networking
Latest
Australia's A$43 billion broadband project: up to 100Mbps in 90% of homes and businesses
In what he's calling "the single biggest infrastructure decision" in the country's history," Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's announced an A$43 billion (US $30.6 billion) project to create a nationwide high speed broadband network. The goal's to get 90 percent of homes and business up to 100Mbps speeds with fiber optic connection, with a less impressive 12Mbps wireless / satellite for the rest. Up to 49 percent of the funds will be from the private sector; the government will initially invest A$4.7b, while A$20b will come from a national infrastructure fund and the sale of bonds. The venture's expected to take seven to eight years, and Rudd said the government intends to sell off its stake after five years. Sure, it's not 1Gbps by 2012, but hey, they might end up beating us at the "nationwide broadband" game.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read - Sydney Morning HeraldRead - Reuters
IEEE begins work on wireless standards for white spaces access
We're probably still months, if not years out from seeing this whole white space debate amount to anything productive, but at least the IEEE is already toiling away on two new standards to address architecture and interfaces for white spaces access. In an admittedly jargon-filled release, the group responsible for keeping 802.11n in draft status for 14 centuries has reportedly approved work to begin on a new duo of protocols for "heterogeneous wireless networks based on the existing IEEE 1900.4 standard." The group specifically mentions IEEE P1900.4a, an amendment to 1900.4 which aims to "examine architecture and interfaces for dynamic spectrum access networks in white space frequency bands." Said standard would basically act to define new components for operating in white space frequencies, and with standardization will hopefully come easier implementation of widespread broadband. Check back in a score or so to see if we've made any progress.[Via dailywireless]
Linksys by Cisco PLTK300 Powerline kit is pretty, sluggish
And to think, this here box had so much promise. At first glance, it's easy to fall head over heels with the PLTK300 Powerline box. After all, it features a four-port adapter that easily manages game consoles, Blu-ray players, AV receivers, etc., and passes those signals along your home network via power wiring. The rub? It's based on the older 85Mbps standard and not the fresher, speedier 200Mbps protocol. In other words, you may see dropped frames and the like if trying to push too much HD through here at once. Ah well, at least that news makes the Asia-only availability that much easier to live with.Update: So, these seem to be shipping now in the US. Huzzah! [Thanks, Dave!]
UPA and HomeGrid Forum agree to support G.hn networking standard
While wireless HD / HDMI attempts to find itself a place in the market, G.hn is racking up its fair share of support from those who still get along with wires. Universal Powerline Association and the HomeGrid Forum have just announced an agreement to support the G.hn wireline networking standard. If you'll recall, G.hn was just recently ratified by the ITU as a new global standard for HDTV home networking, and while it's tough to tell how it'll react to HomePlug AV vying for those same customers, we can already see a battle shaping up. Still, a universal format for transmitting 1080p content around the home is certainly something that's easy to dig -- it's getting everyone on a single caboose that's difficult. Full release is after the break.
Gennum's Aviia enables 1080p surveillance over coax
These days, it's just not enough to have a grainy, low quality loop of a crook robbing a convenience store. No one understands this better than Gennum, who has just introduced a new audio / video interface for professional and industrial applications (such as advanced video security and surveillance systems) that will enable 1080p transmissions over existing coaxial cables up to 100 meters long. The main selling point is this technology's ability to work over existing coax infrastructures, giving CCTV networks the ability to capture and distribute content at high resolutions without upgrading to CAT5 or the like. Big Brother just found a way to keep a much, much clearer eye on you -- better watch your steps, bub.
DiiVA home networking spec exposes itself to potential partners
Sporting an extra "i" DiiVA is back, ready to show off the initial draft of its home networking spec. The same old crew of Chinese manufacturers are still pledging support, claiming it solves data channel issues for the future of interactive TV and such. We'd probably want to make sure the name is nailed down before signing up but interested parties can register as a DiiVA promoter to review and provide feedback before its finalized. Still, in the China-based format race, it probably has better odds of ever catching on than CBHD or HD NVD.
