802.11n

Generally, wireless functions--such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular data, and so on--are added to your portable computer via add-in cards. These cards share the same PCI standard as other PCI add-in cards found in desktop computers, but they are much smaller in size.

Though small, there are only so many add-in cards a laptop, and especially a Netbook, can accommodate. For this reason, what Atheros, a known maker of wireless solutions, introduced Tuesday is a significant development.

The company announced Tuesday the industry's first single-stream 802.11n and Bluetooth combo solution on a Half MiniCard form factor for the PC … Read more

T-Mobile's parent company is considering buying Sprint Nextel, meaning we'd have only three big cell phone companies in the US. But in a weird way that could be good for competition? We're not sure ourselves, actually. Also, a rogue ad hits the New York Times and we discover Pirates only see in 2D. Eye-patch FTW!

Rogue ad hits New York Times site http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10351460-83.html http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/what-to-do-if-you-saw-an-antivirus-pop-up-ad/ http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090913/home-delivery-the-new-york-times-serves-up-some-malware/… Read more

As predicted last month, the IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.

Finalization of the new wireless networking standard--which is capable of delivering throughput speeds up to 300 megabits per second (and even higher)--took exactly seven years from the day it was conceived, or six years from the first draft version. The standard has been through a dozen or so draft versions.

News of the ratification broke via a blog post displaying an e-mail sent by Bruce Kraemer, longtime chairman of the 802.11n Task Group, to task group members. There has been no public … Read more

Updated at 4:05 p.m. PDT: adding discussion about lack of video camera in Touch.

Inside Apple's updated iPod Touch lurks "n" Wi-Fi hardware, the potential for FM transmission, and room for a camera, according to iFixit.

Gadget teardown specialist iFixit on Friday said that during its dissection of the new device, it found a few "unexpected discoveries."

One of the most notable findings was a Broadcom BCM4329 chip that supports 802.11n. "This is a big deal, as even the iPhone 3GS doesn't support 802.11n," said Kyle Wiens of … Read more

Now that you've gotten yourself a new ride by trading in your clunker, it's time to do the same with your wireless router.

Meraki, the first networking vendor to bring the Wireless-N standard outdoors earlier this year, launched Wednesday its Cash for Wireless LAN Clunkers promotion campaign.

The program is for those who want to upgrade their legacy 802.11b/g network (which caps at 54Mbps) to the 802.11n (which caps at 300Mbps) network with a Meraki wireless access point. The promotion includes a $150 credit for each access point traded in for one made by Meraki. … Read more

For those of you looking for more capacity in Apple's combo 802.11n router/NAS drive, the company has boosted its top-end Time Capsule to 2TB and slapped a $499 price tag on it.

More significantly, Apple also dropped the price of the 1TB model--which just Wednesday cost $499--to $299. Aside from the higher capacity, nothing else appears to have changed.

Previously, Apple also offered a 500GB Time Capsule, but that model has been discontinued and can only be found in the refurbished aisle, where it's going for $199.

All I can say is that if Apple … Read more

If your wireless router doesn't have the muscle to reach all corners of the house, or you need a faster connection for copying files and streaming videos, it might be time to consider an upgrade.

Newegg has refurbished Netgear WNR2000 802.11n Draft 2.0 routers for $19.99 (shipping will run you a mere $1.99).

In case you're unfamiliar with it, the "new" Wi-Fi protocol (which seems forever destined to be known as Draft-N) delivers better range and faster throughput speeds than 802.11g.

The WNR2000 is backward compatible with older Wi-Fi hardware and … Read more

The latest version of the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard is close to final ratification.

802.11n is much faster and of higher bandwidth than its predecessor, 802.11g. Last Friday, the 802.11 working group--a subset of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)--held its final approval vote on the standard, according to Trapeze Networks' Matthew Gast, a member of the working group.

Gast blogged Monday that the vote was passed overwhelmingly, after which the working group passed the standard on to the "higher layers" of the IEEE 802 wireless standards group for publication.

Those higher … Read more

Matthew Gast, a voting member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), suggested in his recent blog that the current Wireless-N (or 802.11n Draft) specification is going to be finalized in September.

If this is true, that would mean the specification took about seven years to become finalized from the day it was conceived.

So what does it mean for consumers? Apparently not much, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance, the group that tests and certifies wireless networking products to ensure their interoperability.

The group announced Thursday that it will not change the baseline requirements of its 802.… Read more