Lamarr's invention, which she developed with her music composer neighbor George Antheil, came about through an odd inquiry. Lamarr was interested in a boob job and Antheil had written about early efforts in that area, again presaging another important intersection of Hollywood and technology. After numerous discussions, the couple got down to some serious inventing. Eventually, the duo went on to get a patent in 1941 for a new technique for frequency-hopping radio communications. While not taken seriously at the time, it ultimately was deployed by the military in the 1960s during the cold war. While the technique involved piano rolls, the basis of frequency hopping continues to be used as part of spread-spectrum radio communications that are in common use today. Along the way, Lamarr made many movies (although none quite as provocative as Ecstasy, the one cited earlier) and married and divorced six husbands, one of who was a Nazi arms merchant that got her interested in developing new technology for the war effort once she fled to America. She lived to be honored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation a few years before she died in 2000. Rhodes' book is the first detailed recounting of her various inventions with Antheil.

It is hard for many of us to grok a movie star with her trips to the patent office, but she was the real deal. Rhodes is the author of many intriguing history of science works, including the story of the Manhattan Project, and his new book is worth reading.

Lamarr once said that "Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." She was anything but.

Remember when we were little and played the license plate game? Or when vans came with a single DVD player as a factory-installed option? They seem so quaint now. How did we ever survive?

This isn't Tippins & Crew first cross-country trip: they have done many over several summers. But it is the biggest caravan and probably the best organized, given their past experience. And it makes sense, given the family: when I visited their home in the East Bay earlier this summer, there was so much hardware strewn around their living areas I thought I was in Best Buy, or at least one of the better equipped computer labs that I have worked in. The living room contained Tippins' office, a large screen TV, and several video boxes such as a DVR, an AppleTV, and a few other devices. But now they have packed up all their gear and are on the road, crossing somewhere over the Texas border hopefully tonight.

So far the Eastward Ho experience hasn't had any big issues. "The Arizona desert is really the only place so far that we struggle with connectivity," said Tippins. And everyone is very self-directed, which helps to keep the device conflicts to a minimum.

So if you are contemplating such a journey, consider these battle-tested travel tips from Tippins.

• Everyone has their own screen, now a DS isn't exactly on par with a 17-inch MacBook Pro, but still it can keep the little ones engaged for hours.
• Power management is key. "In the beginning we used a DC inverter, wired to the cigarette lighter. Once we wired the inverter straight to the battery, which worked fine. We learned not to use the auxiliary cigarette lighter outlet. We burned out the master relay in the van and had to change that (a fuse) along the way, to get our blinkers, ABS, and air conditioning back." After using a more industrial-strength under-the-seat inverter for several years, now they use a special charger that looks like a coffee mug and has two AC outlets, and plugs into the lighter port.
• Walkie-talkie radios are helpful too, though Tippins uses a self-installed 25W Kenwood UHF mobile unit in 2 cars with a repeater in car 3. Communication that won't fail is essential if you have multiple cars and you get separated by a few miles and you want to coordinate your rest stops. A cell phone isn't fast enough to say, "Quick, turn here."
• Software. Bring plenty of games and DVDs for the kids, goes without saying. Analog fun also never goes out of style. A pad and a box of colored pencils or crayons each keeps all aged children happy.
• Multiple broadband accounts are useful. Use tethering options or Mifi to share them amongst your brood.

Now, that same problem has returned, and this time, other iOS devices are affected, too, including the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

After updating my iPad to iOS version 4.3.3, I discovered this problem had again resurfaced, but it was even worse than before. My connection wouldn't just drop after the iPad went to sleep, as it had in the past, it would lose the connection when I was actively using the device, even while surfing the Web.

I did not immediately assume this was an Apple bug, of course. I believed it was a problem affecting only my iPad. Still, I did a little research via the Apple forums to look for help and possible fixes.

And it appears I'm not alone. Several iOS owners have posted similar stories on Apple's official online Support Communities website.

