Technabob » wi fi

Samsung Echo-P and X Series Display Names Surface, New Screens Coming Soon?

Technabob — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:16:49 +0000

Looks like Samsung has a couple of new display lines in the works, to be sold under the “Echo P” and “X Series” product line names. I just spotted these on the Wi-Fi Alliance certification list.

Other than the fact that the displays will support 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band Wi-Fi, and WMM multimedia standards, there really isn’t any additional info available yet. Both series were certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance on December 30, 2011, so I can only imagine that these are some of the displays we’ll see at next week’s CES show.

While the “X Series” moniker doesn’t sound like anything too mysterious, my curiosity is definitely piqued by the “Echo-P” name. Any guesses as to what might be special about those displays?

Asahi Vending Machines Now Dispense Free Wi-Fi and Beer!

Range — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:00:43 +0000

It always annoys me when I’m stuck outside with my laptop trying to find a Wi-Fi network. Luckily where I am here in Taipei, there’s city-wide free Wi-Fi, so that’s never been a problem. It looks like it probably isn’t a problem in Japan either, because Asahi’s vending machines will now act as free Wi-Fi hotspots, where people can use the web without having to register or log in.

Like many Asian countries, Japan has got pretty good free Wi-Fi coverage, but like all things, there’s room for improvement, which is where these vending machines come in. Asahi [JP] says that they will allow people within 160 feet to access the Internet for free, on multiple devices, without registering.

Building Wi-Fi hotspots into vending machines make good sense, because they already have to be plugged into a power source, and presumably these days they also need to communicate sales and stock information back to the main office. Over the next five years, Asahi plans on putting out about 10,000 of these machines. For 2012, they plan on installing 1,000.

And no, the beer isn’t free, just the Wi-Fi.

[via CrunchGear]

Wi-Fi and Gonads Don’t Mix, Says Study

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:00:27 +0000

Guys, if you are the sort that uses a notebook with Wi-Fi running in your lap all day long, there is a new reason not to. Over the past few years, the main reason to not do that for me was the fact that notebooks were randomly catching fire. No one wants a battery fire on their kiwis.

Now, the latest reason is that researchers are claiming that Wi-Fi radiation kills sperm. A team of scientists from Argentina found 29 guys willing to upload into a sample container for the study. Part of the sperm was placed under a notebook with Wi-Fi running and another sample portion was placed away from Wi-Fi at the same temperature.

Apparently, once the sperm was looked at under the microscope, 25% exposed to Wi-Fi signals were no longer swimming. The control group with no Wi-Fi exposure saw only 14% of the sample no longer swimming. Other scientists say that there isn’t anything to worry about yet. This is just one small sample, and an artificial setup, so it might not have any real world implications.

[via Reuters]

BBC Develops Daleks That Are Controlled by Doctor Who Episodes

Conner Flynn — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:00:08 +0000

Daleks just got even scarier. The fine folks at the BBC’s R&D division have created a system in which Daleks in front of a TV can mimic the actions of the Daleks on the screen. In other words, when the Daleks on screen move towards their target, like the Doctor for instance, so will the model in your living room.

The system is in the prototype stage right now and is called Universal Control. The way it works is that your TV or set-top box has to be Internet enabled, so that the BBC can send out synchronized Wi-Fi signals to the miniature Daleks. Their experimentation involved two-foot-tall Daleks, with information encoded into the video of a Doctor Who episode.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I’m going to assume that their intentions are good and that they just want to make neat toys. At least I hope that the Beeb isn’t planning world domination by putting Daleks in our living rooms. (Un)fortunately, the BBC says it’s not planning on releasing these to the general public anytime soon.

Russound AirGo Outdoor Speaker Extends Your Wi-Fi Network to Your Backyard

Range — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:28 +0000

The Russound AirGo is a weatherproof and AirPlay compatible outdoor speaker. This 40-watt speaker isn’t just a nice way of pumping out your tunes from your music player, it can also extend your Wi-Fi network wherever you place it.

It’s got a 6.5-inch midrange woofer and two 3.25-inch tweeters. In addition, you can slot your own Apple AirPort Express into its built-in dock, and it will extend your home Wi-Fi network an extra 150 feet, which is great to blanket your backyard while you listen to your tunes. It basically acts as a wireless repeater station. Unfortunately, the AirGo runs on AC only, so you won’t be going very far outside your house without a long extension cord.

The Russound’s AGO1 AirGo Powered Outdoor Speaker sells for $400 (USD), which on top of the $100 needed for the AirPort Express is quite a bit of coin.

