This is how WiFi mesh networks work
Mesh networking is reliable and secure. Now it’s inexpensive and easy to set up with Google WiFi and Home products.
The new Google Home and Google WiFi (and updates to the existing Google OnHub routers) will be able to work together and create a mesh network in your house or place of business. Google was really happy about this when they announced it, and it’s clear that they think the idea is really cool and should work great for the people who will be using it with their networking things. What they didn’t do was explain what a WiFi mesh network is. That’s understandable — they also have never explained how a cell tower works or what a DNS gateway is either.
That’s where we come in. We also thought that Google using relatively inexpensive appliances to build a mesh network was pretty cool and should work well, and we’re going to explain what they are and how they work. Don’t worry, it’s much more simple than you think!
A mesh network is a network built from devices that all work together to distribute all the data. They can be wired and use an algorithm like shortest-path bridging to efficiently route data through the whole network using cables and routers on certain nodes (a node is an address on a network), but they really shine when they are wireless. Wireless mesh networks are secure, relatively inexpensive and reliable — important things required for military use, which is why wireless mesh networks were designed in the first place.
Google’s new Home family of products (Google Home, Google WiFi, and Google OnHub) will create a wireless mesh network that uses WiFi. You can build a mesh network that uses other frequencies, like WiMax (many cities use these for traffic lights and parking meters) or LTE, but WiFi is a perfect choice to use in homes and businesses because the things we want to connect can already use it.
A mesh network has a map that looks like a spider’s web — everything is connected to every thing else.
A WiFi mesh network consists of three different types of equipment — routers, gateways, and clients. We’re all familiar with the clients — those are our phones and Chromebooks and PlayStations and everything else that can connect to a WiFi network as an end point. Google Home will be a WiFi client. We use these clients to access the internet, or control a Chromecast or turn on connected lights so they communicate two-ways.
Google WiFi and Google OnHub can be both a router and a gateway. One of them connects to the wired connection the people you get the internet from provides you with. It acts as the gateway between the mesh network in your house and the internet itself. All traffic destined for places outside of your local network will go through this gateway. That’s mostly the same as a normal WiFi network that uses access points and routers, and nobody has figured out a better way to work here yet. Give them time.
Your local network — what’s in your house that connects all your devices together and to the internet through that gateway — is where having a mesh network makes a difference. Every node (that’s the Google WiFi units) can communicate with every other node. If you have a Google WiFi station in your bedroom, your phone will connect through it to the mesh — not to an individual piece of gear that is set up to follow a specific route back to the internet gateway. As you move through your house, you can connect to the mesh through another Google WiFi station. There is no network switching or getting on a new WiFi access point. This is automatic, and all the traffic uses WPA2-PSK and the Google WiFi stations each have an Infineon SLB 9615 trusted platform module for hardware-based encryption.
In a traditional network, node A will connect to the internet and will also connect to node B. Node B connects to Node C as well. If you unplug node B, node C has no connection to the internet. In a mesh network, node C is connected to node B and node A. If your phone was connected to node C, nothing would happen. If your phone was connected to node B, it would just switch to whatever node was available and had the best signal. Instead of network traffic following a line like a highway, it follows a mesh like a spider’s web.
WiFi mesh networks aren’t new but finding equipment to build one this easy to set up and reliable has never been this inexpensive.
That’s not the only advantage, either. A WiFi mesh network using Google WiFi is simple to set up. Find a spot that could use a better (stronger) signal, plug in a Google WiFi station and open the Google Home app to tell the network to use it. This makes the network easy to extend — a single Google WiFi unit will cover between 500 and 1,500 square feet, while three units can cover between 3,000 and 4,500 square feet. Google will sell units individually, as well as in packs of three.
The networking equipment and Google Home app also continuously monitors traffic patterns and can adjust how it flows from your phone back to the internet most efficiently. This can be really important for things like online gaming, where ping times are as important as bandwidth. The Google Home app will also help you decide the best place to put your stations..
WiFi mesh networking isn’t new. Places like Hospitals and factories where a network needs to cover a lot of area and be reliable through equipment failures often use them. So do internet of things devices that use ZigBee radios or Google’s Thread protocol. What Google WiFi does is bring an affordable option to homes and small businesses. For anyone with a house or office that’s hard to blanket with WiFi from just one access point, Google’s new networking products may be just what you’re looking for!
See Google home at Best Buy
See Google OnHub at Amazon
See Google WiFi at Google
Ditching the DAC: Audio-Technica DSR9BT Bluetooth headphones go all-digital with Pure Digital Drive tech
If you’re looking for a pair of high quality Bluetooth headphones to make the most of your tracks then Audio-Technica looks like it has just the ticket: the ATH-DSR9BT (and little brother ATH-DRS7BT).