Here are a selection of the complaints I found listed:

• iPhone 4 says it connects to the Wi-Fi network, but the Wi-Fi icon never appears
• Wi-Fi keeps disconnecting and reconnecting on its own
• Can no longer use Wi-Fi at all unless within close proximity to the router
• Can't connect to Wi-Fi at all on device running 4.3.3, but devices running 4.3.1 have no trouble on same network
• Wi-Fi won't work, and resetting network settings doesn't fix
• Wi-Fi shows signal, but device can't connect to the Internet

The complaints continue, all variations on this same theme. There are dozens upon dozens of these. Here are a few of the relevant Apple Forum links, if you want to read through them yourself:

• iPhone 4 Cannot Connect to home Wi-Fi
• After iPhone 4 4.3.3 update wifi not working
• WiFi issue on 4.3.3
• Losing Wi-Fi network connection and password
• ios 4.3 update

The Cult of Mac blog is also reporting on this issue, but notes they have not experienced the problem themselves on the iPad 2. The article suggests a few possible fixes, including doing a hard reset, "forgetting" the Wi-Fi network on the device and reseting your device's network settings. For what it's worth, these fixes won't work for everyone, but they are worth trying if you have issues.

A temporary workaround is to switch off the Wi-Fi connection, then turn it back on. This will restore the connection until it drops again, but a real fix needs to come from Apple.

Wi-Fi Woes a Constant Apple Complaint

For whatever reason, networking issues seem to crop up on Apple devices on a fairly regular basis when Apple releases new software. It's an odd miss for a company so focused on perfecting the end user experience and creating products designed for ease-of-use.

When the iPhone 3.0 software launched in 2009, Wi-Fi issues first appeared, and were later fixed by a software update. In July 2009, owners of the newest iPhone, the iPhone 3GS, began seeing the same issue. When iOS 3.1 arrived in September 2009, the issues remained. Eventually, a software update resolved the problem for me and my iPad, while others, even as late as iOS 4.2.1, have not been so lucky.

In other words, we're not surprised to see new Wi-Fi bugs with Apple's latest release, but we are a bit disappointed that this is one thing Apple can't get to "just work."

Let us know if you're having Wi-Fi issues on 4.3.3, too, in the comments section below. And please tell us if you were able to fix it, and how!

As Sharma observes, the mobile market crossed a number of important thresholds in the last quarter of 2010. Mobile subscriptions crossed the 100% penetration mark, for example. And smartphone shipments exceeded PC shipments for the first time.

Sharma contends that multi-device data pricing plans will be an important key for success of this segment, as Wi-Fi isn't always practical or dependable. He argues that operators who start to bundle devices under a single data plan will likely do well - an observation that coincides with AT&T's announcement today that it will start selling the Kindle through its stores.

This continued growth in connected devices is clearly important to AT&T, which now has to compete with Verizon for iPhone customers. According to Sharma, connected devices are now 10% of AT&T's subscription base. AT&T has edged ahead of Verizon in terms of the number of connected devices, but for both providers - for all providers in fact - the key will not simply be wooing subscribers but finding a way to adjust billing to keep pace with U.S. consumers' ever-increasing mobile data consumption.

Wireless communication channels are all around us all the time, but their variable strengths in different places create a textured, invisible part of the urban landscape. A team of Norwegian researchers, arguing that WiFi is "a fundamental part of the construction of networked cities," created the beautiful video below visualizing the strength of WiFi signals around their neighborhood in Oslo. They used a four meter pole that measured signal strength and lit up to a great or lesser degree. Then they took time delayed photos of themselves walking through the snowy streets.

"The strength, consistency and reach of the network says something about the built environment where it is set up, as well as reflecting the size and status of the host," writes the team in Immaterials: Light painting WiFi "Small, domestic networks in old apartment buildings flow into the streets in different ways than the networks of large institutions. Dense residential areas have more, but shorter range networks than parks and campuses."

Thanks to Flowing Data for blogging about it first.

With mobile phones nearing 100% market penetration, the Chinese government appears determined to transform the country's widespread telephone booths into wifi hotspots. "Telecom operators are also trying to setup hotspots in restaurants, hotels, sport facilities, and so on," writes Asian tech blogger Sherman So. "If the idea is really implemented, they will turn every city in China into a giant Wi-Fi network for fast internet connection." So's post was picked up today by design blog PSFK.