[via DVICE]

Sony PSP and PS Vita to Communicate Using Ad-hoc Mode – It’s Mostly Gossip

Conner Flynn — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:00:07 +0000

You probably want to get in on the PS Vita action, but are worried that you will be lonely. After all, your friends all have PSPs. Well, here’s some good news my PS loving friends. The Sony PSP and PS Vita will be able to play nice together and talk via Wi-Fi Ad-Hoc mode. They will digitally high-five each other, say wassup and get down to business.

That’s right, you can download the same games to both portables and play in Ad-Hoc mode. The problem right now is that there just aren’t many Ad-Hoc games available to us Yankees compared to what they have in Japan. Hopefully that will change.

However with the PS Vita being region free, we can probably expect more games that we can play worldwide. Hopefully those will be good for your PSP toting friends as well.

[via Siliconera via Geeky-Gadgets]

Allergic to Wi-Fi? Go to West Virginia

Conner Flynn — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:30:49 +0000

The condition called Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (or EHS for short) is pretty controversial. If you believe that it exists, then symptoms might include headaches, skin burning, muscle twitching and chronic pain. Those who believe they are afflicted by it blame it on exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones, Wi-Fi and other equipment.

Others are not so sure this condition even exists. Maybe there is something to it, or maybe it is Psychosomatic. Either way, about 5% of Americans believe they suffer from it. And they have now found relief in the form of a place where they can be free of electromagnetic fields. That place is Green Bank, West Virginia, a certified radio-free zone. It’s part of the US Radio Quiet Zone, where wireless is banned across 13,000 sq miles. This prevents transmissions from interfering with radio telescopes in the area.

I don’t know if EHS is a real illness or not. This world is full of strange things and it works in mysterious ways, so I wouldn’t dismiss is completely. I just hope they don’t all drop their tin-foil hats at the border on the way in and make a big mess, because the place looks lovely.

[via BBC]

On Air Cam Concept: for Budding Field Reporters

Lambert Varias — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:43:41 +0000

The never ending progress of technology has revolutionized many industries. It empowers individuals both in work and in play, giving us tools for productivity, production and distribution that were previously only at the disposal of institutions with considerable resources. For example, thanks to the Web and other technologies, literally anyone – for better or for worse – can be a one-man news channel, sharing data and opinions at low cost. Lee Jung Hoon’s concept device can extend this empowerment further.

Lee Jung Hoon calls his concept the On Air Cam. It’s a Web-connected video camera that not only captures video but can upload or stream the footage live via Wi-Fi, 3G or Bluetooth. Since the On Air Cam already has an OLED screen that can be used to view what’s being shot, Lee sacrificed the viewfinder and designed a second camera in its place. This allows the user to superimpose his face – or whatever he wants to shoot behind the camera – on the footage, similar to what news outfits do. It also makes it easier to record oneself, because the second camera and the OLED screen are facing the same side.

I’m no expert but I think it’s just a matter of time before something like the On Air Cam is actually produced. For all I know today’s smartphones may already be powerful enough to do this. A device like the On Air Cam will make it even easier to share events from the real world because it bypasses the process of uploading the footage to a computer before it gets to the Web – and perhaps more importantly, bypass anyone who may want to censor the information, just like what people are doing now on sites like LiveLeak, Twitter and YouTube.

But at the same time, if the On Air Cam did exist, I’m sure that there’ll be an exponential rise in the amount of narcissistic, poorly shot or overall worthless videos on the Web, crap that gets stored on servers, that use up drive space and electricity while contributing nothing useful. But that’s not the gadget’s fault is it? Check out Lee Jung Hoon’s portfolio on Coroflot to see his other designs.

[via Tuvie via Walyou]

Grace Micro Shelf System Puts Internet Radio in any Room Without a PC

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:15:00 +0000

I have said it a few times, the selection of local radio stations in my area sucks. You can get 15 channels of country and one channel of rock. I have some digital tunes and a few CDs, but I don’t like to listen to the same stuff over and over. That leaves internet radio if I want some tunes and often means I am tied to the computer.

Grace Digital Audio has a new micro shelf system with stereo speakers called the Grace Wi-Fi Stereo Micro System (GDI-IRMS300). The system has integrated Ethernet connectivity and supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi as well for wireless streaming. The radio has FM, AM, and HD tuners for tuning normal stations and it has the ability to stream just about anything from the web.

