About Wireless / Networking    Abonnieren | — [Site] [RSS]

• Should You Be Worried About Net Neutrality? A U.S. Federal Court has ruled against the legality of net neutrality, reversing earlier legislation. Theoretically it means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the U.S. can start favoring some types of Internet network traffic over others. This ...
• Do You Own Wi-Fi Speakers? Judging on the activity around CES 2014 this month, Wi-Fi wireless speakers are set to have a big year. Earlier generations of wireless speakers like Cy-Fi tended to stream over Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi, limiting their range. Consumers have had mixed...
• Inside the Sochi Olympic Network The computer network being built specially for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi (Russia) consists of about 2000 wireless access points running 802.11n. It's intended to support up 30,000 people and 100,000+ devices including numerous IPTV feeds. Comp...
• About the Office of Tailored Access Operations - TAO A recent article in the German publication Der Spiegel describes some alleged activities of the U.S. National Security Agenda (NSA) around monitoring of worldwide computer networks. The NSA's Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO) conducts the most...
• Using "Know My App" to Forecast Wireless Data Usage Many people know that streaming video to smartphones chews up a lot of data on one's wireless service plan. But wireless data can be consumed in various other, less obvious ways too. Some apps are much more chatty on mobile networks than others. To giv...
• The Future Potential of Molecular Networks We've become so accustomed to wireless networks like Wi-Fi that use radio signals, it's easy to lose sight of other possibilities. The research into molecular networks is especially interesting. ExtremeTech recently published a nice overview of the cur...
• Child's Brain Tumor Raises Wi-Fi Safety Questions The story of girls testing the effects of Wi-Fi on house plants first made news back in May but has gained much wider visibility this week with many more online outlets suddenly adding coverage. Better late than never. While Wi-Fi may (or may not) be p...
• What Is a Wireless Range Extender? Also called "range expanders, "signal boosters", or "Wi-Fi boosters," wireless range extenders are small hardware devices that tack onto an existing local computer network and extend its radio signal reach. Wi-Fi range extenders, by far the most common...
• Move Over WiVi, Here Comes WiTrack In their continuing quest to build computer networks that see through walls, the M.I.T. researchers who brought us WiVi are back with a new and better system called WiTrack. Whereas WiVi used standard Wi-Fi technology, this new system does not. Instead...
• The iPass Wi-Fi Hotspot Index Explained For many years, the company iPass has published statistics on the usage of public Wi-Fi wireless hotspots. Back in 2007, for example, the iPass Wi-Fi Hotspot Index compared the growth of hotspot utilization among countries (the U.S. ranked first overal...
• Why 2014 Is the Last Year of Windows XP Microsoft issued a warning this week about a critical new security hole in Windows XP. Users are strongly encouraged to update the version of Adobe Reader on their XP systems to help minimize exposure. Security analysts expect Windows XP is six times m...
• 2013 Wireless Turkey Awards Announced Continuing its annual tradition of observing the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holidays, FierceWireless.com this week published their short list of the biggest failures in the world of wireless networking this year. These so-called "wireless turkey" awards hav...
• World Famous Wi-Fi Patents Expire After 21 years, the set of international patents obtained by Australian firm CSIRO finally expired on November 24th. Various industry firms are surely breathing a big sigh of relief considering the long and checkered history of these patents. Following...
• Personal Wi-Fi Access Points - Smart, or Selfish? Bowdoin College in Maine (USA) has a wireless networking problem: Too many Bowdoin students are installing their own private Wi-Fi access points on the campus network. The school's IT department has realized this situation can mean trouble for the gene...
• U.S. Colleges Now Using Super Wi-Fi Super Wi-Fi (better described as "white space wireless") technology is back in the news this week with announcements that West Virginia University has begun using Super Wi-Fi with more U.S. colleges apparently to follow. While hundreds of schools could...
• What Wi-Fi Beamforming Means to You Beamforming is a new feature of Wi-Fi being introduced with 802.11ac. By concentrating wireless signals along the direct paths between devices, beamforming promises to reduce dropped signals, particularly in areas crowded with wireless network traffic....
• About the Hotel WiFi Test Recommendation Service A company called Hotel Wifi Test has rolled out an interesting new recommendation service for travelers. The service consists of a searchable online database of hotels with historical records of Internet speed tests run by guests inside the hotel. Alth...
• How Insurance Companies Might Use Your Network Data An expanding array of Internet-enabled gadgets has been infiltrating homes worldwide the past few years including wireless scales, wireless blood pressure monitors and even wireless pacemakers. If you believe some of the buzz around Internet of Things ...
• What Is The Fon Network? Fon is the common name for the Fon global network of shared Wi-Fi wireless hotspots created by the company Fon Wireless Ltd. At the time of this writing, Fon boasts more than 12 million hotspots ("Fon spots") around the world, but adoption in the U.S. ...
• Customer Account Manager Charged With Cisco Equipment Theft The U.S. FBI reports Craig A. Stanlan has been charged with mail fraud involving replacement parts for Cisco network equipment. An account manager for one of Cisco's enterprise customers, Mr. Stanlan allegedly obtained hundreds of networking parts from...
• Using a Wireless Network Underwater They've been installed on planes, trains and automobiles, in city centers, homes and office buildings, but one of the few places where a person doesn't expect to find wireless networks is underwater. At least one university group is working on it, tho...
• The Many Sources of Wi-Fi Interference Most of us have experienced signal interference on our Wi-Fi network connections, whether we realize it or not. Such interference can cause network performance to degrade and connections to drop connections at unpredictable times. Sources of wireless i...
• Who Wants a Wi-Fi Teapot? Future generations may never get to hear the whistling sound of their grandma's boiling teapot. The world's first Wi-Fi enabled kettle (teapot), called iKettle, is expected to start shipping next month. The gadget connects to a local wireless network a...
• Getting Free Wi-Fi From Facebook The idea of free Wi-Fi through Facebook is becoming reality with Cisco and Facebook announcing this week they are now ready to roll out their service that has been in trials since last year. Businesses who sign up with Cisco can install the necessary r...
• Do You Use Hotspotio? One new Android app receiving a lot of press this month is Hotspotio. As the name suggests, Hotspotio helps you find and connect to wireless hotspots. But zillions of apps fitting this description already exist, so what's special about this one? The un...