Once again, Asia has taken the lead in deploying wireless technology but only after a misstep. In April, wireless provider Korea Telecom relaunched its WiBro mobile broadband service (a high-speed technology comparable with WiMAX) in Seoul, South Korea. WiBro gets users online wirelessly even in vehicles moving at speeds of up to 75 mph.

The first rollout was met with a collective yawn: It garnered fewer than 1,000 subscribers, primarily because of the small coverage area and lack of device support. But this time, Korea Telecom expanded to citywide coverage and promised new devices.

Whatever happens, wireless providers in other countries are taking note. According to Andy Bae, a Seoul-based senior analyst for ABI Research, the tepid response to WiBro’s first introduction caused others to remain cautious. But if the new service is successful, he says, “WiBro can be a good solution for developing countries, in which the providers can simultaneously complete broadband access and voice service over a mobile network.”

Stateside, Sprint announced in March plans to launch its mobile WiMAX network in 19 cities by April 2008, enlisting the help of handset makers Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola. But industry watchers remain skeptical about the standard’s effectiveness here. A University of Colorado–Boulder report concluded that one of the most useful applications of WiMAX could be as a “last mile” solution for providing broadband Internet access to rural areas, an opinion shared by Julie Ask, senior wireless analyst for Jupiter Research. Others are less encouraged.

“At least today, I’m not very optimistic about WiMAX in the U.S.,” Ask says

Wireless network devices typically install a monitor application that will report on link speed and integrity. This is true for wireless laptops and also for desktop systems with wireless NICs (network interface cards). To check the security of your wireless connection, locate the monitor applet, you can usually find it as an icon in your System Tray. Open the monitor and view your link information. For example, the Linksys Wireless Network Monitor 4.5, which installs with a Wireless-G PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) adapter card, can report many details about the link, including the transfer rate and channel in use. You can also see whether security features are enabled or disabled.

There are some cases in which wireless security is very important. For example, you should implement wireless security if you are sending sensitive or personally identifiable information across the network or if you are readily within range of other wireless users and want to prevent them from using your wireless bandwidth.

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 4000 Keyboard and Mouse Combo

The Laser Desktop 4000 keyboard-mouse combo is all about accessing information quickly. Integrated keyboard buttons include Web/Home; Gadgets (weather, stock, etc.); Mail; and five My Favorites buttons to configure with URLs, folders, etc. The keyboard, which uses Microsoft’s excellent Comfort Curve design, also has a Zoom lever and dual-action Function keys that can execute printing, spell checking, etc. The combo’s stellar Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 (1,000dpi [dots per [frames per second] precision) uses Intelligent Tracking System technology and includes an Instant Viewer function to display all open windows.

The 5000’s Tilt Wheel also provides four-way scrolling. A Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Vista OS (operating system), along with four batteries and 27MHz RF (radio frequency) technology, power the combo up to 6 feet from its receiver.

Features
54 Zoom Slider Easily zoom in on pictures, maps, documents, and Web pages?without taking your hand off the keyboard. Comfort Curve design Designed by ergonomic experts for enhanced comfort and style, the Comfort Curve Design keyboard helps your hands rest in a more natural position. Tilt Wheel Technology The entire wheel tilts to deliver smooth, accurate performance as you scroll horizontally and vertically through documents and Web pages. Three times the battery life Work longer without interruption. New optical technology helps extend battery life to as much as three times that of competing products. Smart Receiver Work wirelessly without bothersome interference. Smart technology automatically notifies you when interference is present, and then helps you reduce it.

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Now you can combine 801.11n speed and range with top-notch security and ease of setup. The Nfiniti router is perfect for streaming photos, audio, and video across your Wi-Fi network.

Nikola Tesla may have introduced the idea of wireless power in the late 1800s through inductive coupling, but it’s only now being perfected. Fulton Innovation says its eCoupled technology builds on the work of late 19th-century scientists such as Tesla and Michael Faraday to make wireless power a commercially viable reality. Although eCoupled made a significant impression at January’s CES with the debut of its technology, Fulton isn’t the only company working on inductive coupling and wireless power. And eCoupled isn’t the first time Fulton’s parent company, Alticor, has used wireless power.

