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Recent Entries

Good-bye WEP, hello WPA
One Ringee Dingee...Two Ringee Dingees
Twin Cities-Fi
ZigBee
WA-Wi-Ferry
Agere, Proxim, Ericsson Partner on Convergence
World Wide War Drive
That's the Sound of Money Hitting the Roof
Mr. Powell, Tear Down These Rules
They Know When You've Been Bad

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October 2002 Archives

October 31, 2002

Good-bye WEP, hello WPA

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


The above could have been a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Wi-Fi Alliance pushes interim WEP replacement [InfoWorld] and press release: The Wi-Fi Alliance, the trade group that certifies the Wi-Fi interoperability standard for 802.11a and 802.11b networking equipment, announced today that it would require a new interim security specification called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to be included in devices by next fall. WPA relies on the interim version of work coming from the IEEE 802.11i task group, which is producing both a backwards compatible and more robust encryption protocol that will work as a first line of defense for Wi-Fi. WPA also supports 802.1x and EAP to allow simply integration with existing enterprise authentication systems.

WPA instead of relying on fixed WEP encryption keys will use instead a network password that will initiate key rotation every 10,000 bytes of data using the 802.11i's Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). TKIP is seen as an upgradable option for equipment already on the market. The Wi-Fi Alliance will begin certifying compliance with WPA in February 2003, and require it in all devices for certification by next fall. All devices in a Wi-Fi network would need to be upgraded to WPA for the system to work.

WPA can't be seen as a panacea for securing Wi-Fi connections, but it does represent an appropriate secure alternative for home users and small businesses that otherwise lack the resources or simply don't need more robust secure connections. WPA uses a larger initialization vector and fixes the integrity problem that could allow modified packets to transit, but for non-802.1x/EAP installations doesn't rekey. This means that it's still possible for a user with access to the actual keys (by which mechanism, I don't know) to view all traffic on a wireless segment. It definitely raises the bar, however, because of the key rotation issue. Of course, WPA is secure just from an access point to a client. Plugging into an Ethernet port on an untrusted network would allow full snooping capability. WPA stops wireless sniffing and unauthorized access.

Proxim has already announced support for the WPA standard in a news release this morning. Proxim has several lines of 802.11a and 802.11b equipment, including their recently concluded acquisition of the Orinoco line from Agere. Texas Instruments sent a release out later in the morning also pledging near-term support for WPA for existing products. Colubris announced support as well. A report indicated that Intersil and Atmel will also support the standard.

Forbes covered WPA later in the day but got the story wrong. Wardriving and snooping won't stop because of WPA. Rather, WPA puts a potentially realistic first line of defense into effect. The writer's optimistic final line that wardriving will be over in a year neglects the fact that most people aren't turning WEP on. WPA doesn't make encryption mandatory, it just simplifies the process of deciding on a network key while simultaneously fixing encryption failings.

Other News

Bell Canada to install WLANs: Bell Canada will build robust, authenticated enterprise WLANs for businesses. They're another entrant into the WLAN services market, which IBM Global Services and a division of HP are already ostensibly producing 7-digit revenue from. [via Alan Reiter]

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:08 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 30, 2002

One Ringee Dingee...Two Ringee Dingees

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


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Worldwide Wardrive Attention: The Worldwide Wardrive to publicize network security (and to drive around with cool tech toys) is receiving reasonable coverage, not at all unbalanced. Wired News reports on the abundance on unprotected networks and the paucity of NYC public toilets. (Hint: there's a Web site that'll help you find those.) BBC News has a slimmer account with some sad statistics about totally unprotected networks. A howler that slipped by in this article: Wardriving gets its name from the past practice of using a computer to dial through long lists of telephone numbers searching for data rather than dial tones. In England or the U.S., you only get a dial tone before you dial...

Other News

The Wi-Fi Alliance to push better security now: InfoWorld reports that the Wi-Fi Alliance (formerly WECA) will push a "snapshot" of the 802.11i working group's security revision for link-level encryption out as a proposal for manufacturers to offer an interim fix. This makes some sense as long as it's forward and backward compatible. There are many simpler solutions that interoperate with or update WEP that could vastly increase the number of packets necessary to crack a key but still wouldn't require 802.1x or xEAP.

