Texas Instruments' new chips: 10 percent of the power use: TI announced new Wi-Fi chipsets due out in the 4th quarter that will use as little as 10 percent of the power required for current generation chips. The company said that handhelds could get an additional 25 percent battery life and laptops about 6 percent because of this power drop. A variety of coverage: EE Times, Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, EBNews, and 802.11 Planet. [via Sifry Alerts]

7:06:32 PM    comment   

Conexant Systems adds Intersil Wi-Fi chips to DSL and cable modem designs: This move by Conexant Systems moves Wi-Fi into the de facto consumer space: equipment that consumers will use or build on top of because it's there and they didn't have to buy or configure it. Such integration lowers the overall cost of jumping into Wi-Fi because the price of a DSL or cable modem is already subsidized, and an additional chipset and antenna will only increase manufacturing costs by a small amount -- maybe $25 to $30 per unit in quantity. This puts Wi-Fi on the same ground as HomeRF, which has been more successful at pushing the integrated agenda.

5:54:01 PM    comment   

UWB scare because of disintermediation?: David Janes rants about the attempt to hijack UWB's potential by alleging interference with airplane systems without the details necessary to understand what kind of UWB transmissions and at what power levels were used. David makes a reasonable case, but I think he overstates the sales angle of this: there are many, many companies that stand to gain from the sale of UWB equipment, just as billions of dollars of Wi-Fi equipment (equally disintermediate but short range) are being sold now.

5:44:37 PM    comment   

The Netherlands commercial Wi-Fi rollout: Another Dutch reader, Leon Buijs, notes that the Hubhop service, currently free, is rolling out 40 Wi-Fi hot spots in Dixons stores across The Netherlands. Dixons has a 132 stores. The rollout is in conjunction with Apple and will use Apple Base Stations. Two locations are currently active.

5:39:31 PM    comment   

NPR segment on wardriving: Listen and learn.

5:13:42 PM    comment   

Statism rears its ugly head. What right do they have to do this?
5:09:00 PM    comment