Networking & Connectivity — Posts

71 posts on "Networking & Connectivity" by Shlomo Strauss — bilingual writing on technology, science, and business.

• Volvo's new update highlights the DFRS European road safety network — Europe's DFRS system shares real-time hazard data across different automakers to create a collaborative network designed to prevent traffic accidents.
• BlackBerry's transition from smartphones to automotive software — After losing the smartphone market, BlackBerry pivoted to cybersecurity and real-time operating systems that now power over 250 million vehicles.
• The acoustic smartphone network defending Ukraine from drones — Ukraine uses thousands of old smartphones to detect drone acoustics, enabling cheap interceptions that shift the economic balance of warfare.
• The hidden technology inside hotel television screens — Hotel TVs may look standard, but they integrate built-in Wi-Fi, centralized management, and advanced encryption to prevent piracy.
• How BitTorrent paved the way for modern streaming and Web3 — While often associated with piracy, BitTorrent's decentralized network laid the crucial groundwork for modern streaming services, Web3, and Bitcoin.
• Vint Cerf proposes a new internet protocol for AI agents — One of the internet's founding fathers is designing a universal protocol to let AI agents communicate and transact directly without human interfaces.
• Corning's evolution from Edison's lightbulb to AI optical fibers — Corning has sustained 175 years of relevance by adapting its glass technology for everything from Edison's lightbulbs to modern AI data centers.
• Taiwan Shipwreck Outage Highlights Need for LEO Satellites — After a shipwreck severed an undersea cable in Taiwan, microwave tech provided temporary relief, highlighting the strategic need for LEO satellites.
• IPv6 Usage Surpasses IPv4 on Google Servers for the First Time — After 28 years, IPv6 traffic has officially overtaken IPv4 on Google servers, marking a major milestone for a faster and more secure internet.
• How USB-C Laptop Charging Became Safe Enough for the EU Mandate — A new EU law mandates USB-C charging for laptops, made possible by hardware solutions that prevent the short circuits that once burned motherboards.
• France’s Shift to Linux Signals a Growing Challenge for Microsoft — France's transition to Linux highlights a growing global trend of governments and enterprises seeking alternatives to Microsoft's ecosystem.
• Nvidia's $9 Million Server Threatens Traditional Hardware Makers — Nvidia's upcoming NVL144 server highlights the company's push to control the entire AI supply chain, threatening traditional hardware manufacturers.
• The Science Behind Why a $4,000 Audio Cable Sounds Like a $7 One — Tests reveal that expensive RCA cables offer no audio improvement over cheap ones, a phenomenon explained by simple physics and confirmation bias.
• The Challenges and Strategic Value of a Far Side Moon Base — Despite communication and terrain challenges, the Moon's far side offers vital resources like ice and helium-3, sparking a new geopolitical race.
• Amazon Challenges Starlink in the Race for In-Flight Wi-Fi — Amazon's new satellite internet solution for airplanes promises double the speed of Starlink and a significantly faster installation time.
• CanisterWorm: the worm that wipes Iranian systems and can't be shut — A new self-replicating worm spreads via a compromised supply-chain scanner, selectively wipes Iranian systems, and runs a command server on a…
• Agentic browsers and open-source platforms make a surprisingly — Pairing mature open-source platforms with an agentic AI browser bridges the gap between an empty self-hosted stack and a fully configured, working system…
• MIRV missiles: the Cold War technology now launching commercial — A clear breakdown of how MIRV warheads actually work, why Iran's cluster munitions fall far short, and what links them to SpaceX's multi-satellite…
• Fiber-optic cables and AI are finding hidden water leaks underground — A British startup repurposed existing fiber-optic infrastructure and AI models to detect water pipe leaks, saving over 700 million liters of water…
• Why Nokia got Asus and Acer banned from selling PCs in Germany — A Nokia patent lawsuit over HEVC video decoding reveals the licensing chaos behind modern video codecs and why the industry is moving to AV1.
