wireless

Homemade Access Points

JimmyRay — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:21:06 -0400

Wireless is more fun then fishing for Bass while drinking a Bass. Open your home pantry and you have a wide range of homemade antenna options. What can you do with some of those older WLAN cards stuffed in a office drawer behind the "Must Read" stuff from Human Resources?

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The revolution will not be televised

Garett Kopczynski — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:49 -0400

Google is again in the news in relation to co-founder Larry Page's attempts to promote Google's "Free the Airwaves" campaign. Larry Page claims that the FCC's unlicensed "white spaces" tests were rigged, and they don't accurately represent whether wireless signals will interfere with television carrier signals. The purpose of this statement is to address concerns that the FCC is not allowing people access to public domain, and that the regulatory commission is instead favoring corporations. In the battle of the giants, it is intriguing to see Google (now watched with a certain amount of skepticism as to their motive) and the familiar vilified FCC going toe to toe over this issue.

So what is Google trying to do exactly? Vinton Cerf, the 'father of the Internet' works for Google as their "Internet evangelist." Net neutrality is a major theme for Google, even if complaints are leveled against them to the contrary. The thought of Google evangelizing the Internet, or anything for that matter, must mean an underlying vision or belief system. The constant "do no evil" mantra at the heart of Google's mission statement is certainly no different from any conventional religion, but this is not at all similar to what most businesses do in order to profit.

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Researchers look to root out those annoying Wi-Fi dead zones

Layer 8 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:59:20 -0400

Researchers at Rice University and Hewlett-Packard Laboratories say they have come up with a technique to eradicate those infuriating Wi-Fi dead zones that can crop up in large scale wireless deployments.

The general idea behind the research is to make it cheaper and easier to get proper wireless coverage in a large urban area using readily available information, the researchers said. Basically that means using a small number of measurements to predict how well a wireless transmitter will cover a particular portion of a neighborhood. The only information required is basic topography, street locations and general information about land use, researchers said.

The researchers also demonstrated their new method on two high-profile networks -- Google's system in Mountain View, Calif., and an experimental network designed and built by Rice and owned and operated by Houston-based nonprofit Technology For All.

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Cisco, Fujitsu to demonstrate mobile WiMAX with beamforming

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:20:19 -0400

Cisco and Fujitsu are expected to demonstrate interoperable video streaming using mobile WiMAX with beamforming and MIMO capabilities, reports EE Times. The beamforming technology is from Navini Networks, which Cisco acquired in October 2007, and the demonstrators claim it approximately doubles the capacity of Mobile WiMAX.

According to EE Times, the demo will take place at the WiMAX World Congress taking place from Sept. 30 in Chicago, and will feature video streaming using the Cisco BWX300 WiMAX base station and the Fujitsu CPE. In the demonstration, multiple video streaming and FTP files will be wirelessly transferred between the Cisco WiMAX base station and the Fujitsu USB dongle, according EE Times.

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McCain gets the raspberry over the BlackBerry

John Cox — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:46:13 -0400

So by now, Everyone knows Senator John McCain invented the BlackBerry. Or that he says he did. Or that someone on his campaign says he did, which is practically the same thing. This is politics after all. The "NY Times" has a pretty thorough account -- including CONTEXT! -- of what unfolded earlier today when McCain economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin was talking to reporters about the senator's ideas on the financial turmoil on Wall Street. According to the Times, the advisor was asked what McCain had done on the commerce committee that would show Americans he understands financial markets. Holtz-Eakin pointed out first that McCain didn't have jurisdiction over financial markets. Then, according to the Times, he went on: “But he did this," he said, holding up what looked like a BlackBerry. “The telecommunications of the United States, the premier innovation of the past 15 years, comes right through the commerce committee. So you’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create. And that’s what he did." Assuming this is accurate, any fair reading would be that Holtz-Eakin was using his smartphone as a kind of symbol or emblem to summarize the "creative destruction" we've witnessed in telecommunications for a decade and a half. "He did this" refers not to McCain tinkering with a CPU and ROM chips and some fancy software programming, but to his basic orientation toward markets, and probably (presumably) to specific, relevant bills that McCain sponsored or voted for. I'm not a student of McCain's commerce committee tenure, so I can't say if the aid's claim is really justified.

