Vodafone tore a phone apart...put the components in a keyboard box, added standard RCA connectors – and now you have the Vodafone Webbox, the first device of its kind, bringing affordable internet access to existing television set, just by plugging in a keyboard.

Developed with emerging markets in mind (where many don't yet have affordable internet access), the Webbox is a sleek, black, 14 x 25cm QWERTY keyboard. Webbox plugs into TV with no set-up required, converting any standard domestic television Continue reading...

Cisco describes its Linksys E4200 router as its best-in-class wireless networking solution-- with speeds of up to 450 Mbps.

The router carries simultaneous dual-band wireless-N, x4 gigabit ports and 3x3 antenna configuration in sleek industrial design. Combining its 6 antennas with internal and external amplifiers also boosts its signal strength.

It comes with a USB port, through which customers can turn the E4200 into a UPnP media server-- storingn and sharing media through their network. The Continue reading...

The technology allows peer-to-peer wifi connections between devices like smartphones and cameras-- without the need for wifi networks or access points.

Range and speeds are the same as existing wifi's (200m, 250Mbit/sec). The system employs the latest WPA2 security protections.

Wifi Alliance as an example tells of a user taking photos from a ship's upper deck and sending pictures to a laptop (wifi direct-enabled) on a deck below.

The first Wifi Direct certified devices include Atheros XSPAN Dual-band Continue reading...

Why should humans have all the fun? Mattel's Puppy Tweets lets dogs tweet their owners.  Dogs wear a collar-attached device that interprets the dog's physical activity and sends an appropriate tweet (from of a choice of 500 dog-favoured activities).

Dog tweets range from "Chasing everything that moves is a full-time job!" if the dog is very active to "Your comforter does what its name says it does" if it's sleeping.

The device runs on wi-fi and the USB receiver needs to be plugged in a switched-on Continue reading...

Google will unveil WebP, their new graphics format for displaying. JPEG file format is traditionally used for images on the web, but Google finds it too slow. 65% of bytes on the Web are from images and WebP could cut 40% from image file sizes.

The most common image formats on the web today work on technology from more than a decade ago. Engineers at Google looked for a way to further compress images like JPEG to make them load faster, yet preserve quality and resolution.

You can bet Google Continue reading...

MIT researchers say they can make the Internet 100X to 1000X faster and a lot cheaper (by reducing the amount of energy it consumes).

The trick gain is to replace electrical signals inside the routers with faster optical signals would make the Internet 100, if not 1,000 times faster, while also reducing the amount of energy it consumes.

Yes, optical fibers are already widely used in the Internet. But the routers that direct traffic on the Internet typically convert optical signals to electrical Continue reading...

Tt's not that Blu-ray isn't finally racing along…it's more the danger than digital download is sprinting faster and threatens to permanently overtake Blu-ray any time soon.

Now digital distribution platforms for in-home entertainment (including video-on-demand) have outpaced Blu-ray Disc in US consumer spending during the first half of 2010, passing the $1 billion mark for the first time, according to new figures released by DEG.

Electronic sell-through increased 37% year-over-year to $285 million Continue reading...

The internet is in the running for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

You may think this is very Scandinavian concept because this week Finland residents will have the right by law to access a broadband connection at a mandated speed (at least 1 Mbps, with a goal of 100 Mbps by 2015.)

Yet the Nobel nomination actually follows a campaign by the Italian edition of Wired magazine.

Following the Dynamite-inventor’s will, Alfred Nobel's Peace Prize is to go to whoever "shall have done the most or th Continue reading...