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Mammoth’s founder returns with new iOS app for Mastodon, Saturn

After founding and selling the popular Mastodon client Mammoth, developer Shihab Mehboob is returning to compete with it with the launch of his new app, Saturn. Not to be confused with the social calendar of the same name, Mehboob’s Saturn works with the decentralized social network Mastodon and specifically offers a unique “Highlights” feature that […]

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As TikTok ban heads to court, ByteDance’s Lemon8 surges

As TikTok heads to court on Monday to argue against a U.S. ban, parent company ByteDance’s newer social app, Lemon8, is once again surging to the top of the App Store in the U.S. The push is due, in part, to increased advertising. Described by TikTok influencers as a cross between Pinterest and Instagram — […]

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Cohost, the X rival founded with an anti-Big Tech manifesto, is running out of money and will shut down

Cohost, a would-be X rival launched to the public in June 2022, is shutting down, the company announced via the social network’s staff account earlier this week. The service had operated much like Twitter, offering users the ability to follow others, view posts in a feed, and like and repost content shared by others. However, […]

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WaveCore runs right through a concrete wall with gigabit-speed network signal

Business-like man standing in a concrete loft space

Enlarge / "Hmm, no signal here. I'm trying to figure it out, but nothing comes to mind …" (credit: Getty Images)

One issue in getting office buildings networked that you don't typically face at home is concrete—and lots of it. Concrete walls are an average of 8 inches thick inside most commercial real estate.

Keeping a network running through them is not merely a matter of running cord. Not everybody has the knowledge or tools to punch through that kind of wall. Even if they do, you can't just put a hole in something that might be load-bearing or part of a fire control system without imaging, permits, and contractors. The bandwidths that can work through these walls, like 3G, are being phased out, and the bandwidths that provide enough throughput for modern systems, like 5G, can't make it through.

That's what WaveCore, from Airvine Scientific, aims to fix, and I can't help but find it fascinating after originally seeing it on The Register. The company had previously taken on lesser solid obstructions, like plaster and thick glass, with its WaveTunnel. Two WaveCore units on either side of a wall (or on different floors) can push through a stated 12 inches of concrete. In their in-house testing, Airvine reports pushing just under 4Gbps through 12 inches of garage concrete, and it can bend around corners, even 90 degrees. Your particular cement and aggregate combinations may vary, of course.

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