Griffin's ugly-ass ClearBoost iPhone antenna booster hits the scene

[Via iLounge]
Posts with tag antenna


We've seen some pretty outrageous looking antennas in our day, but NEC could have a hit on its hands with this newfangled cloth iteration. Granted, details are still hazy, but apparently this device can receive OTA TV signals and double as a handkerchief if you so desire. Reportedly, the firm has lined the cloth triangles with a "special metal" that can pick up broadcasted signals, and it's already thinking about integrating this into tents and other outdoor equipment. Additionally, this could certainly take wearable electronics to a new level if it were woven into one's garb (walking televisions, anyone?), but sadly, there's no word as to when (or if) this technology will hit the mainstream.
We've got quantum dot lasers, cryptographic data networks, teleportation (saywha?), and a pesky company to boot, but the (in)famous defense contractor Lockheed Martin has apparently hit the loony sauce a bit too quickly on its latest patent application. In a proposed effort to concoct the ultimate omniscient radar, the firm is suggesting that it can break the boundaries of theoretical physics and create a "quantum entanglement" scanner that can "penetrate any type of defense to identify hidden weapons and roadside bombs from hundreds of miles away." The theory -- which hasn't been realized in a product just yet -- suggests that two particles can be joined so that whatever happens to one must also happen to its partner, however far apart they are, which could be used to detect contraband from faraway locales (or peek through suspicious garb). Interestingly, it doesn't seem that we're the only ones wondering just what type of Kool-Aid the outfit's R&D department is sipping, as a physicist at Manchester University has reportedly insinuated that even in the far-reaching world of quantum physics, "the mechanics are just wrong." Seriously, isn't a Big Brother blimp enough for you guys?
Although we wouldn't advise that you use Ruckus Wireless' latest gizmo on a faraway neighbor's stray WiFi signal if you're housin' it in Singapore, the MetroFlex DZ allows you to pull (legal) "outdoor, metro wireless internet signals" into your home with a single device. This dual-zone device didn't change much in the design department from the media-centric 2825 MediaFlex router, but its patent-pending smart antenna technology "dynamically selects the best sending and receiving antennas for incoming and outgoing WiFi signals," allowing subscribers of outdoor broadband to provide WiFi in the home. You'll also find the usual bevy of security measures here, such as IP management, discrete SSIDs, WEP, and WPA2, but those hoping to snag a bit of draft-N action here will be sorely disappointed. No word on pricing or availability just yet, but hopefully it'll help out you lucky souls with citywide WiFi floating around.
You never know what you'll find when digging through the US Patent files, and it has been discovered that Samsung has filed one of their own in hopes of using the atmosphere as an antenna. Researchers and employees in Korea are devising a method to use the ionosphere -- the layer of the atmosphere at around 50 kilometers above the Earth's surface -- as a medium for "long distance communication" without the need for expensive satellites. The ionosphere already plays a role in communications as a "radio reflector" that bounces low frequency radio signals from sea to shining sea. But by launching UHF signals behind a 1GHz carrier signal, scientists hope to alter the behavior of the ionosphere to create an alternating current, which can then be modulated at a particular frequency in order to create an antenna of global proportions. While the precise utility of such an antenna is not yet clear, we're glad it's in the works, as this sounds like just the thing to solve those dropped call blues -- or not.
[Via Textually]
Broadband Antenna Tracking Solutions, or BATS for short, is a start-up company founded by a group of Purdue University professors who are developing an auto-aiming antenna system for wireless networks. Using proprietary software and off-the-shelf electronics, the system works by mounting a seeker antenna on a stationary or mobile object (boats and vehicles included) and allowing the powerful tracking software to keep a constant lock on the nearest target antenna. Currently designed for WiFi and fixed wireless broadband radios (WiMax support is planned, if ever needed), the BATS system can maintain a connection longer and suffer less interference due to the directional antennas broadcasting a fixated beam. The movement of the seeker antenna is controlled by two servo motors and a programmable logic controller (PLC) that is directed by software calculations, which in tests could maintain a signal on a moving watercraft for 12 miles, and keep a cruising vehicle connected for 8 miles. The application is, of course, of relatively limited use for civilians, but if there's a chance we'll see it commercialized since the BATS management team is currently seeking potential investors to get this project dialed in.






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