Bluetooth seems to be "stuck in time" with a short range (generally 10m) and a relatively low data rate (
In the meantime, Wi-Fi has gone from connecting PCs to wireless access points at 11 Mbps to data rates in the hundreds of millions of bits a second, and has been adopted as a multi-use interface in smartphones, tablets, TV sets, and the list goes on- 802.11ad is just the next step.
If anything I expect Wi-Fi to continue to grow and flourish and could potentially pick up Bluetooth's "headset niche" as just one more thing it can do.
]]>2) At the outset there would be only one antenna. The first pass at this is not going to include MIMO and will be using a fairly rudimentary signal encoding (i.e. 7 Mbps in a 2 GHz channel is only 3.5 bits/second/Hertz- 802.11n can get 15 bits/second/Hertz). However just like 802.1b led to 802.11g and then to 802.11n, more efficient techniques (including MIMO with a requirement for multiple antennas) can be added to the standard over time.
3) Yes, this will be more in the ad hoc vein with two devices (e.g. a flat screen TV and a cable box) connecting to one another.
4) We're Layer 1/Layer 2 here, buddy! Blu-ray compatibility is someone else's job!
Thanks for the questions!
]]>I was actually saying that, in today's risk environment, if one doesn't pay as much attention to the strength and unguessability of User IDs as we've devoted to passwords, their combined two-factor authentication method is effectively reduced to one factor. I added that automated password-management systems like the ones listed would be an ideal way to implement such enhanced, randomized, authentication pairs while also removing the onus of having to remember them.
And when IT departments enforce consistent formats for User IDs and email addresses throughout their networks, they are indeed, as you observe, "doing things wrong to protect those resources!"
I was also saying that CAPTCHAs...a widely used early form of non-alphanumeric authentication...are now crackable, and should probably be phased out (not added to more login screens). So other tools are being developed as described.
]]>http://www.wi-fi.org/media/press-releases/wi-fi-alliance%C2%AE-and-wireless-gigabit-alliance-unify
The WiGig Alliance has been working on getting Steve's TV and BluRay player to talk, using the 60 GHz wireless technology that has now evolved into 802.11ad.
As noted in the press release, "WiGig offers short-range multi-gigabit connections for applications ranging from high-definition WiGig Display Extensions (WDE), to peripheral connectivity and I/O cable replacement such as WiGig Serial Extension (WSE), WiGig Bus Extension (WBE) and WiGig SDIO Extension (WDS). Early 60 GHz implementations based on the WiGig specifications are entering the market now and ABI Research forecasts that by 2016, annual shipments of devices with both Wi-Fi and WiGig technology will reach 1.8 billion."
The Wi-Fi Alliance / WiGig Alliance merger is an important step towards seamless unification of 802.11ac and 802.11ad - specifically, these organizations will work on helping to products that speak both 11ac Wi-Fi on a WLAN and 11ad WiGig on a WPAN to move traffic between the two networks and even roam between the two in an interoperable fashion when the situation calls for it. I wrote about this briefly in my TechNote, written right after CES 2012:
http://www.webtorials.com/discussions/2012/03/faster-and-fatter-wi-fi.html
Expect a lot more news on this front next week as vendors announce new 11ad and 11ac products at CES 2013.
]]>From the Federal Trade Commission:
Copier Data Security: A Guide for Businesses
A great, concise overview. One section of the document highlights the fact that this is a critical privacy compliance issue.
From a rather unlikely web source:
Technical details from a copier supplier.