As the tech joke goes: have you tried turning it off and back on again? Except in this case, this clever little smart plug (aka the Reset Plug) does the work for you, sensing that the web has gone dark and turning itself off then on until it works.

When your internet goes out, resetting your wifi router and cable modem is the go-to first stop to solve the problem, but requires you to get up, play with cords and plugs, wait, and hope for the best … no reason not to have a hardware solution for this simple but pervasive problem (especially if, say, you are away from home but want your smart home devices to keep working).

For 60 bucks it might seem like a bit of a luxury item, but for those where internet connections are critical or hardware hidden behind stuff in closets or basements, the convenience just may be worth it. Users can also manually trigger a reset remotely via a smart phone app. Don’t need one for your own place? Consider getting it for friends and family who call you every time when their internet goes out.

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Free, pervasive wi-fi is a pretty big goal for this generation to figure out. Thanks to Virgin Media, one UK town gets to experience what it’s like to have free high-speed wireless under their feet and at their fingertips at all times. The conglomerate partnered with Chiltern District Council to outfit the town center in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, with Smart Pavement.

The Smart Pavement modules are waterproof resin squares that rest in the sidewalk alongside the regular concrete squares. They connect directly to Virgin’s fiber network, providing free wireless to the homes, businesses, and visitors in the area. According to Virgin, people are seeing speeds of up to 166 Mbps – or about seven times the average UK broadband speed.

The concept of integrating wireless technology into the cityscape is being considered all around the world. As internet access grows in importance, it seems that many are turning their eye toward treating it like a municipal utility – just like water or natural gas. Chesham is a grand experiment in keeping people connected even when away from home and cutting down on their mobile data usage. Installing little wifi modules could (and probably will) become a matter of routine in cities of the future.

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Breaking down the Internet of Things into a set of user-friendly building blocks, this kit lets you make your own internet-connected creations right out of the box and without any coding experience, all thanks to SAM.

A set of physical modules compliment a software package that make it possible to link inputs and outputs with the cloud and apps, things like buttons, pressure sensors, thermometers tied to lights, buzzers and motors. Each block has its own wireless connection and battery and can thus operate independently as needed and completely wirelessly as well.

Bluetooth conveys sensor-captured data to your device, which then communicates demands and tasks back outward. You could program your doorbell, for instance, to prompt an unconnected camera to take a picture of your visitor. A lot like ‘If This Then That’, you can create simple or more complex chains of consequences for actions and responses. Expert users can also peel back the wrapper casing to reveal the electronics within in order to better understand (or hack) them.

From its creators: “There was no really easy way to create a product, an app, or a piece of art using electronics and coding. I thought this was crazy as it basically meant cutting off the majority of the designers who haven’t had the luxury to have a technical education.”

“[The Internet of Things] is becoming essential. The boundaries have blurred between the world of physical and digital products, and the potential to connect one thing to another is huge. This doesn’t just mean physical objects talking to one another but talking to broader services and experiences, which might only exist digitally.”

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A startup is turning New York City waste receptacles into sources of free street-level, solar-powered internet in addition to their current capabilities, which include signalling for a pickup when the garbage is filling up or starting to smell.

The city already has over 100 smart bins from Bigbelly waste management that are each able to relay information about their status wirelessly, so adding this functionality is a natural next step, particularly in dense areas where signals have limited range (as they can’t pass through tall buildings).

The connected system has all kinds of potential growth paths, including public alerts and data collection for the city government. If a waste space seems like a strange place to find such things, consider the necessary ubiquity of such systems – it is really only natural to turn something on every street corner more functional.

Another initiative to turn pay phones into Wi-Fi hubs is also underway. Meanwhile, Bigbelly is glad to be pushing in new directions: “We are a smart solar-powered, connected technology platform that is literally sitting in the streets of New York. We are exactly where the people are.”

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No signal is no problem when you have this tiny portable device providing free, anonymous and and uncensored ‘Outernet’ from any location, including remote places far beyond the reach of cables or traditional wireless internet.

Receiving signals much like a traditional radio catches waves (from a series of satellites already in place), the Lantern unit has just raised close to half a million dollars in funding to develop and deploy its gadgets.

“Lantern continuously receives radio waves broadcast by Outernet from space. Lantern turns the signal into digital files, like webpages, news articles, ebooks, videos, and music. Lantern can receive and store any type of digital file on its internal drive. To view the content stored in Lantern, turn on the Wi-Fi hotspot and connect to Lantern with any Wi-Fi enabled device. All you need is a browser.”

Providing a continuously-updated web archive you can take anywhere, Lantern lets you stay connected to news, read books, listen to music, peruse academic journals, all while in remote locations (including the billions of people already living out of range). It is also billed as a good device to have handy in an emergency – a way to receive information when traditional networks are spotty or down.

“Outernet’s current signal requires a dish and enables higher download rates for mass consumption on a school or village level. This campaign is to turn on a new signal that will blanket the entire Earth with free data and can be received on a device that fits in your hand.”

“The Core Archive is a collection of content selected by Outernet because of its importance to humanity. This will include news, educational content, and disaster updates, when applicable. It is publicly viewable, dynamically edited, and subject to continuous discussion and review. It will include: Wikipedia, Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch Educational courseware of EdX and Khan Academy, Project Gutenberg books, Open Source Ecology plans, audio and video literacy lessons, regular digests of the Bitcoin Blockchain, compiled news bulletins, disaster updates, OpenStreetMap, commodities information, weather information, and much more. The entire Core Archive will be less than 1 TB. Pared down versions will be considerably smaller.”

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