Li-fi: an Internet through a light bulb

Imagine an office where every computer, mobile phone and tablet is connected to the Internet, not through an ethernet connection or via Wi-Fi, but just through the overhead lights.

That is the vision that Harald Haas lays out for me when he visits my office to demonstrate his LiFi technology.

Mr. Haas has been working on this at Edinburgh University for some years, and is now running a company called Pure LiFi to try and commercialise the technology. The university itself has invested in a LiFi R&D Center to try to kick-start an industry that might turn Edinburgh into a world centre for this technology.

Next week, Mr. Haas and a team which includes some of his former doctoral students will take their equipment to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. So the demonstration in our office feels like quite a big deal — will it work and will it impress?

They set up two laptops on a table, one with a conventional connection to the Internet, linked to a piece of kit which is in turn connected to a conventional light fitting. The other computer has a bulky unit attached to it, effectively a light receiver. It’s by making the light flicker very rapidly that data is conveyed from one computer to the other. It’s a bit like Morse code, explains the professor, but in a very sophisticated way, achieving very high data rates.

And lo and behold!, it works, with the second laptop streaming a video which buffers and halts once I block off the light completely. Impressive then, but I have several questions about the practicality of getting LiFi adopted in the real world.

The clunky receiver unit looks a long way from being a finished product. The team admits there is much to do in this area, but with enough investment they believe they can miniaturise this process so that it will be a 1-square-centimetre device that can be fitted into any smartphone.

Why an alternative?

Even then, there is a more important question. Why do we need an alternative means of connecting to the Internet when Wi-Fi works so well? Wi-Fi is indeed a great success, says Mr. Haas, so much so that the radio spectrum is getting overcrowded. We have deployed so many wireless access points that they interfere with each other and slow down the actual data rates. We need other pipes, fatter pipes, and light is a big pipe for wireless connectivity.

Security benefits

He also maintains that there are security benefits. Light-generated Internet connections do not travel through walls, so cannot be intercepted like a Wi-Fi signal. The professor looks forward to a future where the much-hyped Internet of things becomes a reality; where there is wireless connectivity everywhere; where your fridge talks to your toaster. This provides the means to achieve that.

It is a beguiling vision but a lot more work needs to be done before we all start flicking a light switch to get connected. — The New York Times

iPhones, iPads vulnerable to hacking

A major flaw in Apple's iOS mobile operating system could allow hackers to intercept email and other communications that are meant to be encrypted, the company said.

If attackers have access to a user's network, such as by sharing the same unsecured wireless service offered by a restaurant, they could see or alter exchanges between the user and protected sites such as Gmail and Facebook, experts said.

"It's as bad as you could imagine, that's all I can say," said Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor Matthew Green.

Apple did not say when or how it learned about the flaw in the way iOS handles sessions in what are known as secure sockets layer or transport layer security, nor did it say whether the flaw was being exploited.

But a statement on its support website was blunt: The software "failed to validate the authenticity of the connection."

Apple released software patches and an update for the current version of iOS for iPhone 4 and later, 5th generation iPod touches, and iPad 2 and later.

Without the fix, a hacker could impersonate a protected site and sit in the middle as email or financial data goes between the user and the real site, Green said.

Apple did not reply to requests for comment. The flaw appears to be in the way that well-understood protocols were implemented, an embarrassing lapse for a company of Apple's stature and technical prowess.

The company was recently stung by leaked intelligence documents claiming that authorities had 100% success rate in breaking into iPhones.

Friday's announcement suggests that enterprising hackers could have had great success as well if they knew of the flaw.

One more reason that why you should go for a walk

Now, there is another reason why you should walk besides weight loss. By walking just one km, you can produce enough power to recharge your mobile phone's battery.

Two students from Bhubaneswar won wide appreciation during the 101st National Science Congress, which concluded in Jammu on February 7, for making a modified shoe fitted with peizo cell that produces storable energy.

Subhranshu Banerjee, a Class VIII student of ODM Public School and Deekshya Das, a Class IX student of the same school, have made the unique shoe. "You can walk more after wearing the modified shoe and recharge your laptop. The benefits of walking are undisputable from the health point of view," Banerjee told mediapersons here.

Showing a prototype of the shoe, Banerjee said the peizo cell can be fitted into the shoe's sole and connected to a battery. "Whenever the person walks, the pressure on the cell will create power, which will be stored in the battery," he said.

