TEXT 3
CES
The What. Each year in early January the Who's Who of technology companies, inventors and gadget-teers
descend upon the Las Vegas Convention Center for the industries largest and most important convention. The
Consumer Electronics Show takes place over a week and remains one of the most important conventions of the
year. Over 140,000 attendees walk the halls of CES each year and for the big players in televisions, gaming
systems, telecommunications and other technologies the annual event is there chance to show of the best and
biggest products due to be unveiled in 2012. Among the perennial attendees are Microsoft, Philips, Sony,
Panasonic and Samsung. Rumors that the upcoming X-Boz 720, Playstation 4 and Wii U may see the light of
day at CES has created a huge buzz.
Unlike many other trade shows, CES is closed to the public, so you must have press credentials or insider
status or have a good buddy who is willing to take you. Despite, or perhaps because of this CES remains one of
the most coveted tickets in town. Despite it's exclusivity, CES brings in millions of dollars each year and helps
make January one of the most exciting months to be in Las Vegas.
When CES comes to town, parties get a little geekier, restaurant clientèle get a temporary bump in IQ and
businesses across the Valley see a well needed post holiday boost to their bottom lines. Lucky for us CES will
be here a long time.
The Who Hundred of companies will unveil new products at CES. Some are giants of industry, while others
are startups looking to make their mark on the world. Check the Exhibitor Directory for all participating
companies.
The Future CES and Las Vegas will remain bedfellows for many years. The following dates are set for the next decade.
 Jan. 8-11, 2013 (Tuesday-Friday)
 Jan. 7-10, 2014 (Tuesday-Friday)
 Jan. 8-11, 2015 (Thursday-Sunday)
 Jan. 7-10, 2016 (Thursday-Sunday)
 Jan. 5-8, 2017 (Thursday-Sunday)
 Jan. 10-13, 2018 (Wednesday-Saturday)
 Jan. 10-13, 2019 (Thursday-Sunday)
 Jan. 9-12, 2020 (Thursday-Sunday)
 Jan. 7-10, 2021 (Thursday-Sunday)
 Jan. 6-9, 2022 (Thursday-Sunday)
Consumer Electronics Show lacks the Next Big Thing
Despite what is expected to be a record number of exhibitors and attendees, many analysts agree that no
single device or technology has emerged to define the show.
January 06, 2012|By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times
As the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off, paper-thin TVs, feather-light laptops and thousands of
humming doodads of every hue are filling up more than 30 football fields' worth of Las Vegas convention
space. But if you're looking for a device with the potential to instantly change your life, your best bet might be
across the street at the slot machines. The world's largest personal technology convention, which starts Monday,
often sets the tone for the year in gadgetry, attracting the industry's biggest companies to its glitzy stages to
showcase the latest innovations. The technologies that capture the CES buzz often go on to become top sellers
— such as tablet computers last year or high-definition TVs before that.
This year, though, the Next Big Thing remains elusive. Despite what is expected to be a record number of
exhibitors and attendees, many analysts agree that no single device or technology has emerged to define the
show. Further dimming CES' star power: Many of the industry's best-known firms, including Verizon Wireless,
Motorola Mobility and T-Mobile are scaling back their presence, whether opting to skip news conferences or to
fold up the opulent booths they've had in years past. Microsoft Corp., long a CES stalwart whose chief
executives have delivered the show's keynote speech for nearly a decade, said in December it would not return
to the show after this year, and that it prefers to announce its products on its own schedule.
That is a strategy also espoused by Apple Inc., widely considered the technology industry's most innovative
firm. Apple does not attend CES at all, though its employees can be found prowling the exhibits to check out the
competition.
At CES these days, "a lot of brands are not unveiling everything that's coming out," said Shannon Jenest, a
spokeswoman for audiovisual giant Royal Philips Electronics, which in lieu of a large booth will host a smaller
lounge area in the Venetian Hotel, focusing almost exclusively on headphones. That is in part because modern
electronics companies can develop and release products in a matter of months, she said, and some products that
will come out in 2012 have yet to be developed. The show's organizers expect nearly 2,700 exhibitors and more
than 150,000 attendees, the highest since 2006, a surge that reflects renewed consumer spending on gadgets and
mobile devices. But with a dearth of high-profile product announcements, analysts say CES could end up being
a sea of familiar looking devices: mainly big-screen TVs, stereo systems and a variety of quirky prototypes and
accessories.
