Archive for the ‘wireless’ Category
Wireless recharging comes to laptops
September 29th, 2009 | 
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The Latitude Z on wireless charging station, and wireless dock adapter on the right.
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)
That Dell is releasing a new laptop for business customers is the opposite of surprising. But the fact that it contains notable features not seen in any other laptops certainly is.
Most everything about the new Latitude Z is expected: It’s yet another very thin notebook (a metric which PC manufacturers keep using to try to one-up each other), with a different kind of exterior finish (soft-touch, in this case), and comes in a black cherry. It measures 16 inches across, and is 14 millimeters thin at its most narrow point.
But you probably wouldn’t guess that the Latitude Z charges wirelessly. And as far as we can tell, it’s the first laptop to do so. Surprised that this is coming from Dell? You’re not alone.
The wireless charging is handled elegantly enough. An inductive pad that’s built into a laptop stand can accomplish a full recharge in “about the same amount of time” as a standard-issue cabled charger, according to Dell. While smartphone maker Palm has a similar (albeit smaller) wireless charging system for the Pre, and companies like Visteon and Wild Charge have debuted wireless charging accessories for phones, no PC maker has incorporated the idea until now.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10362968-260.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in laptop, Tech, wireless | 
Tags: laptops, Visteon, Wild Charge, Wireless recharging | 
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Wi-Fi flowers sprouting across U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO–A pair of Los Angeles artists have teamed up with Toyota on an usually functional art project: a set of large, colorful flowers that have been providing free Wi-Fi and power outlets in public places around the country.
Currently on display in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens, the flowers–the creation of a company called Poetic Kinetics and its principals, Patrick Shearn and Cynthia Washburn–are part of a campaign for Toyota’s newest generation Prius.
Brightly colored by day and lit up with LEDs at night, the flowers have been on tour around the country for several weeks. According to John Lisko, the executive communications director for Saatchi & Saatchi, Toyota’s ad agency on the project, the flowers have gone through Boston, New York, Chicago, Seattle and will shortly be departing for Los Angeles.
The Wi-Fi flowers are lit up at night, and provide free Internet connectivity as well as power outlets to plug cell phones or laptops in to.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)
Inspired, at least in part, by a set of giant, mobile flowers Shearn built for Burning Man in 2005 and 2006, Toyota commissioned the project to reflect the theme of the new Prius: Harmony between man, nature and machine.
Run on solar power, the flowers pull in an Internet signal via a 3G network, explained Washburn, and then convert it to Wi-Fi which covers a radius of about 200 feet around each flower.
For now, the project is no more than temporary art. But Lisko said that Toyota is “thinking through” the possibility of providing permanent versions, particularly because, he said, the public feedback has been so strongly positive.
Designed for Burning Man 2005 and 2006, these two art cars, a flower and a venus fly trap, were among the most popular pieces at Burning Man.
Source :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10354821-52.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Communication, Internet, wi-fi, wireless |
Tags: art, Toyota, Wi-Fi flowers |
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802.11n Wi-Fi standard finally approved
As predicted last month, the IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.
Finalization of the new wireless networking standard–which is capable of delivering throughput speeds up to 300 megabits per second (and even higher)–took exactly seven years from the day it was conceived, or six years from the first draft version. The standard has been through a dozen or so draft versions.
News of the ratification broke via a blog post displaying an e-mail sent by Bruce Kraemer, longtime chairman of the 802.11n Task Group, to task group members. There has been no public announcement yet. Update 5:49 p.m. PDT: A press release has been issued.
(The 802.11n Task Group is part of the 802.11 Working Group, which oversees WLAN (wireless local-area network) standards. Task group members include the majority of Wi-Fi chipmakers, software developers, and equipment OEM vendors. Meru Networks, one of the members, posted the blog that broke the news.)
It’s likely, however, that final approval of the standard will be publicly announced by September 15, the date when Meru Networks puts on a public Webcast to provide answers about the ratification.
According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, the group that tests and certifies wireless products to ensure their interoperability, all existing Wi-Fi Certified Draft N wireless products will still work with the final standard.
802.11n offers much higher speeds than the previous, already-ratified 802.11g, which caps at only 54Mbps. Due to the compelling higher speed, most wireless vendors haven been offering 802.11n-based (also known as Wireless-N) products during the past six years and calling them Draft N products. Now the Draft is no more.
According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, most, if not all, of the existing equipment can be upgraded to the final specification via a firmware update. Finally, all future wireless networking products will be compatible with today’s products that have been Wi-Fi-certified.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10351215-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Communication, Entertainment, Internet, Tech, wireless |
Tags: 802.11n, IEEE, wireless Lan |
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