The Wi-Fi Alliance announced Wi-Fi Protected Setup as the name for its upcoming consumer ease-of-use program, formerly code named “Wi-Fi Simple Config.” Slated for launch in Q4 of this year, the program is planned as an optional certification based on a standardized method for security setup in home Wi-Fi networks.

Recent research indicates that 43% of Wi-Fi users found that installing security on a home Wi-Fi network moderately-to-very difficult (Wi-Fi Alliance/Kelton Research, 2006). Wi-Fi Protected Setup is designed to ease installation and activation of security features on a network to improve the home Wi-Fi user experience.

“Wi-Fi technology is proliferating across a wider range of consumer electronics, so ease-of-use has become more important than ever,” said Wi-Fi Alliance Managing Director Frank Hanzlik. “The Wi-Fi Alliance will continue play a central role in enabling a positive user experience.”

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Left-handed users often get short-changed when it comes to input devices. In response, Microsoft’s Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 was designed to fit both left-handed and right-handed users but it fails to comfortably suit either.

The Laser Mouse 5000 connects to PCs and Macs via an included USB receiver. After installing Microsoft’s included IntelliPoint software, you can customize the mouse’s left and right buttons, side buttons, and clickable four-way scroll wheel.

Despite its contoured design, the Laser Mouse 5000 wasn’t comfortable to use, and the plastic surface was slippery. In addition, both of the side buttons are mounted for thumb use, which makes accessing the button opposite your thumb difficult.

This mouse doesn’t lag, but the mouse’s 1,000-dot-perinch resolution isn’t sufficient for avid gamers. Also, the mouse doesn’t live up to Microsoft’s claimed 6-foot wireless range.

Sales of mobile phones featuring both cellular and Wi-Fi capabilities will be booming by 2010, according to a recent study by market research firm In-Stat. In-Stat analysts predict that 132 million of the devices will be in use by then.

Wi-Fi, which offers wireless Ethernet connectivity over a range of a few hundred feet, is widely used by consumers to connect their PCs and certain handheld devices to the Internet. But until very recently,Wi-Fi has been absent from the world of cell phones.

More than 20 WiFi-enabled models are either already on the market or will be released soon. Some of these new phones will be products of collaborations between cellular carriers and companies that offer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, which allow transmission of voice and data over the Internet.

Consumers could use a VoIP service when the device is within range of a Wi-Fi signal. Once out of Wi-Fi range, they could then operate the same phone using cellular technology, according to In-Stat analysts.

With Netgear WNR854T RangeMax NEXT wireless Router Gigabit Edition, Netgear has removed the need to tinker with antenna placement to obtain optimal performance and instead has embedded the antenna inside the boxy white access point chassis. And what performance it provides. Based on Marvell’s TopDog draft 802.11n chip set, this gigabit-enabled home router provided the best speeds. When partnered with the WN511T RangeMax Next Wireless Notebook Adapter (Gigabit Edition), the router topped out at about 130M bps at close range. However, this performance doesn’t extend to longer distances.

The WNR854T provides the least-complicated wireless configuration options among the draft 802.11n products. However, the router does not automatically find the clearest channel. There is no option to set the narrow channel within the wide channel. Otherwise, users can select to support 802.11n plus legacy 802.11b/g or solely 802.11b/g networks.

There is no trouble getting AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) to work with Netgear’s router and notebook adapter. In fact, Netgear’s AES implementation worked without a hitch when paired with every product. Unfortunately, the router does not support the enterprise versions of WPA (Wi-Fi protected Access) or WPA2.

In five years, consumes worldwide may have so many wireless devices that they’ll need Batman’s utility belt just to carry them around. That’s the conclusion of Boston-based research company Strategy Analytics.

Strategy Analytics on July 26 released “Wireless Home Devices Global Market Forecast.” The biggest take-away: Over the next five years, consumers worldwide will buy almost 950 million wireless home devices, including game consoles, wireless MP3 players and connected TVs.

Add it up, and the digital home will have a bunch of devices that use wireless home networking to connect to one another seamlessly. “Wireless is used on the PC first, but we fully expect many other digital devices to follow,” said Peter King, director of Connected Home Devices Service, in Boston.

Source : The Buzz from eWeek

Wifi-enabled computers are sitting ducks for code execution attacks because of gaping flaws in wireless drivers shipped on both Mac and Windows systems, security researchers warned at the Black Hat Briefings security conference. A pair of hackers :- David Maynor and Jon Ellch, both demonstrated on Aug. 2 such a break-in on an Apple MacBook laptop fitted with a wireless card that was broadcasting its presence to another computer configured as an access point.

During the demonstration, the researchers were able to take complete control of the MacBook via a specific vulnerability in the device driver code that sits between the operating system and the wireless card. Maynor and Ellch did not release details or exploit code for the flaw, which affects a wide range of WiFi card manufacturers. The researchers have notified the affected companies and are working closely to identify the vulnerable code.

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Buffalo Technology’s draft 802.11n product : -he WZR-G300N Nfiniti Wireless-N Router and Access Point and the WLI-CBG300N Nfiniti Wireless-N Notebook Adapter is based on Broadcom’s Intensi-fi wireless chip set. Like Linksys’ Intensifi-based products, the Nfiniti Wireless-N Router’s throughput performance is highly dependent on the placement of antennas. The Nfiniti Wireless-N Router has three antennas that can be rotate and adjust separately, but, for full range of motion, you had to stand the unit upright using the included base stand.
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