• Building a low-latency cloud infrastructure for algorithmic trading — A hands-on account of architecting a high-security, GPU-capable cloud server with 0.3 ms latency and cross-continental database replication for a private…
• Tower Semiconductor and Nvidia bet on silicon photonics for AI — A new deal between Tower Semiconductor and Nvidia will bring silicon-nitride optical interconnects inside AI servers, promising up to 70% energy savings…
• The hidden damage trail of geomagnetic storms — Beyond the aurora's beauty, geomagnetic storms accelerate pipeline corrosion, collapsed Quebec's power grid in 1989, and destroyed 38 Starlink satellites…
• Why Nvidia's $20 billion Groq acquisition is a bet on the inference — As the AI industry shifts from model training to cost-efficient inference, Nvidia's Groq acquisition signals a strategic pivot to compete with Google's…
• How an RCE attack turned a Linux server into a zombie botnet node — A port-scanning alert exposed a Linux server infected via RCE with Gafgyt malware — a firsthand account of the attack, the investigation, and the…
• A single server ran for four months to break the pi calculation — StorageReview set a new pi digit record using a single Dell server equipped with 384 CPU cores, 1.5 TB of RAM, and 2.5 PB of Micron SSDs serving as swap…
• How stolen Motorola technology helps China track Tibetan refugees in — Stolen Motorola source code, surveillance cameras, and economic incentives have turned Nepal into a Chinese-operated tracking ground for Tibetan exiles.
• How a Chinese entrepreneur seized millions of IP addresses meant for — A single entrepreneur obtained roughly 10 million IPv4 addresses allocated to Africa and now leases them globally, leaving the continent short of a…
• Why Google may win the AI race — and it has little to do with its — An analysis of the four economic fundamentals — chips, cloud, data, and ecosystem — that will determine which AI companies survive, and why Google alone…
• Apple's N1 chip beats Broadcom with half the bandwidth — Apple's first in-house WiFi chip, the N1, uses a narrower 4nm design to outperform leading Broadcom chips in real-world use while cutting reliance on…
• Germanium: the element inside your phone, missiles, and quantum — A look at germanium's unique optical and electronic properties, its role in 5G, thermal imaging, and missiles, and the chalcogenide glass competing to…
• Databricks: the $100 billion startup most people have never heard of — Valued at up to $130 billion, Databricks dominates enterprise AI and big data infrastructure while remaining almost invisible to the general public.
• How an SS7 security flaw became a tool for tracking and killing — A shell-company operation exploited a decades-old flaw in the SS7 telecom protocol to sell real-time phone location tracking to corrupt regimes, with…
• Credo Technology: the cable maker quietly powering AI data centers — Credo's active electrical cables — each carrying onboard chips that clean and amplify signals — have made it a near-$25 billion company fueling the…
• Russia's research ship Yantar and the threat to undersea — Russia's Yantar vessel systematically maps undersea cables and gas pipelines across European waters, raising fears of a future infrastructure attack that…
• Building an automated Telegram news channel in under two hours — Using RSS feeds, a self-hosted N8N server, and a lightweight AI model, the author automated the translation and publishing of tech and finance headlines…
• Belgian traffic lights turn green on demand using drivers' smartphone — Over 200,000 Belgian drivers use an app that communicates with smart traffic lights at 230 intersections, offering an early glimpse of fully synchronized…
• How Android phones became a global earthquake detection network — Google's Android earthquake system used phone accelerometers to detect over 11,000 quakes between 2021 and 2024, sending warnings up to 60 seconds before…
• How the CIA hid a spy network inside a Star Wars fan site — In the early 2000s the CIA ran a covert network of fan sites to communicate with field agents, until a captured spy in Iran exposed the operation's…
• How botnet operators hide commands inside DNS records — Infected machines can be silently commanded to launch DDoS attacks by reading instructions embedded in ordinary DNS text records, bypassing the need for…
• Shodan: the search engine that maps millions of exposed devices — Shodan scans open ports across the internet and indexes exposed devices, making it both a vital security tool and a ready resource for attackers.
• The real reason 5G was built — remote cranes, not faster phones — A Chinese cargo port shows how 5G's near-zero latency and massive device density enable safe, real-time remote operation of heavy cranes and trucks.
• Five years of White Tiger: lessons from building a tech business from — The founder of White Tiger reflects on five years of growing an online tech business from a used laptop and a folding table, and the strategy that made it
• Setting up a physical home server — and why real server hardware — After rescuing an abandoned server from a client's storage room, the author explains what sets dedicated server hardware apart from ordinary PCs and how…
• Active optical HDMI cables: when the premium price makes sense — Unlike standard copper HDMI cables, active optical variants convert signals to light internally, solving interference and distance problems in demanding…
• A server farm on the moon: bold engineering or a PR stunt? — Lonestar Data Holdings plans to launch the first lunar server farm aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, though steep costs and technical limits raise doubts about…
• Remote lung surgery in China: surgeon operated from 5,000 km away — A Chinese surgeon removed a lung tumor from 5,000 km away using robotic arms, demonstrating real-time remote control — while raising valid questions about
• NeXT: the computer Steve Jobs built after Apple forced him out — After being ousted from Apple in 1986, Jobs built the ambitious NeXT workstation — a $10,000 machine that flopped commercially yet hosted the birth of the
• How laser links between satellites cut Starlink's latency — Starlink's shift to inter-satellite laser links shortens data paths and slashes latency — demonstrated live when astronaut Sarah Gillis played a Star Wars
• Microsoft's new PC is just a gateway to a cloud-based Windows — Microsoft's Windows 365 Link is a thin-client device that offloads all computing to a cloud-hosted Windows instance, targeting enterprises seeking lower…
• Your router's Wi-Fi signals can map your movements through walls — Researchers trained a model on paired Wi-Fi signals and camera footage, enabling human presence and movement detection through walls without any camera.
