WiFi NEWS

Matzan has done a superior job in tying together the technical, political, and legal reasons why it’s just so darn hard for OS developers outside of major, proprietary, for-fee releases (i.e., Windows and Mac OS X) to obtain the necessary pieces to support any given Wi-Fi device. (Mac OS X is quasi-proprietary: Large parts of the system are dependent on open-source and related software, but Apple keeps many elements of its system private.)

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(release not yet on site): The company will ship the Wireless USB Extender, a four-port USB hub that connects via UWB to a USB dongle on a computer, for $249 in January. Of course, last January, they said, “Cable-free USB 2.0 extension is a reality for…Gefen…The unit…marks the initial release of UWB-enabled product for the US market.”

Ha, ha! Just kidding! We meant, January 2007! Last year’s product, which they
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I happened to interview an EarthLink exec a few days ago on non-Wi-Fi topic during the middle of the city negotiations. He sounded a bit weary. The talks have lasted months, and they’re still haven’t agreed on the final details of what will be offered for free, and what network charges for for-fee service will be.

A project to unwire the 910 square miles of Oakland County pushed to mid-08 completion: The project was intended to offer
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Panasonic made the surprise announcement a few months ago that they were considering launching a Connexion successor which would use a lighter-weight set of gear (less weight = less fuel) and a smaller antenna (less drag = less fuel) that would allow them to charge less and also push a lot more bandwidth over the same Ku band satellite connection. They would also have a much lower transponder bill in their formulation. Boeing isn’t involved in this successor effort, but is supportive of the notion.

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New Orleans set up its own temporary network through donations and its own efforts following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, but a combination of state law and overall cost seem to have led to them picking a private company to handle details. EarthLink offers a 300 Kbps connection for free across the 20-square-mile network, and will continue to do for the indefinite feature. A faster, 1 Mbps service is available at the usual rates ranging
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December 20, 2006When is a mesh network not a mesh network? Colgate University in central New York State knows. It recently completed the rollout of a campus wide outdoor network using Tropos Networks’ MetroMesh equipment — but none of the units are meshing. “We just wanted maximum throughput,” says Rich Grant, the associate director of technology planning for the liberal arts school. “We have backhaul on all the Tropos access points. That’s
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December 19, 2006It’s not enough to setup a city-wide, Wi-Fi-based, mesh network. You have to keep track of it. That’s why companies that make the equipment, like Tropos Networks and SkyPilot Networks, are announcing partnerships with companies that can keep track of the traffic they generate. Tropos is partnering with NetNearU (NNU). The NNU TRACKOS management platform has already been deployed with some Tropos networks, including the big setups
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December 18, 2006Staccato Communications calls it “a first for ultrawideband.” The chip maker is working with South Korea’s SK Telecom and some unnamed partners to make phone handsets that use UWB technology for a variety of uses. The goal: Turn the phone into the central computing platform for the user, as well as to kick off what Staccato calls Personal Area Social Networking (PASN). Such phones could actually start trickling into the market in
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December 15, 2006Ultrawideband (UWB) technology is now a-okay in Europe. InfoWorld says the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Committee passed a ”positive regulatory opinion” on the technology with a 70% majority. That means it’s on the way to becoming law in the EU. Any restrictions will be published soon (the recommendation is to stay within 3.4-5 and 6-8.5 Gigahertz (GHz)); they’re likely to be in keeping with restrictions elsewhere in the world to
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December 13, 2006

Skype, EBay’s (Quote) Internet phone service, today announced anunlimited calling plan for SkypeOut users. The new option comes as ayear-long freeperiod nears an end.

Details of the flat-rate annual plan for calls within the U.S. and Canadainclude a $14.95 introductory rate until Jan. 31, 2007. After that, Skypeunlimited calling costs $29.95.

Skype-to-Skype calls remain free and calls outside of the U.S. and Canadaare 2.1 cents per minute.

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