Buy DirecTV service, becomes a Surf and Sip outlet: News.com reports that Surf and Sip will offer a free hot spot node system to purchasers of DirecTV DSL service. In related news, the report notes that FatPort will offer a $200 per month combined Covad DSL subscription and hot spot node -- when the deal with Covad is finalized, according tot the report.

T-Mobile to add hot spots in Delta, United airport clubs: T-Mobile already has service in some Admiral's Club (American Airlines) clubs; they'll be in 100 locations, including Delta and United clubs. [via Alan Reiter] More: After speaking to T-Mobile today, it's clear that they're ramping up for further airport expansion, as soon as they can navigate the maze of parties involved in acquiring rights to offer service at departure gates. T-Mobile says that analysts' reports indicate 40 million business travelers are "mobile professionals," or people who work on the go with technology, and 20 million travelers use the three major airlines' club lounges each year.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 6:50 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 28, 2002

Twin Cities-Fi

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


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Minneapolis-St. Paul Wi-Fi: This comprehensive feature covers many aspects of hot spots, from business to community to individual, focused on the Twin Cities region. It's quite a nice article, moving from local to national to international and back without missing a beat, and the reporter (Julio Ojeda-Zapata) knows his stuff, explaining the technology well and offering context for free and commercial hot spot service. I love that he was able to get actual connections numbers for the Concourse service at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport! This is one of the first times I've seen any company reveal how many connections they're paid for in a specific location. There's also a sidebar on the equipment and configuration you need to use Wi-Fi. (Both articles quite nicely cite me or point to resources I've developed.)

33 million Wi-Fi nodes per year: Kevin Werbach cites market analysis firm InState as saying, Worldwide annual Wi-Fi node shipments will be 33 million in 2006, up from the approximately 6 million nodes expected to ship out in 2002.

New Book: Build Your Own Wi-Fi Network: I received a copy of colleague Shelly Brisbin's new book on building Wi-Fi networks today. It's a mainstream book, aimed at people who have interest in wireless networking and a bit of a technical bent who want to understand the underpinnings as well as learn the practical details for installing and configuring a Wi-Fi network. The book includes coverage of Mac, Windows, and Linux configuration. Disclosure: I'm actually finishing up a book that will directly compete with this fine tome, but isn't due out until January 2003. I'm both jealous and pleased that Shelly got her book out first. Ours will be slightly longer, and has a different internal organization, pushing some of the technical detail further back, and focusing slightly further in depth on a few areas. We'll be posting excerpts from the book, my co-author Adam Engst and I, when the release gets closer. Also, the cover you see at Amazon.com is not the real cover for our book, nor is the title now correct. More later.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:42 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 27, 2002

ZigBee

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


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Low power, low speed, short distance: ZigBee: This technology, ZigBee, had fallen entirely off my radar months ago, as I figured it was another for the scrapheap of history. Kevin Werbach noted it in passing today, and I took another look at their FAQ. What was obscure before is now made clear: ZigBee is the trade and certification name for 802.15.4, a spec design for personal area networks (that's what the 802.15 group is all about). The group behind this is called The ZigBee Alliance, renamed recently with more shades of Wi-Fi and The Wi-Fi Alliance (renamed in early October).

The goal of ZigBee appears to be to offer an even slower, lower-power alternative to Bluetooth, which itself is, in some ways, an alternative to Wi-Fi. Bluetooth was designed to consume relatively little power, and consequently only traverse short distances at low speeds (raw 1 Mbps). Bluetooth relies on rechargeable batteries, let's say. ZigBee's design goal appears to be more modest: the group behind it wants months or years of battery life out of ordinary AAs. As a result, ZigBee can transmit just a few tens or hundreds of kilobits per second, and its transceiver spends most of its time asleep. You can imagine its use in devices that currently use infrared and use alkaline batteries, like remote controls.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:35 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 25, 2002