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10 best Google Android apps

Jeff Caruso — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:30:34 -0400

As part of its Android smartphone effort, Google went to application developers and asked them to create their best, most useful mobile applications for the Android platform. At stake was $10 million in prizes. Check out the results, which include some pretty impressive and potentially useful tools for Android.

URL hack yields details on Sprint's Xohm WiMAX launch

John Cox — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:18:56 -0400

Engadget Mobile has some details of this month's scheduled launch of the Sprint-Clearwire Xohm WiMAX launch. The details were dug up by an Engadet fan, named Leo, who was able to do some exploring of what was said to be Sprint's MyXohm Website (which apparently is no longer showing up). Many of the pages and links were simply placeholders or filler text, but according to Engadget the site said that the Xohm mobile WiMAX service will deliver 2-4Mbps for downloads and 1-3Mbps for uploads.

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Bio-inspired wireless sensor networks

John Cox — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:54:41 -0400

Researchers are trying to apply ideas drawn from biological systems to computer systems, specifically to wireless sensor networks. The work is being done by European-based WINSOC, for Wireless Sensor Networks with Self-Organization. The main idea being explored is somethng called self-synchronization: the concept that individual cells, or in this case sensor nodes, can share bits of information to coordinate actions. (ZDNet blogger Roland Piquepaille has an overview of the project, and a group of related links.)

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ProCurve + Colubris- What to Expect

Jennifer Jabbusch — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:06:34 -0400

With HP ProCurve’s acquisition of wireless provider Colubris, what should the industry expect? Oh, who knows… but people have asked my opinion, so I’ll share my thoughts, musings and speculations with the masses. You can find more information and read my initial reactions in Andrew’s write-up of the CRN release ProCurve’s Colubris Buy A ‘Great Move’

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WEP Stinks, So Why Are You Using It?

Jennifer Jabbusch — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:46:02 -0400

We all know it… we all talk about… we all say how ‘bad’ it is. Yes, we know WEP SUCKS - so why are you still using it? Yes- I’m talking to YOU! Day after day, we walk into customer sites- almost all of which are under some (or several) compliance mandates- and day after day, I still see WEP being used in production networks. So, why are they still using WEP? Usually just because they haven’t changed. It worked, it was comfortable and it was ‘okay’ when they implemented it. But, things have changed. Today any 15 year-old with a free utility and a configured wireless card can crack your WEP… in a few minutes. It’s time to update! In case you’ve been hesitant, let’s go over a few reasons why WEP is so bad.

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A Brief History of Wireless Security

Jennifer Jabbusch — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:44:05 -0400

A Brief History of Wireless Security: Open, WEP, WPA, WPA2 & 802.1X I shouldn’t be surprised when customers don’t understand our current wireless security options. It’s not their job really; it’s our job to educate them and make educated recommendations, right? Yes. So, here’s a little bit of education- a brief history of wireless security- from open systems to WPA, WPA2 and 802.1X. Portions of this have been skimmed from my 802.1X Training, Wireless Security Module. I’m hoping to answer the most common questions burning in every IT professionals mind… How did we get here and why are previous solutions now considered insecure? We’ll start from the beginning, and if all goes well, we’ll finish up at the end… FULL ENTRY

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Cisco, Intel reveal results of 802.11n Draft 2.0 tests

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:04:11 -0400

Cisco and Intel claim their recent test of 802.11n Draft 2.0 gear achieved a performance rating of at least five times the throughput speed of 802.11a/b/g WLANs. The test, whch was conducted at Intel's Casper, Ore., test facility "modeled after a typical carpeted office environment", achieved an average throughput of 182Mbps with a peak of 195 Mbps. The vendors claim the results are between 20% and 30% higher than competitive tests.

