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Global internet speeds are on the rise again
Yes, South Korea still has the fastest internet in the world. But, according to content delivery network Akamai, average global speeds are up overall from late last year, jumping to 6.3 Mbps. More than that, we're seeing increases in increases in IPv6 adoption with Belgium leading the way and the older IPv4 slowly dropping off on a global scale. And if you were wondering what mobile speeds are looking like lately, guess no more: average connections were at 27.9 Mbps in the UK and dipped to 2.2 Mbps in Algeria.
The US runs out of old-school internet addresses this summer
The conventional internet address is about to go the way of the dodo... at least, in the US and Canada. According to estimates, North America will run out of IPv4 addresses (the familiar 1.2.3.4 format) this summer. While some companies might stall this by letting go of IPv4 numbers they don't use, many others will have little choice but to move to IPv6 (hexadecimals) if they want to add new addresses on their networks. The newer standard is already in widespread use, so don't worry about an imminent meltdown. Facebook wouldn't even be functioning unless it had already migrated a lot of servers to IPv6, for instance.
European carriers and Google Fiber are leading the IPv6 charge
The advanced IPv6 standard reached the internet well over a year ago. But who's really using it? Mostly Europeans, if you ask Akamai. The content delivery firm is now tracking IPv6 adoption as of its latest State of the Internet report, and it found that European nations represented seven of the top ten countries using IPv6 in the third quarter of 2013. The US was more modest in embracing IPv6 with 4.2 percent of all traffic relying on the newer technology, while Asia was relatively slow on the uptake. Adoption varies widely from provider to provider, though. More than half of Google Fiber's traffic was based around the protocol, while more established companies like Deutsche Telekom and Time Warner Cable still leaned heavily on old-fashioned IPv4. There are a handful of other revelations in the report. Denial of service attacks dropped for the first time since the end of 2012, with China passing Indonesia to once more become the biggest source of incursions. Broadband speeds were also clearly on the way up -- Akamai notes that use of high-speed internet access (over 10Mbps) jumped 31 percent quarter-to-quarter to to hit 19 percent worldwide. These increases primarily came from South Korea, the Netherlands and other countries that already have high average internet speeds. Not that Americans can complain too much. The US mostly kept pace with a typical internet speed of 9.8Mbps, or enough to make it the eighth fastest country on Earth.
ZigBee IP spec goes public, offers open IPv6 mesh networking
While ZigBee hasn't become as ubiquitous in wireless as the likes of Bluetooth or WiFi, it has carved out niches in home automation and low-power gear. The format is about to expand its world a little further now that a more network-savvy spec, ZigBee IP, is officially available for everyone. The upgrade adds IPv6 and tougher security to the open mesh networking formula, letting it more easily join an internet of things where there's potentially billions of connected devices. The ZigBee Alliance isn't naming customers at this stage, although it's quick to note that ZigBee IP was built for smart grid use: don't be surprised if you first see it behind the scenes, keeping energy use in check.
China's new internet backbone explained: verified sources, IPv6 at the core
While most of the world is still coming to grips with malware and weaning itself off of IPv4, we're just learning that China has been thinking further ahead. A newly publicized US Navy report reveals that China's new internet backbone revolves around an IPv6-based architecture that leans on Source Address Validation Architecture, or SAVA. The technique creates a catalog of known good matches between computers and their IP addresses, and blocks traffic when there's a clear discrepancy. The method could curb attempts to spread malware through spoofing and tackle some outbreaks automatically -- and, perhaps not so coincidentally, complicate any leaps over the Great Firewall. Even with the existence of that potential curb on civil liberties, the improved backbone could still keep network addresses and security under reasonable control when China expects that over 70 percent of its many, many homes will have broadband in the near future. [Image credit: Fangoufang, Wikipedia]
Light up Greenwave Reality's smart bulbs with your iPhone
