The US Army will by June deploy in Iraq its "Matrix" system of remotely-detonated landmines, despite widespread concerns about the technology. The Mosul-based Styker Brigade will, according to Yahoo! news, be able to control individual devices from a laptop via a WLAN set-up. The Army reckons Matrix will eliminate accidental deaths caused by dumb landmines....
Cisco Systems Inc., building on the strength of its recent acquisition of Airespace Inc., is planning a move into the emerging wireless mesh networking market. Via [eweek.com]
The ZigBee Alliance has announced the first four platforms to successfully complete interoperability testing for the short-range wireless technology. The platforms will be used to test ZigBee offerings that emerge in the coming months and, therefore, pave the way for ZigBee deployment in applications such as industrial control, HVAC and home automation. Via [eetimes.com]
Taiwan's WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) development is trailing South Korea, China and Singapore, as the government is dragging its feet on allocating a frequency range and telecoms remain focused on 3G mobile communication technologies, according to Taiwan's telecom equipment makers. Via [digitimes.com]
Printers often get left behind when Wi-Fi comes to a home; the cables needed to link them to a PC may wind up anchoring at least one computer to a desk. Printing from any other machine then involves fussing with printer sharing (always an adventure in Windows) or transferring individual files to the one machine...
Vanilla 802.11b routers and connection devices including cards, PC-Cards, and USB fobs, are on the verge of extinction at the local Big Box store. There's some Linksys b-type gear on the shelves, but both Netgear and Viewsonic are rebating their g devices down to prices that match and beat Linksys's rebates. Via [theinquirer.net]
Check Point Software Technologies is expected to announce on Monday that it will begin selling wireless security appliances, as it looks beyond the tethered firewall and VPN market. Via [news.zdnet.com]
Philadelphia has started soliciting bids for its proposed $10M muni Wi-Fi project; telecoms and cable companies oppose it. Will this be the beginning of the end for muni Wi-Fi? Via [eweek.com]
As large companies install Wi-Fi in their offices, equipment suppliers are challenged to come up with a new standard that will allow gear from different companies to work together. Via [news.com.com]
BMW is to roll out public Wi-Fi Internet access at three of its London showrooms and service centres, the motor manufacturer said today. Via [theregister.co.uk]
San Francisco taxis are getting interactive panels so cab riders can look up local information and news using a touch screen from the backseat. Via [vnunet.com]
There are now enough wireless standards using the worldwide licence-exempt band at 2.4GHz that - if they were people - they could have a pretty decent party. The problem is there are so many of them that if they did, they might not be able to hear what each other was saying. Via [electronicsweekly.com]
The city of Philadelphia on Thursday unveiled a controversial plan to transform its streets and neighborhoods into a gigantic wireless Internet hotspot. Via [news.com.com]
The group's job is to create a WLAN standard that will deliver actual throughput of more than 100M bit/sec. The higher, though still shared, bandwidth will rival that of many wired networks and support demanding applications, such as several video and audio streams at once, huge image files and simulations. Via [wireless.newsfactor.com]
The Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry consortium that acts as promoter and tester of interoperability between wireless LAN equipment makers, has seen the writing on the wall. Vendors have not been touting the Wi-Fi Certified stamp of approval as they once were—a fact that has not escaped notice. So the group is making plans to stay...