Items tagged with Network
We are no longer on the cusp of Wi-Fi 6 (otherwise known as 802.11ax) connectivity -- it has arrived -- just not in earnest yet. It will take some time before the Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) standard is truly shoved aside in favor of the new kid on the block, the one that is faster and more adept at juggling multiple wireless devices simultaneously. Nevertheless, early adopters who want to live on the bleeding edge have options. One of them is the beastly ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 we will be showing you here. As you might have surmised from the ROG branding, the GT-AX11000 is geared towards power users and gamers. That is also evident by the physical design, which we will discuss in a bit. In terms...
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There is a fledgling wireless standard that effectively renders the vast majority of home networks out of date -- don't panic though, your stuff isn't necessarily obsolete. It is called Wi-Fi 6, if using the simplified nomenclature that the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced last year, or 802.11ax if you want to stick with the more technical (and potentially confusing for the average consumer) description. Either way, what we have is a bleeding-edge standard that router makers are just now starting to adopt, one that is better equipped to handle the growing number of wireless devices that are commonly found in our homes (PCs and laptops, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, smart speakers, and so forth)....
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It’s becoming harder to know which apps to trust these days, and that’s readily apparent with the disclosure of a vulnerability in the popular Android app “Wi-Fi Finder.” The purpose of the app is to make it easier for individuals to locate free public Wi-Fi hotspots that they can use on-the-go rather than digging into their cellular data. However, a password sharing feature of the app has been compromised according to security researcher Sanyam Jain. The feature allows users to upload Wi-Fi passwords stored on their devices so that they can be shared with others. However, this information – which should be separated from the public Wi-Fi hotpots that the app is...
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There are two things that Samsung really wants: to be one of the first to deploy a city-wide IoT infrastructure, as well as make sure that IoT infrastructure is on its home turf, in South Korea. That will soon be happening, and it's sure to be one of the first of what will become many such roll-outs over time. For its first deployment, Samsung is going to be using a LoRaWAN-based network (Long-range Wide Area Network), which will utilize a 900MHz band. The first city to be affected by this will be Daegu, South Korea's fourth-largest city. While many reading this probably thought the first city would be Seoul (which has a population five-fold that of Daegu), it's likely Samsung's goal to start...
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Anyone who follows the NAS game will likely recognize the name Synology, but we’d wager most home users aren't quite as familiar with them. That’s simply because Synology storage devices have typically targeted a more advanced crowd, such as readers of this website. If you had ever met someone who was running a Synology NAS at home, you knew right away they were an enthusiast, advanced user, neckbeard, etc. Newbies use more mainstream products, but hardcore guys and gals use Synology--or something like that. Well, times are changing, and Synology is trying to get in on the “cloud storage” game with NAS drives that are pre-configured, plug-and-play, and accessible from any internet connection,...
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The WD My Cloud EX2100 is a new prosumer-oriented NAS drive from WD that continues the company's adventures in the realm of "personal cloud" storage. These drives are aimed directly at people who use Cloud storage such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.com, and others. The marketing speak from WD is that those services require a monthly payment for a small amount of storage, and you have to store your data on someone else's cloud. For example Dropbox charges $10 a month for 1TB of storage, and Google charges the same. WD's pitch is you can get multiple terabytes of storage with one of its drives, and use it as your own personal cloud storage, with the files accessible from any location with an internet...
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A platform is usually only as great as the infrastructure that supports it, even if that platform just so happens to be an automobile. While the Tesla idea is a sound one, it isn't apt to end up in the mainstream garage until there's a vast array of chargers. If you can't get a charge without going too far out of your way, your ride is as good as toast. That's why Tesla is doubling down on its "Supercharger" network, and recently, it expanded once again. Tesla Superchargers allow Model S owners to travel for free between cities along well-traveled highways in North America, Europe and Asia. As of today, there are 105 stations in North America, with "complete" west and east coast travel that'll...
