Hasta La Gadget!

It may not be as convenient as, say, Three UK’s attempt to abolish data roaming frustrations, but today AT&T has partnered with yet another WiFi hotspot provider to make sharing those vacation pictures with cubicle-bound chums that much easier. International hotspot outfit Fon and Ma Bell have inked a deal that opens their respective WiFi networks up to each other’s customers, though jetsetters will need a device compatible with AT&T’s WiFi International iOS and Android apps. That’s not the only catch, either. Like with AT&T’s other hotspot arrangements, patrons of the US carrier will already need a roaming data plan to take advantage of the free 1GB of WiFi per month — a 300 or 800MB Global Add-on package, in this case. Well, like everyone says: there’s no such thing as free international WiFi sharing agreement data.

Filed under: Handhelds, Wireless, AT&T

Comments

FreedomPop’s namesake free data hasn’t been especially fast given its reliance on WiMAX and EV-DO, but the company is taking a big step forward with just-launched support for Sprint’s LTE network. Those who buy the $149 FreedomSpot 5580 LTE hotspot (pictured above) can get truly high speeds without having to pay a cent for regular service. Future devices and LTE-friendly smartphone service are also coming, although there is a big catch. That free tier is still capped at 500MB per month — take full advantage of LTE and you’re more likely to either pay overage fees or switch to one of FreedomPop’s paid plans. Even so, the upgraded service may be tempting for those who aren’t willing to sacrifice performance at any price.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Sprint

Comments

Source: FreedomPop

Anyone who’s tried to tether to their iPhone or iPad will recall how iOS manages to craft its own passwords when used as a personal hotspot. The aim is to ensure that anyone sharing a data connection will get some degree of security, regardless of whether or not they tinker with the password themselves. However, three researchers from FAU in Germany have now worked the structure behind these auto-generated keys — a combination of a short English word and a series or random numbers — and managed to crack that hotspot protection in under a minute. To start, the word list contains about 52,500 entries, and once the testers were able to capture a WiFi connection, they used an AMD Radeon HD 6990 GPU to cycle through all those words with number codes, taking just under 50 minutes to crack with rote entry. Following that, they realized that only a small subset (just 1,842) of the word list was being used.

With an even faster GPU — a cluster of four AMD Radeon HD 7970s — they got the hotspot password cracking time to 50 seconds. The Friedrich-Alexander University researchers added that unscrupulous types could use comparable processing power through cloud computing. “System-generated passwords should be reasonably long, and should use a reasonably large character set. Consequently, hotspot passwords should be composed of completely random sequences of letters, numbers, and special characters,” says the report, which outlines the trade-off between security and usability. However, as ZDNet notes, Apple’s cycled password approach still offers more protection than static options found elsewhere. Check out the full paper at the source.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Via: ZDNet

Source: Department of Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander University (PDF)

3DS owners in the UK will have at least one less thing to gripe about starting today: connectivity. Not that the British arm of the gaming giant hasn’t been incredibly proactive about lining up WiFi partners, but the deal struck with O2 grants customers free access at yet another 7,000 hotspots. That includes major chains such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee, Debenhams, House of Fraser and Toby Carvery, not mention several major venues and arenas. This expansion of Nintendo’s gratis network keeps DLC and new games within easy reach at almost all times, since the country’s major airports, hotels and a few other fast food chains are already covered. Now Nintendo just needs to strike a deal with a few of the nation’s optometrists. All that extra play time is certainly going to strain a few eyes.

Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo

Comments

Source: Eurogamer.net

Remember Yotaphone, the twin-display Android smartphone (color LCD in front, e-ink in back)? Today at CTIA in Las Vagas, Yota devices, the company behind the innovative handset, introduced Ruby, a sleek LTE hotspot with a small e-ink screen. We don’t usually get too excited about such devices, but Ruby looks like something out of Jony Ive‘s workshop, with some interesting features to match. The design recalls the iPod mini but is made of white plastic instead of aluminum.

Along the top edge, you’ll find the e-ink display and a two-way power switch — slide it to the left and Ruby behaves like a secure hotspot, slide it to the right and it’s a public access point. The e-ink screen shows battery and signal status, the number of connected devices and a smiley icon to confirm public mode. On the bottom edge is a trick flap that’s both a micro-USB socket and a USB Type A plug depending on how it’s positioned — the micro-SIM slot is cleverly hidden behind it. A programmable RGB LED mounted behind the Yota logo completes the package on the front of the hotspot.

Ruby currently supports quad-band EDGE, plus HSPA+ and LTE for the European market, but the radio can be configured (in hardware) to support other bands. The 2100mAh battery powers the unit for about 16 hours of use (60 hours on standby) and can be charged to 70 percent capacity in about an hour. Yota’s signed a few deals with carriers in Russia and Europe and the device is expected to become available to Russian customers in two to three weeks for about $120 (unsubsidized). No word on whether Ruby will land in the US (yet). Take a look at our hands-on gallery below.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

Comments