Well, if anyone could bank roll a Wi-Fi effort for an entire city, it would be Google. Still, is this the direction that they should be going in, though?

Google Inc. has offered to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet access at no cost to the city, placing a marquee name behind Mayor Gavin Newsom’s effort to get all residents online whether they are at home, in a park or in a cafe.

The offer by the popular Mountain View search engine was one of more than a dozen competing bids received by the city before its deadline Friday. Officials will review the submissions and decide which, if any, of the candidates gets the green light to build the so called Wi-Fi service, which would be free or inexpensive for users.

In joining the competition, Google is showing yet another sign of its ambition. In the past few months, the company has released a succession of new products, including instant messaging and Internet telephone calls, that take it further from its roots. [Read the rest]