T-Mobile's offer of 200MB in free monthly data for tablet owners seemed too good to be true, and to some extent it was -- a few customers have ended up with bills. However, the company has set the record straight with a Q&A post. To get completely free internet access, you'll need to own a fully paid-off device; opt for the carrier's financing and you'll have to tack on a $20 data plan if you aren't already a customer. Mentions of an additional $10 network access fee were a mistake, T-Mobile says. The gratis internet service does have some strings attached, then, but it really is possible to avoid charges if you're careful.
Going visiting this holiday season? If you’re staying with friends or family members, don’t be surprised if the bed is lumpy, the room is cold, and the Wi-Fi is locked down.
Not on purpose, of course. Nearly everyone has a home Wi-Fi network nowadays, but not everyone remembers their network password when guests start showing up with tablets, laptops, and phones in need of Internet. Typically, this happens because after Uncle Rusty sets up the router, he never has to touch it again and eventually his unbeatable password gets forgotten. Result: No Wi-Fi for you, or any other visitor.
Wi-Fi Wizarding 101
Thankfully, there are a few simple tricks for solving this problem. The fastest, quickest way to remedy a lack of Internet is to fire up your smartphone’s hotspot option, though if you’re out in the country (grandma does live over the river and through the woods), the connection could be slow. Worse, streaming a couple of Netflix movies will quickly burn through your monthly data allotment.
No, the only smart fix here is to wrangle your host’s router, to duck into the settings and make the network more amenable to guests. Tricky? It might be, but I bet it'll be easier than you think.
Step one: get permission. You wouldn’t go poking around someone’s underwear drawer without asking, and the same rules apply to fiddling with someone’s lifeline to the Internet. In fact, you should be prepared to pay for a tech support call if your monkeying around tanks the whole setup—nothing ruins a holiday like busted Wi-Fi.
Next, see if there’s an easy software fix. I recommend you start by checking out NirSoft’sWirelessKeyView, a free utility designed
to help recover lost WEP/WPA passwords. Just run it (with permissions!) on your host’s computer—it requires no installation, and in fact can run right from a flash drive toolset (you do carry asurvival flash drive filled with handy tools and utilities, right?)—then look for the password (or “key”) associated with the network name. If it works, you should be able to log into the network on your own laptop, tablet, or whatever.
However, WirelessKeyView will work only if your host used Windows’ Wireless Zero Configuration service to connect to the router. There’s probably no way to know that in advance, but you should definitely try your luck with the utility—it could be a 10-second solution.
If not, you’ll need to sign into the router directly, which must be done via the Web browser on your host’s computer. But first it’s time for a little detective work, starting with eyeballing the actual router to determine the make and model. You need to find two key pieces of information: the IP address and the default password.
The IP address is what you’ll enter into the browser’s address field to establish the initial connection to the router. The vast majority of them use one of the following:
http://192.168.0.1
http://192.168.1.1
If you type in one of those addresses and then press Enter, you should find yourself looking at the router’s sign-in screen. If not, a little Web searching should reveal the correct IP address. Try something like, “Trendnet N300 default IP address.” Alternately, head to the router manufacturer’s website and peruse the support pages. You should be able to find an online manual for that particular router, if not a FAQ page that lists the address.
Now it’s time to sign into the router proper. Hopefully the owner never bothered to change the default username and password, in which case you should head to RouterPasswords.com, select the router brand from the drop-down menu, then click Find Password. You’ll see a list with all the default usernames and passwords for that brand’s models. Find the one that matches, then give it a try.
If your host did set up a unique username and password for the router (which, remember, will probably be different from the password for the Wi-Fi network itself, which is ultimately what you’re after), and doesn’t have them written down or committed to memory, this may be where you reach an impasse. Although most routers can be reset to factory settings (again, Google it), thereby wiping all passwords, that may be more than you want to take on during a friendly holiday visit.
Let’s assume, though, that you were able to sign in. Now it’s just a matter of finding the Wi-Fi network settings, which in most router menus are plainly labeled. (If not, the aforementioned online manual should help you locate them.) From here you have two choices: change the network password or enable guest access.
If you change the network password, make sure to write it down for your host for safekeeping. Also, do the cool thing and sign back into the network on each of his or her devices, as each one will have to reconnect using the new password.
The better option, however, is guest access, a feature common on most newer routers. Enabling it allows visitors like yourself to get online while restricting access to other areas of the network, and without revealing the primary network password. Again, make sure to clear it with your friend or relative before setting this up. But it really is the best option for keeping a home network private while still allowing visitors to hit up the Wi-Fi. And once it’s set up, you’ll never again dread spending a long weekend with those people. Well, except for the usual reasons.
Via: PCWorld
Image Via: Google
Canadian device maker Sierra Wireless is pressing Europe's competition regulator to force Nokia to reveal the rates it uses for its standards essential 3G patents.
Sierra Wireless has accused Nokia of applying "widely different, and therefore unfair, royalty rates" for the standards essential patents (SEP) it holds for 3G and GSM technologies and wants the European Commission to force Nokia to reveal the rates it charges other licensees.
