Wi-Fi

In January, Skyhook Wireless Inc. announced that Apple would use Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) for its popular Map applications. The WPS database contains information on access points throughout the world. Skyhook itself provides most of the data in the database, with users contributing via direct entries to the database, and requests for localization. ETH […]

"People expect Wi-Fi to work, but there is also a general understanding that it’s just kind of flakey," said Stefan Savage, one of the UCSD computer science professors who led development of an automated, enterprise-scale Wi-Fi troubleshooting system for UCSD’s computer science building. The system is described in a paper presented last week in Kyoto, […]

The latest content-shifting products and emerging technologies in the wireless industry will connect once again at the 2007 International CES, with the latest advancements in mobile phones, PDAs, wireless notebooks, wireless distribution systems and more on display. Produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the 2007 International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, returns […]

VARBusiness Magazine, a leading publication for the computer channel sales profession, has honored D-Link, the end-to-end networking solutions provider for consumers and business, with the “Tech Innovator Product of the Year” award for its flip-style Wi-Fi phones. The D-Link Wi-Fi Phone gives users low-cost worldwide calling flexibility, secure wireless network access and many value-added features.
Winner […]

We know that Microsoft has been pretty tight-lipped about its upcoming Zune device, so this video is particularly interesting. The crew over at The Bleeding Edge got into a super-secret, underground Zune party held in Seattle’s Tabella night club, and was able to capture an exclusive hands-on Zune video demonstration. The video focuses on the […]

A team of young explorers from the Climate Change College are on a ten day field trip, participating in ESA’s CryoSat validation experiment on the Greenland Ice Sheet. To stay in touch, the team is using Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), a technology development supported by ESA.
Led by Dutch polar explorer Marc Cornelissen, the […]

As the Donner Party would tell us (if it could), pioneers can usually expect a bumpy ride en route to their intended destination. Travis Reed of the Associated Press (via The Boston Herald) reports:

Got a beef with Beijing? Joe McDonald of the Associated Press (via Telecom Asia) writes:
A global standards-setting group has rejected China’s controversial wireless encryption system, dealing a blow to Beijing’s efforts to promote its homegrown protocol around the world.
Members of the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voted down the technology known as WAPI [Wireless […]

Will internet access be controlled and monopolized by a handful of global internet access providers?
Can governments prevent access to certain sites?
Perhaps there is an alternative in the making.
Hundreds of municipalities are recognizing that facilitating internet access is part of their responsibility towards citizens, and they are planning to bypass traditional internet access providers, […]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Patch one thing and boom! here comes another issue. Not only that the fault lies not in a bug or flaw in the code; it was designed this way. Details were released at the ShmooCon hacker conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. Brian Krebs of the Washington […]

Anne Broache and Declan McCullagh of News.com writes:
According to a new proposal being considered by a suburb of New York City, any business or home office with an open wireless connection but no separate server to fend off Internet attacks would be violating the law.

I have a friend who owns a club in San Francisco and the most interesting thing I learned about the bar business is that the biggest risk to making a profit is a bartender who gives away drinks, or “pours heavy.” Employees who steal whole cases are another risk factor, but nothing is more consistent […]

Jim Duffy of Network Worldwrites:
The U.S. Department of Transportation and automakers are attempting to garner participation from the telecom industry in an ambitious project to enable nationwide wireless communication between cars and roadside facilities with the goal of heading off accidents and alleviating traffic congestion.

Rumours of free Google wi-fi have been around for months. It was first confirmed when Google free wi-fi was confirmed in San Francisco, and then shortly after Google quietly rolled out Google free wi-fi in Mountain View in a few choice locations (a pizza parlour and a gym) where, it’s guessed, its engineers like […]

At Gear Live, we got our hands on a Canary Wireless Digital Hotspotter, and it looks like it’s a hit. The Hotspotter is a portable 802.11b/g Wi-Fi signal finder and identifier.
Walking around, it was way more convenient to break out the Digital Hotspotter with the one-button operation and all. No need to stop, open up […]

Nintendo’s Wi-Fi USB Connector is an impressive piece of hardware, not because it uses any sort of advanced engineering, but because it shows Nintendo’s dedication to entering the online gaming world.
Basically, the Wi-Fi USB Connector allows anyone with a computer and a broadband connection to log in to Nintendo’s Wi-Fi gaming service. That means that […]

American Airlines has accused Logan Airport in Boston of unfair practices in a dispute over wireless hotspot locations. The issue with Logan first came to light this summer, when it was reported that Logan Airport was demanding that Continental stop offering free Internet access to Continental’s own customers, in its own private customer lounge.

I don’t have kids, but I know that parents spend a lot of time worrying about what they do online and that many have to share the family PC which can quickly become a living nightmare while little Suzy IMs her pals back and forth as you stand around cooling your heels. Luckily there is […]

From TechnologyReview.com:
Protocol extends the range of wireless networks
Results: Researchers in India have developed a communications protocol to increase the coverage area of Wi-Fi mesh networks. In a conventional Wi-Fi network - like the ones that are now common at many urban cafEs and airports - a base station with a wired connection […]

Italian car drivers are getting very excited around the opportunities created by the new cutting-edge business initiative allowing individuals to buy Wi-Fi connection passes to hook up to the net while cruising the Sunshine Freeway (Autostrada del Sole, linking Milan with Rome and Neaples - it is about 750 km long).
Initially the highway hotspots […]