Netgear's Coax-Ethernet Adapter up for pre-order
Netgear quietly introduced us to its MCAB1001 MoCA Coax-Ethernet adapter (among other things) at CES this year, but the curiously useful device has just now set itself up for pre-ordering. Put simply, this is the device to get for those who both loathe wireless (and all those inexplicable dropouts) and can't pony up the courage / fundage / willpower to wire their home with Ethernet. By enabling users to extend Ethernet signals over existing in-wall coax cabling, you can easily pass along web content, Blu-ray / DVD material or practically any other digital signal over the coax network that's (hopefully) already established within your domicile's walls. Yeah, $229.99 is a bit pricey, but go price out a house full of Ethernet and then reevaluate.[Thanks, Matt]
DLNA gives thumbs-up to MoCA standard for new guidelines
You know that DLNA support that your media streamer has, which currently only supports WiFi and Ethernet as approved LAN standards? Yeah? Well MoCA is about to join in. Yep, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) has given the green light to the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) technology standard for "incorporation into the next version of its Networked Interoperability Guidelines," which should be out in early 2009. The guidelines will aim to "unite various consumer electronics, personal computer and mobile device technologies into a cohesive home networking environment," and being that MoCA is an open initiative intended to distribute multimedia over a home's existing coaxial network, it's a wonder the two haven't linked up earlier. Who says coax is dying?
STMicroelectronics and Arkados join up on HomePlug AV SoC
HomePlug AV has been around for what seems like eons, but regardless of how hard it tries, it never seems to really take hold in the market place. That being said, two big names in the industry are teaming up to give it yet another push, as STMicroelectronics and Arkados join hands to "develop and manufacture a 200Mbit-per-second HomePlug AV wideband powerline modem System-on-Chip (SoC)." If all goes to plan, it'll become the world's first HomePlug AV SoC, and it's being designed to "power applications ranging from simple Ethernet-to-powerline bridges to full-featured products as wide ranging as HDTV distribution, digital set-top boxes, IPTV, whole-house audio, networked digital picture frames, surveillance systems, etc." We'll see if anyone notices when it ships in mid-2009.
HomePlug AV II specification nearing release
We really can't comment on the curious timing here, but just after CopperGate picked up the HomePlug AV Powerline business from Conexant Systems, along comes word that the HomePlug AV II specification is just over the horizon. Reportedly, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance is planning to release its next-gen home networking specification "later this year, with first silicon sampling in 2009." We're told that the new spec would simply "build on the existing HomePlug AV specification, developed in 2005, which offers a theoretical bandwidth up to just under 200 Mbits/s." Regrettably, no one could pry a new target speed from the mouths of execs just yet, but you can rest assured it will be at least somewhat speedier (duh).
CopperGate buys HomePlug AV Powerline business
Let's face it -- HomePlug AV has had a pretty rough go of it, and while we wouldn't consider the technology dead just yet, we can't imagine it ever rising to prominence at this point. Our negativity isn't stopping one CopperGate Communications from following its heart, however, as it just announced this week that it would be taking the business off of Conexant Systems' hands. The pickup makes CopperGate the "the first semiconductor company with home networking technologies supporting all three wire types (coax, phone and power lines)." The deal gives the new owner "all relevant power line technology and silicon products, related patents, appropriate licenses, and requisite personnel," which sounds to us like everything including the kitchen sink. Of course, there's no way of knowing what kind of impact the acquisition will have, but CopperGate's hoping that it will "better prepare the company for the new ITU home networking standard, G.hn." Check out the read link for more details.
Time Capsule backs up your Macs
Apple has released Time Capsule, a NAS (network-attached storage, I'll admit I'm so far from an IT guy that I had to look it up) unit that will wirelessly sync with multiple instances of Time Machine, all the while also working as an 802.11n base station (there are three included ethernet ports as well). Time Capsule has wireless backup, wireless networking, and even a USB port for networked printing, a networked hard drive, or both with a USB hub.And perhaps most amazing is the sheer size available-- it's $399 for a 500gb hard drive, and $499 for a 1 TB hard drive. Sure, that's a little pricey if you've got only one or two computers at home, but $500 for a complete (and completely wireless) backup solution for a house full of computers is a pretty nice setup. This definitely won't cause as much of a stir as the iPhone updates or the MacBook Air today, but for someone who's been seeking a backup solution for a whole house of computers, Time Capsule has to be pretty good news. It's available for preorder right now, and will release in February.