Though the plan raises concerns about the consequences for the disenfranchised, it's not hard to imagine big benefits for economic development. Ubiquitous Wi-Fi seems like one of the prerequisites for bringing a country's whole population online and onboard a new economy based largely on the Internet. Imagine everyone not just reading, but writing to the Web from any street corner they like.

Of course, this will likely require carrier support, so AT&T users still might not benefit.

According to BGR, the OS version will be 8F5148b, the baseband will be 04.08.00, with technical acceptance planned for March.

In the meantime, you can read our guide on how to jailbreak your iPhone to turn it into a hotspot.

Or you can get an Android, which offers Wi-Fi and tethering as part of its OS.

The network's content includes news, entertainment, business, and health channels, as well as local neighborhood information. Content providers for the network include Bookish Reading Club, Foursquare, GOOD, LinkedIn, New Word City, and The Weather Channel. And you'll be able to get access to special content from The New York Times, iTunes, and WSJ.com, the latter of which normally sits behind a paywall.

If it sounds like a lot of content, well, it is. And it demonstrates that Starbucks' decision to offer free WiFi for its customers this summer wasn't simply about getting customers to stick around the cafes just long enough for the barista to make your Americano. As the company announcement today reads: "Whether customers have a few minutes or an hour, the Starbucks Digital Network offering is designed with snackable content in mind, so it's easy to explore the six channels and discover the most relevant news and information."

Coffee (Plus WiFi) and the Next Age of Enlightenment?

As someone who travels a lot, I require a couple of things: power, Internet, and coffee. And having faced the cold-hard stares of many a barista when I pull out my notebook to work, I appreciate the fact that Starbucks welcomes me there. I'm not sure I'm the target customer for the Career Coach or Runners World content (there's a tech blogger joke in there somewhere), but the ability to check in via Foursquare when I log into the portal is perfect.

Historians have long seen coffeehouses as playing a major role in the development of the Enlightenment - apparently, when Europeans made the switch from ale to coffee, their ability to generate Big Ideas improved. I'm not sure what role future historians will say that Starbucks' coffee plus free WiFi played on the development of big ideas. But as that's where many folks find ourselves working, you never know.

Google's Street View project has raised a number of privacy concerns, most notably in May when the company announced that it had mistakenly included code in its Street View software that collected Wi-Fi payload data. Google halted the Wi-Fi data collection, but it was unclear if this was a permanent decision.

The report does add that "although it has no tracking tool to keep records of a customer's locations (and does not intend to create one), Google acknowledges that it does need to examine the potential privacy concerns of this method of collection."

Currently, Google's mobile privacy policy reads that "If you use location-enabled products and services, such as Google Maps for mobile, you may be sending us location information. This information may reveal your actual location, such as GPS data, or it may not, such as when you submit a partial address to look at a map of the area."

"With Android, location-sharing is opt-in," Google spokeswoman Christine Chen tells CNET. "Whether we're talking about location provider services or individual apps that use location, Android provides users with notice and control over collection of location, sharing of location and use of location to help provide a better mobile experience... We don't share individual location collected from user devices with any applications or services."

inSSIDer

If you are Windows, you may want to check out MetaGeek's free Wi-Fi app, inSSIDer. The open source app is compatible with all the modern versions of Windows, from XP and up, and will help troubleshoot any WLAN problems your network may encounter. The app shows you various signal strengths of nearby networks, as well as channel allocations. Sometimes boosting your signal is as easy as switching channels, and this app can help you find the less busy ones.

Chanalyzer Lite

Also from MetaGeek, Chanalyzer Lite does a lot of what inSSIDer does, but it works in tandem with USB Wi-Spy Spectrum Analyzers and Wi-Fi cards to provide richer data. It even picks up the RF signals produced by phones, microwaves and anything else that could be causing interference with a wireless network. Another added bonus? It works with both Windows and Mac.

Cisco Network Magic Pro

With a broad suite of features that allow you manage and protect your wireless network, PC Magazine is right to call Cisco Network Magic Pro the "software Swiss Army knife for your network." The app, for Windows only, provides administrators with a birds-eye view of a network, and allows for easy file and printer sharing, network troubleshooting and security alerts. Users can even control access to various devices and track activity with remote screenshots.

