I’ve updated the top-ten list of most popular ÆtherCzar posts in the right column to reflect October’s page views. Some old standards remain popular, like my August post: Einstein’s Nobel Prize: Proving Cell Phones Can’t Cause Cancer. And, perhaps in anticipation of next year’s Atlas Shrugged movie, my Chronology of […]
Monthly Archives: October 2010
27 posts
Time once again to clear out the update queue: Steven J. Crowley explains the many facets of what’s called “4G” technology. MatthewLasar writing at ArsTechnica explains how smartphone makers are ready to wage war over the FM chip mandate pushed by broadcasters. From TechCrunch: Experimental Real-Time Location Tracking Comes To […]
Courtesy Science@NASA, Author: Dr. Tony Phillips “Every hundred years or so, a solar storm comes along so potent it fills the skies of Earth with blood-red auroras, makes compass needles point in the wrong direction, and sends electric currents coursing through the planet’s topsoil. The most famous such storm, the […]
Ultra-wideband (UWB) data products are coming to market at last. Last month, Alereon (Facebook, Twitter) announced that their UWB “NoWire(TM)” technology will be used in Imation’s Wireless Video/Audio Extender providing an up to 220Mbps link. Here’s a review. Alereon chips will also power Toshiba’s Wireless Dynadock W20. Now, Alereon’s competitors […]
With the launch and tracking of Sputnik in 1957, it soon became obvious that the location of the satellite could be tracked by monitoring its Doppler shift. Frank McClure persuaded fellow researchers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab to devise a satellite navigation and positioning system based on the Doppler […]
A few updates: The FCC has granted Garmin’s request for an extension of the waiver allowing transmission of digital GPS coordinate data on GMRS. Hat Tip: Steven J. Crowley Trimble acquired RFID vendor ThingMagic. Hat Tip: VeryFields RFID GS1 Hong Kong announced the winners of the Hong Kong RFID Awards […]
Back in April, ÆtherCzar told the story of how the Dallas Office of the FCC discovered a 5W cell phone jammer in operation at the Cosmetology Career Center in Carrollton, TX. The FCC could have imposed fines of as much as $11,000 per day. Judging by the enforcement letter, there […]
Ever had an interest in celestial mechanics? Then you have hours of fun in store from “My Solar System,” a celestial mechanics simulator from Michael Dubson at the University of Colorado. The web-based Java application includes a wide variety of preset simulations: Three body mechanics (sun-planet-moon and sun-planet-comet), Multiple planets, […]
The Pew Research Center collaborated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to create a Science Knowledge Quiz aiming to evaluate the scientific literacy of the American public. Click through to take the quick twelve question test. After the break I’ll explain how the Pew Center and […]
Xirrus (Twitter) provides a wonderful series of posters describing the details of 802.11a/b/g wireless networks. Other posters in the same series describe Bluetooth, ZigBee and UWB data networks. Hat Tip: Johnny Wireless
Spread-spectrum and ultra-wideband (UWB) technology arose during the Second World War. Actress Hedy Kiesler Markey (better known by her screen name, Hedy Lamarr) and George Antheil invented a frequency-hopping secret communication system. [1] The Figure below shows their frequency hopping transmitter. A record tape encodes a unique coding pattern to […]
A round-up of recent links on banning cell phones in prisons: Debate Rages Over Cell Phone Jamming International Business Times Prisons and mobile phones: Bricking the intruders The Economist Cell Phone Crackdown in Tennessee Prisons Points to Larger Problem Press Release Countermeasures to Contraband Cell Phone Use in Prisons FCC […]
Is history repeating itself? Just as Apple took the early lead in PC’s only to be overtaken by IBM and a horde of loosely aligned competitors, so also is Apple’s flagship iPhone increasingly challenged by a variety of manufacturers offering not only Android phones but also phones powered by Microsoft’s […]
Previously on ÆtherCzar, I’ve discussed the aspect of antennaphobia that compels cell phone antenna towers to be hidden so antennaphobes don’t realize they are there. Botanist Wayne Armstrong provides an extensive field guide to these cell phone “trees.” Now there are additional extensive collections of cell phone “tree” photos from […]
An engineering consultant (who specializes in failure analysis) must remain true to his independent judgment when his client and his employer both seek to cover up evidence of dangerous problems in a mid-town Manhattan skyscraper. In his 1984 novel, Skyscraper, Byrne describes an intricate confluence of corruption, corner-cutting, and poor […]
Convergence Systems Limited offers a $3,000 RTLS starter kit including: One (1) CS5113LP Master reader/anchor with Ethernet Five (5) CS5111LP slave reader/anchor Ten (10) CS3151 asset tags Mounting tripods & hardware Location engine software Samples applications, Documentation, SDK, and source code available via download here. Additional support via ticketing system […]
Mitchell Lazarus over at CommsLaw Blog notes that although the FCC’s final UWB authorization is set to take effect November 12, determined opponents may yet ask the FCC to reconsider. If (as seems likely) the FCC rejects their petition, opponents may pursue an appeal through the courts. Here’s a lengthy […]
Wired’s Threat Level blog has the story of California student Yasir Afifi. His mechanic found an unusual electronic gadget in Afifi’s car, that turns out to be a tracking device. Then he posted pictures to Reddit. Interestingly, the crowd-sourced analysis pegged the exact make and model of the tracking device, […]
It was a busy week to have been out on vacation. Here are some RTLS and Location-Based Services links to help get caught up: My employer, NFER® RTLS vendor Q-Track, unveiled an updated website, took second place in the Global Security Challenge, West Coast Final, and was featured in RFID […]
Vacation threw off the schedule a bit, but here’s the somewhat belated review of the top ten posts from the past month. If you’re new around here and want to see what the ÆtherCzar blog has to offer, the best posts of each month is a good place to start. […]
The Czarina and I are on vacation this week with our two girls – her folks are looking after the boys while we’re gone. New Orleans is really quite kid friendly. I’ll do a post or two when we get back.