The system supports Pandora, Rhapsody, NPR, Sirius, and a lot more. The system can tune about 50,000 radio stations in total and it has 16W of peak power. Each speaker has a 3.5″ main and a 1″ tweeter. Other features include a dual band EQ, support for all sorts of digital file formats, and a media player that can stream tracks from your computer. The system retails for $249.99 (USD), but you can already find them over at Amazon for under $190.

Portable Wi-Fi Jammer: Pocket Evil

Range — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:46:29 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of jamming cell phones as much as the next guy, but isn’t it illegal to do so? Still, when there comes a time when you need to block the texts of a 12-year old girl, then I’m all for cell phone jamming. But Wi-Fi jamming? Shouldn’t information be free?

One thing’s for sure, the device is pretty small and can easily fit in a pocket. Once it’s activated, Wi-Fi goes kaboom! There are no antennas or wires involved – just mayhem.

The Portable Wi-Fi Signal Jammer is available through the Chinavasion online store and it costs about $36 USD for 1-5 units, in case you want some for your friends too. All I can think of is that you might want to block Wi-Fi for security reasons, but still it seems like a bad idea.

[via Geek Alerts]

Wi-Fi Network Party Invites: Hopefully No Creeps Around

Range — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:13:23 +0000

Planning a house party for the beginning of the Fall? Don’t know all of your neighbors yet? Use your Wi-Fi network to invite everyone on your block! Wait a second, is this actually a smart idea?

One of the most interesting ways that I’ve seen to invite people to your house party is to change the name of your Wi-Fi network. This is a probably a good idea if you’re a student living in a dorm. If you simply live in an apartment complex, there’s always the the chance that some crazy person will show up.

All in all, it’s quick and effective, but you probably shouldn’t use it as a default way of inviting people to your party. Sticking to Facebook is probably a good idea. Or, you could use your Wi-Fi network to send passive aggressive messages to your neighbors.

[9GAG via Leetlady]

New Apple Tv Price, Specs and Release Date Revealed

Technabob — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:28:25 +0000

Apple today took wraps off their brand-spanking new Apple TV, and it’s taking the device in a new direction from previous models. By removing the hard drive, and moving to a streamed-only delivery model, Apple was able to both shrink the Apple TV and get the price way down.

The first thing you’ll notice about the new Apple TV is just how tiny it is. The miniature black box measures in at just 3.9″ x 3.9″ x 0.9″ and has a black case which lets it hide nicely amongst most home theater gear. To go along with the hardware, Apple announced HD movie rentals for $3.99 and individual TV shows rentals for 99 cents an episode. You have 30 days from renting to press play, and another 48 hours to watch from when you start.

The new Apple TV has built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and can stream shows from mulitple sources, including your PC, Mac, or even your Netflix account. Plus, Apple has added the abillity to wirelessly stream programs stored on your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. Plus, you’ll can remotely control the Apple TV from your iPhone or iPod Touch (The app should work on your iPad too, but it’s not specifically mentioned on the Apple website).

Thanks to a powerful A4 chip, the Apple TV can crank out 720p video at up to 30fps, and can connect to your TV using an HDMI cable for optimal display quality. While there’s no word on the operating system inside the Apple TV, the fact that it runs on an A4 chip means that it could someday run apps just like iOS devices.

So the best part about the latest Apple TV is the price. The device sells for just $99 (USD) and is available for pre-order now over at the Apple Store. Apple hasn’t specified an exact delivery date yet, but is listing it on the site a “Ships September” so you should be able to get one pretty quickly.

With Google and Boxee both coming out with their own low-cost TV media boxes in the coming months, it’ll be interesting to see how the set-top box war of 2010 shakes out.

Serval Project: Mobile Phones That Don’t Need Cell Towers

Lambert Varias — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:52:22 +0000

When Haiti was struck by an earthquake last January, the country’s mobile phone network was out for two days, and did not resume normal operations until after a week, which made the situation ever more tragic, because it’s during disasters like that when communication devices are needed the most. Fortunately, a group of scientists based in Australia are working on systems that will enable mobile phones to function without the need for expensive infrastructure. Dubbed the Serval Project, the scientists have developed two primary systems: one is a temporary mobile network that uses small towers that can be dropped by aircraft, while the other one is a more permanent solution that uses WiFi-enabled phones to create a “mesh-based phone network.”

Headed by Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen, Dany Rakotopara and Romana Challans, the Serval Project – named after an African wildcat – is meant to be integrated into existing mobile phone systems, and will kick in when the major network is down, ensuring that people will still be able to communicate. But I’m very interested in the second system, the project’s Wi-Fi-enabled “Batphones”: “Dr Gardner-Stephen said the device essentially “incorporates a compact version of a mobile phone tower into the phone itself.” It uses the Wi-Fi interface in modern Wi-Fi-enabled phones, carrying voice over it in such a way that it does not need to go back to a tower anywhere.” Sounds a bit like how BitTorrent works.

