Tag Archives: wi-fi

iFixit Tears the iPad a New One

by Kevin
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iFixit Tears the iPad a New One

Whenever I need to know how my Mac is put together, I go to the website where they take it apart – iFixit.com. As is to be expected with the release of any major new product, they got one and took it apart, all within a few hours of the iPad’s launch. So what can we glean from their tireless efforts? First, this thing doesn’t seem too difficult to disassemble. The screen comes off with a spudger, although they do report that you might break a few tabs in the process. They also note how balanced the device is, with perfect 50-50 distribution between the front and back panels. Apple Read more »

Careless laptop users emitting Wi-Fi and alerting thieves

by andy
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Careless laptop users emitting Wi-Fi and alerting thieves

One of the latest warning issued by a security specialist is that of turning off your Wi-Fi connection before hibernating your notebook PC. According to Credant Technologies, some users are unwittingly advertising the location of their laptop to anyone with a cheap off-the-shelf handheld wireless signal detector. Apparently one of the global hotspots for this kind of theft is Jamaica, but the crime could easily be committed anywhere else. Something I wasn’t aware of (and is rather worrying in its own right) is that some notebook PCs can stay awake for up to 30 minutes even after the lid is shut. Quite why this is necessary (unless it’s deliberately set Read more »

BT boasts one-million strong Wi-Fi hotspot network

by andy
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BT boasts one-million strong Wi-Fi hotspot network

As a prime example of a large telecoms company embracing a concept rather than railing against it, British Telecom has announced a one-million user strong Wi-Fi network. BT’s customers are expected to spend over a billion minutes on Wi-Fi this year, thanks to a not insignificant amount from iPhone users. Hotspots include the BT FON Wi-Fi community of ordinary users sharing a separate part of their home connection with the public, plus BT Openzone nodes. To celebrate, BT is running a competition in which you have to locate the millionth hotspot. Read more »

Wi-Fi Body Scale transmits your weight to web and iPhone

by andy
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Wi-Fi Body Scale transmits your weight to web and iPhone

Wirelessly connected medial and health devices aren’t brand new, but French tech company Withings claims to have created the world’s first Wi-Fi enabled body scale. No longer do you have to put up with those boring bathroom scales that simply tell you on a dial or LED readout what your weight is. Now you can tell a website whether your latest diet, weight loss (or weight gain) programme is working out… or not. The scale is pretty smart as it goes. It uses bioelectric impedance analysis to calculate body fat composition, displaying it as a weight instead of percentage, and shows BMI. It can also recognise up to eight different Read more »

Airnergy: Wi-Fi To Full Batt!

by Noemi Twigg
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Airnergy: Wi-Fi To Full Batt!

Imagine this: you’re at this mall somewhere. You have 3 hours or so to waste. You have your netbook with you and there is free Wi-Fi. No problem right? But what if you are low on battery? Or, if you have a 3-cell battery like I do and it runs outs in an hour or so? It’s not always easy to find an outlet which you can plug your laptop adapter into. Worse, you may not have your charger with you at all times. Electronics company RCA has the perfect solution for this situation: Airnergy. The name itself gives you an idea what it’s about. Airnergy is actually a system, Read more »

Update your laptop to latest wireless standard with D-Link

by andy
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Update your laptop to latest wireless standard with D-Link

Go back a few years and it wasn’t uncommon to get hold of a laptop without built-in Wi-Fi capability. Those days have all but gone, though there are still a lot of laptops that only have the 802.11g wireless standard. Not a pushover when it comes to speed, but not as fast as the latest 802.11n standard. Enter D-Link, offering what they claim is the smallest 802.11n USB stick currently available. The DWA-131 Wireless N Nano USB Adapter offers a one-click secure connection to a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) access point using WPA2 encryption. It won’t break the bank, either, coming in at £34.99 in the UK — that’s about Read more »