"If you really take all the big guys out of there, all you have is a bazaar," said Roger Kay, an analyst at
Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc. who has been going to the show since 2004. "Who's going to support the
show? All those guys with the little neon-pink iPhone cases?" This year's show will have no shortage of gizmos,
such as SolarFocus Technology's solar-powered cover/recharger for your electronic book reader. Ace Bayou
Corp. has its X-rocker, a leather recliner with built-in speakers that rumbles bass waves through the seated game
player. And TOSY Robotics will unveil "a brand new entertainment robot," apparently to be introduced by
tween pop sensation Justin Beiber.
And as for iPhone cases, there will be plenty. The show will feature an 80,000-square-foot area called the
iLounge that will feature "all things iPod, iPhone, iPad and beyond." But you won't find a single Apple product
there. Indeed, Apple's absentee influence on the show has been felt for years, as manufacturers have trotted out
hordes of Apple-like products, most of which eventually disappear from the marketplace. Last year, electronics
makers showed nearly 100 tablet computers at CES, but the iPad's dominance remained unchallenged until late
last year, when a competing tablet, the Kindle Fire, was released by Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon does not
participate in CES either.) This year, marketers have sought to generate buzz for another Apple-like product.
The Ultrabook is a new class of extra-light laptop computer that turns on quickly and runs for a longer period on
a single battery charge. Chipmaker Intel Corp. has spearheaded the promotion of the machines, which can cost
$900 to $1,400. But many observers have said that the new devices are once again inspired by existing designs
from Apple, which has found a resounding success in its lightweight MacBook Air line of laptops introduced in
2008. "The real innovation continues to come from Apple," said analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc.
"It's unfortunate, but the majority of the vendors out there are just in the place that they have to play catch-up."
Could there be another potential blockbuster product at CES this year? "We're not seeing it," Bajarin said.
Some analysts have likened the plight of CES to that of Comdex, the main computer industry trade show that
went belly up in 2004.
International CES, more commonly known as the Consumer Electronics Show(CES), is an
internationally renowned electronics and technology trade show, attracting major companies and industry
professionals worldwide. The annual show is held each January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las
Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show
typically hosts previews of products and new product announcements. CES rose to prominence after a rival
show, COMDEX, was canceled.
The first CES was held in June 1967 in New York City. It was a spinoff from the Chicago Music Show,
which until then had served as the main event for exhibiting consumer electronics. The event had 17,500
attendees and over 100 exhibitors; the kickoff speaker was Motorola chairman Bob Galvin.[1] From 1978 to
1994, CES was held twice each year: once in January in Las Vegas known as Winter Consumer Electronics
Show (WCES) and once in June in Chicago, known as Summer Consumer Electronics Show (SCES).
The winter show was successfully held in Las Vegas in 1995 as planned. However, since the summer
Chicago shows were beginning to lose popularity, the organizers decided to experiment by having the show
travel around to different cities starting in 1995 with a planned show in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania
Convention Center. However, the inaugural E3 gaming show was scheduled to be held on the West Coast that
same weekend and many exhibitors protested, causing the Philly Summer CES show to be cancelled. The 1996
Winter show was again held in Las Vegas in January, followed by a Summer show this time in Orlando, Florida,
however only a fraction of the traditional exhibitors participated. Again, the 1997 Winter show in Las Vegas
was very successful. The next "Summer" show was scheduled to be held in conjunction with Spring COMDEX
in Atlanta, however when only two dozen-or-so exhibitors signed on, the CES portion of the show was
cancelled.
