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Posts Tagged ‘Wireless Networking’

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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Walmart to rival Best Buy’s Geek Squad with own in-home install crew

We’ve never truly been at ease with that Geek Squad crowd. Something about “the people” they hang with and “the places” they hang at just worries us, so we’re pretty thrilled to see another mega-corp stepping in to take the place of the now-deceased Circuit City FireDog crew. Starting sometime before the holiday season, Wally World will be partnering with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies in order to offer in-home installation to customers buying anything from a wireless router to a HTIB. The service plans will be sold on prepaid cards ranging from $99 to $399 in value, and each install includes a “preliminary consultation and a tutorial after installation is completed.” Granted, it may be a bit tough to get the dude looking to spend $5 on a new plasma to spring for such a service, but hey, it’s not like competition is a bad thing.

[Via Hot Hardware]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Wireless, Networking

Walmart to rival Best Buy’s Geek Squad with own in-home install crew originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TRENDnet ‘world’s smallest’ Wireless N travel router now on sale

Looking to take 802.11n to places you never thought possible? You know — like your studio apartment on the Upper East Side? TRENDnet’s Wireless N Travel Router (which was announced way back at CES) is tailor made for cramped spaces, fitting within the palm of your hand and offering up a single WAN port, a carrying case and a USB socket. Unfortunately there’s no internal battery to keep this puppy alive in the wild, but for $79.99 we can’t kvetch too much.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

TRENDnet ‘world’s smallest’ Wireless N travel router now on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon.com shaves $40 off the Kindle eBook reader’s price, launches overseas

Amazon.com is hoping to stoke demand for eBooks by shaving $40 off the price of its Amazon Kindle, the top-selling electronic book reader. The company is also starting to sell the Kindle in more than 100 markets worldwide.

The Kindle will now sell for $259, down from its previous price of $299. In overseas markets, it will sell for $279 and begin shipping on Oct. 19. Prior to today, the Kindle was available only in the U.S.

The Kindle uses a six-inch electronic ink display that presents pages as if you were reading real paper. Kindle customers can wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, and personal documents. It uses 3G wireless networking, which allows users to download books in less than 60 seconds. It can store about 1,500 books. The Kindle Store now has more than 200,000 English-language books. There are more than 1,000 publishers and rights holders who have books in the Kindle Store.

John Makinson, chief executive of Penguin, the largest English language book publisher, said that the publishing industry is seeing explosive growth in digital book sales in the U.S.

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Rogers’ Rocket Hub disguises 3G data and voice as mild-mannered home modem

Good news for Canadians who can’t seem to get a decent internet plan for home. Rogers has unveiled a 3G station for residential use dubbed the Rocket Hub, and with it a number of jet propulsion-related puns that we’ll be taking painstaking measures to avoid. It boasts 7.2Mbps HSPA, WiFi and ethernet out, and voice calls over UMTS. Makes sense it’s riding an Ericsson W3x core. The Upfront cost of hardware hasn’t been disclosed yet, but plans start at $35 Canadian. Launch date (okay, we couldn’t resist) is sometime later this month.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Rogers’ Rocket Hub disguises 3G data and voice as mild-mannered home modem originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Borders pulls a B&N, offers free WiFi to all patrons

In the gory, never-ending war for book store supremacy, Borders has just tapped Verizon in order to match Barnes & Noble’s summer efforts to bring gratis WiFi to all who enter. Details of the arrangement are scant, but the takeaway is this: in “virtually all” of its more than 500 stores nationwide, Borders is hooking up with Verizon to bring free internet to anyone who sashays in (note: you literally have to dance upon entering) with a WiFi-enabled device. The service is expected to be fully rolled out by mid-October, giving you plenty of time to select the scarf and skinny jeans you’d like to be seen in by your fellow hipsters.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Borders pulls a B&N, offers free WiFi to all patrons originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Popcorn Hour C-200 media streamer makes its way into the wild

It looks like Popcorn Hour’s C-200 media streamer is making its way into end-users’ hands, so prepare yourself for a flurry of reviews. Our friend Brent over at GeekTonic should be jumping into the fray soon, and has kicked things off with a preview. Yeah, the C-200 is bigger than its sibling A-100, but it brings so much to the table that we’d say Popcorn Hour has packed in just as much — if not more — goodness per cubic inch. With space available for a hard and/or Blu-ray drive, wired and wireless networking, and USB ports to round out the input connectivity, the C-200 then adds a smorgasbord of codec support just to make sure your bits will survive the translation back into entertainment. With the “it plays anything” kind of capability the C-200 is promising, we’ve got a feeling that a positive review or two might be the only thing standing between us and a $300 dent in our credit cards.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

The Popcorn Hour C-200 media streamer makes its way into the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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