WirelessDoc

82% of US hospitals have Wi-Fi networks

In Wireless Week's "Diagnosis: Wireless"...

ABI Research says about 82% of the hospitals in the United States have Wi-Fi networks, or 6,161 of the 7,526 hospitals.

JoikuSpot: turns the Nokia N95 cell phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot

Via Raimo Van der Klein's Marikaya blog:

This week JoikuSpot turns my N95 into a hotspot. It just takes my HSDPA/UMTS signal and turns into a public Wifi hotspot. Amazing! Check this Seesmic video.

Yes, this is a way to get 3G speed on an iPhone, as Raimo demo's in his video.

UPDATE: Some folks have their hands on the new N96. Nokia has increased the internal memory to 16 GB in addition to its microSD slot which the 8 GB N95 doesn't have. It sports a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus lens and two LEDs for flash and video lighting.

The 2.8 inch QVGA display will come in handy for the integrated DVB-H [Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld] mobile TV tuner, while a 3.5mm headphone jack, A2DP [stereo Bluetooth], and integrated stereo speakers should handle audio with aplomb.

It provides AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System which uses cell sites within the cellular network to help with positioning when the satellite signal is degraded). Unfortunately, for now, the N96 does "HSDPA only on the 900 and 2100 MHz bands." The AT&T Wireless 3G HSDPA network uses 850/1900 MHz.

"Free Public Wi-Fi" is Microsoft Windows Silent Adhoc Network Advertisement crying wolf

The puzzling phenomenon of seeing "Free Public Wi-Fi" that you can't connect to when you're searching for free public wi-fi has been solved. It's "Microsoft Windows Silent Adhoc Network Advertisement."

From a Nomad Research Centre Advisory:

This advisory documents an anomaly involving Microsoft's Wireless Network Connection. If a laptop connects to an ad-hoc network it can later start beaconing the ad-hoc network's SSID as its own ad-hoc network without the laptop owner's knowledge. This can allow an attacker to attach to the laptop as a prelude to further attack.

Basically, what's going on with "Free Public Wi-Fi" is that when you connect to a network with an SSID such as "Free Public Wi-Fi," your Windows computer retains that SSID. But the glitch is that it also will broadcast this SSID inviting other computers within range to connect with your computer in an ad hoc network. The ad hoc network only allows the other computer to connect to your computer, which you most probably don't want to offer. When you're looking for a Wi-Fi connection, you're looking for an access point which will connect you to the Internet.

Of course, when other users see the "Free Public Wi-Fi," they naturally want to connect to such a fetching SSID, and voila, they've got it in their system, and they'll be broadcasting it to others eventually. In reality, no one is connecting to the Internet via this SSID, but it is still being spread in a viral fashion in the connected world of laptops.

Somewhere there is a hot spot where you can connect with the SSID "Free Public Wi-Fi" that started all this going. Who knows where?

Some enterprising marketer might use this bug to create a viral campaign using the SSID "Miller Lite beer, less filling, free public wi-fi" and spread to message to countless road warriors who then spread it throughout the Wi-Fi laptop universe.

Cisco bullish on 802.11n

Cisco goes next generation with 802.11n

Cisco just released its 802.11n-supporting products leveraging the further range and higher throughput of this standard.

While it seems that "Broadcom doesn't think 802.11n is ready for the mainstream yet." According to this article, the biggest reason is cost.

While the approval of Draft 2.0 occurred earlier this year, there is a clear path towards the final 802.11n standard, expected to be published in 2009.


Technorati Tags: 802.11n, Cisco, Broadcom

Dave has it right about the iPod Touch

This device is all about the Wi-Fi.

What if Jobs didn't do the deal with AT&T, and instead today he announced that the iPod Touch would support Skype, and you could get free Wi-Fi at Starbucks?

That would be NEWS.

The iPhone-ish iPod Touch just announced

The Net might be dead and boring, but gadgets that allow you to connect to it on the go are not. The Jobsman announced a new line of iPods, but the big news is the iPod Touch.

I wonder how many folks at kicking themselves for buying the iPhone then futzed around trying to disable the AT&T service, to now realize that they could have bought want they really wanted for $200 less. That's $300 for the iPod Touch with 8GB of solid state memory. The 16GB is $400. You would expect to have more memory on a device meant for viewing videos.  Where's the Bluetooth? Expandable memory? (Photo courtesy of Engadget)

The Nokia n800 has some serious competition now. Skype is not possible since it doesn't have a microphone.

OK, you've got Wi-fi with the capabilty to download from iTunes. It's running Safari which is a big leap compared to the other connected handhelds.

It features a new marketing idea: contextual downloads. At Starbucks, you can get free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes online store. It won't be long before they'll be contextual ads via Wi-Fi as you walk past other stores that sign up for this agreement.

What's lacking are productivity tools. This could be an entry point for Google, if and when they come out with a connected device. It wouldn't even have to be a phone. We'll see.

