The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute presents the latest developments on Visible Light Communication (VLC) at CeBiT 2012, using standard off-the-shelf LEDs to provide broadband data streams to connected devices.

The Fraunhofer system reaches maximum speeds of up 800 Mbit/s under laboratory conditions. In comparison, current broadband capacity reaces 100 Mbit/s.

As an optical technology it is also ideal for places where WLAN is not desirable (such as hospitals), and can handle all sorts of applications-- from video conferencing to general internet use.

Go Broadband Communication from LED Ceiling Lamp

Researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory use the power of wifi to gain one of Superman's many powers-- using the wifi-based "Wi-Vi" to detect movement through walls.

In concept Wi-Vi is similar to radar and sonar imaging, only using low-power wifi signals to track movement in closed rooms or behind a wall. The system requires 2 transmit antennas and 1 receiver, with one transmitter sending out a signal that is the inverse of the signal from the other.

Due to nulling effect, the signals from the two antennas cancel each other out when "bouncing" back after hitting static objects-- but not when reflecting off moving objects. The receiver tracks the time it takes for signals to reflect back from a moving object (such as a person in a room) and calculates where it is at any time, producing a "sort of" X-ray effect.

In response to growing competition from Android smartphones Apple plans an iPhone sales and marketing revamp within its brick and mortar outlets, 9to5Mac reports.

According to "multiple people" the company organised a so-called secretive summit for Apple Retail Store Leaders from around the world, where CEO Tim Cook "noted his dissatisfaction that approximately 80% of all iPhones are not purchased from an Apple Store."

Making matters uglier are rumours of carrier stores giving salespeople incentives for selling non-iPhone smartphones.

Following the dropping of the Nokia name Microsoft reveals the first own-brand Lumia smartphone-- the Lumia 535, an entry-level device featuring a 5-inch display and a 5MP front-facing camera.

It carries a 960 x 540 resolution display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 8GB storage (expandable via microSD slot) and 1GB RAM inside plastic casing complete with colourful removable back cover. The OS of choice is, obviously, Windows Phone 8.1, and Microsoft includes features such as the Action Center, Word Flow, Cortana, Skype and One Note.