Apple acknowledges some iPad users have Wi-Fi problems

"Under certain conditions, iPad may not automatically rejoin a known Wi-Fi network after restart or waking from sleep," said Apple in a statement. "This can occur with some third-party Wi-Fi routers that are dual-band capable when using the same network name for each network, or using different security settings for each network." Apple has published a Knowledge Base article suggesting some other solutions to the wireless problem.

11n Wi-Fi chip discovered in new iPod touch

The new Apple iPod touch uses a Wi-Fi chip that can support the just-approved high-throughput 802.11n standard, though Apple apparently has not switched on the cranked-up wireless link.

If it does, the iPod touch (which is almost identical to the iPhone but lacks the 3G cellular radio) could support a 50Mbps data rate, more than twice that of the current 802.11ag radios used by the product family.

Apple last week lowered the price for the original 8GB iPod Touch and introduced two new higher-priced models, with 32 and 64Gbytes of memory respectively.

The chip inside is the Broadcom BCM4329, announced last December, the first Broadcom 11n product designed for mobile devices. The single chip combines 802.11n with 802.11abg, Bluetooth, and FM radio. It runs in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Full details are in the company’s data sheet for the chip.

The chip was discovered during a step-by-step disassembly of a brand-new 32GB iPod touch byiFixit, a Web site founded in 2003 by a pair of Cal Poly tinkerers, to help other people tinker with their electronics.

They discovered the Broadcom chip at step 14. An enlarged image shows the Broadcom name and chip identification.

Read the full story at MacWorld.com.au

Is your neighbor stealing your wifi???

Securing your wireless in an alternative fashion

My neighbors are stealing my wireless internet access. I could encrypt it or alternately I could have fun.

I'm starting here by splitting the network into two parts, the trusted half and the untrusted half. The trusted half has one netblock, the untrusted a different netblock. We use the DHCP server to identify mac addresses to give out the relevant addresses.

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PC Worlds First Look: Skype for the iPhone

"At long last, Skype has made it to the iPhone. Skype for iPhone offers features similar to those found in the company's other mobile versions, which work on Windows Mobile, Android, and Java-based phones. It lets you see when your Skype contacts are online and available; make free Skype-to-Skype calls; use the SkypeOut feature to make calls to landlines and cell phones; send instant messages to your Skype contacts; and receive incoming calls via a SkypeIn number. You can't make video calls or conference calls, as you can with the desktop version of Skype, but you can, reportedly, accept an incoming conference call (though we weren't able to test this feature).

Skype for iPhone requires Wi-Fi to make any kind of voice calls. 9to5Mac was able to make voice calls over AT&T's 3G network on an iPhone running the not-yet-released 3.0 software; we tried the same thing on a 3G iPhone running the current 2.2 software, and were unable to connect."

Read the full PC World article here

Block Wi-Fi Intruders with a Secure Paint Job

IT managers should start familiarizing themselves with a new security tool -- the paint brush -- as Japanese researchers have come up with a paint that they say will block high-speed wireless signals, giving businesses a cheap option to protect their wireless networks.

The problem of securing wireless networks has been an issue for a while now. Wi-Fi LANs with no encryption or running the obsolete WEP system, run the risk of having hackers outside the building eavesdrop on wireless LAN traffic, or simply stealing bandwidth. However, there are a number of solutions, besides encryption, for companies wishing to secure their networks.

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