Here's how it goes: I say, "It feels like we're living in the future," and you all yell, "So where are the jetpacks?" There are plenty of missing pieces from the Jetsons-style view of the future, but at least the smart home -- controllable, reactive, energy-efficient and easy to use -- is on its way. One of the companies trying to push that vision forward is lighting vendor Greenwave Reality [their site is a little overwhelmed right now]. Founded by veterans of Cisco's consumer networking business, Greenwave has spent the past few years developing products intended for distribution by European utilities, and it's now rolling out its Connected Lighting Solution for homeowners in the EU with certification for the US market as well. With the Greenwave kit -- not sold directly, but through distribution and utility partners -- and your iPhone or iPad, it will be simple to set up a custom lighting environment with up to 500 devices. Rather than controlling lighting at the switch or outlet level, the CLS actually takes the network smarts all the way down to the bulb. The LED diffuse bulbs fit standard sockets and (like CFL and other efficient bulbs) deliver the equivalent light of incandescents with a fraction of the power consumption. Unlike conventional bulbs, however, each of these sports a chipset from Dutch semiconductor giant NXP, known for making near-field communications (NFC) modules for cellphones and tablets. The NXP module wirelessly connects to other bulbs and to a remote control via a JenNet-IP mesh, an ultra-low-power IPv6 wireless network. Disconnecting a bulb makes no difference to the overall health of the mesh; the remaining bulbs autoconfigure and keep talking. The wireless chipset sips a tiny amount of power, so it doesn't impair the energy efficiency of the bulbs (the product is now Energy Star certified for the US market). The heart of the JenNet mesh is the Greenwave wireless controller, which connects to your home network to bridge your WiFi to the lighting WLAN and provide anywhere, anytime access to your lights. As soon as a bulb is powered on for the first time, it begins to dim up and down to indicate that it's ready for setup. You can use the iOS app to control the light individually, or bind it with other bulbs in a fixture. Turn on a whole room or just one lamp; it's simple with either the app or the hard remote. The app works in your house or anywhere in the world, letting you turn on and off lights when you're on the road. Of course, you can still use your conventional light switches in a pinch; flick off and back on two times to override the soft controls. With custom dimming timers and sunrise/sunset awareness, the automation possibilities of the CLS are impressive -- create a preset for early mornings, late romantic lights or whatever look you like. You can even take pictures of your lighting fixtures to customize the iOS app controls if you want. When combined with the company's Smart Home Platform, the automation opportunities extend beyond lighting to climate controls, security, appliances and more. Greenwave's technology has received enthusiastic support from the IPSO Alliance, the trade group working to deliver "the Internet of Things" for networked device awareness. Sounds great, so when and where can you buy it? The company's iOS app is in the App Store now, but as for the hardware, you're somewhat at the mercy of distribution partners at utilities that buy into Greenwave's approach. CEO Greg Memo describes Greenwave as "the brand behind the brand" for connected home lighting, so you're most likely to see "powered by Greenwave Reality" somewhere on the package rather than on its own. Exact prices will vary by region and provider, but with Energy Star rebates and other incentives the company expects bulbs to be available for around US$20 or less; a four-bulb kit with remote and wireless controller (one-time purchases) will come in at or under US$200. That may sound steep, but the company estimates that replacing 10 bulbs with LED Greenwave bulbs (a net cost of $320 counting the controller) will save about $150 in energy costs in the first year of operation vs. incandescent bulbs... and the LED bulbs have a projected lifespan of 10 years or more. Check out the Greenwave Reality video below for more on the Connected Lighting Solution.
RIPE NCC handing out its last block of IPv4 addresses, tries to fend off internet survivalism
In a world where IPv6 lives and IPv4 addresses are scarce, network providers must fight for survival... or at least, claim their IP blocks quickly. The RIPE NCC, the regional internet registry for Asia, Europe and the Middle East, warns that it's down to assigning its last set of 16.8 million IPv4 addresses as of this weekend. That sounds like a lot, but we'd do well to remember that the registry churned through about 5.2 million addresses in just the past two weeks. What's left won't be around for long, folks. To cut back on the number of Mad Max-style battles for dwindling resources, RIPE NCC is rationing out IPv4 for local registries in 1,024-address chunks -- and only to those who both have IPv6 assignments as well as proof of a need for IPv4. With just a bit more than half of the RIPE NCC's customers currently on IPv6, that could still trigger a shortfall among networks that haven't prepared for the internet protocol apocalypse. We'd advise that companies stock up on IPv6 supplies before launching the raiding parties.
IPv6 lands today, do you copy?