Das said the idea struck her amid debates over routine power failure. "We conducted many trials before zeroing on the Rs 10 coin peizo cell," she said. If produced in large volume, such shoe would not cost more. This device, produced commercially, will cost Rs 100 only, they said.

"Such shoes would be of great help during disasters when the power network gets disconnected. More research is required to make it usable and commercially viable," said S Minaketan, principal of the school.

Huawei pokes fun at Apple, Samsung using iPhone app, Siri

Chinese telecom giant Huawei, the third biggest smartphone maker in the world, has trolled rivals Samsung and Apple in its new teaser for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014. The company has poked fun at the two biggest smartphone makers using iPhone and a Siri-like voice assistant.

In a video released on YouTube, a smartphone user asks his iPhone "What's new at this year's Mobile World Congress?" and the digital assistant, whose interface and voice are quite similar to Apple's Siri, gives information about three devices.

The first is "a new tablet with a beautiful, slim design" and its "huge battery gives you days of use." The second is a smartphone "with an amazing front camera." The last "really amazing" device headed to MWC 2014, as per the voice assistant, is "a multimedia tablet that gives the ultimate entertainment experience." This tablet also supports the fastest next-generation LTE (4G) connections.

And now comes the punch line. The smartphone user asks the voice assistant "What are they? Fruit or Some Song?" In response, the software says, "No, they are Huawei. It looks like Huawei is ready to amaze the world again."

Huawei has been struggling to make headway into the profitable US market, despite strong sales in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and Middle East. The company has been a fast mover, launching smartphones with big screen or thin profiles, but has been embroiled in controversy over claims of spying on US networks for China.

The company has 4.8% share of the global smartphone market in 2013 and 5.7% in the fourth quarter of the year.

Nokia Android phone's name 'confirmed'

To be called Nokia X, the company's Android phone is reportedly all set to launch at the forthcoming MWC in Barcelona. Image Courtesy @evleaks

Sony Xperia new tablet photo, specifications leaked

Sony's lineup for Mobile World Congress 2014 seems to be getting bigger everyday. While Xperia Z2 and Xperia G were leaked recently, the latest to join their ranks is the next-generation tablet.

The specifications and image of the upcoming Xperia Tablet Z2 have been leaked online by Twitter user EVLeaks. In terms of looks, the device will look similar to the current model, Xperia Tablet Z. Thus it will continue with the thin profile and thick bezels. It is not yet clear whether it will use metal in the new tablet, as it has done with the Xperia Z1 smartphone; its predecessor is made using plastic and glass.

Hardware specifications of Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 include 10.1-inch display with 1920x1080p resolution, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset and 3GB RAM. Other features include 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 6,000mAh battery, 16GB internal storage, microSD support and Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system. Just like the previous Sony tablet, Xperia Tablet Z2 will be waterproof.

Twitter user Gadget Leaks has also reported that Xperia Tablet Z2 will have dimensions of 266x172x6.4mm. The Wi-Fi only model will weigh 426gram, while the 4G-capable variant will weight 439gram; this will make the device much lighter than the iPad Air, the lightest full-sized tablet in the market right now.

Sony unveiled the predecessor of this model at Mobile World Congress last year.

Samsung galaxy grand neo's price revealed

Within a month of announcing it globally, Samsung is set to launch Galaxy Grand Neo smartphone in the Indian market. The device is likely to be priced at approximately Rs 19,000 in the country and will hit the market next week.

It will compete against the likes of LG Optimus G Pro Lite Dual, Sony Xperia C, Micromax Canvas Turbo and Xolo Q3000 at this price point.

In terms of specifications, the Galaxy Grand Neo is quite similar to the original Galaxy Grand smartphone. Both handsets offer dual-sim functionality and have 5-inch screens with 800x480p resolution. The two also have 2,100mAh battery, Android 4.2 operating system and 1GB RAM.

The Galaxy Grand Neo comes with 8 and 16GB storage options, while the original Grand only offered 8GB internal storage.

There are two downgrades in the Galaxy Grand Neo - camera and processor. While Samsung has used a quad-core chip in Grand Neo, it has used the A7 CPU architecture. However, the dual-core processor of Galaxy Grand was designed on the more efficient A9 CPU architecture.

The new model has a 5MP rear camera and VGA front camera, compared to the 8MP rear camera and 1.2MP front camera of the original Grand.