These new cans ditch the DAC – that’s the digital-to-analogue process used in other headphones – for the first fully digital delivery from source to drivers, dubbed Pure Digital Drive by the Japanese company. And as there’s no analogue conversion in this proprietary process there’s no added distortion, hence the most accurate reproduction.
Unlike other headphones the DSR9BT include what Audio-Technica calls a “Dnote chipset”, which commands four voice coils in the headphones’ 45mm drivers for optimum dynamics and clarity (the DSR7BT has just one coil, which is the primary difference between the pair).
With aptX HD on board these over-ears ensure the best from your tracks, with support for 24-bit/96kHz playback (assuming you have an aptX HD capable source device – which isn’t the case with many smartphones, for example). There’s also standard aptX, AAC and SBC codecs too, to leave no stone unturned. Three lights to the side of the headphones are used to visually illustrate the quality level of the stream being transmitted.
Without the worry of wires, Audio-Technica has positioned volume controls to the side of the earcups. And if you do choose to go wired then a micro-USB port can be used to deliver the music in equal high quality via the included cable.
However, if you’re a high-end audio head who’s already pining for a pair then you’ll have to wait: these headphones are not due for their official announcement until CES in January 2017. Price-wise, expect the DSR9BT to cost under £500 and DSR7BT under £300.
We’re at the Audio-Technica Experience 2016 preview event in Japan, so expect a full rundown of these all-new Bluetooth headphones in the coming days.
Best Camera 2016: EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards nominees
The 13th annual Pocket-lint Gadget Awards are nearly upon us, which means in just over a month we will be celebrating the best devices across a number of categories including smartphones, cars, VR and cameras.
There are 14 main categories this year, with a couple of newbies joining the party and a couple of last year’s categories seeing a split. As usual though, we will giving you a rundown of each category’s nominees and why they have been selected. You’ll be able to find all the features with the nominations for each category in our Awards hub as they go live, while here we are focusing on the nominees for best camera 2016, which includes system cameras and compact cameras.
As always, there are some excellent contenders in the running for the best camera of 2016 with six nominees including the excellent retro-looking Fujifilm X-T2 and the brilliant Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, but which of them will be crowned camera king?
Click here to see the Awards nominees for 2016’s Best Camera in a little more detail to help you make your mind up about which one should get your vote.
Voting in the 13th annual EE Pocket-lint Awards is now open so let us know which one of these great devices you think should win the Best Camera award for this year and give us your verdict on all the other tech across the 13 other categories. Click here to vote.
Winners will be announced at the exclusive event in London on 23 November in association with EE. For now, keep an eye on the EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2016 hub for all the latest on how the voting works, who the elite judges are and the EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards shortlist.
An amazing look inside the new Apple Regent Street store: Trees, marble and staff galore
It’s not every day you get ponder life while sat under a tree in a shop on the busiest retail street in London. But that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.
We sat under a tree on a comfy cushion inside Apple’s new flagship store on Regent Street and we have to say we liked it.
The store is once again fully open after undergoing a complete refit. The new store, which regains its true flagship status from the Covent Garden branch, is the result of Apple’s new vision for the modern day shopping experience.
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Visitors to San Francisco’s store will notice similarities, the big open spaces, the attempt to bring the outside in, but there are differences. Apple has built something designed specifically for the space. The walls are clad in marble. Above there is one huge light box, which takes the prize for the longest luminous ceiling panel in the world. And there is even a secret boardroom hidden in the back for wooing special customers.
- Apple iPhone 7 review: Refining the design rather than ripping it up and starting again
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus review: Big changes from the big iPhone
The original exterior of the John Nash-designed building retains its now iconic high windows, but the store inside is completely unrecognisable to what was there before.
Gone are the crowded shelves, the glass floating staircase (that’s so last decade), and in come wide open spaces, a vaulted seven-metre high “forum” and twelve Ficus Ali trees. Yes, there is lots of trees.
Throughout the store, accessories have been pushed to the walls on the side, while Apple’s multiple devices take centre stage on traditional-style wooden tables.
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A giant video wall takes centre stage of the ground floor, with seating for around 75 customers in front. The Regent Street store always had a theatre for demos and lectures, but now it’s a lot more central, with the ability to walk in and out of sessions with ease rather than feeling you’re in a lecture.
Either side of the screen are staircases that feature sandblasted and honed Castagna stone handrails hand carved into the walls. A glass balustrade on the mezzanine level lets visitors overlook the ground level and grand hall. It’s impressive.
Upstairs is almost entirely dedicated to the Apple Genius bar, with the company able to either fix your devices or offer intimate workshops on how to get more from them.
The biggest noticeable difference, apart from the sheer opulence of light everywhere, is that nothing is bolted down. You can freely pick phones up, see how they feel in the hand, even put them in your pocket – just don’t walk out the door. The lack of security is as welcoming as it is unnerving.
