Archive for: wifi
Let’s be real here for a minute. 99% of you out there reading this site (and similar ones) more often than not (read: pretty much all the time) update your Android phones the second an official release becomes available or long before official releases ever hit the web. More mainstream Android users such as your mother, father, sister, older friend may not, however. This is where your love of tech comes in and can be put to good use informing/helping other Android users.
HTC has a small problem with security and Wifi. Apparently a number of HTC devices can allow a malicious app to harvest and send off private WiFI network information when the “ACCESS_WIFI_STATE” permission is combined with the .toString() command. HTC says several of the affected devices have already been patched and the updated automatically rolled out, with many more auto-updates in the works. A few devices, however, will require manual updating. For more info on these devices, head on over to the HTC Help Center and keep checking back for more info.
Complete breakdown of affected devices after the break.
- September 16, 2011 1:30 pm
We’re generally ok with the saying “something is better than nothing“. In the case of wireless signals/WiFi, a poor signal is just about as useless as no signal, however.
In-flight WiFi used to be a small, rarely used and overpriced part of air travel. Thankfully times have changed. But while prices have dropped considerably, speeds are still rather poor. With that said, if you fly Virgin America, your literal cloud browsing will soon be up to 4x faster…
You may currently have issues hitting the remote corners of hour house with measly 802.11-based WiFi, but things will improve for the better once 802.22 networks and devices start popping up. The new 802.22 specification was just published meaning manufacturers can finally start building devices for “public WiFi”.
This new WRANs (wireless regional area networks) standard will run over the 54 MHz-698 MHz frequencies previously inhabited by good ‘ol fashioned analog TV signals. Now, however, it’s untapped potential.
In theory, 802.22 could blanket the U.S. in 22 Mbps wireless speeds with as little as 307 access points, though real-world scenarios will likely require many more. On top of that, the 22 Mbps while slow all things considered, is actually a theoretical speed itself meaning day-to-day speeds will be considerably less. Still, for people who only have access to dial-up (or no internet service at all), this new standard is a saving grace.
Spend a lot of time on your phone do ya? Fancy a lot of mobile data? Too bad cellular carriers care more about raping your wallet than actually providing a reasonably priced service. Our only savin grace is WiFi — and even that’s not always free these days. With that said, one Duke University student has discovered a way to make all our lives better with a new technology called “SleepWell”.
Essentially what SleepWell does is staggers the data transmitting actions of devices when multiple WiFi-enabled devices are present as to prevent wasted idle time. While one device is downloading information, the others are “sleeping”. Doing so can allow mobile devices in particular to run up to 2x as long.
With as dependent as we are on our mobile devices, anything that can allow us to squeeze a few more minutes to hours out of them is heartily welcomed.
Image Credit: Metrolic
WiFi hotspot hunters living Seoul will have a much easier life come 2015. It is by that time that city officials pledge to have the entire city blanketed with WiFi — free WiFi. The total cost of such a project will reportedly be just north of 47.7 billion won ($44 million USD) and provide internet access to over 10,430 parks, streets and other public places.
Currently, Seoul city officials claim up to 83% of public places in Seoul are without any type of WiFi coverage. On that note, all taxis, buses and trains will begin offering riders access to public WiFi by the end of this year. The wait to increasing WiFi coverage is closer than it looks.
Who’s ready to go on a road trip to Seoul?
Well that was quick — The recently leaked and then delayed re-launching of unlimited WiFi calling on T-Mobile U.S.A is back on again. The new launch date is thankfully very soon — tomorrow, May 13th. From the horses mouth:
Currently, placing calls over Wi-Fi deducts from a customer’s in-plan minutes. Effective5/13, a new feature will launch that will allow customers with capable phones the ability to place calls over Wi-Fi without deducting from in-plan minutes! This is not only a great value, being FREE, but can help customers who experience coverage issues in areas that Wi-Fi is available.
This new feature is available to all Even More and Even More Plus Postpaid rate plans for customers with Wi-Fi Calling capable handsets.
We surely hope T-Mobile can stay afloat without AT&T’s help solely for reasons such as this. Unlimited WiFi calling has always been a T-Mo-only feature. With that said, we have 100% certainty that an AT&T-owned T-Mobile would see prices raised and features cut. That’s just how they do business.
Anyone with compatible WiFi phones can begin the celebrations starting tomorrow morning…
WiFi calling aficionados on T-Mobile U.S.A. were no doubt looking forward to today’s official unveiling of the new unlimited WiFi calling plans. The news, however, has changed rather drastically. T-Mobile has stated via an internal document that the new feature and service will be delayed, with a future date noted though not specifically detailed.
Delayed Launch of Free Wi-Fi Calling Feature
The launch of the new free Wi-Fi calling feature has been delayed. This launch was originally scheduled for May 11, and you may have seen communications or references to it.
Support teams are engaged and working toward launching this new feature as soon as possible. We will re-communicate the launch date and details of the offer when we have confirmation on the new date.
For the curious folk, the unlimited WiFi (UMA) plans would have allowed users to choose cellular plans that would make all calls placed over WiFi networks “free” — the minutes wouldn’t be subtracted from your monthly allotment of minutes.
We’ll be sure to update you once T-Mobile publishes a new launch date.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of attention paid to WiFi-enabled memory cards from the likes of Eye-Fi. At this year’s CES, the company is taking the wraps off of their newest Eye-Fi X2 card upgrade which brings new functionality to new and old cards alike. With the new X2 upgrade, Eye-Fi users can now extend wireless sharing and uploading to a nearby smartphone or portable device. Combined with other Eye-Fi features such as wireless backup and media sharing and you’ve got yourself another reason to buy more memory cards. Hey, you can never have too much, right?
- November 24, 2010 6:26 am
Free, city-wide WiFi has been the dream of many consumers for several years over. With the internet expanding into more and more areas of our lives, having cheap or free access is a great thing to have. And for a while, it looked like countless cities around the country were on track to go wireless. That is until the economy tanked, taking city-wide wireless funding with it.
Now, several years after the big push began, you’d be hard pressed to find cities actively deploying city-wide WiFi or even talking about it. Why…?
