Wi-Fi Communicators For the Real World

Erik_ writes: "In this most interesting article on MSN Wearable Wi-Fi - The wave of the future?, there is a description of a Wi-Fi Communicator device. Just like on Star Trek (Thanks Gene), these devices provides hands-free, voice-activated communications throughout any 802.11b networked building or campus. The company manufacturing these devices Vocera hopes to begin selling the equipment later this year. Can't wait to get my hands on some of these communicators... Beam me up Scotty."

Comments

Activation

[carlos_benj]

So, will we have to slap our left breast and look up at the ceiling while we talk?

Won't work, nice idea tho

[colenski]

We are using a switched full duplex 100baseT LAN
to support our Mitel 3300 ICP with QoS tagging
and 5020 IP phones and we *still* get chop if the LAN gets super busy.
You should see the switches go nuts with blinkenlights when someone sends out a page
Given that my decently designed wired lan bogs down, how well do they think
it's gonna work on a variable rate unswitched network with 1/10th the bandwidth
- more than 2 users, and sayanora baby.


Sig's suck, especially this one.

A better story

[Reality Master 101]

Speaking of WiFi, since Slashdot seems to think this story is interesting (*yawn*) and a much more interesting story doesn't seem to be able to make it to the front page, I recommend checking this story out. Bottom line, a couple of garage tinkerers have managed to extend 802.11b's range to about 20 miles. Big deal, right? We hear about this all the time. The kicker is that they are actually deploying it in some neighborhoods, so it appears to be something real rather than something "we hope to deploy 5 years from now".

We might actually see universal broadband in our lifetimes! (Not that I don't already have a l33t 3 megabit cable modem, but...)

What I especially like about this is that true broadcast broadband would allow a lot of competing providers in each area, instead of needing massive investment in running wires.