Wireless / Networking

A terabyte is an impressive amount of data, equivalent to hundreds of full-length movies or millions of digital photos. Typical households would need years to see that much data flow through their home networks. On popular Internet sites, though, the traffic (and the cost of supporting that traffic) adds up much, much faster.

Besides movies, digital still photos are one of the primary sources of big data on the Web. Google has been working for the past several years on technology designed to save network bandwidth used in transferring photos by reducing the amount of data needed to store each picture. Google is now claiming their WebP image file format is saving terabytes of bandwidth on their networks every day - an impressive accomplishment.

→ More - Google Cuts Network Usage by Terabytes, Switching to WebP (cnet.com)
→ See also - The Newest Graphics File Format, WebP (2010)

Recent reports from the Wall Street Journal and other sources indicate U.S. sports content provider ESPN is interested in subsidizing the cost of Internet for people who use its services. The idea is to help folks watching videos on mobile devices from incurring high charges on their data plans. Critics are immediately raising concerns over net neutrality - free access to information and uniform policies for managing the bandwidth of applications - that has been actively debated for many years.
→ See also - A Mobile Internet Subsidized by Content Providers: ESPN Might Want It but You Shouldn't (gigaom.com)

British Telecom is the latest service provider looking to roll out IP address sharing technology to its customers. Similar to how home networks use routers to hide and manage a group of private addresses behind one public one, Internet providers can also implement address translation on their servers to route multiple customers through one shared IP number. Unfortunately, this technology when enabled often interferes with the functioning of some important Internet applications. For example:

• remote access applications may not be able to connect to your home network
• online gaming sessions (including those over Xbox Live or PlayStation Network) may fail
• it may not be possible to share files with others on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks

Note that providers could avoid these IP sharing hack if they simply upgraded their networks to IPv6.

→ More - Customers Fume as BT Introduces IP Sharing (pcpro.co.uk)

Many software and services companies are always looking for new and interesting ways to promote their technology. The folks at Microsoft and T-Mobile think they've found a good one: Making a disposable wireless Internet router and embedding it into full page magazine adds for office software. You can get your copy in the May 6th (2013) edition of Fortune magazine.

What's the catch? The router only connects to T-Mobile's Internet service and works free for only 15 days. After that, a person must add a paid T-Mobile subscription for the device, or find a way to dispose of the router. Being disposable, though, this shouldn't be much of a problem.

Would you buy the magazine just for 15 days of free hotspot access?

And, what will these people think of next??

→ See also - Magazine Slips In a Free T-Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot (engadget.com)

It's annoying when one of the Ethernet cables on your network comes loose. But when it happens in public during an event the whole world is watching, that's downright embarrassing. A disconnected Ethernet cable forced the postponement a rocket launch in Virginia, USA earlier this month. While it's a simple problem to fix at home, a person can't exactly walk over to the rocket 10 seconds before its launch and plug the cable back in. The financial cost of such an issue to the owners of the rocket is also huge. (Note: Orbital Sciences was able to successfully launch its Antares rocket, four days later.)
→ See also - How to Fix Network Cable Unplugged Errors in Windows

When searching on google.com, you might see the following message appear on the page in your browser: "Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network." No, it doesn't mean that Google is monitoring all of the activity on your home network and Internet connection. Google shows this message to a user when it sees incoming requests to its Web site that it suspects could be caused either by an infected computer, or automated programs called "scrapers" designed to scavenge search results.

However, there isn't necessarily a cause for alarm, as in some cases you may be receiving this notification in error. Specifically, if your network connection is using a shared public IP address such as a public proxy server, Google may be triggering the message based on traffic from other people's devices rather than your own. You can safely ignore the message if you're not running a scraper and have checked your device for malware.

→ See also - Do You Trust Google's Free Wi-Fi Network?
→ See also - Causes of Lag on Computer Networks and Online
→ See also - Choosing the Best Wireless Channels for Your Network

If you've ever tried to use a wireless computer network when it is flooded with data traffic, you've experienced what happens: Web pages take minutes to load (and some of the content is often missing), apps pop up error messages, and your computer might even freeze sometimes. Wireless network bandwidth is a finite resource we often take for granted because new cell towers have sprung up in many parts of the world. But as people keep buying more computers and mobile devices and using them heavily, eventually this bandwidth will run out. At some point we will probably need to cut back on our usage, and also expect pay higher prices for wireless Internet.
→ More - The Growth of Wireless Data: We are Heading for a Wall (cmswire.com)

A new paper from an Australian university (.pdf) points out that cellular networks can consume a lot of power. As usage of mobile wireless networks and cloud computing continues to expand, energy efficiency becomes an increasingly important consideration on the Internet. The researchers argue that industry and media focus on green data centers is missing the point when so much of the electricity consumption is within the network. LTE 4G links seem to be the biggest offender, and the situation is only expected to get worse over time. Looks like the authors have made a good case here.
→ More - Cell Networks Are Energy Hogs (theatlantic.com)

According to the latest analysis from Kiplinger's, computer network administration is among the ten best jobs for the future. While the salaries aren't huge, especially at the entry level, workers are expected to stay in high demand over the coming years. The explosion in use of mobile devices within businesses and ongoing improvements in network technology has certainly caused the field to be challenging and fast-changing in the past.

Do you think that network administration is really going to be a prime job to hold in the future?

→ See also - Tips to Help You Land an IT Security Job (netsecurity.about.com)
→ See also - Are You Applying for Fake Jobs?

Zigbee wireless network technology has existed for many years, used by home automation and other embedded equipment. Last week, a new extension to the standard called Zigbee IP was finalized. Zigbee IP enables IPv6 devices to join these networks, an essential capability needed to get home appliances and other fixtures like light bulbs onto the Internet. Having your light bulbs on the Internet sounds like a funny idea, but there are some practical applications, such as controlling home energy costs. In fact, wireless lightbulbs with IP addresses have existed for awhile and Zigbee IP just makes the technology more standard. On the other hand, giving network hackers a way to remotely interfere with your home appliances doesn't sound like much fun at all.
→ More - ZigBee gets ready for the Internet of Stuff (theregister.co.uk)