• Las Vegas Tesla Tunnel and the Future of Urban Transport — Las Vegas's all-Tesla tunnel offers a small but telling glimpse into how synchronized autonomous vehicles could one day eliminate traffic and accidents.
• The IPTV piracy scheme that unraveled because of a YouTube flex — A man who ran an illegal IPTV restreaming operation earning $34 million was caught after flaunting his wealth on YouTube, and sentenced to five and a half
• From SSH terminal to a secured web hosting server: a full setup — A practical breakdown of deploying an AlmaLinux server with WHM/cPanel, covering security hardening, automated backups, and two-factor authentication.
• Beeper brings 14 messaging apps into a single interface — Built on the open, decentralized Matrix protocol, Beeper consolidates WhatsApp, Telegram, and 12 other services into one free app across all major…
• The quiet engineering inside a professional XLR cable — An XLR cable uses three internal wires and phase inversion to cancel electromagnetic interference — a clever design that keeps professional audio clean.
• Cloud gaming vs. local hardware: does Nvidia GeForce Now make sense — Nvidia GeForce Now promises 4K/120fps gaming at a fraction of local hardware costs, but Israeli users face real limitations due to distance from European…
• WordPress hosting: why most sites overpay and underget — A thorough breakdown of the WordPress hosting market, offering practical conclusions to help site owners stop overpaying for poor service.
• ThinkPad sub-series explained: how to tell T, X, P and E apart — A practical breakdown of Lenovo's ThinkPad sub-series — T, X, P, L, E and Yoga — so you know exactly what you're paying for before you buy.
• Two websites for a Jerusalem nonprofit: service mapping and two — White Tiger completed a dual-site project for a veteran Jerusalem nonprofit, integrating Google Maps API for service-point navigation and launching…
• Ordained at 29 with no plans to serve: a rabbi's certificate and a — An Israeli tech entrepreneur reflects on earning a municipal rabbinical ordination after seven years of study — a credential he will shelve while building
• A digital iron curtain: the internet is splitting into rival blocs — The TikTok ban and China's removal of WhatsApp are symptoms of a broader fragmentation of the global internet into isolated blocs, with dangerous…
• Why your hardware keeps disconnecting and how to fix it — From vanishing Wi-Fi to unresponsive mice and erratic keyboards, this guide explains the common causes and practical fixes for recurring hardware glitches.
• How a server audit cut a small business's hosting costs in half — A full server audit for a small U.S. business uncovered security gaps, missing backups, and broken contact forms — all resolved within a month while…
• Zigbee explained: the protocol powering your smart home — A clear breakdown of how Zigbee works, why it differs from Wi-Fi, and what role a smart home hub plays in bridging the two protocols.
• 5G in cellular, 5G in routers, and WiFi 5 are three completely — A clear breakdown of three commonly confused terms — 5G cellular, 5GHz WiFi, and WiFi 5 — with practical guidance on choosing the right networking…
• How DDoS attacks work and how to defend against them — A clear breakdown of how DDoS attacks are built and commanded, including zombie networks and DNS-based instructions, with practical advice on free…
• What is inside Apple's $129 Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable — An internal scan of Apple's Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable reveals a complex printed circuit supporting data, video, and up to 100W charging, alongside Intel…
• MAC Address: the unique identifier behind every network card — A clear explanation of what a MAC address is, how it is structured, and its practical uses — from local network communication to Windows OEM license…
• How default passwords expose servers to ransomware — A compromised Linux server illustrates why leaving default passwords unchanged exposes critical systems to automated bot attacks and ransomware.
• Securing WordPress websites against increased cyber attacks — This guide outlines ten actionable steps, including two-factor authentication and geolocation blocking, to protect websites from rising cyber threats.