Islands where the access point/login system has to do something special are a step along the road, but what I am talking about is a tool for the laptop (or other device) that logs me into an AP without the AP taking measures to allow automated login.

After all, if an AP wants easy login, there's a really easy way to do that. :-)

Whisher seems very similar to FON, which I was already familiar with. Saw WeFi at Supernova but learned very little about it, it's not clear that they are automating login.

Devicescape, however, which I did not know about, seems to be pretty close to what I was talking about, in a commercial form. They seem to be using a trick I would not have thought to be reliable -- sneaking information through fake DNS queries before you are logged in. I would have though most gateways blocked such traffic (redirecting the DNS to themselves with 0 TTL) but perhaps they don't.