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Posts Tagged ‘Access Points’

“Problematic Wi-Fi Access”: Apple Bans Augmented Reality App Sekai Camera

More and more apps are stricken from the App Store as of late, for a variety of reasons. Today, the Apple hammer hit Tokyo-based Tonchidot whose augmented reality app Sekai Camera was removed without warning.

The free app, which made its – memorable – debut during TechCrunch 50 in 2008, intends to help users “tag the world” by imposing information (text, pictures, video and audio) over images in the iPhone camera.

Sekai Camera uses GPS to locate the user and measure the distance to objects in the vicinity. The problem for Apple: in places with weak GPS signals (i.e. within buildings or underground), the app relies on PlaceEngine, a technology that makes it possible to determine a user’s location via Wi-Fi. Once it’s installed on a device, the PlaceEngine client collects Wi-Fi signals from nearby access points and sends the information to a server, which then estimates your location.

PlaceEngine provider Koozyt says on its Japanese website Apple changed their policy regarding “the way apps access Wi-Fi devices”. Not only Sekai Camera, but a number of other PlaceEngine-powered apps were kicked out, too (including Yahoo! Maps for the iPhone). Details are still unclear at this point, with Koozyt saying they are currently looking into the issue.

More information on the peculiar ban are available at The Register.

Tonchidot itself cites “issues regarding the App Store review process” as a reason for the ban of Sekai Camera version 2.1.1, adding the app will make a comeback in version 2.2 “soon”. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see PlaceEngine get scrapped altogether.

In Japan, Sekai Camera is the most downloaded iPhone app to date, and it was elected “Best App in 2009″ by Apple Japan late last year (it was released worldwide in December).

We reached out to Tonchidot for a comment and will update this post when we have it.

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Microsoft Taps Navizon To Power Mobile Geolocation

Microsoft will use geo-positioning startup Navizon to power geolocation for mobile users. Navizon said today in a statement that it had signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft to allow the tech giant to use Navizon’s global location database for its mobile technologies.

Navizon crowdsources GPS positioning with its community of more than 1 million registered users from all over world. The startup’s users build a dynamic database of Wi-Fi access points and GSM, CDMA and 3G towers. Navizon’s software triangulates signals broadcast from Wi-Fi access points and cellular towers to determine geolocation. Navizon also has the ability to run in the background, allowing the user to open other applications on a device at the same time.

Yahoo also uses Navizon to power geo-location for Yahoo Mobile. Microsoft just launched a new version of its Windows Mobile operating system a few weeks ago but its unclear exactly how Navizon’s technology will be incorporated into Microsoft’s mobile offerings. Navizon faces competition from Skyhook Wireless, which is used by Apple to help power geolocation on the iPhone.

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Multi-hop matters: the state of wireless mesh networking

Multi-hop mesh networks, confined to university labs at the start of this decade, are now widely available from commercial vendors. These vendors tout a number of advantages for mesh technologies: lower costs of deployment, easier administration, better coverage, and lower power consumption. Mesh networking is now being used in an impressive range of applications, from large-scale institutional deployments to networks of tiny sensors.

Mesh networking is sometimes mentioned as a solution to the much-discussed “last mile” problem in US telecommunications policy. Unfortunately, the inherent capacity limits of the wireless medium means that mesh networks are unlikely to provide a serious alternative to fiber or coax broadband connections in this market. Mesh is a reasonable way to provide broadband to consumers in developing countries who might not otherwise be able to afford access at all. But in the developed world, mesh technologies are best viewed as a supplement to wired Internet connections and traditional single-hop access points.

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Apple 3×3 access point hits the FCC with 5.8GHz bands

The FCC did let one Apple product through to its online database tonight, although nothing that’ll excite you quite like magical mice or revved up iMacs. Instead we’re looking at models A1354 and A1355, a pair of 802.11 a/b/g/n 3×3 access points with the exact same, nondescript label picture that indicates some heft to the unit. There’s not much to say here, although the A1354 had a revision on the antenna gain in the 5.8GHz band. At this point it’s just another thing to add to that penciled-in list of rumored Apple announcements for tomorrow morning.

Read – BCGA1354
Read – BCGA1355

Filed under: Networking

Apple 3×3 access point hits the FCC with 5.8GHz bands originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TechCrunch50 Had Internet And Then Some. Mariette Systems FTW.

Technology conferences are supposed to have Internet. Most don’t. In fact, audiences are trained to be grateful for even a trickle of bandwidth. Maybe enough to get off a Tweet or two. But uploading photos and videos is something that you do later, after the event is over. Because it can take days.

It’s been a real problem for us over the years. We’ve thrown money at the problem. We’ve tried new vendors and technologies. We’ve prayed. And cursed. I’ve offered vendors a big wet kiss of a post on TechCrunch if they could get it right. They never have.

Last year we had a full day Internet outage at TechCrunch50, and it wasn’t better on day 2. The only good thing about an Internet outage is that most attendees can’t blog or tweet about it, since they can’t get on the Internet.

Giving 2,000 hard core Internet users simultaneous access from a single location is very, very hard. I’ve seen grown men cry when they tried and failed.

This year, though, WOW. There was more Internet at TechCrunch50 than you could shake a stick at. And for that, Mariette Systems gets that big wet kiss I promised.

The team: Ernie Mariette, Cliff Skolnick and Tim Pozer. They came in, brought bandwidth (100 Mbps line-of-site microwave link from WiLine and 30 Mbps from Telekenex), hooked it into a BSD router and distributed it throughout the building via more than 100 Cisco switches and 28 wifi access points. There were hundreds of ethernet connections (and power strips) at attendee tables. Plus dedicated bandwith to Ustream, the DemoPit area and the main stage. And, overall, lots of very happy attendees.

There were more than 1,200 simultaneous connections at peak points, and bursts of up to 88 Mbps inbound bandwidth usage. But no one was ever cut back. And I noticed multiple people in the audience watching the live Ustream feed on their laptops. Others were watching the US Open livestream. In other words, the audience was totally wasting bandwidth. And it was wonderful.

In fact, I was a little disappointed that the audience failed to make our Internet fail. They tried their best, and were found wanting.

Thanks very much, Mariette Systems. We owe you. And we love you. Keep doing Apple’s WWDC and other huge events, but keep your calendar clear for our conferences, too. I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else.

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