In 1998, the show changed to a once-a-year format with Las Vegas as the location. In Las Vegas, the show
is one of the largest (the other being CONEXPO-CON/AGG), taking up to 18 days to set up, run and break
down. Products that debuted at CES
Videocassette recorder (VCR),
Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), 1996
High Definition Television (HDTV),
1970
Laserdisc Player, 1974
Camcorder, 1981
Compact Disc Player, 1981
Digital Audio Technology, 1990
Compact Disc Interactive, 1991
Mini Disc, 1993
Radio Data System, 1993
Digital Satellite System, 1994
1998
Hard-disc VCR (PVR), 1999
Digital Audio Radio (DAR), 2000
Microsoft Xbox, 2001
Plasma TV, 2001
Home Media Server, 2002
HD Radio, 2003
Blu-Ray Disc, 2003
HDTV PVR, 2003
HD Radio, 2004
IP TV, 2005
An explosion of digital content
services, 2006
New convergence of content and
technology, 2007
OLED TV, 2008
3D HDTV, 2009
Tablets, Netbooks and Android
Devices, 2010
Connected TV, Smart
Appliances, Android Honeycomb, Ford’s
Electric Focus, Motorola Atrix, Microsoft
Avatar Kinect, 2011
Ultrabooks, 3D OLED, Android
4.0 tablets, 2012
Ultra HDTV, Flexible
OLED, Driverless Car Technology, 2013
TEXT 4
International CES, more commonly known as the Consumer Electronics Show(CES),
is an internationally renowned electronics and technology trade show, attracting major companies and industry
professionals worldwide. The annual show is held each January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las
Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show
typically hosts previews of products and new product announcements. CES rose to prominence after a rival
show, COMDEX, was canceled.
2004 The Blu-ray Group held at CES the first U.S. press conference to promote the Blu-ray Disc format.
2005 The 2005 exhibition was from January 6 to January 9, 2005, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event started
off with a twist when the main keynote address by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates went wrong, as his
demonstration of Windows Media Center resulted in aBlue Screen of Death, much to the amusement of the
onlookers. Samsung showed off a 102-inch (2.6 m) plasma television. Zimiti Ltd (renamed Boardbug Ltd in
2007) won the "Best of Innovators" award for Personal Electronics. It is the only British company to have won
this award.
2006 The 2006 International CES took place on January 5, to January 8, 2006, at the Las Vegas Convention
Center, the Sands Convention Center, the Alexis Park Hotel and the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. HDTV was a
central theme in the Bill Gates keynote as well as many of the other manufacturer's speeches. The standards
competition between HD DVD and Blu-ray Discwas conspicuous, with some of the first HD movie releases and
first HD players being announced at the show. Philips showed arollable display prototype whose screen can
retain an image for several months without electricity. Hillcrest Labs won the "Best Of Innovations" award in
the video accessories category for software and hardware that allows a television to be controlled with natural
gestures. Attendance was over 150,000 individuals in 1.67 million net square feet of space, making it the largest
electronics event in the United States.
2007 In a break from recent tradition, the 2007 CES event did not begin on a Thursday, nor span a weekend.
It ran from Monday January 8 to Thursday January 11, 2007. The venues also changed slightly, with the highperformance audio and home theater expo moving from the Alexis Park venue to The Venetian. The remaining
venues were the same as previous years: the Las Vegas Convention Center was the center of events, with the
adjacent Las Vegas Hilton, and the Sands Expo and Convention Center hosting satellite exhibitions. The
location for the main keynotes was the other major change for 2007. Previously held at the Las Vegas Hilton's
Main Theater, they staged for the first time at The Palazzo Ballroom in The Venetian. Bill Gates gave his ninth
pre-show keynote address on the Sunday evening. The opening keynote was presented by Gary Shapiro
(President/CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the event), with Ed Zander,
Chairman/CEO of Motorola. Other keynote speakers scheduled included Robert Iger fromThe Walt Disney
Company, Michael Dell, founder of Dell Inc., and Leslie Moonves of CBS. Finally, Industry Insider
presentations moved to the Las Vegas Hilton, with contributions from Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO
of Nokiaand John Chambers, CEO of Cisco. In the gaming section for Windows Vista and DirectX 10, there
were two games shown: Age of Conan and Crysis.