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Pay attention to these 9 wireless companies

Jeff Caruso — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:24:22 -0400

In the latest installment of our popular "companies to watch" series, editor John Cox picks the nine companies set to make waves in wireless. Check out his list.

Now we know TJX wasn't the only screw-up...

John Cox — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:19:21 -0400

Yesterday's U.S. Department of Justice indictment ought to come as a relief to the TJX, the Massachusetts-based retailer who's been the corporate whipping boy for slack wireless security for nearly three years. That's because it's now evident that TJX isn't the only security screwup in retail.

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US sets national emergency responder communications plan

Layer 8 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:49:00 -0400

Looking to help eliminate the dangerous and inefficient hodgepodge of communication and network technology used by emergency response personnel, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today released its first National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP).

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Motorola buys WLAN intrusion prevention vendor AirDefense

John Cox — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:09:28 -0400

Motorola is acquiring privately held AirDefense, a wireless intrusion prevention vendor, to strengthen security for its wireless LAN product line. The deal, expected to be finalized in a few months, gives Motorola’s enterprise division a well-regarded wireless intrusion prevention system (IPS), which uses radio sensors and software that detect, classify, locate, and block connections between enterprise WLAN access points and clients and unauthorized wireless devices. AirDefense will continue to be based in Alpharetta, Georgia but organizationally will be part of Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Division.

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Blog your pictures wirelessly and meet new friends at the same time!

swagga queen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:28:40 -0400

At MorePiix.com you can blog your pictures & videos wirelessly from any pda/sidekick phone or computer any where in da world and meet new people with the IM ,Chat & Webcam feature!!!!! Do you long for the days where you could only take 24 pictures on a roll of film? Do you miss waiting 5 hours for the 1-hour photo store to develop your prints? Neither do the folks at MorePiix, a social network where members photoblog from their mobile devices. Thanks to the feature that allows anyone to upload photos via email, members don’t even have to be at their computer to post updates. This enables the kind of creativity and spontaneity that energizes the whole network. Sweet, scary, suggestive, sassy, it’s all there at the photos tab.

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Stupid Wi-Fi trick #722: San Fran's wireless parking meters

John Cox — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:42:18 -0400

People are ga-ga over San Francisco's plan to install wireless sensors at 6,000 metered parking spaces (about one-quarter of the city's total), alerting drivers whenever one becomes open. Some smart guy probably figured, "hey, we can do this for finding the nearest Starbucks, why not parking spaces?" I'm finally getting around to this, because I read one too many wide-eyed admiring account of this scheme. Surely, the flaws should be obvious. The sensors register when a car leaves the space, and upload that information to a server, which will then alert drivers to the vacancy via electric street signs, or maps on their cell phone screens. And you might even be able to pay for the space from that same cell phone!

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Will "Mobile VoIP" Become A Market Motivator?

Matthew Nickasch — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:21:19 -0400

When I think of enterprise-wide deployments of VoIP, especially IP-PBX systems, I think of lots and lots of wired IP endpoints, with a small variety of wireless handsets deployed over the organization's wireless network. Still, it seems as though the major "endpoint focus" of organizations is towards wired terminals. Sure, we have SpectraLink (now Polycom), Cisco's wireless 802.11-compliant phones, etc. But, what the market has yet to see is a true "dual-mode" cellphone + VoIP endpoint combination.

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Chipmaker sues to block release of security details in RFID chip

John Cox — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:30:03 -0400

A CNET story this week says that the Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors is suing a Dutch university to block publication of a paper that publicly details potential security flaws in the company’s widely-used Mifare Classic contactless smartcard. A hearing is scheduled for today (10 July) in a Dutch court. The headline, alas, is typical of these stories: "Dutch chipmaker sues to silence security researchers." With a headline like that, you don't even have to read the story to know what it says and what you're supposed to think about it.

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