Wi-Fi

Imagine a wireless home network where devices communicate directly with one another instead of through the wireless router -- a sort of mesh network without the need to switch to ad hoc mode. Today the Wi-Fi Alliance announced it has almost completed the standard which could make these a reality: Wi-Fi Direct.

Wi-Fi Direct was known as "Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer," and has repeatedly been referred to in IEEE meetings as a possible "Bluetooth Killer." By means of this standard, direct connections between computers, phones, cameras, printers, keyboards, and future classes of components are established over Wi-Fi instead of another wireless technology governed by a separate standard.

Aircell has made a commanding name for itself in in-flight Wi-Fi systems. In its first year offering GoGo InFlight Internet service, the company has secured Wi-Fi contracts with Virgin America, American Airlines, US Airways, Delta, AirTran, United, and others.

At the beginning of 2009, United announced that it would begin to offer Aircell's GoGo Wi-Fi on its transcontinental service between New York and California "in the second half of this year," and it has finally been able to deliver.

Well over seven years since work began on the standard, and four years since the first draft of the proposed standard was published to vendors -- and subsequently rejected by them -- there is at last a process in place for wireless networking equipment vendors to get their products formally certified using a certification that means the product is certified. If that last sentence sounded redundant, believe it or not, it wasn't: Since 2007, some Wi-Fi products have been certified using a certification that did not mean the product was certified.

Huh? Some products that adhered to so-called "draft-11n" standards (in this case, "Draft 2.0") were allowed to carry a logo that said "Wi-Fi Certified 802.11n Draft 2.0," with the latter two terms in smaller print. At the time, the Wi-Fi Alliance described this certification as "the consumer's indication that a product has passed rigorous testing and can deliver the very best user experience." More than 700 Wi-Fi products received the right to bear this logo. But among professional network engineers, there was no doubt that this "mark of excellence" was perhaps the world's most definitive maybe.

Launched on Tuesday, Bento 3 is the third major release of the personal database from Apple's FileMaker division since the original rollout of the product in January 2008.

With the new Bento 3, users can employ Apple Bonjour, a technology intro'd earlier for iTunes and iPhotos, to let other users on a Wi-Fi or wired LAN locate and view information in their personal databases.

To tie in with Barnes and Noble's increasing emphasis on eBooks, AT&T announced today that Wi-Fi connections at any of the 777 United States Barnes and Noble bookstores will be free for anyone to use. Previously, only AT&T subscribers had free access to the network.

Last week, Barnes and Noble launched a Web-based eBook store and free eReader apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch, BlackBerry, and Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS 10.1+. The bookseller is gearing up for the launch of its own eBook reader, made by Plastic Logic which will compete with the market-leading Amazon Kindle.

Wireless-N draft users, get ready for a router firmware update because rumor has it that the IEEE has sent its latest 802.11n draft standard off to the Standards Board Review Committee (RevCom), which reviews draft proposals for their final vote on standardization. If this were a roller coaster, this would be the slow hill climb before the final drop. RevCom's quarterly meeting will be from September 9 - 11, and if approved, the final vote could take place in November.

The first draft of the multi-antenna wireless standard took nearly two years to complete, and it was promptly shot down in the first vote. While it is typical for the earliest versions of a standard to not make it far in the standardization process, IEEE hadn't anticipated the flood of almost 12,000 comments on the first ballot, meaning the process of revision had the potential to be long and arduous.

Last night, Apple released the second iPhone OS 3.1 beta to developers, roughly two weeks after the first beta was released, adding several new features to the growing list of iPhone 3.1 features, but also terminating the popular IPCC tethering hack.

While the first SDK beta introduced a handful of new, but only moderately noteworthy features, such as Voice Control over Bluetooth, the second beta gives developers running Xcode the ability to wirelessly connect to their iPhones for development and testing purposes.

Starbucks really had its hands full with T-Mobile and AT&T hotspots last year. After the giant coffee seller dropped T-Mobile for AT&T, T-mobile then sued over a breach of contract, and the two mobile carriers ended up effectively splitting their Starbucks hotspot coverage between company-owned stores and franchises, with a goodly amount offering connectivity from both.

Now, more than 650 Starbucks in the UK and Ireland will undergo the same hotspot carrier swap, abandoning T-Mobile in favor of British Telecom. BT broadband, BT FON Wi-Fi, iPass, Boingo, and BT Openzone users will gain access the Internet at any Starbucks location in Britain, additionally, O2 iPhone users will have access included within their contract.

Skype, the popular voice, video, and instant messaging chat software parented by eBay is reportedly coming to the iPhone App Store tomorrow as a free download.

When a user's iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network, they will be able to use their Skype account to make free Skype-to-Skype voice calls, send instant messages, and make outbound calls to other mobile devices or landlines for a fee.

Over one year ago, Southwest Airlines announced its intention of bringing in-flight wireless internet to its passengers.

Yesterday, Yahoo said the tests will take place on a single plane starting this month, with three more equipped by March, all running on the same Row 44 system they noted last year. What does Yahoo have to do with it, you ask?

With the as yet unannounced test of Wi-Fi at 100 commuter rail stations in New Jersey, Comcast follows Cablevision's lead into testing Wi-Fi among commuters in areas adjacent to New York City.

A spokesperson for Comcast today acknowledged that the company is in "early, early beta" with a Wi-Fi test at rail stations in New Jersey, while San Francisco's BART announced plans to expand its own recent trial into a full commercial rollout.

Left out of its press event yesterday, Sony today launched a new Wi-Fi enabled camera, the 10.1-megapixel DSC-G3. Most notable about this slim digicam is a built-in Web browser for connecting to public hotspots.

While Wi-Fi in a digital camera can make it possible to upload while on the go, many hotspots require a login or registration using a Web page. To get around this problem, Sony simply embedded a browser into the camera, which can be accessed by pressing the WLAN button on the back.

Starbucks' wretched earnings report this week may unnerve fans of coffee and out-of-office Wi-Fi, but now there's evidence that keeping customers hooked for free is smart business practice that could get them over this little depression.

Take Seattle. Seattle knows coffee. Seattle knows Starbucks -- they've got hundreds, not to mention corporate HQ sitting just south of downtown. And Seattle knows no limits on its Wi-Fi craving.

UPDATE:: According to AT&T statements today, the free Wi-Fi hotspot offer is not limited to iPhone users, but also users of the BlackBerry Bold, Pearl 8120, and 8820.

AT&T today said that on November 4th, some 17,000 hotspots will be open to "select smartphones," which includes several BlackBerry models. The company has plans to offer the service to more devices in the future.

Nearly one year ago, a Sunnyvale company called Quantenna announced that it had secured approximately $25 million to begin its development of various "next-gen" wireless technologies. Today, the company is ready to break a big barrier.

Quantenna's QHS 802.11n chipsets have a 4x4 MIMO antenna system with Transmit Beamforming, with the stated goal of being used in the streaming of high-definition multimedia content or in HD IPTV setups.