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Nice summary.

I recently picked up an ESP8266 for a project, but yet to start farting around with it. Excited to find some spare time.


Hmm. Really needs a way to save and resume editing a "shred" I was in the middle of selecting some different portions of a bunch of videos and accidentally quit. Seems like an app with potential though.


we're working on a recovery feature, so if you liked the previous shred better than a new one you can go back to it. we can probably use that to salvage the last shred in the event of the crash. thanks for the suggestion!


Sort of related to this post; I recently read Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima [0]. I was not expecting much from the book, but it turned out to be FANTASTIC, would highly recommend if you have any interest in nuclear accidents or nuclear energy in general; I learned a lot from reading it.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/dp/1605986801/

edit: formatting


Hmm, I have not read his paper, but based on the article's mention of "divided into 13 channels" this is clearly speaking of the 2.4Ghz spectrum. Rather than try to distribute that evenly, you are FAR better off upgrading your AP and switching to a 5Ghz channel. First, there are far more potential channels in 5Ghz. Second, they are wider bandwidth (40Mhz, 80Mhz if 80211ac). And third, 5Ghz does not propagate through walls as well (a _feature_ when you have neighbors also using the spectrum).

My other thoughts: if he is using 8 channels instead of the standard 3 (1,6,11) then there will be some overlap; 80211 devices tends to better handle in-channel interference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels


You're right; but actually the mention of 13 channels was just for the example. The algorithm works exactly in the same way for the 5G band as well (where you have similar problems as soon as you have a few neighbors using recent Wi-Fi devices).


Interesting, glanced through your paper. How do you find real devices behave at constrained channel widths (<20Mhz in 2.4, <40Mhz in 5)? I have a feeling those are not well tested scenarios :)


All 802.11n devices supporting the 5G band support at least a bandwidth 20 MHz (as well as 40 MHz). In addition, you can use 5 and 10 MHz as well on some Atheros devices with open source drivers.


I switched to 5g last year, but all of my neighbours have caught up. Worse still — we all have legacy networks on the 2.4ghz spectrum so that our older devices can access the Internet. There are probably two dozen networks accessible from my couch. It's crazy in apartment buildings.

I would suggest that it should become part of our condo fees / building management, but I have little confidence in our board.


I have this exact problem: a couple dozen 2.4 Ghz APs are visible to me. Actual throughput at a distance of 6 feet from a 2.4 Ghz router is 1 Mbps (tested with multiple APs). I switched to 5 Ghz and luckily no one else has! Unfortunately, this doesn't solve the problem for all devices -- for example, the Chromecast is 2.4 Ghz only. With the chromecast, I practically can't use the chromecast in a room other than the one that the AP is in. I was thrilled when the Amazon Fire TV Stick came out with 5 Ghz capability. This made it possible for me to stream Netflix, etc. to the tv in the other room.


Not to mention there are many devices that still don't support 5ghz (a notable/annoying example being Chromecasts). Switching to 5ghz is not a solution to the problem outlined in this paper, it's a bandaid.


Unless he is using more channels than 1, 6 and 11 the article is dangerously poorly written. Unlike what the article suggests, all other channels overlap and will cause actual interference! Do not configure your AP using any other 2.4 GHz channel, even if they already have other APs in range.


The algorithm takes into account the interference of partially overlapping channels. In fact, it is part of the optimization procedure to minimize this overlap (globally, over all WLANs, but in a decentralized way), while still using as much of the spectrum as possible. This is a general optimization that is relevant for both 2.4G and 5G bands (or pretty much any other band that provides a finite amount of spectrum).


This only occurs for 'hidden' networks. If you do not have any hidden networks in your known network list than you will not be broadcasting SSIDs. This is yet another reason to avoid setting your AP to hidden.


>This only occurs for 'hidden' networks.

Incorrect, this occurs for all networks! I've had some fun with Wifi Pineapples before.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/10/02/what-is-your-phon...


Do you have a source for this? Is there any documentation of this in the 802.11 spec? I'm also wondering if devices send a single probe per SSID they're looking for, or one probe with a list of SSIDs?


I stuck with lynx for the longest time. Somewhere around 2007 the web became COMPLETELY unusable, even on the subset of sites I would visit. Sad times we're living in. :)


I just checked put my sites using elinks and fortunately they came out pretty well.

One is based on bootstrap and one on skeleton. I just made some links that are icons (github, twitter, etc) visible in elinks by adding img tags with src="" alt="some text" style="display:none". Seems like an OK hack.


I am reading HN on text-mode links right now. Switch from lynx to links and thank me later.


On iOS 7 you have to explicitly trust a computer from the device before data is allowed over USB; before that it is in a charge only mode. To trust a computer you must unlock the device.


I think cbhl's point is perfectly valid, in the presentation of the feature, Apple states that about half of people leave their phones w/o a PIN. Touch ID is for these people and in general will make unauthorized access to iPhones more difficult.

Touch ID is optional, if a user feels particularly concerned, about legal implications of this, it is perfectly valid to revert to a passcode. I am glad that this article/discussion exists though, it is good to know what risks may exists using new security systems.

[Edited to add: just read somewhere else that after 48 hours of inactivity or a reboot, user must re-enter passcode before fingerprint will unlock the device. This would seem to protect from the case stated in the article.]


Cool. Reminds me a bit of http://aichallenge.org/ which was TONS of fun.


802.11w adds encrypted management frames, but in practice this tends not to be a huge issue and not many vendors implement it yet.


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