How big are Portable Media Centers going to be? Not very, says The Diffusion Group, a Dallas-based research consultancy. In a report it says both Microsoft-based and non-MS-based media players with video, audio and photo capabilities will “face stiff competition from less-expensive application-specific alternatives such as MP3 players, portable DVD players, and new portable photo… Read More »
You’d think that dial-up Internet access is not the stuff of sexy business models. Not so. Always On Wireless is about to launch the Always On WiFlyer, an 802.11b-based wireless hub that connects to a phone line and works with all the major dial-up ISPs. It is being touted as Wifi For The Masses, a… Read More »
The Wine Spectator Online (via Boingo Wi-Fi Insider) reports that a Sonoma, CA, vineyard is using Wi-Fi to monitor growing conditions at their site: The system uses 40 wireless units on existing trellising posts around the 30-acre vineyard fitted with sensors that measure microclimate data such as soil and air temperature and moisture content, rainfall… Read More »
Lee Thorn, the former bomb-loader who I wrote about a few months back (“Wi-Fi is Aiming for the Masses”, subscription required) has been trying to help Laotians hook up to the Internet, and other Laotians, using Wi-Fi, tells me that he’s back in action again in Laos on a different site after some earlier problems… Read More »
Further to my piece on WiFi for the masses, here’s another way to cut costs: Make your own WiFi dish out of a Chinese cooking vat scoop, poke a USB WiFi dongle through the mesh, and you can pick up signals more than 10 kilometres away. Total cost: about $40 for the USB dongle, NZ$8… Read More »