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Wireless Internet Access Uses Visible Light, Not Radio Waves

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the no-tin-foil-hats-required dept.

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that a company has demonstrated a new form of wireless communication that uses light instead of radio waves. "Its inventor, St. Cloud resident John Pederson, says visible-light embedded wireless data communication is the next step in the evolution of wireless communications, one that will expand the possibilities in phone and computer use. The connection provides Web access with almost no wiring, better security and with speeds more than eight times faster than cable."

12 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. WARNING! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    WARNING!
    Do not look at the internet with your remaining eye.

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    liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. It's called free space optics by eobanb · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's called free space optics. The technology has been around a long time, in fact, and for a while it was fairly common on laptops. It was called IrDA, and though it was fairly short range you could use it to transfer files, establish a TCP/IP connection, etc.

    I remember playing a Starcraft game with an iMac G3 and PowerBook G3. A friend and I used AppleTalk over IrDA. Unfortunately it was rather awkward since they had to line up, but we figured out you could bounce the infrared beam with mirrors. So we didn't need ethernet, we could play wirelessly...this was in 1998, long before 802.11b became mass-market.

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    1. Re:It's called free space optics by should_be_linear · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And here is GPL'd design: http://ronja.twibright.com/

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      839*929
  3. Next step?? by PsyciatricHelp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Last time I checked light doesn't travel through my wall. Radio waves do.

    1. Re:Next step?? by geobeck · · Score: 5, Funny

      I read an article about this or similar technology several months ago. Sure, light doesn't do through walls, but that could be an advantage. You could setup a wireless network that actually stops at the building perimeter.

      Yes, but it would be easy to gain unauthorized access to your wireless network if you have windows.

      Why does that sound familiar?

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    2. Re:Next step?? by MadnessASAP · · Score: 5, Funny

      Great, now I can watch the girl next door change AND leech her wireless with my telescope.

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  4. Re:WARNING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I got that warning after my first goatse encounter. I've been really cautious since.

  5. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They're both part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

  6. Re:huh? by Lord+Ender · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is where you are wrong, sir. And you can test it yourself. Create an HTML document and set the background color past "#FF0000". Crank it up to "#ZZ0000" and your monitor will then begin blasting radio waves at your face.

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  7. Re:huh? by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Use Tempest for Eliza and it'll transmit radio at you for real rather than generating a minor html error :P

  8. Re:But... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Informative

    Come on!

    Yes it says "light" in the title and ScuttleMonkey-added text. The very first sentence of the actual user submission specifies "visible light". Once that context is established, "light" is a perfectly valid shorthand way to refer to it, and is often (though admittedly not always) used in that way.

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  9. Re:But... by simcop2387 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Astronomy