June 6th has arrived, which means that participating ISPs, hardware manufacturers and search engines must stick to their word and permanently enable the IPv6 address system -- not least as an encouragement for others to do the same. The ultimate purpose? To allow trillions of users to have their own IP address, instead of just a paltry few billion permitted by the IPv4 standard that continues to run in parallel. The risk? That the Internet collapses and we all get the day off work. Evidently that hasn't happened, no doubt thanks to Google and others having tested the system during pilot programs, and indeed Vint Cerf's explanatory video seems to be working fine after the break.
How to get AirPlay working when Apple TV is hooked up via Ethernet
When I got a new Apple TV, I decided to plug it directly into my Time Capsule via Ethernet to lighten some of the bandwidth load on my home wireless network. My Wi-Fi bandwidth has always been pretty lackluster with my first-gen Time Capsule, even though every device connecting to it is 802.11n-compatible, and adding something as bandwidth-gluttonous as an Apple TV streaming 1080p video from my Mac was only going to make things worse. I guessed that plugging in via Ethernet would roughly halve the bandwidth requirements for streaming to the Apple TV, and checking around with some of my more networking-savvy friends confirmed this. * Within a couple of days, I noticed some really odd behavior. When using the Apple TV interface on my HDTV, streaming music or other media from my Mac worked without any issues. However, trying to stream media from my Mac to the Apple TV via iTunes on my Mac didn't work at all. The Apple TV showed up in iTunes' list of available AirPlay devices, but selecting it brought up a "Connecting" box that never went away. Trying to set things up via the Remote app on my iOS devices didn't work either. It didn't make sense to me that streaming would work just fine if initiated from the Apple TV, but not at all from anywhere else. Some Googling around got me a solution to the issue: disabling IPv6 on the Mac via the network settings in System Preferences finally got AirPlay working from all devices. If you're on a version of OS X older than Lion, it's easy to turn IPv6 off. Go into the Network pane in System Preferences Select AirPort in the list on the left Click "Advanced" Go to the TCP/IP tab Set "Configure IPv6" to Off Click "OK" Click "Apply" OS X Lion got rid of the "Off" setting in the GUI, but the Terminal app in the Finder's Utilities folder comes to the rescue (as always). Open Terminal and input the following two commands exactly to disable IPv6 in OS X Lion: networksetup -setv6off ethernet networksetup -setv6off wi-fi If you have an advanced network setup that requires IPv6 to be enabled for some reason, you're probably better off just unplugging the Apple TV and letting it connect via Wi-Fi. Most users won't run into any problems if they disable IPv6, however, so if you're in a niche like mine where plugging the Apple TV in via Ethernet is a better fit for your network, hopefully this tip helped you out. * I confirmed this with first-hand testing, as well. When plugged into my Time Capsule via Ethernet, a 1.38 GB movie loaded in its entirety on the Apple TV in exactly 7 minutes, 30 seconds. Tests loading movies of the same 1.38 GB size repeatedly failed when the Apple TV connected over Wi-Fi, because roughly midway through iTunes Home Sharing inevitably decided to stop working. I never experienced this problem when connected over Ethernet. In both cases, Time Machine was disabled on my Mac, and no other devices were making heavy use of the network. The "best" result my Apple TV achieved when streaming over Wi-Fi was loading roughly 40 percent of a 1.38 GB movie -- after over 12 minutes -- before iTunes Home Sharing decided to die on me yet again. So at least in my case, connecting the Apple TV via Ethernet makes way more sense than Wi-Fi.