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This isn’t a shop as you know it, but a centre for you to learn, enjoy and then buy.
That’s exactly what Apple hopes you will do. And it makes it much easier an experience than ever before.
Angela Ahrendts, senior vice president of retail, explained to Pocket-lint the Regent Street store now has over 500 employees, up from the 100 the store had when it opened in 2004. With that many staff, you are always likely to get served quickly. There are no “pay here” counters for you to queue at.
Once again Apple is trying to change the way we shop, removing the boundaries of what to expect while trying to recreate sitting under a tree in Cupertino in the Californian sun.
How that will fair with Brits over time is yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure, you won’t have been in a shop like this ever before.
You can’t explore PSVR’s dinosaur planet until November
Until scientists successfully resurrect dinosaurs, interacting with them in VR is going to be the closest we get to going up close and personal with the terrible thunder lizards. But if you were hoping to do so in developer Crytek’s Robinson: The Journey with your PlayStation VR today I have some disappointing news for you: It doesn’t come out until November 8th in the U.S., and the 9th in Europe. That isn’t too far away, but up until now Crytek hasn’t exactly given a specific release date for its dino-centric adventure.
As the name implies, in Robinson you’re an astronaut who’s crash-landed on an uncharted world, but unlike other planets, this one is inhabited by all manner of dinosaurs. Brachiosaur, t-rex, raptors (with feathers!) and pterodactyls are all on display here, and only some of them will try to make you extinct. Each time I’ve played it at tradeshows I’ve come away extremely impressed, so I’m just as disappointed as you might be that I’ll have to wait a little longer.
Actually, maybe it’s a good thing that the game isn’t out today. It’s not like there’s a shortage of PSVR games to play, and the few weeks’ gap means that it won’t be competing for attention with the likes of Batman Arkham VR or Here They Lie. Instead, one of my personal favorite games from this E3 is going up against another PSVR game, Eagle Flight from Ubisoft.
Source: Crytek
Apple Store fires staff for stealing customers’ private pics
Another Apple Store in Australia is embroiled in a scandal, and this time, it involves explicit photos. According to Courier Mail (membership required), the Carindale Apple Store in Queensland fired four male employees for not only stealing sensitive images from customers’ phones sent in for repair, but also for taking creepshots of their female co-workers. The four reportedly shared their loot with other employees in chat, where they rated women’s body parts out of 10. By the time their MO was discovered, they already had quite a collection going: the publication says they were in possession of over 100 creepshots and stolen images, including close-ups of women’s chests and derrières.
The whole thing was apparently blown wide open when a staff member found one of the employees involved browsing a customer’s iPhone in the repair room. Courier Mail says the Carindale store then brought in an HR executive from overseas to investigate the issue.
In a statement sent to the various publications, Apple insists that its investigator didn’t find evidence that the employees transferred customers’ photos and took inappropriate shots of female co-workers without their consent. Nevertheless, Cupertino confirmed that the store already sacked several people as a result of its findings. It’s unclear why the company would fire anyone if nothing improper took place, so we reached out for clarification.
Here is Apple’s full statement:
“We are investigating a violation of Apple’s business conduct policy at our store in Carindale, where several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings.
Based on our investigation thus far, we have seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed by these former employees. We have met with our store team to let them know about the investigation and inform them about the steps Apple is taking to protect their privacy.
Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behaviour that goes against our values.”
Last year, an Apple Store in Melbourne landed in hot water after employees kicked out a group of black teenagers. Their reason? They were worried that the kids would “steal something.” The store apologized for the incident, and Apple chief Tim Cook sent out a company-wide email calling the incident “unacceptable.”
Via: Mashable
Source: Courier Mail
The Next Generation Apple Watch Could Identify Users by Their Heart Rate
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an invention today that suggests the next Apple Watch could identify its owner simply by checking their heart rate.
Apple’s patent application is titled “User identification system based on plethysmography” and describes how a pulse oximeter is used to determine the biometric signature of a user’s cardio rhythms. This data could then be used to identify the wearer and unlock the watch in a manner similar to Touch ID on the iPhone.
The system works similarly to existing monitors, by projecting light on the user’s skin and measuring how much of it is absorbed and reflected back to the device. The measurement can then be used to determine the amount of blood present in the vasculature. According to the patent, the data gathered by the two photosensors is either stored or compared against previously saved information to positively identify the user.
In an associated patent also published today, the invention is extended to take in data from motion sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes to determine user movement. Certain gestures, for example raising the device from waist height to head height, trigger the authentication process.
AppleInsider notes that the system could replace Touch ID during Apple Pay payments and further reduce the watch’s reliance on iPhone, although it’s unclear if heart rate data can be a unique enough identifier to ensure the same level of security.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tag: patent
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Samsung Offers Note 7 Recall Customers $100 in Credit to Stay Loyal
Samsung is offering $100 bill credit to U.S. customers caught up in its ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 recall if they’re willing to stay loyal to the brand (via TechCrunch).
