Wi-Fi News and gadgets at CES 2013
Friday, January 11th, 2013 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
All other news seemed to be drowned out what with the CES 2013 in Las Vegas. What’s fascinating are the new uses for Wi-Fi, beyond the mobile device technology like smartphones and tablets.
In the home:
Wi-Fi connected lights
Wi-Fi chips in the light bulbs allows users to turn lights on or off–either by room or individual bulb–through a free smartphone and tablet app.
Samsung debuts T9000 refrigerator with LCD and Evernote integration
The 9000 adds some much needed versatility by integrating Evernote into the Linux-based OS.
And more spectrum:
CES 2013: FCC plans to free up additional spectrum for WiFi
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced, “We’re moving to free up a substantial amount of spectrum for WiFi to relieve WiFi congestion and improve WiFi speeds at conferences, airports and ultimately in people’s homes.”
Help for IT in managing BYOD:
2013: The year Gigabit Wi-Fi arrives
new chipsets and routers were announced towards this standard. For IT, this means “…meeting the diverse needs of a large and increasing number of users with a similarly growing number of devices per user (driven in large measure by today’s broadening shift to BYOD [Bring Your Own Device]) and with a robust mix of application demands…”
More Wi-Fi for (and during) travel:
CES 2013: Wi-Fi gets on the road
Fancy switching on the engine using an app? Or replying to talking text messages sent to your phone purely by speaking? Or how about creating an in-car Wi-Fi network for your kid’s Google Nexus 7?
And safer mobile browsing:
Private WiFi takes its VPN mobile
Private WiFi debuts mobile apps for all the major smartphone platforms, just in time to protect you from the insecure public Wi-Fi at CES.
And for the young and young-at-heart: Toys!
Best Toys at CES 2013
Also to come this year from BeeWi is a set of iOS and Android device controlled Mini Coopers and a Fiat 500 toy as well as Windows Phone 8 versions of the remote control apps. Plus other interactive apps and devices.
Canon Power Shot N: Wi-Fi point and shoot
The camera is equipped with enhanced wireless capabilities that connect the point and shoot to a variety of mobile devices instantly, so users can upload and comment on their images in real-time while on-the-go using wi-fi connectivity.