The maker of wireless and embedded devices has also accused Nokia of refusing to license 3G SEPs for wireless modules, despite, as it argues, Nokia's obligation to do so.
"Sierra Wireless is urging the EC to investigate and require Nokia to reveal the pricing for 2G and 3G SEP licenses with other licensees, end the breaches outlined in the complaint, sanction Nokia, and require these patent licenses to be granted on FRAND [fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory] terms," the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Sierra Wireless has also requested the US Federal Trade Commission investigate.
The complaint follows the EC's separate warnings earlier this year to Samsung and Motorola Mobility over their use of SEPs.
EC competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia fired off a warning to Google-owned Motorola Mobility over using its SEPs in litigation against Apple in Germany, saying that Motorola would violate EU competition by using its SEPs to enforce an injunction when Apple was willing to enter into a licence on FRAND terms.
A Nokia spokesperson told ZDNet that Sierra's complaints are "frivolous".
Nokia has licensed SEPs to more than 50 companies, the spokesperson said, adding: "Sierra Wireless has been in breach of its existing licence terms with Nokia for several years and, despite many years of good faith attempts by Nokia to resolve the disagreements, Sierra has failed to pay Nokia the royalties which Sierra owes under the licence. Nokia regrets that Sierra Wireless is wasting the time of the European Commission and ETSI [the European Telecommunications Standards Institute] with its frivolous complaints, rather than honouring its agreement with Nokia."
"As Sierra is now pursuing these abusive tactics, seeking to continue to use Nokia's innovations without paying the agreed royalties, Nokia will take whatever steps are necessary to protect our intellectual property, our rights and our reputation."
Having sold its devices and services business to Microsoft earlier this month, patents have become an even more important part of the company's revenue stream. With a current run rate of around €500m a year for its patents business, Nokia has said in future it plans to increase the number of companies that license its patents and start licensing some patents that it had previously kept to itself.
Via: ZDNet
Researchers have found a new way to tune the radio frequency in smartphones and other wireless devices that promises to reduce costs and improve performance of semiconductors used in defense, satellite, and commercial communications.
Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) and Northeastern University in Boston presented the research findings at the 58th Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Denver last week.
Longtime challenge to expansion
Most smartphones use 15 to 20 frequency channels to make connections for different applications, but the new inductors made possible by the research will potentially more than double the number of channels available in a single RF module, leading to more compact and powerful smartphones, Sun said. The new inductors are a missing link long sought for in ways to upgrade the RF tunable frequency range in a tuned circuit.
"Researchers have been trying a while to make inductors tunable—to change the inductance value—and haven't been very successful," said Kwok Ng, senior director of device sciences at SRC. He said SRC has worked with Northeastern since 2011 on the project, investing up to $450,000 in the research work.
How it worked: Researchers in a Northeastern lab used a piezoelectric layer to change the permeability of integrated magnetic inductors using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processes. Piezoelectricity is an electromechanical interaction between the mechanical and electric states in a crystalline material. A crystal can acquire a charge when subjected to AC voltage.
What the researchers found is they could apply the right amount of voltage on the piezoelectric layer to change the permeability of a magnetic core of the inductor. As the magnetic film changes permeability, the inductance of the inductors is changed, which in turn tunes the resonance frequency in a capacitor-inductor circuit.
Ng said the research means such tunable future inductors can be used to improve radio signal performance, which could eliminate the number of modules needed in a smartphone, with the potential to reduce the cost of materials.
Intel and Texas Instruments cooperated in the work, and the new inductor technology will be available for further industrial development by the middle of next year, followed by use in consumer applications by as earlier as late 2014.
Via: PCWorld
Researchers in America say they have created a wireless communication system that allows devices to communicate with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power and could play a vital role in the Internet of Things.
The communication technique—dubbed "ambient backscatter" by the University of Washington scientists—allows devices to communicate with each other by reflecting or absorbing preexisting radio signals from TV and mobile transmissions.
The energy-saving breakthrough could be particularly well suited to a home-based Internet of Things scenariowhere devices are usually within a few meters of each other.
The team has built small, battery-free devices with antennas that can detect, harness, and reflect a TV signal, which is then picked up by other similar devices.
"We can repurpose wireless signals that are already around us into both a source of power and a communication medium," said lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, a University of Washington assistant professor of computer science and engineering. "It's hopefully going to have applications in a number of areas including wearable computing, smart homes and self-sustaining sensor networks."
The researchers published their results at the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Data Communication 2013 conference in Hong Kong, taking place in Hong Kong recently. They received the conference's best paper award for their research.
"Our devices form a network out of thin air," said co-author Joshua Smith, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering. "You can reflect these signals slightly to create a Morse code of communication between battery-free devices."
Strategically placed sensors support network
According to the university, smart sensors could be built and placed permanently inside nearly any structure, then set to communicate with each other. It is claimed that the sensors could be placed in a bridge to monitor the health of the concrete and steel, then send an alert if one of the sensors picks up a hairline crack. The technology can also be used for communication—text messages and emails, for example—in wearable devices.
Source : PCWorld
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