The New York Times published an article today that says that 300 or more cities and towns have already set up citywide Wi-Fi access - which is often referred to as municipal Wi-Fi if the access is free. (Wi-Fi refers to wireless access to networks and even the Internet.) But even though bigger cities like San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia are planning complete or near-complete coverage, apparently New York is a laggard.

According to the article, going wireless is cheaper because there’s no cost of setting up cable. Imagine the amount of digging and road blocks and traffic re-routing that would be necessary for a wired network. A lot of extra planning and personnel is no longer needed.

So all the money saved by going wireless could be used to keep the prices low for access, possibly to the point of being free. And, as the article says, because there is a lack of expertise at the city government level, most of those 300 cities in the U.S. have turned to large service providers such as Earthlink, Google, Verizon and others with contracts to setup citywide Wi-Fi.

So what does this mean for you in terms of investing? Two things. Firstly, city governments are going to turn to service providers who are well-known and visible. I.e., the big providers. These are stocks you want to watch. Secondly, a side-effect of having citywide Wi-Fi might be that laptop sales overtake desktop computer sales.

Finally, a lot of people are not going to want to make their shiny new laptops visible to total strangers. If you feel that way, check out this “new” laptop case. (Scroll down the page for a picture.) No anchovies please.

Now, lest you don’t have the time to figure it out, Human Beans are not really selling the case. But there’s a market waiting to be tapped. I use a really beaten up old “book” bag for my laptop case. Remember how crazy people went for stone-washed, pre-ripped jeans? Any company who comes up with real, interesting laptop cases that obscure their contents might be just be a company to invest in. For the short-term, anyway.