Bradley's Wireless / Networking Blog

Most modern Wi-Fi home networking equipment supports WPA wireless security (and sometimes the newer, improved WPA2). When setting up your network with WPA, you will see several options to choose from often including a choice of encryption method - AES or TKIP. Which one is better?

AES offers stronger encryption technology and is the right choice (assuming all of the devices on your network support it). However, TKIP is also strong and tends to be supported by more equipment on the market. Either is far preferable to using no encryption at all, but consider AES first and TKIP as a reasonable backup option.

→ See Also - Top 10 Tips for Wireless Network Security
Securing Your Wireless Network - Encryption and Authentication (netsecurity.about.com)

Recently revealed details of the future USB 3.0 standard confirm it will support up to 10x the theoretical bandwidth of today's common USB 2.0 technology. USB 3.0 will be the first version to support full duplex (simultaneous bidirectional) communication (that gives two of the 10x of improvement). While 2.0 has also been known in the industry as Hi-Speed, USB 3.0 will be SuperSpeed, and backward compatible.
→ USB - Universal Serial Bus

One of our message board members recently wanted to set up their home network to access the programs and data on an old Windows 98 PC from a new Windows XP system. Accessing files is not too difficult, but being able to actually run Windows programs on one computer and see the interface on another requires more technical know-how.

The two approaches typically employed are called remote desktop and Virtual Network Computing (VNC). See the process one person went through to successfully get Windows Remote Desktop running on their home network. Discuss - Remote Desktop Connections

→ See also - Top Internet Remote Access Software

The U.S. ranks 15 in broadband network performance compared to other countries based on the latest Communications Workers of America (CWA) data. The average U.S. broadband connection runs at a modest 2.3 Mbps, CWA says.

Not coincidentally, the U.S. held the same position in last year's independent broadband study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. CWA also utilizes the speedmatters.org Internet Speed Test to compare U.S. states.

→ More - U.S. Broadband Is Really Slow

Scientists at UC Berkeley made news this week with a significant demonstration of light-bending metamaterials. For some reason, perhaps the excessive hours of Nethack we played in our younger years, this kind of research gets us excited about the idea of making (+0) cloaks of invisibility. This same technology, however, could be used for other, more realistic applications such as making high-speed networks route faster by slowing down optical signals.
→ See also - SONET - Synchronous Optical Network

UNC is a naming convention used primarily to specify and map network drives in Microsoft Windows. Support for UNC also appears in other operating systems via technologies like Samba. UNC names are most commonly used to reach file servers or printers on a LAN.
→ See also - How to Map a Network Drive in Windows XP

What is APIPA? Knowing the answer could help you land a job. Consider the example of Sam Marsh, a networking student in the UK who was recently asked this question during a technical interview. It's true APIPA is a relatively uncommon term, but the concept behind it is important.
→ See also - Private IP Addresses and Address Ranges

As reported last month, prominent network researcher Dan Kaminsky uncovered a major DNS flaw that could have led to widespread Internet outages if not fixed. Technical details behind this flaw were shared publicly this week. Looking at the data, its clear that the potential for damage was huge. From injecting viruses into your emails, to snatching your credit card numbers using fake Web sites, hackers could have made our lives more difficult in several ways. Kudos to all involved in patching the DNS. → Read More - Internet Security Hole Revealed
→ See Also - Remember the infamous 2004 TCP Flaw?

Delta Air Lines announced today its plans to offer Internet access on all U.S. flights. Delta will apparently be the first U.S. carrier to offer wireless Internet on all of its routes. In-flight Wi-Fi technology finally looks to be ready for prime time after some aborted trials a few years ago. At roughly $10 USD per ticket, the service will certainly appeal to business travelers.
→ See also - Wireless Internet Back In The Air

Cloud computing is an approach for using network technology to get work done and possibly save money. The term "cloud" refers generically to Internet hardware and software resources. Cloud computing makes these resources available to the public as network services.
→ See also - What Is Network Monitoring?