Posts Tagged ‘Wi-Fi’

The Internet in Space

Monday, January 25th, 2010

It’s true! There’s at least one internet connection in space, and it’s one that’s been created by us humans. The first tweet from space was sent from the International Space Station (or I.S.S.) on Friday, January 22nd, 2010-–a good, futuristic way to start off the new decade. Wouldn’t you agree?

Timothy Creamer, the Astronaut whose Twitter name is Astro_TJ, wrote:

“Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s.”

The New York Times Bits Blog spoke to CNET last year to find out how it was done:

The I.S.S.’s IT staff explained the logistics and hardware involved in connecting to the Internet 250 miles above the earth, while traveling at 17,300 mph. (Still not too fast for internet speed to catch!)

The space station is equipped with 68 IBM ThinkPad A31 laptops and 32 Lenovo ThinkPad T61p devices. The laptops are all connected via Wi-Fi access points, and there’s also a dedicated IP phone for phone calls and some limited video-conferencing abilities if astronauts need to see their families.

The Internet connection is also relatively speedy. The Astronauts have connections speeds as high as 3Mbps up and 10Mbps down, which is comparable to most home DSL connections.

But if you’re still thinking about the Twitter aspect of the tale, you can search check out the conversation on Twitter by typing  “@Astro_TJ” into the Twitter search box.

Now that we know there’s an internet connection out there, the rest of us may be a bit more willing to make our own forays into space!

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Monitor Your Weight with Internet Speed

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

You may want to file this under “Do we need this?”, but gone are the days when you’d merely look at the number on your bathroom scale and then either have to remember it or write it down.  Now, with the new scale by Withings, your scale will use Wi-Fi technology to record your weight and zap it to your computer–or iPhone–with internet speed.  The magic number then appears on your personal web page, where you can compare it with past readings, or even view it on a chart. Or it can be viewed on your iPhone, with their handy iPhone app. 

If weight is a sensitive issue for you, as it is for many of us, you might want to double check and make sure your Wi-Fi is secure. But if you are concerned with monitoring your health, it may be helpful to track your weight loss and gain over time. 

The Wi-Fi Body Scale also helpfully measures body mass index and can recognize up to eight users, so the whole household can join in, or maybe you can start your own weight watching support group.

Here’s what various publications had to say about it:

“Not only does the Withings Connected Scale look ridiculously stylish with its tempered glass surface, brushed metal accents and inverted LCD display, but its functions actually manage to outweigh its form…the icing on the cake, or maybe the cottage cheese on the celery is a better analogy, is the free WiScale iPhone app which gives you access to [your] graphs and weight data from your phone.” – Oh Gizmo

“More often the object of dread than fascination, the humble bathroom scale has been given a makeover by Withings…” - engadget

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Internet Phone Calls While In Flight

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

In an earlier post, we saw that Skyping from the Sky was possible, if not encouraged, while on flying.  But USA Today  tells us that many other countries allow and even promote it, since they make money from it. 

U.S., Federal regulations prohibit in-flight cell phone use because they may interfere with flight operations and create congestion in ground cell towers. But with many airlines offering inflight Wi-Fi, the issue of Internet-based phone calls has become an issue. Perhaps because it is possible to access VoIP services through cell phones these days, which further blurs the line. 

A bill in Congress currently seeks a similar ban on all in-flight voice communications by passengers. While airlines in Europe, Asia and the Middle East allow calls and have even taken it a step further by introducing pay-by-minute cellphone service using satellites. There are two companies in the USA that offer in-flight Internet service to airlines: Chicago-based Aircell and California-based Row 44. Both companies say the airlines have asked that Internet-based phone calls be blocked.

Frederick St. Amour, a business development executive at Row 44 says travelers making Internet phone calls “create competition for bandwidth” that could result in slower speed for other passengers. But how many passengers at a time would be using the service, especially if airlines are charging for it? 

It may be just another illustration of the ways in which America is falling behind in technology. American companies seem resistant to change and would rather ban the freedom to talk with internet speed while flying at jet speed than find a way to provide the service. From cell phone technology to high speed internet, America is no longer a world leader, and the airlines certainly don’t seem to be doing much to move the US up in the rankings.

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Technophobia and the Internet

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Technophobia is the fear of technology, and it seems to be more prevalent than you might imagine in the case of the internet. The Internet Innovation Alliance pointed out these two stories to us.

First, In January of this year, the town of Glastonbury, England protested against receiving a Wi-Fi network after some residents blamed it for dizziness, headaches, and other ailments. In fact, an ONLINE petition lists  “headaches, dizziness, nausea, severe tiredness, brain fog, disorientation and loss of appetite, loss of balance, inability to concentrate, loss of creativity”.  At least we can tell they’re not total Luddites, they’ll still go online as long as it’s not wireless. 

Then, just this week, a story came out of Canada about a garlic farmer in Victoria Harbour, Nova Scotia, who is trying to stop the village from receiving high-speed Internet.

Lenny Levine, who has been planting and harvesting garlic by hand on his Annapolis Valley land since the 1970s, is afraid his organic crop could be irradiated if a microwave tower for wireless high-speed internet access is built a few hundred meters from his farm.  It’s expected that the council’s decision will be overturned because the radiation from the internet tower is 60,000 times lower than the government’s accepted limits for organic farms. A petition in support of the high speed internet tower was signed by the majority of householders in the area, but in the meantime, the people of Victoria Harbour are stuck with dial-up internet.

As The Internet Innovation Alliance  points out, these protests highlight the need for education when it comes to rolling out technology. Research needs to be done to reassure people. “After all, what’s the point of providing access if people don’t want — or are scared to — use it?”

