 |
News that's changing the Wireless World!
|
 |
 |
Thursday, May 20, 2004 |
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Sony Wireless LCD
Handles Three Wi-Fi Flavors
In two sizes at $1,000 and $1,500, the portable LCD uses a base station to
access 802.11a, b, or g networks: The LocationFree Portable Broadband TV
will ship this fall with two options: a 5 pound, 12.1-inch, 800 by 600 pixel
display for $1,500, or a smaller 7-inch, 800 by 480 pixel unit for $1,000.
The screens connect remote to a base station which has Ethernet, two USB
ports, and an NTSC tuner, plus an infrared blaster needed to tune set-top
boxes which don't produce tunable signals. Interestingly, the base station
can feed content over the Internet if you have an upload speed of at least
300 Kbps on your local network. Sony can't guarantee the quality of this
kind of remote viewing, but has built early 802.11e-like support for quality
of service (QoS) packet prioritization and scheduling for crisp local
viewing, according to the report. The larger unit has a Compact Flash slot;
the smaller, a Memory Stick slot. The portables can view images stored on
those cards. Oddly, the article doesn't mention battery life, but a posting
from earlier this year on AkibaLive notes that it has a lithium-ion battery
that offers 100 to 180 minutes of viewing on a charge depending on the
unit's brightness setting....
Source Link
7:10:55 PM 
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Intel Presents the Pig
and Cow Webcam
A pig, a cow, a camera, some coffee--and thievery: There's got to be a
category that's uniquely unique, as much as an oxymoron as that might sound.
Nigel Ballard sends the following combination police blotter, glimpse in the
future, and Wi-Fi report from Portland, where he helps build out community
wireless networking hotspots as part of Personal Telco: I'm on a new
steering committee! This'll make it three in total. The Pig & Cow
Steering Committee differs from the others, not only because it has a way
more interesting title, but also because there are livestock involved,
albeit the plastic variety. Confused? OK, some background is needed. Urban
Grind is a coffee house with a difference, home to Personal Telco and a
whole host of other community-related happenings. You need to hang there to
see how very different it is from the sterility encountered in those
national coffee houses. A few months back two plastic animals appeared on
the countertop. Namely, a pig and a cow. People waiting for their drinks
started posing the animals, and then customers slipped in extra characters
and even props to create scenes ranging from the beautiful to the bizarre.
Along comes Intel's People & Practices Research Group who have been
watching the way the free Wi-Fi access from Oregon non-profit Personal Telco
was changing the clientele, attracting customers from miles away, and
creating a real sense of community, communication and interaction in this
large and comfortable space. Many of the customers at UG actually talk to
each other; they learn each others names, enquire about lives, loves and job
searches, amazing! Intel asked Urban Grind if they could install some fun
technology, Brenda and Macker, the proprietors said "Sure, knock yourself
out". Intel duly installs a camera, an LCD monitor, a big blue button, a
tiny web server and a wireless client to connect their server through the
Personal Telco Wi-Fi to the outside world. The idea is this. You are invited
to pose the characters, bring in some of your own, and even add a prop. Hit
the big blue button, the image appears on the LCD monitor and shortly
thereafter they also appear online at the web site for all to see. Cool
beans, but "why" I hear you ask. Intel says "We'd like to help people get
marginally more enjoyment out of Urban Grind, or get to know other patrons
a...
Source Link
6:09:45 PM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
VodaFone, BT Pairs
Bluetooth to Cell Phone for Handoff
British Telecom will deploy a Vodafone handset that switches from cellular
to a local broadband connection at homes, offices: Project Bluephone would
ostensibly use Bluetooth to handle the cell to broadband swapover when
within the range of a local base station, and then transmit voice over that
connection out to BT. Details are a little hazy about how well this will
work in homes: Bluetooth typically runs at its 1 Mbps speed only within 30
to 100 feet, even with the more powerful flavor of Bluetooth. [via
Engadget]...
Source Link
4:56:55 PM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Planet
Aggregator
Decides to GoRemote
If you're looking to use services from GRIC you can't -- because it just
changed the company name. Pluss they offer a client software upgrade.
Source
Link
3:46:17 PM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Korea's KT has 375,000
Wi-Fi Subscribers
KT is nearly doubling its hotspot network from 12,000 current locations to
23,000 by the end of the year: Korea spent publicly to build a broadband
infrastructure, and that's paid rewards with 71 percent of the population
having high-speed service. 8 Mbps DSL costs as little as $20 before tax and
equipment and a Wi-Fi subscription is as low as $9 for DSL subscribers. KT
is now also selling cell/Wi-Fi handsets; they sold 2,000 in the first two
weeks it was offered....
Source Link
3:46:16 PM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Earthlink to Offer
Broadband Wireless in Calif.
Earthlink will offer Internet access to customers in Northern California
through a deal with Digitalpath Networks, a wireless ISP: Digitalpath uses a
proprietary system to deliver the access. It had better be a pretty cheap
proprietary system because it requires technicians to install antennas on
customer homes. The cost of such installs is commonly blamed for the failure
of the MMDS market in the '90s. Since then, many wireless ISPs in non-rural
areas have targeted the more lucrative business market because of the
expense of building and installing network equipment. Earthlink has been one
of the most bullish big players to pursue broadband wireless opportunities.
It has made similar wireless offerings in the Atlanta area through partners.
On a side note, shame on Cnet for this line: "Wireless broadband, commonly
called WiMax." Come on folks, not all wireless broadband is WiMax and in
fact, WiMax gear doesn't exist. It sounds like Digitalpath is using a
technology that is nothing like WiMax....
Source Link
9:33:35 AM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Austin Park Gets
Wireless
Austin Wireless City worked with the City of Austin to build a hotspot in
Republic Square Park: The two have also partnered for hotspots at One Texas
Center and city hall. Republic Square is the first of four Austin parks to
get wireless. The City of Austin is apparently really supportive of Austin
Wireless City projects, which will only encourage more Wi-Fi in
Austin....
Source Link
9:24:15 AM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Olympics Say No to
Wi-Fi
Athens IT contractor finds Wi-Fi too prone to denial of service at present:
The Atos Origin manager for the games didn't stress security issues like
actual break-ins. Rather, he was concerned about the likelihood of attempted
attacks that they would have to analyze, and the potential of a single idiot
to jam signals. These are unfortunately reasonable concerns at present--it's
all too easy to produce junk 2.4 GHz signals or to automate denial of
service attacks that deassociate other clients....
Source Link
7:40:11 AM
|
|
Source: Wi-Fi Networking News
Trains with Wi-Fi May
Tempt Travelers
Survey says that most business travelers would opt for a train over a car or
plane ride if Wi-Fi were available: Fifty percent of existing business train
travelers already carry a laptop, the survey found, and most already work
during train trips making calls or handling electronic files. Users would
pay up to £12 (about US$20) for longer trips....
Source Link
7:28:15 AM
|
|
© 2004 [OCCalWUG]
Last Update: 6/1/2004; 2:48:06 AM
|
|
|
|
 |
|
![Subscribe to "[OCCalWUG] " in Radio UserLand.](http://radio.weblogs.com/0124889/images/xmlCoffeeCup.gif){kind=small}
