Telecommunications

An extraordinary library of original files, scripts, letters, diary entries and photographs from the early days of British television went under the hammer in London earlier this year.

Everything needs to be online nowadays, from vending machines to smart speakers, but that costs in terms of bulk and energy use. Now researchers have come up with a chip that gets devices connected with 5,000 times less power draw than normal.

The next generation of Wi-Fi is here, with improved capacity, better performance in crowded networks and a welcome speed boost of up to 40 percent.

A new MIT system is designed for charging batteries to power a network of sensors that would transmit data from the sea floor.

​Though most of make use of radio waves to wirelessly transfer data to and from our work mobile devices and computers, there is another way. Signify has just launched a new lighting range called Trulifi that leverages light waves to send and receive wireless data throughout the workplace.​

For well over a decade Huawei has been accused by governments around the world of working with Chinese national spy agencies. But what evidence is there to back up these serious claims, and what are the global repercussions of this new US Huawei ban recently announced by US President Donald Trump?​

Web forum OGUsers, popular with individuals who seek to access other people's online accounts, has itself been hacked, exposing the details and messages of some 113,000 users.

Researchers have, for the first time, used a semiconductor laser​ to send and receive radio signals. The hybrid electronic-photonic device uses a laser to extract and transmit microwave signals, providing a data rate that may one day lead to ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has developed a compact antenna that can transmit radio signals underwater, and even through solid earth. The new 4-inch (10-cm) antenna exploits the piezoelectric effect to generate Very Low Frequency (VLF) waves that normally require antennae miles long.

To maintain communications during emergencies or in remote areas, Lockheed Martin has come up with a new LTE-over-Satellite system that will allow LTE mobile phones to hook up with satellites to provide 4G connections.

In the modern day, we’re used to sending messages to people over long distances, usually by way of a phone. But now, scientists at MIT have developed a way to use a laser to beam an audible message through thin air to a person standing on the other side of a room, so that only they can hear it.

The Australian government yesterday passed a bill allowing law enforcement agencies to compel tech companies to hand over encrypted messaging data. The legislation has been broadly condemned with suggestions it could not only harm the Australian tech industry, but undermine encryption worldwide.