ieee

A computer scientist says he discovered that a server of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) had about 100,000 usernames and passwords stored in plaintext and publicly accessible.

Radu Dragusin, a computer scientist who works at FindZebra and is a teaching assistant at the University of Copenhagen, writes in a blog post that he discovered the problem last week and notified the IEEE about his findings, enabling them to "at least partially" fix the problem.

The data was publicly available on the IEEE FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server for at least a month, potentially exposing … Read more

Slow network speeds got you down? On Monday, computing experts will announce they're tackling the next speed bump for the venerable Ethernet standard.

But don't expect to find the new speed option on your next computer's feature list. The standard, to be produced by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), will likely reach data-transfer speeds between 400 gigabits per second and 1 terabit per second. For comparison, that latter speed would be enough to copy two-and-a-half full-length Blu-ray movies in a second.

In contrast, your laptop today probably maxes out at a mere 100 megabits … Read more

Robots climbing up your leg -- are you cool with that? Chinese researchers certainly are, arguing they could become electronic pets, or even "mobile" phones.

Presented this week at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in St. Paul, Minn., Clothbot was developed by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As seen in the video below, the machine crawls up folds in clothing, slowing making its way up trouser legs or even the back of a shirt. It uses a pair of gripper wheels to create and … Read more

Joining a carrier Wi-Fi hot spot on your smartphone or tablet will soon be as simple as turning on your device. That means no more scrolling through lists of available Wi-Fi networks, and no more typing passwords to join networks.

Wireless carriers all over the world have been turning to Wi-Fi to alleviate network congestion, but the onus of actually getting on those networks has been on individual subscribers. A set of new standards being developed will soon change that.

The IEEE technical standards body is developing 802.11u and the Wi-Fi Alliance has developed its Hotspot 2.0 initiative … Read more

Happy Wi-Fi day, nerds! Today's date comes around only once, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) just announced a new 802.22TM standard of data network technology that enables high-speed data transfers at 22 megabits per second (Mbps) at a range of up to 60 miles. What we're saying is, there's not much time to celebrate!

Take our poll and let us know how you plan to spend the first and only 8.02.11.… Read more

Solar photovoltaics have the potential to be the most cost-effective electricity source and could even challenge fossil fuels within 10 years.

That's according to an announcement made by leaders of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) today as part of the organization's launch of photovoltaic research initiatives.

"Solar PV will be a game changer. No other alternative source has the same potential. As the cost of electricity from solar continues to decrease compared to traditional energy sources, we will see tremendous market adoption, and I suspect it will be a growth limited only by supply,&… Read more

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance announced today that German auto manufacturers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen have agreed to support HomePlug's Green PHY standard for electric-vehicle charging technology.

HomePlug is a technology that turns electrical wiring into data cable, hence eliminating the need for a separate set of wires for networking. Currently the most popular application of the power-line technology is in HomePlug AV-based devices used for home power-line networking, such as the WD Livewire, or the Linksys PLK300.

According to the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, the power-line standard that the five German car manufacturers--"after intense case studies … Read more

Two of the world's leading technology standardization groups have signed an agreement to partner on vehicle-to-smart-grid standards.

The memorandum of understanding has been signed by the IEEE-SA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association) and SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers). It is essentially a first step to both organizations agreeing on future standards related to smart grids and vehicle electrification, including vehicle-to-grid communications, the organizations said today.

The immediate effect is that the two groups will share draft standards on any technology relating to smart grids and "vehicle electrification," with the opportunity for each to … Read more

Verizon this week successfully deployed a 100G Ethernet network on a large section of one of its Internet backbones in Europe.

This deployment makes Verizon the first backbone carrier to deploy the new Ethernet standard with speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second, according to Verizon. The company was able to establish the 100-Gigabit Ethernet network between routers on a 555-mile stretch between Paris and Frankfurt.

In Verizon's words, this marks the first "standards-based, multivendor 100G Ethernet link for an IP backbone," and it will increase capacity for business customers and organizations that tap into the … Read more