WA-Wi-Ferry

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


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Washington State ferry system to get continuous Wi-Fi: Don't ask me why the local papers (I'm based in Seattle) don't have this story, and Alan Reiter found it in Computerworld, but it's an interesting one to say the least. The Washington State ferry system carries 15,000 daily commuters, and they believe they've got the right audience to use a Wi-Fi service. They certainly do--especially if it will work in the waiting line and on the boats. Many drivers have to wait 1 to 2 hours to get on a ferry, and if they could be productive during that time, well, it might shave some time off the rest of their working day, no? [via Alan Reiter]

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 2:35 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified | 1 Comment

October 24, 2002

Agere, Proxim, Ericsson Partner on Convergence

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


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Agere, Proxim, Ericsson will build cell/Wi-Fi convergence for service providers: The three companies will work together to create a system that can handle cell data to 802.11 family roaming using existing authentication systems. A user would employ a single SIM module, used for GSM/GPRS networks as a user ID card, essentially, to roam among different networks.

Proxim will provide the platform, their Orinoco AP-2000 dual-slot access point, and initially support just 802.11b, although a and g will follow, according to a press release from Proxim. Ericsson will offer IETF/3GPP-compliant authentication servers. Agere will handle the SIM and Wi-Fi "technology" as abstractly ambiguous as that is.

Nokia announced a Wi-Fi card with a SIM insert slot last summer, and tested it for authentication and billing with Sonera in Finland. However, this October 2001 press release is the last instance of publicity I can find, and the company's prediction that a number of carriers would launch WLAN networks in the first half of 2002 turned out flat.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 6:16 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 23, 2002

World Wide War Drive

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


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Wardrivers of the world unit: you have only your Netstumblers to lose: The Wall Street Journal (through this free link at MSNBC) reports rather erratically on wardriving, including an upcoming World Wide Wardrive. The writer confuses and misstates several concepts, including repeating the security-business/FBI trope that warchalking is an adjunct to wardriving, rather than just another idea that happens to occasionally intersect. The writer says that warchalking helps people find free access points, but implies that these are ripoffs instead of perhaps community or intentionally free hot spots.

The writer also doesn't seem to understand the differences between a network name or SSID and a network password (meaning access to the AP's configuration? the WEP key?), and doesn't explain the reason that wardrivers can scan for open APs. The writer says that wardrivers claim to be warning companies to change their network password, which makes no sense. The article also maintains that Netstumbler only looks for default SSID names.

There's also no explanation in the article that merely knowing an AP's name is a passive scanning activity, and that trying to associate with access point could require much more than just a name, like authentication information. The writer muddies the water by making it seem that an AP is a direct Internet conduit, which is often not the case, especially in the corporate scenarios that are painted at risk.

True, many APs and networks are entirely open, or are protected just by our weak friend WEP. But the article just conveys alarm without the background needed for calm interpretation of risks.

Other News

That microwave oven's more of a problem than UWB: FCC affirms that ultrawideband (UWB) doesn't appear to be even as much of a concern for interference as the noise from existing microwave ovens and laptops. This affirmation may pave the way for higher-powered versions of the technology, approved for limited short-range purposes earlier this year. UWB carries information in sequences of extremely short duration, wideband pulses instead of most data transmission technologies, which use continuous modulation of relatively narrow bands.

Intersil offers a/b/g chips for testing: Intersil is sampling Duette for its customers, a two-chip, 2.4/5 GHz solution for 802.11a, b, and g's current framework.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:27 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 22, 2002

That's the Sound of Money Hitting the Roof

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of lucky readers every day.


The above could have been a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Sprint to enter Wi-Fi business: Alan Reiter reports from the Wireless Airport Association that Sprint said they'll be entering the Wi-Fi market. Alan also notes that airlines have distinctly different interests in and concerns about wireless networks in airports than the authorities that run those airports and the wireless ISPs trying to install them there. Good reporting from Alan as always.