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Take a wild guess which technology company now has a higher market capitalization than the mighty Oracle? Facebook, as it turns out. In the latest turn in what has been a wild ride (in both directions) since going public, Facebook's stock has surged on solid earnings to a record high. Now, the world's dominant social network is worth $76.74 per share on the NASDAQ. All told, this puts Facebook's market value at just under $200 billion, and a host of brokerages have raised their price targets on the stock. In other words, don't be surprised to see it reach $100 per share in the next year or two. The reason behind the lift? News that its mobile advertising revenue was up a staggering 151% in Q2,...
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The leak that we spotted a couple of days ago has been confirmed: Verizon Wireless is gearing up to introduce a new version of LTE, dubbed XLTE, which promises 2x the bandwidth of its already peppy LTE network. The company has published a new commercial on its YouTube channel, as well as adding snippets of XLTE verbiage to its website for the first time. Mind you, this isn't LTE-Advanced, but it's an improvement to LTE that will relieve some of the bandwidth pinches that have cropped up in major cities such as New York. VZW is also promises high peak rates and more bandwidth to share in "cities coast to coast," though it stops short of suggesting which locales stand to benefit. For background,...
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Carriers far and wide have been angling to position themselves as more than just data and voice providers, and now, operators such as Verizon are starting to put their money up in order to prove the point. The company has this week confirmed that it will acquire EdgeCast, a content delivery network that has been around the block a time or two. The goal, according to Verizon, is to "enhance its video delivery and Web services capabilities," and it plans to integrate EdgeCast's "complementary capabilities to further improve and increase its ability to meet the exponential growth in online digital media content, as well as broaden its portfolio of site acceleration services for digital enterprises." ...
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Like it or not, the cloud is the future. So, you best get an Internet connection (and perhaps a data plan) to deal with it. While local storage will always have its place, being instantly accessible anywhere where there's an Internet connection obviously has its benefits. Now, the biggest name in recording television has debuted its Network PVR. The project will bring TiVo Roamio's DVR experience to the cloud. TiVo's Network PVR extends the TiVo Service and consistent user experience while enabling consumers to easily find, consume and socially share cloud delivered content through the TiVo user interface. In addition to moving the Roamio experience to the cloud, TiVo would be enabling operators...
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Ten years after a major blackout affected at least 50 million people in the northeastern US and some parts of Canada, physicists in Israel and the United States are calling attention to the fact that it could happen again, and that its affects next time could be even worse. The studies have revolved around spatial networks and their inherent flaw of relying too heavily on central points, or nodes. On the surface, creating a power grid based on geography makes complete sense - at least if you believe neatness and order is the best way to do things. Here, though, spatial networks rely on a number of critical nodes, and if one of those happens to fail, it'll lead to a blackout. According to these...
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For many Time Warner Cable subscribers, we're going into yet another weekend where CBS is unavailable. Due to stalled negotiations over subscription rates, TWC and CBS have yet to come to terms on what it'll take to get the network back on-air. So, in order to prevent TWC customers from fleeing elsewhere (particularly as the NFL regular season nears its start), the operator is taking extreme measures: it's handing out free antennas. That's right: with CBS blacked-out via cable services, TWC is hoping that its customers lean on over-the-air network waves to capture signal. Time Warner Cable has a limited quantity of basic indoor antennas available to pick up, for free, for customers at our TWC...
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Quite some time ago, rumors flared that Apple may have been testing the waters of providing its own wireless network for iPhone use. Obviously, it managed to cut deals with a number of existing mobile operators instead, but it appears that Amazon may be thinking differently. A new Bloomberg report suggests that Amazon has "tested a new wireless network that would allow customers to connect its devices to the Internet." Reportedly, the network was tested in Apple's own backyard (Cupertino, California), with Globalstar satellites used in testing. Amazon has branched out in many ways of late, and this may be its first ecosystem play in getting even more individuals connected to its services. If...
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Far too often, we hear plenty of negative stories making the news, with very little positive news to balance things out. It's a depressing cycle, to be sure, so we're thrilled to see a nugget in the technology world that's breaking that trend. Defense Mobile Corporation aunching a new nationwide wireless service on the Sprint 4G LTE network, with a unique mobile affinity platform, integrated mobile banking, and a set of community-focused mobile applications. When it launches in 2014, the service will be available to active-duty officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military, including those serving or honorably discharged from the Selected Reserve and federally recognized National Guard...