2008 The 2008 exhibition was from January 7 through January 10, 2008 in Las Vegas with 141,150
attendees. Bill Gates gave the keynote speech, in which he formally announced his retirement from his day-today duties at Microsoft. Along with the announcement, he presented a lengthy comedy skit on what his last day
with Microsoft would be like, complete with cameos from celebrities including Jay-Z, Steven Spielberg, Barack
Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and many others. Industry names such asConsumer Priority Service also made
an appearance among others in the retail sector. Panasonic attracted much attention by releasing a 150" Plasma
TV, as well as a 50" TV as thin as 0.46 in. (11.6 mm).
2009 The 2009 exhibition, held January 7–10, returned to the previous Thursday–Sunday schedule, and
attracted 113,085 attendees. Among more than 2,700 exhibiting companies were approximately 300 first-time
exhibitors. Several highlights include organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions, the Palm Pre, pico
projectors, the Marvell SheevaPlug plug computer, and 3D projectors. The Minoru 3D Webcam, a USB
webcam that is billed as the world's first stereoscopic 3D consumer stereo webcam won the "Fans Favorite"
award. Dell introduced its Dell Adamo subnotebook. The game show Jeopardy! filmed one episode from
the celebrity series and the 2009 Tournament of Champions on a new set at the Sony booth. The set was moved
to their main studio at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California starting with the show's 26th season.
CES 2009 suffered 22 percent or more attendance drop, which was attributed to the global financial crisis.
2010 The 2010 exhibition was held January 7–10 and attracted more than 120,000 attendees. Highlights
include the Intel Infoscape, which is run on the Intel Core i7 processor. One computer ran two 7-foot (2.1 m)
screens, displaying 576 cubes hooked up to 20,000 info sources, including 20 live video feeds. Visitors would
touch one of the cubes, and an infobox displaying that content would come forward. One journalist explained,
"The graphics on the giant screens were a tons of fun to move around with their uncanny quickness and smooth
motion, and the whole thing felt super responsive, Giving us a peek into the future, it seemed a lot like that
computer screen in the movie Minority Report. It was the most spectacular demo we saw at CES 2010." Equally
impressive, Parrot presented the 1st prototype of Parrot AR.Drone, a remote-controlled flying toy which streams
video via wi-fi to an iPhone. Sustainable Planet grew by 40% in 2010.
2011 The 2011 exhibition was held from Thursday, January 6 to Sunday, January 9. CESWEB is reporting
that their pre-audit numbers show an attendance of 128,949. Many tablets were introduced in 2011's show, such
as the Motorola Xoom tablet, winning Best of Show, which runs Android Honeycomb. Many 4G phones were
also unveiled at the show, including the LG Revolution, Samsung Infuse 4G, HTC Thunderbolt, Sony Ericsson
Xperia Arc, Motorola CLIQ 2, Motorola Droid Bionic, and Motorola Atrix 4G. In a push towards mobile
devices, Microsoft demonstrated an early version of the next release of the Windows operating system, running
on ARM-based devices. 3D TVs were introduced by many giants, such as Mitsubishi's 92-inch model of its
2011 line up theater-sized 3D Home Cinema TVs Toshiba also unveiled its Glasses Free 4K 3D TV
prototype. Samsung announced the Plasma 3D HD TV series named D8000 and LG introduced the LED 3D
TV of its Infinia Nano series. 3net, a 3DTV channel co-owned by Discovery Communications, Sony,
and IMAX, was previewed.
2012 The 2012 exhibition was held from Tuesday, January 8 to Sunday, January 13th. Microsoft released an
official statement saying that CES 2012 will be Microsoft’s last appearance at the event. The show organizers
claimed that 153,000 people attended the 2012 show, a 2% increase from the previous year and a new all time
attendance record. Intel was caught falsifying a demo of their new Ivy Bridge processors. AMD demonstrated
their new Trinity APUs. AMTC was demonstrating this ‘Tier-2’ CE products (‘middleware’) featuring
the Inview Technology platform. Inview claimed that its low processing and memory footprint means connected
TV capabilities are available at low-cost, as the software is provided royalty free. Parrot presented the "world's
most advanced headphones" the Parrot ZIK By Starck. This was also the first year in which the Photo Marketing
Association held its annual trade show in conjunction with CES, with the PMA show branded as PMA@CES.