Apple criticized for backing off on support of IPv6
At the North American IPv6 Summit held in Denver last week, Apple came under fire for not providing support for the next-generation of the Internet Protocol in the latest version of Apple's AirPort Utility. The criticism came from several speakers at the conference, but most notably from John Brzozowski, a Comcast distinguished engineer considered to be one of the chief architects of IPv6. In speaking about AirPort Utility 6.0, Brzozowski was quoted on NetworkWorld as saying that "Apple has taken the ability to seamlessly support IPv6 away from the AirPort Utility. It's a little concerning. We hoped to see more IPv6 support, not less, among [customer premises equipment] vendors." Previous versions of the AirPort Utility allowed AirPort owners to configure and maintain settings for IPv6, while the newest version only provides support for IPv4. In order to provide support for IPv6, Comcast is recommending that AirPort Utility version 5.6 be installed alongside the newer version. IPv6 is expected to be deployed widely starting in 2012, primarily due to the need for a larger number of available IP addresses. Companies such as Comcast need to support IPv6 end to end, and home gateways need to provide IPv6 support as well. All Apple hardware supports IPv6 addressing, but the changes to AirPort Utility present a major barrier to adoption of the new protocol for users of Apple's networking products. Thanks to TUAW reader David for the tip
June 6th 2012: IPv6 goes live
When Vint Cerf and his friends at DARPA concocted a system that allowed for 4.3 billion IP addresses, it was never conceived that everyone's computer would be able to access the internet -- before the age when your telephone, fridge and air conditioning unit would too. The IPv4 system officially ran out of addresses last year, but fortunately the moment was prepared for: June 8th 2011 was "World IPv6 Day," where a host of sites including Google, Bing and Facebook quietly tried out the new system for 24 hours to make sure it wouldn't cause the internet to explode. June 6th this year will see the final activation of the new network provision that has a capacity of around 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses, which we figure will keep us going until Black Friday, at least.
Verizon upgrades IP network in major cities, blames your bandwidth guzzling
Big Red's finding its pipes cluttered with all of the young people's streaming video, audio and cloud services. That's why it's busting out the credit card to order a fresh new 100G IPv6 network for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle. It'll need Cisco's CRS-3 Carrier Routing System to help the network scale to areas of highest demand, but since it's already using CRS-1, it should be a simple matter of swapping out the old kit. FiOS customers will also see network improvements when the upgrade is finished in the first half of next year, just be on the look out for repairmen huddling 'round your nearest junction box.
Comcast shifts some customers to IPv6, promises it won't hurt
No sooner have you memorized the IP address of your media server and then your ISP has to go and mess it all up -- in this case, by adding a whole lot of extra digits. It's for a good cause, though: Comcast is launching its IPv6 pilot as part of a long and grueling global transition away from IPv4, whose 4.3 billion addresses are now severely depleted. The pilot will start with customers who have a simple connection straight from their PC to a cable modem and who are running an up-to-date OS. It will also allow old IP addresses to exist alongside the new ones, hopefully avoiding the slowdowns that can result from trying to translate between to the two formats on the fly. The good news? Once it's over, nobody should have to go through this upheaval again until there are 2^128 web-connected devices on the planet, and by then it'll be the last of our worries. [Thanks, Anthony]
Today's World IPv6 Day: Google, Bing, Facebook and others test out new addresses for 24 hours
Described as a "test flight" of IPv6, today marks the biggest concerted effort by some of the web's marquee players to turn us all on to the newer, fancier web addressing system. Internet Protocol version 4 has been the template by which we've addressed everything connected to the web so far, but that stuff's now nearing exhaustion, so the future demands a longer, more complex nomenclature to tell our smartphones, tablets, printers, and other webOS devices apart. For end users, June 8th won't really feel too different from June 7th -- this will be a change that occurs mostly behind the scenes and there's an IPv4 fallback option if you can't connect in the modern way -- but Google does warn that a very limited subset of users may experience connectivity issues as a result. Hit the links below to see how well prepared for the future you are.
GreenChip lighting lets you flip the switch remotely, thumbs nose at IPv4 depletion
Despite the looming IPv4 apocalypse, a new lighting system coming out of NXP Semiconductors promises an "IP address for every light bulb." The GreenChip "smart lighting solution" incorporates NXP chipsets into both LED and compact fluorescents to enable dimming, extended lifespans, quick start times, and IP connectivity -- via IPv4 or IPv6. Proprietary network software allows users to control their bulbs from smartphones, PCs, and other devices, enabling them to fiddle with mood lighting -- including adjusting color -- via a specific IP address. So at least when IPv4 doomsday finally descends someone will have their lighting just right. Video and PR after the break.
Vint Cerf on IPv4 depletion: 'Who the hell knew how much address space we needed?'