Seven cool features of Leopard that might get stubborn friends to upgrade
There are dozens of little niceties in Leopard: like how Front Row now lives on my iBook (sans remote) and allows me to operate the thing as a sort of thin-client media jukebox (courtesy a Mac mini server). Or how Font Book now prints books of your fonts (especially nice for those non-techies). With the 300+ new features, I still have yet to fully explore this thing, but I'm certainly starting to believe this is the Mac OS Apple really wanted to deliver a few years back. There's no doubt in my mind this is a big turning point for the platform, and I really believe user adoption in 2008 will be unprecedented as a result.Following is a list of features and specific "cool things" I think you can point out if you are trying to explain to a friend why they should upgrade. For the record, I installed Leopard on a 1.24 GHz iBook G4, and it runs beautifully, which in itself is a selling point.1. Finally, a Record button for your actions Automator now has a UI recorder. Anyone who remembers the good old days of macro recorders before OS 8 will look at this and sigh, but I, for one, welcome my new robot overlord. Automator is finally useful for mortals with UI recording. Oh sure, it isn't perfect, but it really beats trying to explain just the concept of Automator to the average human. Never mind the metaphors and the workflow within Automator itself -- eyes will glaze over. UI recording is absolute heaven when you do a lot of drudge work, like contracts, filling, prepping photos, etc.2. Mail gets GTD fever If power users turn up their noses at Stationary in Mail, point out how they can now put their notes, to-do's and RSS into Mail. I haven't really set all this up as I'd like yet (the iBook isn't my primary work machine), but my unfettered hatred of Mail.app is somewhat lessened now by the fact that it is starting to behave like a "real" email client. The notes and to-do's are icing on the cake, but also very important if you like to get things done and stay organized. A few smart folders and you have a truly powerful system. Still, it is disappointing to see Apple take half a decade to figure out the whole "archive mailbox" thing, but pobody's nerfect I guess.3. Web clipping makes Dashboard relevant again My wife quit using Dashboard long ago. It simply served no purpose for her. But web clipping, baked right in to Safari? That had her mildly interested. Tracking the top 3 Twitters, or whatever the top story on Perez or TMZ happens to be with a keystroke is a selling point for folks who aren't using RSS. The only downside is that you need a pretty big screen if you want more than a couple of pages to appear.4. Shared drives finally "just work" and Shared Screens work with other OS'esGranted, there have been issues with networking in Leopard, but seeing shared Macs in my sidebar? That's pretty sweet. In previous versions of OS X you had to click on Network, now it just shows up. Is a few clicks a big deal? Well, for the average user, yes, this is a big deal. The average user doesn't like to explore. They can be timid, and frankly, don't necessarily know (or care) what the Network thing even is. Displaying networked components directly in Finder will greatly increase the probability that users will at least see everything. It has already saved me time when trying to reconnect and move things around my home LAN. For me, the real fun was seeing how VNC "just worked" when I was able to access my Mac mini (which was already running as a VNC server) via Screen Sharing. Even though the mini runs Tiger, and despite a slightly wonky connection, overall it was super easy to set-up. Think about it another way: average users don't want to run a third-party application like Chicken of the VNC. Average users don't necessarily trust those apps (thank you, Bonzi Buddy) and it is a lot easier to remotely control a machine if the functionality is built into the OS. Oh, and did I mention you can share screens with Linux? I finally have a use for that old Dell laptop and my Ubuntu CD!
Little Snitch updated to 2.0, Leopard compatible
Macworld brings news that everyone's favorite tattletale, Little Snitch, has been updated to version 2.0. The new version brings a whole host of updates, including a new Network Monitor, which will let you know about all outgoing and incoming network traffic. There's also support for IPV6, and a better help and traffic filtering system. Oh, and perhaps most importantly, the whole thing's been overhauled and is now compatible with a little thing called Leopard. I haven't upgraded yet, but considering those other "next-gen" operating systems, I'm not sure if I should.Little Snitch 1 users may be able to upgrade for free (if your version number starts with "32"), if not you pay a discounted rate. If you haven't started using Little Snitch yet, you can try the eval version, or pay $24.95 for the full app. If you have a lot of network traffic coming in and out of your Mac, you might want to consider it-- how else will you know what's coming through there?
Internet2 prepped for 100Gbps capacity
Well it will still be vulnerable to a man, a match, and a mattress, but starting in January, the private Internet2 will begin offering 100Gbps bandwidth in 10Gbps chunks over its fiber optic network. The tech behind these ridiculous speeds -- known as Dynamic Circuit Network -- is reportedly complete as of today, with a wrap party being held at the consortium's Fall Member Meeting in San Diego. Of course researchers will naturally tire of those 10Gbps pipes rather quickly, which is why Internet2 is already working on ramping up the bitrate to between 20Gbps and 100Gbps per line. We'd go into more detail, but our employer-supplied 1,000 hours of free dial-up are just about tapped out...