2013 The 2013 International CES was held from Tuesday, January 8 to Friday, January 11th, 2013 in the
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Over 3,000 exhibitors showcased a wide
range of innovative products this year. This year the categories include 3D, Accessories, Audio, Automotive
Electronics, Embedded Technology, Lifestyle Electronics, Wireless & Wireless Devices to name a few. 2013
International CES however was not necessarily being noted for announcing the newest products, but getting a
lot of press for the fundamental changes about to hit the digital world; such as motion detection sensors, the
driverless cars and digital home safety and technology.
Major announcements during this edition were:
 Samsung unveils multi-view TVs and Flexible OLED Display Youm
 Sony announced Sony Xperia Z smartphone, and Samsung Announced Galaxy S2 plus smartphone.
 Sony announces TRILUMINOS quantum dot display technology.
 Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 600 & 800 processors that can bring 4K recording capability in Mobile
Phones
 Intel reveals ATOM processor for embedded markets as well as Bay Trail
 Panasonic announces a wide range of smart TVs. The Panasonic's Smart Viera HDTVs lineup includes
16 plasmas and 16 LEDs.
 Razer announces Razer Edge tablet PC
 Nvidia announces Android handheld Project Shield
 Research In Motion shows off Blackberry 10 touch screen phone
2014 The first Li-Fi smartphone prototype was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
from January 7–10 in 2014. The phone uses SunPartner's Wysips CONNECT, a technique that converts light
waves into usable energy, making the phone capable of receiving and decoding signals without drawing on its
battery. The phone also has a transparent photovoltaic screen that lets light recharge the phone.
LG debuted its new 77-inch curved OLED Ultra HD TV. Samsung unveiled its curved TVs with two series
of concave TVs.
Laser diodes were unveiled at the CES Show that are going to be used for high beam headlights in Audi
vehicles. The high beams will be lasers, though the low beams will be light-emitting diodes. The car maker says
that their high beams have a 500-meter range, which is roughly twice the distance of LED high beams. Lasers
are expensive though. Lasers are smaller, brighter and more energy efficient than LED headlamps. Their laser
headlamps use less than half the energy of LEDs. Laser diodes can emit 170 lumens per watt, while LEDs
generate only 100 lumens. Lasers are sensitive to heat but that has not stopped their production for vehicles.
Laser technology is not as advanced compared with LEDs, which have been around for decades.
TEXT 5 Li-Fi, or light fidelity, refers to 5G visible light communication systems using light from lightemitting diodes (LEDs) as a medium to deliver networked, mobile, high-speed communication in a similar
manner as Wi-Fi. Li-Fi could lead to the Internet of Things, which is everything electronic being connected to
the internet, with the LED lights on the electronics being used as internet access points. The Li-Fi market is
projected to have a compound annual growth rate of 82% from 2013 to 2018 and to be worth over $6 billion per
year by 2018.
Visible light communications (VLC) signals work by switching bulbs on and off withinnanoseconds, which
is too quickly to be noticed by the human eye. Although Li-Fi bulbs would have to be kept on to transmit data,
the bulbs could be dimmed to the point that they were not visible to humans and yet still functional. The light
waves cannot penetrate walls which makes a much shorter range, though more secure from hacking, relative to
Wi-Fi. Direct line of sight isn't necessary for Li-Fi to transmit signal and light reflected off of the walls can
achieve 70 Mbps.
Li-Fi has the advantage of being able to be used in electromagnetic sensitive areas such as in aircraft cabins,
hospitals and nuclear power plants without causing electromagnetic interference. Both Wi-Fi and Li-Fi transmit
data over theelectromagnetic spectrum, but whereas Wi-Fi utilises radio waves, Li-Fi uses visible light. While
the US Federal Communications Commission has warned of a potential spectrum crisis because Wi-Fi is close
to full capacity, Li-Fi has almost no limitations on capacity. The visible light spectrum is 10,000 times larger
than the entire radio frequency spectrum. Researchers have reached data rates of over 10 Gbps, which is more
than 250 times faster than superfast broadband. Li-Fi is expected to be ten times cheaper and
more environmentally friendly than Wi-Fi. Short range, low reliability and high installation costs are the
potential downsides.