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Twitter has become a force all its own, and a recent partnership with Nielsen is proof that the social network has mainstream reach, too. Now, a Nielsen research report is suggesting that tweet count does indeed have a link to TV ratings. A new independent study by Nielsen provides, for the first time, statistical evidence of a two-way causal influence between broadcast TV tune-in for a program and the Twitter conversation around that program. The study used time series analysis to determine if Twitter activity drives increased tune-in rates for broadcast TV and if broadcast TV tune-in leads to increased Twitter activity. By analyzing minute-to-minute trends in Nielsen’s live TV ratings...
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T-Mobile + MetroPCS. That's a thing now, remember? And it seems that the former is well ahead of schedule when it comes to integrating networks with the latter. A release shot out this week from T-Mobile makes clear that just six weeks after the combination was locked down, it's already working to migrate MetroPCS customers onto T-Mobile's HSPA+ and LTE networks. The good news? It's moving "ahead of schedule." This means that T-Mobile users will have access to an LTE network in the near future. The company is making HSPA+ and LTE compatible devices available to MetroPCS customers as well as allowing them to bring their own unlocked compatible HSPA+ or LTE phone, providing them the opportunity...
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Emerging markets are called that for a reason, and Google has certainly had a hand in bringing a lot of said markets to the spotlight over the years. As the Internet expands into becoming a full-fledged force across the globe, Google realizes that it may need to lend a hand in developing some of the infrastructure. In places like the U.S., there's no need. But in some nations, the Internet isn't going to arrive without a bit of outside aid. According to a new Wall Street Journal report, Google is already "deep into a multipronged effort to build and help run wireless networks in emerging markets as part of a plan to connect a billion or more new people to the Internet." In recent years, Google...
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Of all the social networks that one might have expected to flop, Pinterest is probably in that list. But, what is lacks in convention it makes up for in uniqueness, and obviously the user base is just exploding. Now, those who use the service will find it to be even more useful. The company has today launched "more useful pins," and it's also making it easier to pin regardless of where you are. The company has aligned itself with various websites in order to institute product pins, recipe pins and movie pins. These were already amongst the most popular items pinned, and now it seems that the company is both making your life easier while sliding into efforts to make money. From your feed, you...
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Sprint lost a lot (a lot!) of time in the 4G war by selecting WiMAX while everyone else waited for LTE to become the de facto choice of carriers. Now, the carrier's trying to right the ship, and it's slowly but surely introducing a swath of new LTE markets. This week, it introduced one of its largest chunks to date, as it looks to drop LTE coverage over 21 new markets. Sprint's network holes have become glaringly obvious of late, and it's clearly on a lower level (along with T-Mobile) in the coverage game. Adding LTE, however, could help the customer bleeding that has been happening in recent quarters. The new LTE markets include Los Angeles, Contra Costa County, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Norfolk,...
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What do you get when you mesh LinkedIn and Pulse? InPulse? Perhaps, but it looks as if this is a real question now that LinkedIn has snapped up Pulse for a cool $90 million. That's right -- the job location board has acquired a news reading service. It may seem like an odd marriage at first, but it's just one (major) step in LinkedIn's agenda to becoming more than just a place where people connect to one another in order to locate new and exciting job opportunities. Pulse has grown into quite the popular app, delivering news in segments in a beautiful interface. The program was launched in 2010, and just three years later, it has a new master. According to Pulse: " LinkedIn is the perfect partner...
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Twitter started as a social network. Now, it's both a communication tool and a news delivery service. But what will it evolve into? As the company strives to pick up revenues, the sky seems to be the limit. This week, Twitter acquired a unique company with a unique name: We Are Hunted. In a nutshell, We Are Hunted was a music discovery engine, and we use the term "was" because We Are Hunted is shutting things down immediately in order to work with its new overlord. The team intends to continue creating new products in the music arena, but they'll be channeled via Twitter -- in other words, you can't just use We Are Hunted's services without also using Twitter. In recent months, Twitter has also...
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