Connectify

This one's pretty straightforward. Need to extend your wireless network but don't want to buy another router or bridge? Connectify, which works with Windows 7 machines, turns your Wi-Fi enabled computer into it's own hotspot that can be accessed by other computers, printers, cameras and any other Wi-Fi device. The network created can still be protected under WPA2 encryption and best of all, it's free to use.

Meraki WiFi Stumbler

If you've noticed one thing about the previous tools, many are designed to work with Windows. Meraki WiFi Stumbler is a quick and free tool that is platform agnostic - it works within a Web browser. While this Web-based tool may be a little limited compared to its software brethren (data cannot be exported and it's mostly a read-only experience), it can certainly come in handy when you're looking to quickly troubleshoot a problem on whatever device you have handy at the time.

What Did We Miss?

There are a lot of tools out there for Wi-Fi network administrators, and we've merely scratched the surface on some of the best ones. If you have a suggestion for a great way to monitor, manage or secure wireless networks at the SMB level, please leave us a comment below!

Photo by Flickr user fboyd.

Previously, my favorite option for creating panoramas on my iPhone has been an app called AutoStitch. To make panoramas in AutoStitch, I have to first snap a series of pictures, making sure to leave enough overlap for each image to fit together with the next. Then I would fire up the app, select the right pictures, and wait about 30-60 seconds for the app to complete the stitching process.

With 360 Panorama, the time it takes to create a panoramic image is significantly reduced. Once the app loads, simply hold the phone up in the position you wish to begin the panorama, tap the screen, rotate the view either left of right and tap the "Save" button to store the panorama. Panoramas are created right before your eyes in real-time as you pan side-to-side, eliminating the uploading and waiting time in other apps.

"Literally every single frame is used. Behind the scenes, our computer vision-based system is processing every frame and calculating precisely how much you moved," says Reddy. "The vision system is extremely fast and precise, and there's nothing like it on the iPhone period -- panorama or otherwise."

So how well does the app actually work?

As for capturing and saving panoramas, the app works as advertised - at least on the iPhone 4 where gyroscopic readings help the app better determine movement. The speed and ease at which it can create panoramas is the selling-point of this app, and is the only area in which it beats apps like AutoStitch. The overall quality and resolution of the images, however, doesn't come close that seen from AutoStitch.

The example below is a 360-degree panorama captured in front of my house. Upon closer inspection, we can see vertical lines representing the various images captured by the app. Additionally, the app realigned the start and end points of the panorama (just right of the tree) to the middle of the image, causing a jarring overlap. On other attempts, the app misjudged where the images should begin and end, causing a large black void to fill the middle of the image.

The resolution of the images created with 360 Panorama is also much smaller than those that can be created using an app like AutoStitch. The above 360-degree shot is 2048 pixels wide at full resolution while this AutoStitch panorama of less than 90 degrees I made a few weeks ago is 3222 pixels wide.

AutoStitch also includes several handy features which 360 Panorama lacks - namely the ability to crop images. Users will need a third-party app to crop their images from 360, and will also be missing features like export settings and AutoStitch's advanced exposure blending.

The verdict for 360 Panorama is a bit of a toss-up. If you want the speed and ease of creating panoramas with the steady wave of a hand, then this is definitely an app you need to try out. But if you want higher quality and resolution from your panoramas, then you might be better off sticking with an app like AutoStitch.

According to Simon Tonks, the consultant who led the testing, "Our tests indicate that the 'death grip' issue is real, and is worse for the Apple iPhone 4 than for other smartphones."

The death grip issue is aggravated by the fact that the radio performance on the iPhone 4 was already fairly poor, the firm reports. "The iPhone 4's radio performance was also found to be generally at the lower end [of the range]," said Tonks. "This means it will tend to drop calls earlier than other phones and may suffer more in areas of weak signal. Though, overall it's still within the normal performance range for similar products."

In addition to testing iPhone 4 signal strength itself, the firm also compared the iPhone 4 to other leading devices, including the Blackberry 9700 and the HTC HD2. The results of the tests were recorded in a snazzy YouTube video which features an upbeat rock n' roll track, padded test rooms and humorous clips of people attempting to use the iPhone 4 by taping it to their head or augmenting the signal strength with a wire coat hanger.