To be honest, I didn’t get a lot from the video. Nevertheless, the Batphone seems like a pretty neat idea. The Serval team is now working on improving the range and sound quality of the system, and they say that it could be operational within 18 months if they receive enough funds. I wonder if the Wi-Fi-based system can be used as the main means of communication between mobile phones. Maybe this would solve AT&T’s problems.

Check out the Serval Project’s website and the link below for more info.

[via PhysOrg]

Mint Sputnik Media Player Concept: for Couchtronauts

Lambert Varias — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:53:18 +0000

The designers – or is it just one person? – at Mintpass have come up with a stylish design for a media player. It’s called the Mint Sputnik, and it was inspired by the similarly named Russian satellite.

Incidentally, the word “sputnik” has several meanings in Russian, one of them being “companion”. The designer(s) of the Mint Sputnik meant it to be the couch potato’s companion. It has a rotatable projector lamp and two speakers beautifully integrated into its shape and design.

In keeping with the 1950′s space theme, the Mint Sputnik’s equally beautiful remote – called the Space center – has a CRT-like display, large knobs and switches and even a large satellite dish.

While we dig the Space center’s retro style, we won’t stand for retro specs, so the designer envisions that the remote would have modern features like a USB port, an SD card slot and an earphone jack, as well as support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so files can be streamed from the Space center to the Mint Sputnik.

Check out the gallery for more delicious pics. In one of them you’ll see that the Mint Sputnik can also project a huge digital clock.

Although it looks really cool, I’m not sure if the make and specs of the Space remote are practical. The Sputnik itself on the other hand looks to me like it can easily be produced today. I’m sure the astronauts at the ISS would be glad to have this companion around.

Netgear Wireless Home Theater Kit Will Help You Ditch Cable Tv

Lambert Varias — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:27:38 +0000

While there are already several ways of streaming media throughout your home network, you might want to check out Netgear’s upcoming Wireless-N HD Home Theater Kit, which promises high quality streaming – even multiple Blu-ray streams – with plug and play ease.

The kit consists of a pair of adapters – one plugs into your router or gateway, while the other sticks close to your media devices, be it a computer, gaming console or Ethernet/WiFi-compatible TV. The adapters make use of the 5 GHz band to transmit data to avoid interference that may be caused by other wireless gear in the vicinity.

The kit is modular too, i.e. you can add additional adapters if the second one can’t serve all of your gadgets. No word on the price yet, but they’ll be available this fall. Check out Netgear’s website for more details.

[via Technology Review]

Cool Gtw18 Mobile Phone Gets Crappy Built-in Projector, Useless Analog Tv and Dvr – Not Cool at All

Technabob — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:30:15 +0000

This new mobile phone out of China may look like your average smartphone, but under the hood it’s actually packing a tiny little projector. Too bad the images it produces look pretty horrendous.

The inappropriately named COOL GTW18 features a 3.2-inch 240 x 400 touchscreen display, and touts a built in LED mini-projector for playing back digital video files in MP4 format. On the inside, the camera projector (camjector?) has dual SIM slots and a pair of MicroSD memory card slots for storing your media files as well.

And while the device is clearly labeled “HD 1080P”, the guys at M8Cool say they couldn’t get the GTW18 to play back files at higher resolutions than 640×480. And it’s clear from this projected image, that the resolution is way less than 1080p anyhow. Maybe it’s VGA? But even that could be a stretch from the looks of it.

At least the image looks a little bit better when the phone is turned on its side (duh), and viewed up close. But the fact that you really need a dark room to view projected images, and they’re not much bigger than the screen itself sorta defeats the purpose. And battery life is only about 30 to 40 minutes with the projector turned on and playing back video.

In addition to the projector, the GTW18 has Wi-Fi connectivity, and a no-name web browser built in. Oh yeah, and it can tune in television stations and has a DVR. Analog TV, that is, not digital. So get ready to stare at lots and lots of static. At least you can record it for later, right?

If you’ve got any inkling to send off your hard earned money to China to order one of these things, you owe it to yourself to at least check out the video clip below to see the GTW18 showing off its postage-stamp sized projection capability, while listening to some completely inappropriate elevator music in the background.

If this is really what they mean when they say “device convergence,” please keep my gadgets separate.