Intel to invest $150M in wireless networking companies: The Wall Street Journal and InfoWorld reported today that the Intel wants to use its fat wallet to help continue to push for innovation in wireless networking by putting up to $150 million in venture funding into companies. The relationship is nifty, too: Intel has fabrication plants, so the success of new PC technologies not only provides products for Intel to sell, motivates users to buy new PCs, and raises the whole industry, but also gives Intel a track to make the actual chips. Very vertically integrated. [via Adam Engst and Mike Daisey]

An Intel regional manager also noted that mobile PCs (meaning mostly laptops) will rise from 30 to 50 million units by 2006, and 90 percent will have Wi-Fi or other wireless network technology in use.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:52 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 21, 2002

Mr. Powell, Tear Down These Rules

By Glenn Fleishman

Why incumbent, failing telecoms should be allowed to fail: An enormous number of the brightest minds in my firmament signed the letter at the above link to FCC Chairman Michael Powell urging him to let the past bury itself in bad debt, and not have the US government throw taxpayer money at supporting obsolete infrastructure and modes of business. It's a good read, not quite on par with the original Cluetrain Manifesto, but it's the start of what should become the Busy Signal: a clear roadmap to clearing circuit-based communications off the map, except for niche purposes.

Nextel to enter Wi-Fi world: They don't say how, they just say soon.

Ill: Your faithful editor has pneumonia, but he's getting better. News will be light til he's back in gear.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 12:03 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 20, 2002

They Know When You've Been Bad

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News could be sponsored by you, reaching thousands of intelligent, beautiful readers every day.


The above could have been a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Triangulating on Wi-Fi: A Swedish firm updates their positioning software to include Wi-Fi triangulation to offer services that would be specific to a user's location. But, of course, this could also be used to detect rogue users and rogue APs. I found this story via Slashdot, where a number of posters noted that any site smart enough to deploy this kind of sophisticated positioning software was probably already taking security pretty seriously.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 6:59 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 18, 2002

Warpumpkin and Celebration

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by the Daughters of Elysium, joy O joy.


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Warpumpkin: Boo! [via Doc Searls]

Alan Reiter leads us in Celebration: Of all places, the Walt Disney town of Celebration, Florida, is the first locale in the country where a phone company is offering free Wi-Fi to its business and consumer DSL customers. The DSL modem they use in homes is also equipped with Wi-Fi and HomePNA.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:31 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 17, 2002

Lucent in the Wi-Fi with Dry Wall

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by nobody at the moment, but it could be you.


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The Paul McCartney Band knows Wi-Fi: Nigel Ballard of the Joe Java consultancy in Portland, Oregon, reports that the Lucia Hotel hosted the Paul McCartney Band, which are regular wireless users, and who availed themselves of the 802.11b service. The hotel was unwired by Eleven Wireless, which Nigel is the CTO of. The hotel was at 100 percent capacity. The band uses wireless on the road, traveling with a Linksys. Let's hope they also use a VPN, lest fans are reading their private email: concert-driving?

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:14 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 16, 2002

News for 10/16/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by the Doppler Shift, reminding you that red isn't always blue.


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Pump up that Titanium: 200 mW cards for PowerBook: Solving the Faraday cage problem that is the Apple Macintosh Titanium PowerBook, an RF-shielded wonder that reduces Wi-Fi signals entering and leaving its antenna system, Cliff Skolnick and others employ a 200 mW PC Card.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 6:24 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 15, 2002

News for 10/15/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by molecules that resonate at 2413.7 MHz -- they say thanks for all the good vibrations.


The above could have been a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Lucent demos 802.11b to 3G handoff at CTIA in Las Vegas: Lucent publicly shows off how Mobile IP allows a WLAN handoff to a 1xEV-DO network, a more advanced version of 1xRTT.

Agere and Infineon to collaborate on multi-802.11 standard chips: Pooling resources and cross-licensing patents, the two companies will move to make the kind of flexible chips that Atheros, TI, and others are hoping to compete strongly on as well. Good news for Apple uses: Agere makes the chips that make AirPort run. This starts to give us a timetable for seeing 802.11a (and eventually g) in Macs.

Paradigm? No, pair of standards: The change by the Wi-Fi Alliance two weeks ago to their Wi-Fi trademark certifying interoperability represents a challenge for the re-education of journalists and users. I've used Wi-Fi generically for almost two years, as it was a simpler and friendlier way to say 802.11b while implicitly discussing interoperable 802.11b equipment. The Wi-Fi Alliance made the right choice, in my opinion, but certainly muddies the waters. You can no longer say, "Wi-Fi operates at 11 Mbps." You can say, "802.11b operates at 11 Mbps" or "The 2.4 GHz certified flavor of Wi-Fi operates at 11 Mbps."

