Wi-Fi

So, someone over at Rolls-Royce trusted our Car Tech guys enough to lend them a 2007 Rolls-Royce Phantom to review. Wow--fancy! It even has a hood ornament that retracts into the hood when the doors are locked. Now no one will steal the "Spirit of Ecstasy" and make a necklace. Is car bling still cool? Is the word "bling" even cool?

Anyway, we also have some pictures of the 10 most attractive cars that CNET has reviewed. Plus, there are photos of the Sprint Mogul by HTC and a look at YouTube videos on Apple TV. … Read more

As reported earlier, the new Archos PVPs are due out at the beginning of September. Unfortunately, Jasmine and I couldn't wait that long, so we contacted the product reps at Archos to schedule some one-on-one time. The following is a photo gallery that details some of the new features we can expect from the new line once it launches (plus some shots of the set-top DVR prototype).

Cincinnati Bell Wireless has launched a new service that allows people to use one handset that switches between a Wi-Fi and cellular network.

The service, called CB Home Run, works using a dual-mode Wi-Fi and cellular phone that lets users switch between the two networks depending on which one offers the best signal. Cincinnati Bell is using the Nokia 6086 handset, which contains radios for both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity. The operator is offering the phone for about $65 with a $15 rebate. It works with Wi-Fi networks in homes and offices as well as with Cincinnati Bell's more … Read more

Researcher Ermanno Pietrosemoli has set what appears to be a new record for the longest communication link with Wi-Fi.

Pietrosemoli, president of the Escuela Latinoamerica de Redes (which means networking school of Latin America) established a Wi-Fi link between two computers located in El Aguila and Platillon Mountain, Venezuela. That's a distance of 382 kilometers, or 238 miles. He used technology from Intel, which is concocting its own long-range Wi-Fi equipment, and some off-the-shelf parts. Pietrosemoli gets about 3 megabits per second in each direction on his long-range connections.

Most Wi-Fi signals only go only a few meters before … Read more

It was only a matter of time before in-car Internet went mainstream. Over the past couple of weeks, Avis has begun to roll out its in-car Wi-Fi service, which allows drivers to turn their rental cars into mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. The service, called Avis Connect, is provided by Autonet Mobile using 3G and 2.5G (EVDO, 1xRTT) connections.

For an extra $10.95 per day, Avis says renters get wireless broadband connectivity "at all times and places during their travel, from airports to meetings to hotels, and everything in between." We're not sure how the Wi-Fi signal … Read more

NEWTON, MASS.--At a panel here at MuniWireless New England on Tuesday, AT&T shared this little tidbit on college WiFi users.

They could care less about brand when it comes to Wi-Fi service. They will pop on to whatever is the fastest of the free.

AT&T has been observing the usage of college students while researching municipal wireless services, according to Carl Nerup, vice president of development at AT&T.

As part of the research, Nerup himself did a field observation at a Berkley, Calif. cafe located across the street from University of California at … Read more

Nintendo said Wednesday that its Wi-Fi Connection service--which allows Nintendo DS users to play wirelessly against each other--has surpassed 5 million users.

All told, the video game giant said, users have initiated more than 200 million sessions, playing games like Animal Crossing: Wild World, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters and others wirelessly.

And despite the attention paid to next-generation video game systems like the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, the DS is currently the best-selling system of all, having moved 470,000 units in April, according to NPD Group.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Microsoft's Robbie Bach revealed that by the end of the fiscal year in June, they will have reached just over 1 million Zunes sold. The figure meets the sales goals Microsoft predicted at the product's launch last year. Bach was quick to admit that the 1 million mark isn't gangbusters when compared against Apple's recent announcement of 100 million iPods sold. Still, Bach assures that Microsoft's current 10% share of the hard-drive MP3 player market is still a "good start" and that they will continue … Read more

A Michigan man who used a coffee shop's unsecured Wi-Fi to check his e-mail from his car could have faced up to five years in prison, according to local TV station WOOD. But it seems few in the village of Sparta, Mich., were aware that using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection without the owner's permission--a practice known as piggybacking--was a felony.

Each day around lunch time, Sam Peterson would drive to the Union Street Cafe, park his car and--without actually entering the coffee shop--check his e-mail and surf the Net. His ritual raised the suspicions of Police Chief Andrew … Read more