Alticor
Technically, eCoupled received its start with Alticor’s eSpring water purification system. With eSpring, designers placed a UV electrical light in the middle of an eSpring cylinder to purify water by destroying microorganisms. However, having an electrical device inside a cylinder filled with water caused reliability problems with the electrical connector port. Designers needed to seal the light to prevent problems with water penetrating the light’s circuitry through the port, but they also needed a way to deliver power to the light. Inductive coupling technology provided the answer. After using inductive coupling for eSpring, Fulton engineers decided to begin work expanding the technology for eCoupled.

Apple
In a mid-February patent application for a wireless docking station for multiple Apple handheld devices, Apple mentioned that the station will use inductive coupling to charge the devices. At the time of this writing, Apple hadn’t officially announced any details regarding the docking station, so it’s not clear whether another company is providing the technology or whether Apple has developed this wireless charging technology itself.

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With so many wired products in their homes, users are starting to untangle the mess in their electronics systems by adopting WirelessUSB gear. Cypress Semiconductor says it has secured more than 175 design wins for its Wireless USB LP radio chips in less than one year. In that same time frame, Cypress has sold more than 2 million of the CYRF6936 Wireless USB radio chips. Products that use Cypress’ Wireless USB chips include computer mice, keyboards, gaming controllers, VoIP headsets, toys, medical appliances, and more. Cypress says the CYRF6936 has AgileHID and DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) technology, meaning it has a built-in agility that lets the chip adapt to a different part of the 2.4GHz wireless spectrum if it encounters interference. That’s particularly important in households that have a lot of wireless devices.

Continue from yesterday post : Municipal Wireless Searches For Its Connection

But not everyone agrees with the muni Wi-Fi vision. For example, San Francisco’s PRI (Pacific Research Institute) has been an outspoken opponent of city-subsidized Wi-Fi for years, and it claims in its latest research report that the few projects already active have been “disasters.” Over the years, initial plans for publicly funded muni Wi-Fi evolved into partnerships with private ISPs such as EarthLink and even ad-supported solutions from companies such as MetroFi. Regardless, PRI researchers counter, many cities have floated municipal bonds or non-interest bearing loans to companies in order to underwrite these efforts. In its report of 52 existing networks, PRI argued that despite greater private industry involvement, “muni networks demand constant reinvestment. The ones in our sample have raided more than $840 million from taxpayers over 20 years. Analysis of the total track record of muni systems shows that 77% of the time they don’t pay their way.” When cities get in the ISP business, they undermine private enterprise, PRI says. Worse, politicians, their turf wars, and interest groups only prolong the process of getting access to the people who need it most.

Others counter PRI’s claims with their own case studies of proven success. Tropos Networks, which provides the wireless mesh infrastructure for many muni systems, points to a successful project in Chaska, Minn., where citywide Wi-Fi let 28% of residents to get high-speed access for $16.99 per month and expects to break even by its fifth year of operation. Companies such as EarthLink and MetroFi say they are bearing the cost of building out these networks and financing them with low-cost subscriber fees and, in some cases, advertising. In the Portland, Ore., project, which just achieved 5% coverage of the city, MetroFi offers users two models: For $19.95, users can get speeds of 1Mbps with a 256Kbps upload channel that’s best for mobile access rather than as a replacement for higher-bandwidth cable or DSL access. But users can also get a free version of the service by accepting advertising (two persistent banner promotions on the system’s browser). Network providers argue that the modest speeds of the systems and the focus on outdoor and mobile usage keep muni Wi-Fi from competing directly with the incumbent ISPs. And, as far as cost to the cities, in many cases the city tself is donating only property by letting the networks put hundreds of Wi-Fi nodes and access clusters on streetlights and public buildings.

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