The American football Super Bowl has drawn a sellout stadium crowd along with a huge worldwide television viewing audience for several decades. But only recently has wireless data traffic been part of the event. This year's Super Bowl XLVI (46) set new wireless records including an aggregate 218 gigabytes of Internet traffic through the AT&T provider network. The game was also broadcast to mobile devices for the first time through the Verizon network, although specific traffic figures haven't been made available yet. While the mobile networks were extremely busy, no major services outages were reported, showing the providers' advance preparations to increase network capacity worked.
→ See also - Bandwidth Requirements for the Super Bowl (2010)

Super Bowl XLVI (46) - Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images

LaunchPort is a product that enables wireless re-charging of Apple iPad 2. The LaunchPort system utilizes inductive charging, a method where electromagnetic fields transfer energy from a charging station to a device's internal battery. The manufacturer claims it can fully charge an iPad 2 in roughly the same time as when using Apple's power adapter, roughly four hours. Similar wireless technology is also being used in a few other types of consumer products including electric toothbrushes, but LaunchPort equipment is not cheap: base stations retail for USD $199 and the required iPad case an additional $149.

Some people know from their school days that inductive charging systems generate heat. The LaunchPort Frequently Asked Questions page doesn't say exactly how hot it gets but claims it's within safe levels.

→ See also - What Is Qi Wireless Charging?

LaunchPort BaseStation - Photo: www.launchport.com

When traveling by air, it's normal that the flight crew asks everyone to turn off their wireless devices during takeoffs and landings. Why? The thinking is wireless radio signals could somehow interfere with an aircraft's own radio antennas. Although Wi-Fi and cell phone transmitters are designed to be safe, it's difficult for scientists to precisely model the effects of radio interference, and the airlines don't want to take any chances. CBS News recently asked a few knowledgeable folks about the dangers, and they seemed to agree the in-flight precautions are warranted. What do you think?
→ More - Is Using Devices On Planes Really Dangerous? (cbsnews.com)
→ See also - Introduction to Wi-Fi Wireless Antennas

The idea of connecting to a computer in another room, building, or country and being able to see its desktop screen is cool. Being able to interact and control the remote desktop is even cooler. One of the technologies that makes these things possible is VNC (Virtual Network Computing). VNC is based on different technology than the Remote Desktop feature of Microsoft Windows and works with other kinds of computing devices including Mac and Linux. One limitation of many VNC products is lack of network security on remote desktop sharing sessions, but with a little know-how and the use of SSH, you can have that too.
→ More - How to Remotely Control Computers Over VNC Securely With SSH (businessinsider.com)
→ See also - Top VNC Free Software Downloads