Gadgetory

the connection between your wireless devices in the global communications network is a tenuous thing Wi-Fi links are great when they work but gadgets spend a lot of time out of range and cellular links they're dependent on commercial and surprisingly vulnerable cell towers while few of us in the developed world have experienced a critical lack of connectivity in our lives it can happen at any time and it can be life-threatening during a natural disaster the communications infrastructure can fail due to power outages or panic-driven overuse when a repressive government threatens a population usually the first thing they try to control is their citizens communications with each other and the outside world mesh networks in theory are more robust than point-to-point communications in a mesh network any device with the connection can share that connection with other devices it's hard to shut down or censor a mesh network by strangling it at just one point it's also hard to spy on what's happening on a mesh network which is one reason the technology is used for military communications can mesh networks make our existing Wi-Fi and cellular networks more robust cheaper and safer can they give voice to the oppressed or the sensor today we're looking at the latest mesh technology products and the interesting places they could take the communications industry