Form of iPaq, Shape of PSTN: Telesym offers an interesting product that turns a PocketPC, like an iPaq, into a PDA-to-PDA to PDA-to-PSTN (publicly switched telephone network) portable phone. It works over standard 802.11b networks, and requires a gateway to add the phone capability. The trend continues.

Boingo boost: Proxim and NetGear to bundle: Boingo Networks gets another boost by having its client software part of the installer process with Proxim and NetGear wireless products. Boingo is already bundled with SMC and pre-Proxim Orinoco gear. Boingo notes that NetGear customers get a $50 rebate for signing up for three months of Boingo service, while the Orinoco dual-band card marks Boingo's first support of 802.11a.

Microsoft to debut Bluetooth keyboard, mouse: Although it will initially work just with Windows XP, Microsoft makes vast sums from its keyboard and mouse division, and will certainly have drivers for other systems -- or third parties will write what would likely be simple software to support it unless Microsoft's gone and avoided Bluetooth interoperability.

WLANs accelerate in libraries: Libraries have to understand, as this article notes in passing, that adding access also adds a security burden. While reports of warspamming (spamming from open access points) were speculative, I can definitely see that the ability to park in the library's parking lot and unmolested use the network could result in abuse. Libraries should consider simple, free software, such as that developed by NoCat that shapes network traffic based on load. The library noted in the second paragraph of the article cited above added a DSL line to avoid sharing their main connection with patrons. [via The Shifted Librarian]

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:12 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 11, 2002

News for 10/11/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by world peace and the concept of admiration for Nobel Peace Prize recipient, president Jimmy Carter.


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More on Borders/T-Mobile: I filed a brief yesterday for the New York Times on the plan for Borders to have T-Mobile install hot spots in all of its domestic stores, and was thus able to speak to the business development leads at both Borders and T-Mobile USA. Here's a little more detail from those conversations.

Frank Ramirez is T-Mobile's director of business products, the head of the team that develops the road map for how the HotSpot service will be used and the marketing for it. Ramirez comes from Microsoft, where he spent eight years, three of which were leading the VPN (virtual private networking) group, so he has a keen insight into the roaming business traveler, and the corporate side of that market as well in IT and management. Ramirez said that T-Mobile views HotSpots as part of their data business. "This is a complementary service to our 2.5G service," he said. The message he puts out, he said, is that it's all about integration, meeting the "total mobility needs" for mobile professionals. He views 2.5G as "impromptu, on the go" service, while Wi-Fi is "portability," or recreating your desktop environment wherever you are.

Paul Mozak, the director of business development at Borders, has a complementary view to this. They'd been looking into hot spots for years, and he was familiar with the history of the industry. They had talked to MobileStar, and then engaged in conversations with T-Mobile, and were impression by their ability to manage the Starbucks relationship. Borders wasn't driven by a mass upswelling of customer demand, but "We have had some requests from our customers, and it filters up from our store organization," Mozak said. Their plan for rollout: "Our goal is to start the rollout in an aggressive fashion in the first quarter in California and other markets and have it done by the summer, which allows us then to do some things in the national launch," which could include not-yet-decided-on marketing programs. Mozak wouldn't speculate, but Starbucks had provided some limited free service at various points in their trials.

Other News

Burgers, Fries, 3G, and Wi-Fi: Wireless enthusiasts (sort of sounds like pet fanciers) are meeting Oct. 16 in L.A. to eat and talk about wireless technology, while trying out some of the latest gear. [via Boing Boing]

Bereskin on Bluetooth: Ken Bereskin is an Apple product manager who has been blogging about Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) features. Yesterday, he wrote about Bluetooth's integration and features within Jaguar.

Wi-Fi Alliance appoints Texas Instruments to board, certifies ACX100 chipset: Sort of inside-the-industry news, but both significant steps, given TI's interest in pushing out its PBCC standard for higher-bit-rate in 2.4 GHz.

Kevin Werbach notes that a public VOIP system does exist: Global IP Sound said the solution was recently tested on an HP iPAQ device connected by an Wi-Fi connection at an Internet café in San Francisco to another test engineer located in Sweden. (Side note: I apologize for bastardizing Mr. Werbach's last name yesterday [until fixed] as Werblog, the name of his blog.)

