Intel Open House -- Seattle

So, I ended up attending an Open House for Intel's Research Group in Seattle just the other day, and saw some pretty interesting things... Here's a link to their site, so you can follow along:

http://www.seattle.intel-research.net/projects.php

Some favorite research projects were:

Trustworthy Wireless

1. From the previous post regarding RFIDs, we see how vulnerable people are now-a-days to having their RFID-enabled drivers license or passport from being copied and possibly misused. Granted, from the previous discussion, the value on the RFID (the unique identifier) is just a number having no correlation to any of your personal data (so we've been told), but the fact that this number means something to SOMEONE poses a risk.

The Intel group here developed a wallet of sorts which has an accelerometer within it, and identifies specific motions. Given the appropriate motion, the wallet then "reveals" the RFID chip to a potential reader, and likewise without an appropriate motion, "conceals" the RFID chip from the outside world. An appropriate motion could be waving your wallet back and forth 1.5 times (as they did)... usually the motion necessary when you want the chip read anyway. You follow?

2. Another interesting topic they're tackling is the idea that there are quite a few pay-for-wifi spots available in densely urban areas (maybe even in not-so-densely urban as well), and given these options... there is no metric or heuristic for ranking these wifi hotspots, as signal strength is usually NOT a very good indication of connectivity or upload/download speed. Yet again, another interesting topic.

3. Finally, it's quite amazing how many wifi hotspots there are in certain locations -- even my hometown of Ottawa, KS has an enumerate number of APs one can connect to. I remember driving down the Main Street in town with my laptop, and within a mile, noticing nearly 100 hotspots.

So how do you curb those signals? As of today, the APs and your wireless devices tend to radiate the signal in a spherical direction from the source, and there's really no way of modifying that. This group developed an interesting technique, what they called Geo-Fencing, where they can basically reign in their AP's wireless signal to stay within the confines of whatever boundaries they determine... For instance, with Geo-Fencing, you can place the AP within your home, and then regulate how far outside of the house the signal propagates, removing any possibility of intruders from connecting in from outside the house.

Wireless Resonant Energy Link

1. These guys apparently got quite a bit of news coverage, by extending some work from MIT. The concept (as it was explained to me) uses two coils, of which the resonant frequency is known. Transmitting power through one coil at that frequency produces a magnetic field of which a second coil absorbs and converts back into electricity. They claim a 70% efficiency while lighting a bulb about 2 feet away. It's kinda cool to see!

Anyway... Cool stuff. *pushes eyeglass frames up*