Father of the internet, Vint Cerf, is taking one on the knuckles this week for the inevitable diminution of the world's IPv4 addresses. Last Friday, The Sydney Morning Herald ran a sensational story titled, "Internet Armageddon all my fault: Google chief," in which Cerf warned of an end to unique IP addresses "within weeks." The story was, of course, a bit tongue-in-cheek, considering the industry has long anticipated and prepared for said Armageddon. Back in 1977, Cerf led a team of DARPA researchers in creating IPv4, which limits IP addresses to four 8-bit numbers or 32-bits total, providing for 4.3 billion addresses: not nearly enough by today's standards. In the article, Cerf said he never expected his protocol to take off, adding, "Who the hell knew how much address space we needed?" The IPv4's successor, IPv6, which enlists four 32-bit numbers or 128 bits total, was developed soon after Cerf's protocol and is now getting attention from internet giants like Google and Facebook, who will launch World IPv6 Day this June. Considering IPv6 makes for 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses, we probably won't be hearing of an IP apocalypse anytime soon.
Terminal Tips: More reliable SSH connections to your Back to My Mac hosts
Back to My Mac is a feature of MobileMe that allows you to connect remotely to your Macs. Usually this is for screen-sharing or file-sharing through the Finder, but you can also connect via SSH. In the Terminal app (found in /Applications/Utilities/), you can connect via Shell » New Remote Connection, then click the "Secure Shell (SSH)" item, then the computer you want to connect to under the "Server" column. But what if that doesn't work? In that case, I have two suggestions for you: first, use SSH v2 and IPv6. Perhaps it's best to show you the command and then explain it: ssh -2 -6 imac.luomat.members.mac.com -v The "members.mac.com" is consistent for all users. "luomat" is my MobileMe username. "imac" is the hostname of my Mac. See System Preferences » Sharing if you don't know what your computer's name is, or to change it. The "-2" tells SSH to only try SSH protocol version 2, and the "-6" tells SSH to only use IPv6 addresses. The "-v" tells SSH to be "a little" verbose in its output. That part is optional. You could also use -vv or -vvv if you want more verbosity. So far, this method has given me even more success than my DynDNS hostname, which I described before. Before you worry about the security implications of giving people my MobileMe hostname, I should mention that it seems to be impossible to connect to BTMM hostnames unless you are connecting from another computer that is logged into that same MobileMe account. If you have spaces in the computer's name, they are usually replaced with "-" and punctuation is ignored. So, "John's iMac" becomes "Johns-iMac" in the SSH command. Marco Arment also figured out that if you have a period in the hostname or MobileMe username, you should escape it with a \ so that "john.doe" becomes "john\.doe" when you are connecting via SSH. Of course, to be able to connect to your remote Mac via SSH, you must have enabled "Remote Login" under System Preferences » Sharing.
Ask TUAW: Return to open, messed up Mighty Mouse, PDF alternatives, Boot Camp expansion, and more
It's time once again for Ask TUAW! For this round we take questions about cleaning a malfunctioning Mighty Mouse, opening files and applications with the return key, expanding a Boot Camp partition, finding alternatives to Adobe Acrobat, caring for your notebook battery, and more As always, your suggestions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!
NTT America talks up IPv6-based Hikari-TV IPTV at CES
It has been awhile since we've heard the term IPv6 thrown around over here, but NTT America is looking to put it back on everyone's radar in Vegas. The outfit is all set to discuss Hikari-TV, the first large scale, commercially successful IPTV over IPv6 service, at CES, and we can't wait to give it a listen. For those out of the loop, the Hikari-TV service -- which is operated by NTT Plala -- comprises 76 channels including a number of HD stations, over 10,000 video-on-demand titles and over 13,000 titles in its "karaoke" section. Worldwide, IPTV still has quite a ways to go before it becomes even half as pervasive as traditional coax, but Gartner estimates that worldwide subscriptions to IPTV should be close to 20 million already.
Internet2 operators set new internet speed record
We all know that data transmission records don't hang around too long these days, but for operators of the Internet2 network, the final "official record" may have just been set. At the Internet2 consortium's spring meeting, it was announced that officials "sent data at 7.67-gigabits per second using standard communications protocols," but crushed even that milestone 24 hours later by achieving 9.08Gbps with IPv6 protocols. Notably, the data had to travel a whopping 20,000 or so miles roundtrip, and it's being suggested that the newest record may be there awhile, considering the theoretical 10Gbps limit on Internet2 transmissions and the requirement for new records to sustain "a ten-percent improvement for recognition." The best bit, however, is the mention of a "a new network with a capacity of 100Gbps," which could see a full-blown DVD shot practically around the globe "within in a few seconds."