Professor Harald Haas, from the University of Edinburgh in the UK, is widely recognised as the original
founder of Li-Fi. He coined the term Li-Fi and is Chair of Mobile Communications at theUniversity of
Edinburgh and co-founder of pureLiFi. The general term visible light communication (VLC), includes any use
of the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit information. The D-Light project at
Edinburgh's Institute for Digital Communications was funded from January 2010 to January 2012. Haas
promoted this technology in his 2011 TED Global talk and helped start a company to market it. PureLiFi,
formerly pureVLC, is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) firm set up to commercialize Li-Fi products
for integration with existing LED-lighting systems. In October 2011, companies and industry groups formed
the Li-Fi Consortium, to promote high-speed optical wireless systems and to overcome the limited amount of
radio-based wireless spectrum available by exploiting a completely different part of the electromagnetic
spectrum. A number of companies offer uni-directional VLC products which is not the same as Li-Fi.
VLC technology was exhibited in 2012 using Li-Fi. By August 2013, data rates of over 1.6 Gbps were
demonstrated over a single color LED. In September 2013, a press release said that Li-Fi, or VLC systems in
general, do not require line-of-sight conditions. In October 2013, it was reported Chinese manufacturers were
working on Li-Fi development kits. One part of VLC is modeled after communication protocols established by
the IEEE workgroup. However, the IEEE 802.15.7 standard is out-of-date. Specifically, the standard fails to
consider the latest technological developments in the field of optical wireless communications, specifically with
the introduction of optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (O-OFDM) modulation methods which
have been optimized for data rates, multiple-access and energy efficiency have. The introduction of O-OFDM
means that a new drive for standardization of optical wireless communications is required.
Nonetheless, the IEEE 802.15.7 standard defines the physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC)
layer. The standard is able to deliver enough data rates to transmit audio, video and multimedia services. It takes
into account the optical transmission mobility, its compatibility with artificial lighting present in infrastructures,
the devience which may be caused by interference generated by the ambient lighting. The MAC layer allows to
use the link with the other layers like the TCP/IPprotocol. The standard defines three PHY layers with different
rates: -The PHY I was established for outdoor application and works from 11.67 kbit/s to 267.6 kbit/s. - The
PHY II layer allows to reach data rates from 1.25 Mbit/s to 96 Mbit/s. - The PHY III is used for many emissions
sources with a particular modulation method called color shift keying (CSK). PHY III can deliver rates from 12
Mbit/s to 96 Mbit/s. The modulations formats preconized for PHY I and PHY II are the coding on-off
keying (OOK) and variable pulse position modulation (VPPM). The Manchester coding used for the PHY I and
PHY II layers include the clock inside the transmitted data by representing a logic 0 with an OOK symbol "01"
and a logic 1 with an OOK symbol "10", all with a DC component. The DC component avoids the light
extinction in case of an extended line of logic 0.
The first Li-Fi smartphone prototype was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from
January 7–10 in 2014. The phone uses SunPartner's Wysips CONNECT, a technique that converts light waves
into usable energy, making the phone capable of receiving and decoding signals without drawing on its battery.
The Li-Fi Consortium is an international platform focusing on optical wireless technologies. It was
founded by four technology-based organizations in October 2011. The goal of Li-Fi Consortium is to foster the
development and distribution of optical wireless technologies such as communication, navigation, natural user
interfaces and others. As of 2012 the Li-Fi Consortium outlined a roadmap for different types of optical
communication such as gigabit-class communication as well as a full featured Li-Fi cloud which includes many
more besides wireless infrared and visible light communication.