Apple is really moving ahead with this device. I wonder if Palm is up for the challenge. The were once the driving force in touchscreen handhelds.

UPDATE: The iPhone 8GB is being reduced to $400, which yesterday was $200 more, and the 4GB model is disappearing. If it were it up to Google, mobile phones would be free. If it doesn't look like the iPhone will be supporting 3G any time soon (unless you live overseas), it could begin to lose its appeal. Add this to the bad feeling for the first adopters of the iPhone who paid a $200 premium.

Those folks with a 40GB music collection won't like the 16GB max memory on this thing. It would be great if you could connect a portable keyboard to it and run Google docs, but that doesn't seem possible.

ThinkSecret promises touch-screen iPod with a 3.5-inch display

But will it have Wi-Fi?

iPhone takes a backseat to T-Mobile's Hotspot @Home

With all the reports coming out of people figuring out ways to activate their iPhone without subscribing to AT&T, instead using Wi-Fi as the only means of staying connected (but not doing VoIP, alas), there is also the news from T-Mobile which I'm just picking up on now thanks to the Poguester.

T-Mobile's Hotspot @Home allows you to use a Wi-Fi connection to make VoIP calls for just an extra $10/month. That's unlimited calling worldwide, as long as you start the call with the Wi-Fi connection. It will shift automatically to the cellular, if the signal should strengthen. You can use your own router with your DSL service (mandatory), but the one T-Mobile supplies helps save the battery life on the cell phones that support this service.

At the moment, you have a choice of only two phones: the Nokia 6086 and Samsung t409. Both of these are small basic flip phones (both $50 after rebate and with two-year commitment). They sound terrific; over Wi-Fi, in fact, they produce the best-sounding cellphone calls you’ve ever made. But the screens are small and coarse, and the features limited. Fortunately, T-Mobile intends to bring the HotSpot @Home feature to many other phones in the coming months.

It won't work with any network that requires a login, but it works with the T-Mobile Wi-Fi service at Starbucks, Borders, and other shops.

This makes T-Mobile's network coverage competitive with other carriers such as Verizon, and it solves the main consumer complaint of not having a decent signal at home. It also lightens the traffic on the T-Mobile network without them having to make an extra investment in towers and capacity.

Fourth gen Centrino (Santa Rosa) notebooks arriving

Today's WSJ article "Newest Laptops Tap Intel For Faster Links," reports that 230 new laptops will be marketed by the Intel processor brand "Centrino Duo." This replaces the code name Santa Rosa which is the 4th generation Centrino platform.

[This will] offer a slightly faster version of Intel's Core 2 Duo microprocessor chip. But there are two other elements: a set of accessory chips that can display more realistic computer graphics, and Intel's adoption of draft industry specifications called 802.11n in wireless chips that send data at about five times the speed of today's Wi-Fi technology.

Just to recap, Centrino is the platform-marketing initiative by Intel that denotes the use of all 3 of its chips--CPU, mainboard chipset, and wireless--in the design of laptops. OEMs that use only the processor and chipset carry the Intel Core label instead.

The photo here shows Fujitsu's $1750 LifeBook T4220 convertible laptop/tablet with Centrino Duo. Notice that they prominently display the optical drive which as been absent in many Tablet PCs.

Dell is also planning on offering 2 new Centrino Duo laptops in its Latitude line of notebooks. These supposedly will be 15% faster and will have up to an hour and a half more battery life.

It is expected that the Santa Rosa platform will be updated in the first half of 2008 with the new 45nm Penryn processor replacing the current generation of 65nm Core 2 processors (Merom).

For those wanting WiMAX support, you might have to wait for the fifth generation Centrino (Montevina) release in 2008, but there are rumors that WiMAX may still be introduced in 2007

Technorati Tags: Intel, Santa Rosa, Centrino Duo, Montevina, WiMAX

WSJ: The Future of Wireless

Real Time - WSJ.com

Jason Fry checks in with a blog post subtitled: ISPs, businesses, and even cities seek to offer cheap or free connections--which will win?

Nothing new here, except for mention of the recent Fon/Time Warner Cable deal, and the opinion by Dana Spiegel of NYCwireless who is "skeptical of the deal's impact, seeing it as little more than a public-relations move for both companies."

The Fon USA CEO acknowledges that there are only 60,000 "Foneros" in the US, with more of a view toward the future for a workable network.

There does appear to be agreement that muni Wi-Fi projects are likely to be complementary to the efforts of the ISPs and other commercial wireless providers.

Fry talks about the "much-hyped WiMax," which might be a tad too cynical considering the commitment by such companies as Sprint, and the device manufacturers.

Spiegel, using air conditioning as an analogy, makes the point that wireless broadband access, once considered a luxury (or "much hyped"), will be seen as a necessity for communication and commerce.

Technorati Tags: NYCwireless, FON, Time Warner Cable, Foneros, WiMax, ISP, Wi-Fi,