When you do your streaming over AirPlay, you’re usually doing it over your home Wi-Fi network. This is an open standard and you can end up with lo-fi sound cards or poor Wi-Fi connectivity. With AirPlay Direct, Apple would then have a new wireless standard that it would then license to hardware partners. Then, you can go ahead and stream content from your iPhone or MacBook, but you’d be doing it over a dedicated wireless network and not your home Wi-Fi.

Of course, what this means is that you’d end up buying all new equipment as far as transmitters and receivers go, but it does mean that Apple is able to better control the hi-fi wireless streaming experience, whether that involves music, movies, or whatever else. The name “AirPlay Direct” is already a registered trademark to some company in Georgia, but I’m sure with that Apple can spend some of that new $1 billion to buy them out of that.

[Source]

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Late last year, I had a look at the AAXA P4 pico pocket projector. It was a handy little gadget that even had Windows Embedded under the hood. Continuing to move forward, AAXA Technologies has now introduced two new additions to its pico projector family: the P4 WiFi and the P4-X.

Both of these take on much the same form factor as before, but they come with a couple of notable changes. The AAXA P4 WiFi, as its name clearly indicates, now boasts WiFi connectivity. This works in tandem with the Windows CE operating system to give you more flexibility for projected presentations on teh go. They’ve also upgraded the brightness from 80 lumens to 100 lumens, using Osram’s new converter green technology. Sold as a combo with the keyboard-mouse unit, the AAXA P4 WiFi will be retailing exclusively through the AAXA website for $399.

As a more budget-friendly option for consumers, the P4-X is a little cheaper at $299. It doesn’t have Windows, but there is a mini-HDMI port that is good for 720p videos, as well as pictures, text, and music. You get 80 lumens in DC mode and 60 lumens in battery mode leveraging DLP tech from Texas Instruments and Vibrant-Color technology from AAXA. Battery life is rated at 75 minutes.

See the full press releases below for more info.

AAXA Technologies Introduces the World’s Brightest WIFI Pico Projector
The new AAXA P4 WIFI Pico Projector features WIFI connectivity and 100 Lumens of Brightness
Santa Ana, CA May 1, 2012

AAXA Technologies, the leading manufacturer of Pico projectors, has announced the release of the P4 WIFI Pico Projector, a mini-projector featuring WIFI connectivity and a 100 lumen light engine. The P4 WIFI is AAXA’s latest revision of the popular P4 Pico Projector model. The new P4 WIFI enhances mobile capabilities by adding 802.11 WIFI connectivity to the existing Windows CE operating system. The previous Texas Instruments DLP powered light-engine is improved with Osram’s new “converter green” LED technology which boosts brightness from 80 to 100 lumens. Combined with AAXA’s proprietary Vibrant-Color™ technology AAXA claims the P4 WIFI can deliver “high brightness and deep colors for a rich viewing experience up to 80”.

Powerful Mobile Device

“The P4 WIFI is the most powerful and fully-featured projector in its class. Designed for today’s on-thego executive the P4 employs a robust Windows CE 6.0 processor, a fast WIFI connection, 2GB of onboard memory and is capable of playing 720p videos, high resolution pictures, and supports an array of 3rd party apps including Microsoft Office mobile, internet browsers, Adobe PDF viewer, mobile games, and a variety of other Windows CE applications. Coupled with the wireless keyboard and mouse the P4 WIFI can function as a true mobile computing platform! Additionally with the P4 WIFI’s 1-watt speaker the P4 can serve double-duty as a standalone multimedia system.

True Pocket Projector
At less than 5.6” long, 2.7” wide, and 1.2” tall the P4 is a true pocket projector and includes a premiumgrade lithium ion battery capable of 75+ minutes of operation. Additional features include an advanced wireless keyboard and mouse, adjustable tripod, 1280×800 VGA input, Micro SD Card slot, USB on-the-go, composite video input, and 3.5mm headphone jack.

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AAXA Technologies World’s Brightest Battery Powered Pico Projector gets 720p HD with HDMI connectivity
AAXA’s P4-X Pico Projector now comes with HDMI and a lower price point
Santa Ana, CA, May 17th, 2012

AAXA Technologies Inc, a global leader in pico projection technology, has unveiled the updated version of the brightest battery-powered pico projector on the market. The P4-X now includes a mini-HDMI digital input allowing high-definition digital video and audio sources to be connected. The portable mini-device now packs more functionality than before while still maintaining the diminutive form factor that enables the P4-X to fit comfortably in a pocket. The heart of the P4-X is the high-brightness optical engine incorporating 15,000 hour LEDs, Texas Instrument’s DLP technology and AAXA’s Vibrant-Color technology. The P4-X’s high-brightness optical engine is capable of delivering 80 lumens in DC power mode and 60 lumens in battery mode – almost double the battery brightness of most pico projectors. The operating time is 75 minutes on a built-in lithium ion battery or unlimited when plugged into a wall outlet.