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Pacemaker Monitored with Internet Speed

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Reuters reports that New Yorker Carol Kasyjanski has become the world’s first recipient of a pacemaker with Wi-Fi that allows her doctor to monitor her health over the Internet— and in real-time.

Three weeks ago the 61-year-old became the first person *in the world* to be implanted with a pacemaker that has a wireless home monitoring system that regularly transmits critical information to her doctor with Internet speed. So when she shows up for her routine check-ups at St. Francis Hospital in Rosyln, New York, her doctor will have logged into his computer, learned most of what he needed to know about his patient, and about 90 percent of the appointment will already be done.

Kasyjanski, who has suffered from a severe heart condition monitored by a pacemaker for more than 20 years, says the device has given her renewed confidence. Previously, a pacemaker malfunction was only noticeable when she passed out. Now, she can rest assured that someone would be alerted by the slightest change and could have it fixed quickly.

Dr. Steven Greenberg, the director of St. Francis’ Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Center, said the server and the remote monitor communicate at least once a day, downloading all the relevant information and will alert the doctor and patient if anything is unusual.  “If there is anything abnormal, and we have a very intricate system set up, it will literally call the physician responsible at two in the morning if need be,” he said.

The wireless pacemaker, made by St. Jude Medical Inc., received FDA approval in July.

Kasyjanski, an account clerk, said it was frightening initially to be the first person to be implanted with the device but her fears have slowly been replaced by a sense of relief, knowing that her heart is under constant watch.

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Good Versus Evil Wi-Fi

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Yahoo’s Tech Blog has a good reminder for those who are traveling over the summer, “Beware the phony Wi-Fi hotspot”. 

You might want to wait until you’re at home to do things like give credit card numbers online or other personal information, because it’s quite possible you’re using a Wi-Fi hotspot set up by a hacker, who can steal your information with internet speed. 

According to Yahoo and Fox News these networks called “Evil Twins” have already become rather commonplace, causing the creation of the term “vacation hacking”, which is apparently the newest trend in the world of cyber fraud.

Here are some more cool terms: “white hat” and “black hat” hackers. We’re sure you can tell which are the good guys.  In 2008, a Silicon Valley company called AirTight Networks went to airports around the world with white hats to see how big the problem was and foil unsuspecting black hatters.

After checking  27 airports, (20 in the U.S., five in Asia and two in Europe),  AirTight found it was a pervasive problem, with people using insecure Wi-Fi to check their e-mail, do their banking, or even buy stock. These are generally not the type of thing you ought to be doing on public Wi-Fi,  unless of course, you don’t care if you’re sharing your personal information with those who might use it for evil.

So, to align yourself on the side of good, be sure to:

• save important documents for secure and private networks,
• use official access keys provided by the hotel, airport or other location,
• keep your security software current and active,
• always assume Wi-Fi connections are being eavesdropped upon and never enter Social Security numbers, bank account information, etc. when using an unknown Wi-Fi network.

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Wi-Fi in the Sky

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

According to the Wall Street Journal, American Airlines is loading up another 150 planes this year with Wi-Fi Internet service. They began offering wireless Internet to domestic customers on 15 of their Boeing 767’s last August. Their next step is to start adding service to 153 of their Boeing 737’s in time for 2010. This is just the latest sign that high-altitude, high-speed Internet  is becoming a standard on domestic flights.

Several U.S. airlines are planning on or considering offering Internet on domestic flights. Delta Air Lines plans to equip more than 300 planes with wireless Internet access by year end. Southwest Airlines Co. began testing a satellite-based Internet service on four of its planes earlier this year. United Airlines plans to offer air-to-ground Internet service on 13 of its planes in the second half of the year.

But it’s not for free—with airlines looking for ways to make money any way they can these days,  American is charging $7.95 for customers who use hand-held wireless devices, fees for laptops range from $9.95 for short flights - $12.95 for longer flights. Delta’s prices are the same. United’s air-to-ground internet service will cost $12.95 and be restricted initially to flights between New York and California. While Continental Airlines Inc. and U.S. Airways Group Inc. are still studying the situation before offering in-flight Internet access to their customers.

Both American and Delta are using air-to-ground technology developed by Aircell LLC, an Illinois-based company. Customers can surf the Web and check emails at speeds of up to three megabits per second, faster than many connections on land. Download Speedplexer to your laptop and you can clock your speed while you’re in the air!

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4G Means Faster Internet Speeds For Smartphones

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Apparently,  the fourth-generation of cell phones will turn smartphones into powerful Internet machines, with faster Internet speeds that rival broadband connection speeds for the home computer. Early tests of Verizon’s technology are hitting 50 to 60 Mbps, (though the actual speeds in the U.S. have yet to be determined). That’s faster than just about any Internet service available for home setups today. It’s like having Wi-Fi everywhere you go.

Verizon’s 4G service has already started testing in Minneapolis, Northern New Jersey and Columbus, Ohio, and they’re hoping to roll it out to 25 to 30 cities next year. “I know we want to roll it out on an aggressive schedule,” said Ken Muche, with Verizon Wireless.

Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks are helping Verizon launch its 4G service with a technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, which is the 4G service of choice for AT&T and Cox Communications. It promises a better signal indoors, better quality video, coverage in rural areas, coverage worldwide and the ability to connect to consumer electronics.

A competing 4G standard is WiMax, backed by Sprint. Sprint launched its service in Baltimore in September with Internet data speeds of 2 to 4 Mbps. WiMax technology allows users to roam in a large area and still be connected to a fast Internet connection. Sprint’s XOHM service, with download speeds of up to 12 Mbps, is expected to launch this year (2009) in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle. And then in 2010 it’ll make its way to Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

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