The silliness of the video (at least until the halfway point) may detract from what are actually legitimate tests from the firm, an award-winning group known recently for its work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce methane emissions, work with the Butan government in using biometrics in border control, its design and development of the first disposable medical injectors for automated injections and its work in saving companies millions through supply chain optimization, among other things.

Is That Horse Dead Yet?

The group's experts confirm that ultimately, the iPhone 4 represents a trade-off between product design and innovative features versus ensuring a product works effectively. They also noted that a rubber band placed around the antenna provides a significant performance improvement.

While reporting on the iPhone 4 "death grip" seems a bit like beating a dead horse at this point, considering that Apple has already acknowledged the issue and announced it would offer free bumpers to iPhone 4 owners, it's notable at least for the fact that these iPhone complaints have now gone worldwide (PA Consulting Group is UK-based). This news confirms that the issues with the antenna aren't just a problem primarily affecting U.S. users dealing with AT&T's poor network performance, but also affect iPhone 4 owners in other countries as well.

Now, there's little question that OSCON is an edge case. Get a few thousand developers and software engineers together and you're going to strain the bandwidth.

Then again, every conference and hotel I've been to has had at least one person who insists on downloading an OS upgrade or a movie to watch on the plane home. That would be, um, me.

The question is, when does conference Wi-Fi stop being about just checking email and maybe sharing some notes, and start being about allowing people to continue doing the heavy wireless lifting they do at home and at the office? Ever?

More Noise to Signal.

Free Access to Paid Content

The free access to paid content sites, however, is the big news here. According to Starbucks, this new service, called the "Starbucks Digital Network," will give users who surf the Internet from U.S. company owned stores access to "various paid sites and services such as wsj.com, exclusive content and previews, free downloads, local community news and activities, on their laptops, tablets or smart phones." Besides the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks' partners include Apple's iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA TODAY, Yahoo and ZAGAT.

While Starbucks did not release details about these partnerships, it is easy to image that in-store Wi-Fi users could, for example, get free access to specific songs on iTunes and be allowed to bypass the New York Times' upcoming paywall restrictions.

Shortly after its official launch, a number of iPad owners began to post about connection issues both on Apple's own support site and elsewhere. Now it appears that Apple is officially acknowledging the Wi-Fi bug's existence and, even better, is preparing a patch to fix it.

The Wi-Fi bug plaguing some iPad owners has been a tricky one to diagnose. For some, the issue is simply weak Wi-Fi reception while others routinely lose their connection altogether...even as often as every 10 minutes.

Everyone from bloggers to university I.T. departments have tried to diagnose the situation. Princeton, for example, found that the iPad doesn't handle DHCP assignments correctly. (DHCP is the protocol that provides IP addresses to computers requiring network connectivity.) Unfortunately, the university did not have a solution for the matter.

Then there was Loren Wiener, an I.T. consultant in Australia, who thought he discovered the fix which involved toggling a switch in the Wi-Fi connection settings area. However, his fix didn't solve everyone's problems.

The same goes for the official suggestions provided by Apple on its support site. A somewhat bizarre list offers potential workarounds ranging from setting wireless security to WPA on your Wi-Fi router to adjusting the iPad's screen brightness. (Brightness? We don't understand that one either - perhaps it prevents the iPad from going to sleep?)

Did You Try Rebooting the iPad?

Despite all the suggestions for potential workarounds, the only consist fix for the issue was this: turn the Wi-Fi off and then back on again. Or reboot the iPad.

For a company that likes to brag about how its products are simple and "just work," this bug is a bit of an embarrassment. However, early adopters aren't too put out by the whole mess - for the most part, they've come to expect issues when braving the purchase of first generation gadgets.

The only concern was that the bug could be hardware-related, and therefore, unable to patch via a software update. Luckily, that's not the case.

An iPad Patch is Coming

According to a recently updated support document on Apple's website: "Apple will also address remaining Wi-Fi connectivity issues with a future iPad software update." No word on when that patch will be available, but, hopefully, Apple doesn't wait much longer. Resetting the Wi-Fi constantly is annoying and has probably even led to decreased usage of the device in some cases, if not out-and-out returns on the part of frustrated owners.