Media Powerhouse
The P4-X Pico Projector lets users spontaneously share photos, videos or other digital media with family and friends anytime, anywhere. With its powerful ARM-based MP4 Media Player the P4-X can play 720p videos, pictures, and even text and music. The P4-X also accepts a variety of media inputs including mini digital HDMI, VGA, and composite video. The array of inputs enables the P4-X to connect to Android devices, Apple devices, tablets, blu-ray players, laptops, game consoles, and a multitude of other digital devices.

A True Pocket Projector
There’s always room for the P4-X. At less than 5.6” long, 2.7” wide, and 1.2” tall the P4-X is a true pocket projector that fits comfortably in a laptop bag or briefcase. The P4-X epitomizes mobility with a premium-grade lithium ion battery capable of 75+ minutes of operation anytime, anywhere. Coupled with the onboard media player and speaker, the P4-X can double as a pico projector or an all-in-one mobile multimedia center.

The post AAXA Technologies P4 WiFi and P4-X Pico Projectors appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The Venetian innovation, which comes by way of Fabrizio Tamburini and his team of researchers, effectively takes radio waves and twists them into a vortex. As a result, you’re able to send several discrete signals over the same frequency, theoretically (though not practically) providing us with an “infinite number of channels in a given, fixed bandwidth.”

Basically, the multiple signals are sent out with different degrees of spin (“orbital angular momentum states”) and the receiver can then key in on one signal or the other. The provided video demonstrates this using the standard 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band over a distance of 442 meters. You can skip ahead to 7:28 to see the actual demo itself.

As one commenter points out, though, this approach “only works for line-of-sight (LOS) transmission. Once a signal bounces off a surface, the angular structure of the wave is scattered, and the polarization (or vorticity in this case) is lost.” So, is this a viable solution or is it shoddy science?

The post Radio Wave Vortex Could Solve Finite Spectrum Problem? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The new module is a combo chip that’ll do the new Wi-Fi thing, as well as Bluetooth and FM radio. Even though 802.11ac sounds like it’s going backwards toward 802.11a/b/g, it’s actually quite a step ahead of 802.11n. Yeah, they should have picked another name, but the crux of it is that you get speeds of up to 433Mbps. That’s blazing, getting some people to call it 5G. It’s up to you if you agree.

Either way, the WCN3680 will work in tandem with the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 and S4 APQ8064 dual-core and quad-core chips, which already support 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, as well as 3G/4G/LTE. Sample chips are being prepared for manufacturers for Q2, so hopefully we’ll see something with these modules in place by the end of the year.

The post Qualcomm WCN3680 Combo Chip Offers “5G” Connectivity appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Video can be pretty great, but live video can be even better. You could stream from your cell phone, but the quality isn’t going to be the best. With Live Shell, you can stream directly from your camcorder of choice directly to the web, all without using a PC as an intermediary.

The wireless accessory looks like it can work with a number of different camcorders, getting the video feed through a standard HDMI connection. It takes three AA batteries and connects to the Internet via WiFi or Ethernet, streaming your feed directly to your Ustream channel. The batteries are said to last about three hours of straight shooting.

You can see the Cerevo Live Shell in action through the embedded video above. It’s all in Japanese, but the setup and use seem easy enough to follow. It’s “coming soon” for $299.

The post Live Shell Streams Video Directly From Camera To Ustream appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Not all routers are made alike, and they don’t all have to be boring grey boxes that get hidden away in the corner of a room. Asus showed off one of the latest additions to its wireless router line at CES 2012 and it turns out that its beauty goes further than skin deep.

Yes, that glossy black surface is nice and they’ve done an interesting job with that “weave” pattern on the top, but the Asus RT-N66U also happens to be really fast. You get dual 450Mbps wireless service, pushing that much bandwidth on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels independently. That combines for 900Mbps of wireless speed.

There are also two high-speed, high-power USB ports on the back that allow you share external drives across your network at up to about 25MB/s, as well as sharing printers and other peripherals. Rounding out the package is a convenient web-based GUI for setup, meaning that you can get your network up and running on your smartphone or tablet if you don’t want to boot up your computer.

