Karma Wants To Make Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi a Thing

There'll be a day, if one recent Wi-Fi startup has its way, when you switch on your tablet or laptop and the wireless Internet access you need is just there. Automatically, everywhere, every time.

You won't think about it. You won't search for elusive hotspots. You'll just get to browsing, and the days when passwords or daily- or monthly-pass payments stood in the way of productivity are no more — they'll vanish, much like the brick-and-mortar video store.

That's the vision of Karma. A 10-person team, the startup is pouring some $1.2 million of investor funding into building not just an infrastructure that makes Wi-Fi ubiquitous at a low, pay-as-you-go cost, but — this is the key point — sharable.