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 6:31 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 10, 2002

Coffee, Books, and Wi-Fi

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by the letters F, I, and W, not necessarily in that order or quantity.


The above could have been a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Borders and T-Mobile to put hot spots in 400 stores by early 2003: T-Mobile and Borders Books announced today that T-Mobile would create hot spots in 400 Borders store by early next year. This begs several questions: Starbucks is the exclusive national partner for cafes for Barnes and Noble -- did B and N blink?; do we really need a hot spot in tiny cafes with small tables attached to a bookstore? (that begs a lot of questions); and, why can't Borders and T-Mobile actually post a press release on their respective sites when at least two media outlets have the information? Alan Reiter beats me to the link, once again, and offers a variety of analysis on the topic.

And you have to ask: has Borders really thought this through? In an article last year in the New York Times, David Kirkpatrick exposed a startling fact, that most of the big box chain bookstores had quietly and substantially reduced the number of books they offer at less than full list price. The perception of discount was much higher than the reality. With Internet access at a Borders store, I could see how much cheaper it would be to buy the books I want from Borders online or Amazon.com. Better still, one could use a book price comparison engine (like mine) to find out how much a used copy from Half.com, Powell's, or ABEBooks.com would cost. Hopefully, Borders can track Internet usage vs. same-store sales.

I just spoke to Borders: the 400 stores announced is the entire chain. They have nearly that many now, with over 400 planned to be open by Christmas. The rollout should be done by mid-2003 with a formal announcement at that point, even though service will be available (starting in California) in the meantime.

Other News

Kevin Werbach says Voice over IP coupled with Wi-Fi is the killer app: David Sifry's blog pointed me to Kevin's post. David expands on Kevin's point by expanding the notion to public spaces. There are products that do PBX-based VOIP with any Wi-Fi network from SpectraLink and now Vocera. But the real issue in public spaces is authentication and billing: how do you handle a captive portal login from a telephone or badge interface? Obviously, you partner with aggregators to integrate authentication in the phone through corporate IT configuring systems. Boingo + VOIP = VOIPo?

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:08 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified | 1 Comment

October 9, 2002

News for 10/9/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by Vernier Networks, enabling companies to rapidly deploy and operate secure, scalable, and mission-critical 802.11 wireless networks.


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HP gets approval to ship iPaq with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi: I'm assuming this approval was from the FCC and that the wireless access is embedded (rather than in an external card). I'd be curious to know whether HP was deploying a version of 802.15.2 (co-existence of Bluetooth and 802.15.1-2002 with 802.11 2.4 GHz specs) or had developed its own technology to allow the two standards to operate so close to each other.

Electromagnetic leeks: Put an allium in your headband, and praise the foresight of the government of Wales for pushing out a ubiquitous Wi-Fi network along with other services when market forces said there wasn't a profitable case for bringing the region into the 21st century of Internet communications. Wales is apparently one of the most spectacular places on the planet, but is having a rough time in the economic transition. Individuals and the government have implemented several interesting, successful ideas, such as the National Garden of Wales, an extraordinary transformation of old claypits into a world-class botanical center; and Hay-on-Wye, a booktown.

Wi-Fi Alliance to begin 802.11a certification: They were waiting for multiple chipsets.

MIT Stanford Venture Lab: the Wild West of Wi-Fi: Tues., Oct 15., listen to how Vernier Networking (only coincidentally a sponsor currently of this site) plans to chart a successful route to profitability by selling wireless LAN management hardware that can pull together the many threads of operations. A panels discusses the issues after the CEO presents.

Ant colonies and grassroots Wi-Fi: W. David Stephenson talks about the emergent behavior of grassroots Wi-Fi networks as they expand in size and utility. Emergent behavior is a powerful concept because it states that complexity without centralized organization can result in order not chaos, sophistication instead of a breakdown. Sort of the opposite of the rules of capitalism as practiced in the United States and elsewhere. I see emergent behavior all the time at isbn.nu, a book price comparison service I run. The several programs, including CGI scripts, daemons, and cron jobs have an interesting dance that I sometimes seem to have little involvement with. Like watching locusts eat a corn field, or dragonflies mate.