Samsung discontinued the Note 7 earlier this week after handsets deemed safe by the company began setting on fire just like the handsets they replaced. Samsung is now offering those who choose to exchange the phone for any other Samsung device up to $100 credit as a goodwill gesture.
Those who opt to exchange the Note 7 for a full refund or for another brand of smartphone are being offered a smaller $25 credit for the hassle. Currently the goodwill credit appears to be limited to U.S customers.
Commenting in a statement on the U.S. refund and exchange program, Tim Baxter, president and COO of Samsung Electronics America, said: “We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carrier and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times. We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right.”
According to a report by The New York Times, Samsung still doesn’t know exactly why Note 7 smartphones have been catching fire. The company was apparently unable to replicate the problem at their labs and have so far been unable to identify the exact cause of the issue.
Samsung’s recall of the devices was made official today via the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, citing “serious fire and burn hazards” to consumers. According to the statement, Samsung has received 96 reports of batteries overheating in the U.S., including 23 new reports since the September 15 recall announcement. Samsung has also received 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damage associated with Note 7 phones.
Some reports predict the recall could cost the company $17 billion. Samsung has already issued a profit warning and slashed its Q3 estimate by a third, with $2.3 billion in lost operating profits, down nearly 30 per cent from a year earlier.
Tags: Samsung, Galaxy Note 7
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Linksys WRT3200ACM MU-MIMO Gigabit Wi-Fi Router Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The Linksys WRT3200ACM MU-MIMO Gigabit Wi-Fi Router is the latest router in Belkin’s WRT series, and not surprisingly, it looks exactly like the previous models. On the inside, however, it’s an entirely different beast. The new router now has a powerful 1.8Ghz dual-core processor, 256MB of Flash and 512MB of system memory — that’s compared to the 1.6Ghz, 128MB Flash and 512MB RAM of its predecessor.
It also supports the latest Tri-band 160 technology, which means that on paper, it’s twice as fast (up t0 2,600Mbps) as normal routers at close range. Here’s the problem though: you will not see this level of performance in real life. This is because there are no Tri-band 160 clients (laptops, phones, etc.) currently on the market — and there won’t likely be any anytime soon.
The truth is, there aren’t currently any laptops or phones that support Wi-Fi speeds faster than 877Mbs, because that’s already really fast. And like all powerful routers, the WRT3200ACM is only as fast as the clients connected to it. That means, when working as intended, the WRT3200ACM will not improve your network speed over previous WRT models, or even most AC1900 routers, for that matter.
And speaking of intent, I’m sure Linksys didn’t plan for the WRT3200ACM to be as buggy as it was in my testing, but here we are. To be sure, most routers are pretty buggy when first released (especially Linksys WRT ones) and only smooth out once the firmware is updated weeks or months after launch.
In terms of raw speed, I was unimpressed. When connected to dual-band 80Mhz clients (again, there are no Tri-band 160 clients on the market) the router delivered a sustained speed topping out at around 550Mbps, about average compared with other high-end routers. Range was also about average, maxing out at about 150 feet after going through a few walls. Wi-Fi range depends heavily on the environment, the more walls, for example, the shorter the range gets, so your mileage may vary.
All things considered, like most high-end routers, the WRT3200ACM solves Wi-Fi problems that most users don’t have. Namely, the ever-increasing boosting of speed and power on the router side. On the other hand, it doesn’t really provide anything that would clearly improve your life in the real world like, say, exceptional range for a large home.
Obviously, it doesn’t hurt to have a powerful router, but with the WRT3200ACM, you definitely should wait until after one or two rounds of firmware updates before getting it. At $280, it’s a bit too expensive for a buggy router. You can also opt for the previous models, the WRT1900AC or WRT1900ACS. These ave been out for a while now, and have stable firmware and lower costs. And if you’re looking for the best routers to date, check out this list.
Google Photos Can Now Fix Sideways Snaps and Generate GIFs to Share
Google has announced a few notable updates to its Photos app, with some new features powered by its machine-learning technology.
The app can now automatically generate animated GIFs from videos you upload to the service. Google says its technology looks for video segments that capture activity — “a jump into the pool, or even just an adorable smile” — and creates short animations that can then be easily shared over email or social media.
In addition, Photos now uses facial recognition to surface older pictures of people that appear in your most recent uploads, and can also serve up what it considers to be picture ‘highlights’ from each month – similar to Apple’s Memories feature in its native Photos app.
Last but not least, Google Photos now detects sideways photos in your uploads and offers to rotate them in one batch, saving you from having to correct their orientation yourself one by one.
Google Photos is a free download for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tag: Google Photos
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