like the artichokes, that gives you one of the least quantities of coins and XP obtainable. Let other folks fritter away their time with the artichokes, while you go for the cash crops such as blueberries,raspberries,strawberries and tomatoes, to mention just a selection of them.

Such crops will offer you a fantastic source of coins in a short period of time. For instance, if you are going to log in to Farmville every couple of hours or so, work with raspberries since they can be harvested in approximately two hours. This means that you can swiftly plow those coins you make into more raspberries and replicate the course of action to earn coins all over again and again.

The most amount of crops you can harvest the quicker you will make coins and XP, that means you will level up in Farmville a lot quicker as well. You ought to also purchase alternative things to help you level up when the time is right. If you merely have 100 XP ahead of your next level, you can purchase hay bales to get you there. They just cost a hundred coins each, but give five XP each, that is a marvellous and cheap tactic to get you to the subsequent level.

Follow these easy steps to level up in Farmville and get you further into the game and you’ll get on your route to becoming a top farmer in Farmville and level up in Farmville.

Leveling up in Farmville can somewhat less complex than many people put it. You can do without cheats, super crops, or loads and loads of ribbons. All that you require for you to continually level up is to hit upon a policy that you can use sensibly, persistently and efficiently. Do that and you will beat your friends on Farmville and have them wonder just how you managed to get so far ahead.

To level up in Farmville you need to gain more coins and experience points (XP). The more rapidly you make them, the quicker you level up. Now, obviously one of the simplest ways to do this is by gaining ribbons. There are two ribbons you really must earn straight away; the “Local Celebrity” ribbon and the “Good Samaritan” ribbon. To earn the “Local Celebrity” ribbon, all you need to do is get fifty friends to become your neighbors in the game. This can be easily done by inviting your Facebook friends to join you on Farmville, joining in on Facebook groups dedicated to Farmville, and additionally message boards and forums where people talk about Farmville in all its glory. Here you will find an endless stream of Farmville players that should be eager to be your neighbor and consequently will have you as their neighbour too.

When you have got a few neighbors around you, help them out when they require it. Do this enough times and you will be rewarded with the “Good Samaritan” ribbon. So now with these two ribbons you’ve got over 600 XP and over 36,000 coins. Nice.

You can also check the Farmville news feed section to observe what your friends are talking about. Sometimes you will see posts that allow you to adopt a pet. Should you adopt two pets, you will then earn the “Animal Shelter” ribbon. 3 easy ribbons you have acquired without doing much.

Whereas ribbons are nice to earn and are significant, they are only one portion of the complete strategy you must have. You really should try to additionally focus on the crops you harvest.

You have to bear in mind the various rewards furnished by the various crops. A few crops are an utter waste of your time, just like the artichokes, that provides you one of the lowest amounts of coins and XP available. Let other people fritter away their time with the artichokes, as you go off for the cash crops such as blueberries,raspberries,strawberries and tomatoes, to name just some of them.

Such crops will offer you a wonderful source of coins in a small interval of time. For instance, if you can log in to Farmville every two hours or so, work with raspberries as they may be harvested in in the region of two hours. That means that you can quickly invest those coins you earn into more raspberries and replicate the procedure to earn coins yet again and again.

The greatest number of crops you’ll be able to harvest the quicker you will earn coins and XP, that means you will level up in Farmville a lot faster as well. You ought to also buy other items to help you level up when the time becomes appropriate. Should you merely have 100 XP ahead of your subsequent level, you can buy hay bales to get there. They just cost one hundred coins each, but provide five XP each, which is a amazing and cheap means to help get you to the next level.

Pursue these straightforward guidelines to level up in Farmville and get you deeper into the game and you will get on your way to being a top Farmville farmer and level up in Farmville.

Lots of people ask whether they need to have Farmville neighbors for their Farmville farm. It largely relies on whether you wish to increase your farm and level up, or just have some fun. If you want to really achieve Farmville and turn out to be a top farmer, the bottom line is, after all you do!

Your Farmville neighbors are the key to you expanding your farm. If you happen to increase your farm, you can develop extra crops, which can turn into extra experience points and extra coins.

You may as well ask your Farmville Neighbors for assistance to fertilize your crops, which is able to allow you to develop bigger crops more rapidly. Also the standard of the crops will likely be better, which implies it is possible for you to to gain extra coins, and coins are essential if you wish to go on getting bigger.

When you’re feeling generous you can even earn coins and points by assisting your Farmville Neighbors in the event that they want it. Sometimes they’ll ask you to help with harvesting or something else, and so they’ll normally reward you for it.

Get into their good books and you’ll additionally be able to share in the awards and prizes that they get. Any awards they get they are able to share the wealth with other folks, which is normally carried out by updating their status on Facebook. Keep watch over your Farmville Neighbors’ status updates and you can share in their wealth by clicking on their message.

One of many predominant advantages of a Farmville neighbor is being able to give and receive gifts. The more gifts you give the more you will get back. These gifts you receive will typically be free animals, trees or buildings. You’ll be able to either use them in your farm, or promote them for extra coins if you do not want them.

So the next problem is easy methods to get more Farmville Neighbors.

Start by inviting your Facebook friends to join Farmville. Also be part of as many Farmville pages on Facebook as you can and ask people to become your neighbor. Then be part of different Farmville forums and chat rooms around the internet and do the same.

Your Farmville Neighbors are crucial to you expanding your farm, gaining extra coins and points, and finally levelling up and turning into a top farmer in Farmville.