I’ve posted about the city-wide WiFi project in Philadelphia before but usually with bad news. This time around, I’m happy to report the project has been revived by a private group of investors. Boathouse Communications Partners LLC has big names from the area, including former mayoral candidate Tom Knox and a former Verizon executive.

Instead of using shitty bridges as I suggested, the plan is to revive the $17 million infrastructure that Earthlink built before pulling out of the Wireless Philadelphia project. No word has come out yet as to how the restructuring will work, but anything that helps the city out is good in my book. I’m sure fine folks over at City Hall would agree.

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If you’re one of the many who suffer from diabetes and your glucose levels are so sporadic that driving any distance could lead to unpredictable results, then this device is for you. Medtronic Diabetes unveiled its new car, a Lincoln equipped with a system that wirelessly associates your glucose monitor with a screen on the dashboard to make driving safer for those suffering from diabetes.

Receiving readings of your sugar ridden blood through both audio and visual cues from the vehicle’s dashboard is just what your doctor ordered. At the moment, the car is merely a concept and there is no word on any commercial release information. Guess you’ll have to keep that insulin pump handy in the mean time.

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Listening to music while relaxing in your swimming pool just got a whole lot easier. Neiman Marcus’ website is selling a floating wireless speaker for $150, which includes the base and one speaker. Any additional speakers would be an extra $100. The speakers are able to go up to 9-feet underwater for up to 30 minutes, just in case you dive on top of one. But no worries, as they can “swim” better than most people, as they won’t stay submerged. With 150 feet wireless range and up to 6 hours of battery life, the floating speaker is the perfect gadget on a sunny day by your pool.
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Messing with LEGOs is good times, even if you’re 53. That’s why some geek in Germany turned a few 2×2 transparent bricks (of a variety of colors) into high speed Bluetooth adapters. On sale in limited quantity, these bricks are priced at about $50 before shipping and handling. They’ll give you that “I’m an 8-year-old!” look and at the same time, sync your expensive top-of-the-line wireless gadgets together. While there are better ways to call attention to yourself, the LEGO Bluetooth Mini Dongle is ultimately more useful than the alternatives.
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If you want your friends to think you’re a cheap bastard (and you know you are) and want to give your laptop the WiFi capabilities it so desperately needs, Ublog has a step-by-step DIY tutorial to make a simple and cheap Yagi antenna. Who would’ve though a piece of wood and a series of rods were all the components you need for some hot wireless action.

The antenna is a retro-looking thing, so finding the right direction to point it towards for it to work effectively could pose some problems. If you’re still not getting a signal, wrap it in aluminum foil. Unlike other antennae, you’ll have WiFi but you’ll still feel like you’re adjusting the antenna of a ’60’s TV.

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Did I say pennies? What I meant was twenties. Yeah. Sorry about that.

But all humor aside, I am a bit ticked off about something here. I hail originally from Philadelphia and it will always be my home to an extent. About 3 years ago, I had a photo taken of me by an AP reporter. He explained that it was for a story he was doing on a new wireless Internet initiative going on in Philadelphia. I would later find out it was part of the now-defunct Wireless Philadelphia project.

It turns out that part of the reasoning behind the project’’s failure was concerns about cost and being able to broadcast an 802.11b/g signal across the entire city. Understandable, right? Seems like a genuine concern. (more…)

Sprint and Samsung today announced that its joint-venture wireless infrastructure, better known as WiMAX, is ready for service. This comes after years of scrutiny against Sprint for basically fucking everything up along the way. Still, mistakes aside, WiMAX looks to bring a new generation of high-bandwidth web surfing to our laptops.

Have you missed out on WiMAX news in the past? Not sure what it is? This little bit from Wikipedia explains it wisely:

WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN. The name “WiMAX” was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as “a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL” (and also to HSPA).

With speeds up to 70 Mbps and Siemens announcing the SE680 WiMAX Modem, 2008 and 2009 are gearing up to be the year for broadband access across multiple devices. It’s only a matter of time before someone starts sniffing out WiMAX networks and breaking their encryption.

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Unsecured networks, get ready for your worst nightmare (if you imagine this said in the voice of the movie trailer voice-over guy it’s much more funny.) No signal is safe from… The WiFi Predator.

The Predator is basically a modified wireless router connected to a high powered antennae, which runs off of a custom honed firmware, scoping out Wifi signals from a distance, and tapping into any unsecured wireless connections. If more than one signal is found, the Predator automatically chooses the one with the highest signal. This summer… no Starbucks is safe. (more…)

As far as entries to the Next-Gen PC Design competition go, the INFO Live is relatively simple and straight forward. The INFO Live Bracelet basically acts as a wearable smartphone, merging a mobile device and a PC into a fashion accessory.

Use the 55 x 20 x 180mm touch-controlled INFO Live device for Internet connectivity, data transferring to other wireless-enabled devices, storing tons of data, reading and receiving the latest news, e-mails, messages, sharing documents in real-time, watching videos, listening to some tunes and even writing new documents while mobile. The specifics are sort of hazy, but who cares about mechanics when it’s so damn pretty. (more…)

Cellphones are getting so small these days that you totally lose your cool factor by having your phone be so inconspicuous. I, for one, want people to know that I have an awesome phone. If you feel the need to draw some attention to your mobile life, YUBZ has created an old-style telephone receiver to add on to your cellphone.

Effectively, making a wireless device partially wireless defeats the purpose of trying to live a mobile life. But we all know fashion causes pain (see: embarrassment) some times. They don’t say “beauty is pain” for nothing. — Andrew Dobrow

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