Wireless around the world: In Japanese, Dave Gross writes, wireless is called musen. Sean (melting eskimo) notes that in Chinese hanyu pinyin, wireless is written as wú xiàn.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 5:48 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 8, 2002

Linksys WAP 11 Version 2.2

By Glenn Fleishman

Anyone know anything about these WAP devices sorta "falling asleep"?

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:28 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified | 2 Comments

News for 10/8/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by Vernier Networks, enabling companies to rapidly deploy and operate secure, scalable, and mission-critical 802.11 wireless networks.


The above is a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Bush administration declare wireless networks major security risk for government users: And you know what? They're right. It may be overstating it to make wireless networking the specific target, as security over all networks and all access (dial-up, wired, home, wireless, etc.) needs to be locked down, but wireless networks are specifically easy to start up without oversight and tap into. The Wired News article has a good balance of views from industry players and security experts.

The View from Lisbon: Alan Reiter posts the notes of WiFinder's Oren Michels in this report from the IIR Wireless LAN conference in Lisbon. Alan has covering the worldview of WLAN in great details in the last several weeks.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:26 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 7, 2002

News for 10/7/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by Vernier Networks, enabling companies to rapidly deploy and operate secure, scalable, and mission-critical 802.11 wireless networks.


The above is a paid, sponsored link. Contact us for more information.

Steven Levy, a criminal? Naw!: Newsweek's Steven Levy offers a personally directed piece on how he used a neighbor's Wi-Fi access and then wondered about the implications by talking to the FBI, Tim Pozar, and others. A good article as it represents the kind of ambivalence I have about using other people's bandwidth. (The fact that Levy had MacStumbler, however, could make him a criminal in some people's eyes and possibly in some states. It's one thing to pull down a network from a menu your software provides, but Levy didn't ask, "What if I passively scan for networks, open and closed, and whether they use passwords?").

Wi-Fi Driving: Harold Gilchrist wonders about putting Wi-Fi into cars so that as you drive through clouds of Wi-Fi access, you pick up a variety of information about the places you're in. I look at this as another in the class of opportunistic networking ideas: equipment that, when a network is around, regardless of the speed, it starts sending and receiving spooled activities.

Resonext announces two-chip 802.11a/b/[g] chipset: One of Atheros's main competitors in the nascent 802.11a chip market now plans to ship in first quarter of 2003 a two-chip CMOS chipset that handles a and b, and will handle g when available.

Denver airport switches to paid model: Jim Thompson, long-time wireless industry guy and a man who knows where the bodies are buried and skeletons closeted, wrote in to note that on passing through Denver a few days ago, he spotted a pale blue sign "proclaiming the existence of 802.11b (Wi-Fi) service at the airport, and inviting me to sit down and login...The service is called GoPort...The webpage (above) says that DFW, SEA, SJC and AUS will come on-line soon." Nokia built out Denver, as well as Vancouver and Ottawa, and the airport authority told me last October (2001) that the network was tested out and ready to go in July 2001.

More international wireless words: Drew Tick writes in that the Hebrew word for wireless is al-chuti; Damianos Tsigkanos says that the Greek word is asyrmato. Keep 'em coming! (And, oh, for a UTF8 keyboard!

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 12:44 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 4, 2002

News for 10/4/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by FatPort's access point for the rest of us -- FatPoint


Today's news is also sponsored by Vernier Networks, enabling companies to rapidly deploy and operate secure, scalable, and mission-critical 802.11 wireless networks.


The above are paid, sponsored links. Contact us for more information.

InfoWorld ethicist lukewarm on warchalking, but relying on media accounts linking it to thievery: Here's my open letter to him (sent to the email address as well):

I read your InfoWorld article on warchalking and felt compelled to correct an assumption you'd made. I write about wireless quite a lot (including a feature in this week's cover date InfoWorld) and filed a piece on warchalking for the New York Times in July.

Warchalking isn't as tied into wardialing as the FBI, British Telecom, and others would have you believe.

In fact, reports indicate the phenomenon is not very widespread, and is being used primarily by community networkers and others who offer open access to their networks to mark service as more of a badge of honor or presence.