[via M8Cool]

The Headphones to Rule All Other Headphones!

Range — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:20:44 +0000

These amazing headphones will make your puny little earbuds look like nothing! These headphones were designed by William Gerwin do everything you’d ever want your headphones to do, and then some.

To start out with, the headphones are wireless. They also have a 10.1 MP digital camera as well as a portable projector built into them.

The headphones can capture and send video files to your computer via Wi-Fi, which could then push them out to the internet for sharing. While this is just a concept design, all of the technology needed to make these is readily available to day.

Anyway, this thing was made for explorers and people who want to capture all of their lives on camera. It’s a sort of a mobile studio you strap to your head. The whole thing seems very Cyberpunk to me.

[via Yanko Design]

Oscemote: the Ultimate iPhone Remote Control App

Technabob — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:18:32 +0000

OSCemote is a cool app that lets you remotely interact with applications on your remote PC using the multi-touch screen of your iPhone or iPod Touch.

The $4.99 (USD) app sends OSC (Open Sound Control) messages over your Wi-Fi connection to your networked computer. OSC is like a modern IP-based cousin to MIDI for controlling music and other applications. OSCemote provides several interfaces for sending signals, including buttons, a multitouch x/y panel, knobs and slider controls. There’s also the ability to send x/y/z accelerometer data to your computer.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In order to use OSCemote, you just need to go grab the app from the iTunes App Store and one of the various OSC applications or libraries over at the Open Sound Control site to be able to receive and interpret the messages on your computer. There are tons of applications ranging from a 2D/3D visual programming interface to a OSC to MIDI converter and tools for accessing the controls in your Flash apps. My favorite use so far – iPhone-controlled R/C race cars…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Joker Racer: Drive R/C Cars With Your Web Browser or iPhone

Technabob — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:04:45 +0000

Joker Racer is a new service which lets you race remote-control cars from across the internet.

The system uses a custom wireless computer that receives digital information via a Wi-Fi connection and translates your maneuvers into servo control signals for R/C cars. There’s also a USB jack for a compact webcam. Joker Racer lets you use a web browser to drive cars on a closed course, and watch POV video from tiny cameras on-board each car.

There’s even an iPhone app coming in 2010 that lets you control cars using the iPhone’s motion sensors. In addition to being able to drive their remote-hosted cars, in future you’ll be able to buy your own Joker Racer R/C Server hardware for your own racecars.

Here’s a couple of videos showing off Joker Racer in action…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Joker Racer’s website recently wrapped up its initial beta and is moving on to a full release in early November. For now, you’ll just have to sit back and enjoy some of the site’s pre-recorded clips and maybe remotely control the course webcam.

[via TechCrunch]

Hp Dreamscreen 100 and 130: Digital Picture Frames on Steroids

Technabob — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:26:10 +0000

HP’s new DreamScreen devices straddle the fine line between computer and digital picture frame. Like other digi-frames, you can view pictures without a computer. But with the DreamScreen, you can also wirelessly stream music, videos and photos from your PC or the Internet.

Each DreamScreen features a bright, high-resolution LCD color screen, and has built in speakers so it’s a completely self-contained media playback device. And if you don’t want to bother streaming media from your PC, the DreamScreen has a built in 6-in-2 media card reader and a pair of USB ports too. Video formats supported include MPEG 1, 2, 4 and H.264, while you can listen to audio in MP3, AAC, WMA and WAV formats.

In addition to media playback, you can access Facebook and view updates without getting up from your chair. There’s also a slideshow integration with Snapfish, so you can upload photos to their site and view them on the DreamScreen. HP has also been kind enough to provide access to streaming digital music via Pandora, and HP’s own “SmartRadio” which aggregates Internet radio from around the globe. There’s also a built in calendar and alarm clock, so you might want one of these on your bedside table instead of a traditional alarm. There’s no word on future plans to roll out additional Internet services, but I’m hopeful HP will release more integrations in future.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The only major downside I can see to the DreamScreen is that it’s crying out for a touchscreen surface. For now, you have to navigate using the buttons along the sides of the screen, or using the included wireless remote. Hopefully, HP will make a touch-enabled version in the future. I also wish there were an open standard for widgets like there is with the Chumby.

The DreamScreen 100 features a 13.3″ display, while the DreamScreen 130 has a 10.2″ screen. Both devices have 800×480 screen resolution, so the smaller display just has smaller pixels. The DreamScreen 100 lists for $249.99 (USD) and the DreamScreen 130 is $299.99, but you can find both models over at Amazon for a few dollars less.