Network Magic: Simplify Mac and PC networking
The Mac and PC networking challenge is legendary. If you have both on a home or work network, it can be an adventure to get these two machines to see each other, share files or printers. Fortunately, Pure Networks has an app for both Mac and PC called Network Magic which hopes to change all that, as it allows you to easily set up file and printer sharing, diagnose slow networks and more. It offers what looks like a simple interface for managing all this, though I should note that printer sharing only works with the list of printers that Apple officially supports and provides drivers for right in Mac OS X (i.e. - if you can plug a printer in and it works without having to install extra software). While the Windows version is a bit more powerful than the Mac component, folks who need to maintain a mixed network and are after the primary features mentioned here will likely be happy with Network Magic, though licenses are sold at a slight disadvantage for Mac users: packages of licenses begin at $29.99 for 3 PCs (5 PCs for $39.99, etc.), but it's $19.99 for each Mac you want to add to the package. Still, Network Magic looks like one of the easiest networking tools I've seen in a while, and perhaps if its popularity among Mac users grows over time, licensing can become more fair for both operating systems.[via MacMinute]
Battlefleet, a game for iPhone
It's not quite a native iPhone game, but it's one of the best games I've seen for the iPhone yet-- Roger sent us his version of Battleship (which is actually a pen and paper game that predates Milton Bradley's version-- I did not know that), called Battlefleet.It's super easy to play, and turns out to be not only a faithful recreation, but includes a lot of little fun graphical touches as well-- the ships look good, and bombs drop and explode or splash into the water. There's also three difficulty options, and you can even track wins and losses over multiple games. Unfortunately, there's no way to play two player (as it would probably require some networking wizardry), but it's as good a game as you could ask of a solo version. And the computer opponent is just plain devious, anyway-- I hate it when he finds my aircraft carrier and then just goes to town.You sank my battleship!
Bonjour for Windows 1.0.4 released
Apple has released a new version of Bonjour for Windows, 1.0.4, just in case you're zero-configuration networking with any Windows PCs in the area. There's no changelog available, but this version dropped as a preview onto the ADC page last month, and apparently "includes Windows Vista support and various other bug fixes and enhancements." The release is good, of course, not only for Vista, but also for Windows 2000/2003 and XP. Additionally, Apple's covering their 64-bit bases as well-- they've got a 64-bit compatible release ready too. Like it or not, we can't all be on a Mac all the time, and fortunately, Bonjour makes networking without the hassles possible on both platforms.[via Ars Technica]
Chemicalburn: a transportation network-simulating screensaver
So this past weekend I realized that I still had the great Skyrocket screensaver on my Powerbook from the Fourth of July-- no, not this year's. Last year's. It was time to get a new screensaver.Fortunately, FreeMacWare was featuring Chemicalburn, a screensaver by Michael Ash (who also created GPULife, a Game of Life screensaver) that not only looks cool, but actually simulates a transportation network. Nodes get created randomly, and little colored packages fly around between them, as frequently used routes get stronger and stronger. When a route is destroyed, the network eventually fixes itself, by creating more routes and nodes. Not only is it aesthetically cool, but it's a great thought experiment, and it's fun to watch a little network get created and destroyed when your own work goes idle for a bit.Chemicalburn is open source and free. You can get it on Ash's website.
Swift Share, Mac/PC file sharing utility, on 55% sale at MacZOT today only
Swift Share is a utility for creating and managing folders to share for both Mac OS X and Windows based machines across your network and even in remote locations. While Mac OS X allows for some limited file/folder sharing functionality via the Sharing System Preferences pane, plenty of users out there need more robust features for things like specifying various folders for sharing, setting specific permissions (read, write, both, etc.) and much more, not to mention the fact that making all this stuff work between both Macs and PCs isn't exactly one of Mac OS X's strong points either. While I admit I don't have much use for an app like Swift Share and I don't even have any Windows machines lying around the house, I can definitely see the appeal and need for an app like this. Typically, Swift Share costs a mere $19.95, but for today only that price has been temporarily set aside in a whopping 55% sale for a grand total of $8.95. Sounds like a darn good deal for anyone working between both sides of the fence.