There's no way to know comprehensively, only anecdotally, but I am in regular contact with hundreds of people in the wireless industry and community wireless world.

The only place I hear about these stories on warchalking that relate to stealing access from open, but not shared APs -- accidentally shared, I suppose is accurate -- is via law enforcement without any specific locations mentioned, arrests made, or even photos of the offending marks.

I think you've been taken in by the sheer quantity of articles that have made the case against warchalking without evaluating whether people are actually chalking much at all, and how they're using it, and whether it's even measurable.

Warchalking was what I like to call a "pre-fad": it was taken over by the media before it was even spotted in the wild after a single person came up with the idea on his Web site. It's cool, it's fun, but it's hardly what you made it out to be, I'm afraid.

Other News

Wireless LAN security workshops: I noticed a banner ad for a WLAN security seminar in Seattle on The Seattle Times Web site. It led me to a very cogent description of the current state of standards, and how they'll be covered in this day-long set of lectures and demonstrations. It will also take place in Denver and Dallas during November. I don't know the people involved, but the overview is obviously written by an expert who understands the inner details. If the seminar is as good as the outline, this is a must-attend event for anyone involved in WLAN security.

Wi-Fi Alliance revamps certification display: This clever move on the Wi-Fi Alliance's part clarifies what the Wi-Fi mark means without reducing its impact. This is the template, obviously, for solving the alphabet soup problem that will occur in 2003 when devices could comply with a, b, e, g, h, and i, among other specs, in a single piece of equipment.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 1:19 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 3, 2002

News for 10/3/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by FatPort's access point for the rest of us -- FatPoint


Today's news is also sponsored by Vernier Networks, enabling companies to rapidly deploy and operate secure, scalable, and mission-critical 802.11 wireless networks.


The above are paid, sponsored links. Contact us for more information.

Ben Hammersley writes in the Guardian about rural wireless's viability in England: As many small wireless ISPs in the US have discovered, 50 customers may be enough to run a profitable point-to-point network far off the high-speed grid in England, despite what British Telecom says. Of course, their expenses and their requirements for service are much higher than small, cozy ISPs.

Rob Flickenger shows OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) plus promiscuous network mode can pollute a wireless network (wired, too): At the OS X Conference, we all started seeing connection refused errors, but it seemed to vary by domain, time, and network. Turns out that Mac OS X 10.2(.1) running a firewall and software in promiscuous mode (in which all network addresses can be sniffed) can pollute a network.

Linksys WET11 news: For those of you interested in the new Linksys WET11 Ethernet bridge, Amazon.com is offering it for $117, and it qualifies free US domestic slow shipping. Make sure and get the Sept. dated 1.3.2 firmware update. It appears to have just appeared.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:00 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

October 1, 2002

James Joyce's Bicycle

By Glenn Fleishman

Today's 802.11b Networking News is sponsored by FatPort's access point for the rest of us -- FatPoint


Today's news is also sponsored by Vernier Networks, enabling companies to rapidly deploy and operate secure, scalable, and mission-critical 802.11 wireless networks.


The above are paid, sponsored links. Contact us for more information.

WECA changes name to Wi-Fi Alliance: As so many firms from Visio to Real Networks to FedEx have discovered, what customers call you is the best name to call yourselves. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) launched a new Web site and a new name: the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Warcycling around Dublin: Niall Murphy pointed me to his and his colleagues' report on warcycling (and warwalking and -driving) around Dublin in the interests of demonstrating issues with security in wireless networking.

Alan Reiter blogs from 802.11 Planet in Singapore: Where in the world is our peripatetic Mr. Reiter this week? After three weeks in Brazil recently, Alan Reiter blogs today from Singapore, where's he's speaking at another 802.11 Planet conference, at which they offered Wi-Fi access just today, just for his talk.

Athens, Georgia, goes overall wireless (NPR RealAudio): NPR reports on the local university in Athens, Georgia, paying to put Wi-Fi town-wide. [via Scripting News]

In contrast, Marketplace radio program says warchalking is prelude to bandwidth stealing: I haven't listened to the report yet, but Mike Whybark writes in to criticize the radio program's report and encourage folks to listen to it themselves, and send feedback to the program.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:38 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

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