Asus also unleashed a funky EA-N66 dual-band wireless Ethernet adapter. It sorta looks like a transporter deck you can step into. We doubt Asus is releasing those to the public yet. The EA-N66 provides the same 450Mbps bandwidth but only on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz channels. You can also set it as a repeater or an access point node for growing your network.  The RT-N66U will sell for around $179, while the EA-N66 will be $59 when they are released later this month.

The post CES: Asus RT-N66U Extreme Gigabit N Wireless Router appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

They have just unveiled a new vending machine that looks mostly like all of their other vending machines, except for that glowing blue sign at the top that reads “Wi-Fi.” Better still, you don’t have to take out your change and pump some cash into the machine to get onto this wireless superhighway, because Asahi is giving you the Wi-Fi for free.

Each machine will have an effective range of up to 50 meters (about 164 feet) and it will be able to support a connection with multiple devices. You don’t have to register, but you will be pushed to a splash page that displays “location-specific information,” like local stores, sightseeing information, and so on. Each Wi-Fi session is limited to 30 minutes, though clearing out your cookies should allow you to re-connect.

Unfortunately, not all of Asahi’s 250,000 vending machines in Japan will be equipped with the Internet. The plan is to roll out about 1,000 of them to Tokyo, Sendai, Chubu, Kinki, and Fukuoka next year with a total of 10,000 machines being set up within the next five years.

The post Japanese Vending Machines By Asahi Dish Out Free Wi-Fi appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Although some Tab users are reporting that the installation went smoothly enough and WIFI isn’t a problem, others say that when they’ve contacted Samsung they are advised to send it in for repair. Hopefully Samsung will have an easier fix out in the next day or two. If this update is negatively affecting enough users and sending it in is the only way to fix it, you can guarantee this could hurt Samsung’s tablet reputation a great deal.

If you own a Tab and were going to update, just make sure you proceed with caution. For those of us that can’t live without our tablets even for a day or two it is probably best to skip this update until a patch for the installation has arrived on scene.

The post Galaxy Tab Update Causes Loss Of Wifi And More appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This crazy plan is now live and it does not appear to be a promotional price to lock you into their fold. That $19 price point sticks with you for however long you stick with Republic Wireless. If it sounds too good to be true, well, you have to understand a couple of catches.

First, you’re not really allowed to bring your own phone. Instead, you have to use a special phone with special hardware geared specifically toward Republic Wireless. For now, the only handset available is the LG Optimus with Android 2.3 ($199 outright, $99 with coupon code “welcome19″), but they’ll surely add more in the future.

The service is designed so that you use Wi-Fi for most of your needs and it only falls back onto 3G (Republic uses the Sprint network) as necessary. This includes both data requirements, as well as voice. This “hybrid technology” is not unlike the UMA service from T-Mobile. Texts can be sent over Wi-Fi too.

The other catch? While the plan is “unlimited” in name, there are some soft caps. If your Cellular Usage Index (CUI) is too high, meaning you do too much on 3G (and not enough on Wi-Fi), Republic Wireless will show you the door. The “soft caps” appear to be set at 550 minutes, 150 texts, and 300MB of data. Remember that these are only over 3G and you can be as unlimited as you want over Wi-Fi.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, Republic Wireless is a venture by Bandwidth.com, which also happens to be the parent company of such companies as Skype, LivingSocial, and Pandora. So, yes, they know what they’re doing when it comes to consumer-geared online services.

The post Republic Wireless $19/Month Unlimited Plan Has Soft Caps appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

So, to help spread the word about Windows Phone 7 (and WP7.5 Mango), Nokia is planning to launch 26 Wi-Fi hotspots spread out around London. These free hotspots will utilize existing telephone boxes, connecting them to 20Mbps DSL lines. That said, speed will be capped at 1Mbps downstream and 500kbps upstream. Naturally, connecting to these WiFi access points will lead you to a promotional splash page like the one shown above.

This is a similar strategy as that employed by Google in airports a couple years ago, building the brand awareness with free WiFi for the random populace. This gives Nokia a way into the heads of consumers to promote the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, since they may not be able to get their attention otherwise. It also helps that they can collect some data about the people who use these hotspots, since that’ll surely be a part of the T&C agreement.

If these are still around when the 2012 London Olympics take place, I imagine they’ll get quite a bit of attention (and data).

The post Nokia Promotes Windows Phone With Free WiFi For Londoners appeared first on Mobile Magazine.