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Tech News: Wi-Fi At Toronto Hydro OneZone

Metro Wi-Fi rates high in study

Tests in 14 cities found Wi-Fi beats WiMax and 3G cellular for speed

Metro Wi-Fi delivered twice the performance of even true 3G, offering 869K bps downstream and 256K bps upstream on average, according to Novarum. One Wi-Fi network, the Toronto Hydro OneZone system, had an average of 2.2M bps downstream and 1.6M bps upstream, comparable to wired broadband, the company found. Novarum got its results while OneZone was still in test mode and only rolled out in downtown Toronto.

by Stephen Lawson.

802.11n in all but name: draft hardware in the clear

Although the 802.11n will not be finalized until October 2008, the month to circle on your calendar is January 2008. That’s when Draft 3.0 is expected to be approved, meaning that equipment made after that point is “true” 802.11n gear in everything but name.

by Eric Bangeman.

Battery Breakthrough?

A Texas company says it can make a new ultracapacitor power system to replace the electrochemical batteries in everything from cars to laptops.

EEStor’s ambitious goal, according to patent documents, is to “replace the electrochemical battery” in almost every application, from hybrid-electric and pure-electric vehicles to laptop computers to utility-scale electricity storage.

The company boldly claims that its system, a kind of battery-ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders, will dramatically outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety. Pound for pound, it will also pack 10 times the punch of lead-acid batteries at half the cost and without the need for toxic materials or chemicals, according to the company.

by Tyler Hamilton.

The Ultimate Windows Vista laptop

You shouldn’t have much trouble running Vista on any recent laptop, provided it has decent graphics, but if you want to make the most of the new operating system you’ll need specific hardware. The W5Fe is significant because it’s the first Vista-specific laptop to break cover, as opposed to a laptop that can run Vista.

by Leo Waldock.

Linspire Standardizes Software Installation Across Linux Distributions

SAN DIEGO, January 23rd, 2007 – Linspire, Inc., developer of the commercial desktop Linux operating system of the same name, announced plans to standardize software installation across Linux distributions by expanding its popular CNR (“Click ‘N Run”) digital download and software management service to support several of the most popular desktop Linux distributions in 2007. Previously available only for Linspire and Freespire desktop Linux users, the CNR Service will begin providing users of other desktop Linux distributions a free and easy way to access over 20,000 desktop Linux products, packages and libraries, all with a single mouse click.

from CNR.com (of Linspire, Inc.)