Super Wi-Fi is a term coined by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to describe
a wireless networking proposal which the FCC plans to use for the creation of longer-distance wireless Internet
access. The use of the trademark "Wi-Fi" in the name has been criticized because it is not based on WiFi technology or endorsed by the Wi-Fi Alliance. A trade show has also been called the "Super WiFi Summit"
(without hyphen). Various standards such as IEEE 802.22 have been proposed for this concept. Instead of using
the 2.4 GHz radio frequency of Wi-Fi, the 'Super Wi-Fi' proposal uses the lower-frequency white spaces
between television channel frequencies. These lower frequencies allow the signal to travel further and penetrate
walls better than the higher frequencies previously used.[4] The FCC's plan was to allow those white space
frequencies to be used for free, as happens with shorter-range Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Visible light communication (VLC) is a data communications medium using visible light between 400 and
800 THz (780–375 nm). Using visible light is less dangerous for high-power applications because humans can
perceive it and act to protect their eyes from damage. The technology uses fluorescent lamps (ordinary lamps,
not special communications devices) to transmit signals at 10 kbit/s, or LEDs for up to 500 Mbit/s. Low rate
data transmissions at 1 and 2 kilometres (0.6 and 1.2 mi) were demonstrated. RONJA achieves full Ethernet
speed (10 Mbit/s) over the same distance thanks to larger optics and more powerful LEDs. Specially designed
electronic devices generally containing a photodiode receive signals from such light sources, although in some
cases a cell phone camera or a digital camera will be sufficient. The image sensor used in these devices is in fact
an array of photodiodes (pixels) and in some applications its use may be preferred over a single photodiode.
Such a sensor may provide either multi-channel communication (down to 1 pixel = 1 channel) or a spatial
awareness of multiple light sources. VLC can be used as a communications medium for ubiquitous computing,
because light-producing devices (such as indoor/outdoor lamps, TVs, traffic signs, commercial displays,
car headlights/taillights, etc.) are used everywhere.
Wi-Fi, also spelled Wifi or WiFi, is a popular technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data
or connect to the internet wirelessly using radio waves. The name is a trademark name, and was stated to be
a play on the audiophile term Hi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Alliance defines Wi-Fi as any "wireless local area
network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11
standards". However, since most modern WLANs are based on these standards, the term "Wi-Fi" is used in
general English as a synonym for "WLAN". Only Wi-Fi products that complete Wi-Fi Alliance interoperability
certification testing successfully may use the "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED" trademark. Many devices can use Wi-Fi,
e.g., personal computers, video-game consoles, smartphones, some digital cameras, tablet computers and digital
audio players. These can connect to a network resource such as the Internet via a wireless network access point.
Such an access point (or hotspot) has a range of about 20 meters (65 feet) indoors and a greater range outdoors.
Hotspot coverage can comprise an area as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves, or as large
as many square miles achieved by using multiple overlapping access points. Wi-Fi can be less secure than wired
connections (such as Ethernet) because an intruder does not need a physical connection. Web pages that
use SSL are secure but unencrypted internet access can easily be detected by intruders. Because of this, Wi-Fi
has adopted various encryption technologies. The early encryption WEP, proved easy to break. Higher quality
protocols (WPA, WPA2) were added later. An optional feature added in 2007, called Wi-Fi Protected
Setup (WPS), had a serious flaw that allowed an attacker to recover the router's password. The Wi-Fi Alliance
has since updated its test plan and certification program to ensure all newly certified devices resist attacks.
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many
devices and are increasingly used for general lighting. Appearing as practical electronic components in
1962, early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible,
ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. When a light-emitting diode is switched
on, electrons are able to recombine with holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This
effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is
determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor. An LED is often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and
integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern. LEDs have many advantages over
incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness,
smaller size, and faster switching. However, LEDs powerful enough for room lighting are relatively expensive,
and require more precise current and heat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable
output. Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive lighting,
advertising, general lighting and traffic signals. LEDs have allowed new text, video displays, and sensors to be
developed, while their high switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology. Infrared
LEDs are also used in the remote control units of many commercial products including televisions, DVD
players and other domestic appliances. LEDs are used to create a new form of wireless internet access called LiFi, or light fidelity. LEDs are also used in seven-segment display.