June 10, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
One way to extend Internet wireless coverage has always been for users to share their Wi-Fi. On June 10th, Comcast started urging its Xfinity Internet customers to share their bandwidth with its ‘Neighborhood Hotspot’ Initiative. It’s not as open as it sounds.
June 8, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
Is the National Security Agency (NSA) really “wiretapping” the Internet? Accused accomplices Microsoft and Google deny that they have any part in it and the core evidence isn’t holding up that well under closer examination.
Some, however, doubt that the NSA could actually intercept and break Secure-Socket Layer (SSL) protected Internet communications.
Ah, actually the NSA can.
And, you can too and it doesn’t require “Mission Impossible” commandos, hackers or supercomputers. All you need is a credit-card number.
How the NSA, and your boss, can intercept and break SSL. More >
June 7, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
Thanks to technologies like Microsoft’s Kinect, we’re getting closer than ever before to being able to interact with our computers by simply waving our hands in the air. But what if you want to wave my PC on or off even if you’re not in front of a camera? Believe it or not, the technology may be coming soon and its core, Wi-Fi routers, are already likely to be in your home or office.
WiSee: Gesture recognition tech is closer than you might think. More >
June 6, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
When Google announced on March 13th that it would no longer be supporting the CalDAV application programming interface (API), developers were not happy. In early June, Google reconsidered its position and re-opened CalDAV and, to top it off, Google said they’d be opening CardDAV’s API as well.
CalDAV, for the non-programmers among you, is an open extension to the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) standard for Web-based calendar services. It’s used in Apple’s iCal; Mozilla’s Calendar Project-based programs; and it will soon be available in the next update to Windows Phone 8. It’s as close to a lingua franca for calendaring applications as we have today.
June 5, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
Ten years ago the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) started deregulating incumbent local exchange companies’ (ILECs’) broadband services. Shorn of jargon, that meant the telephone and cable companies were free to offer newer, faster Internet broadband services. The FCC expected this move to bring tens of billions of dollars into residential broadband. It did. What they didn’t expect was Netflix, iPads, or Google Glass.
June 3, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
While Android and Apple iOS battle it out for mobile platform operating system supremacy, other minor mobile operating systems, such as Mozilla’s Linux-based, open-source operating system Firefox OS, are still trying to get a seat at the mobile operating system table. On June 3rd, Firefox OS gained an important backer: electronics contract manufacturing giant Foxconn.