NetStumbler.com

Meru Networks has unveiled its new enterprise-class wireless LAN products that comply with the IEEE 802.11n draft standard. These include a two-radio access point, a five-blade controller and new software for handling wireless data traffic, which Meru will bring to the Interop Las Vegas show later this month. These products, according to company, allow for data transmission rates of 300Mbit/sec.

The AP300 is relying on radio chipsets from Atheros Communications. The radios can both be 11n or a combination of 11n along with 11a/b/g to work with existing WLAN clients. Meru plans to sell this device for about $1,500, nearly double the price of its current high-end 802.11a/b/g access point. It is still determining the price of the MC500, which can support as many as 200 access points and deliver as high as 1Gbit/sec. of throughput. The TDS, meanwhile, will enable Meru’s controllers to differentiate wireless packets. With the software, controllers may deal with only control traffic, or only data traffic, or both.
Via [computerworld.com]

Learning Chinese is now made easy by Skype. Stephanie Xu from Beijing has been teaching Chinese for over a month now and lauded the high sound quality of the VoIP application. Xu charges 80 renminbi for her online tutorial sessions or 20 renminbi less than what her offline students pay. The reason: it saves her an hour of commuting from her home in the city’s suburbs to downtown Beijing, where she holds her face-to-face classes.

Language schools in China have also turned to Skype to shore up their business. Beijing-based eChineseLearning, which was founded last year, provides 50-minute daily lessons for a subscription fee of $100 per month. The online sessions are handled by teachers from Beijing Language and Culture University and other schools who are serving eChineseLearning on a part-time basis. In addition to Skype, the tutors use the voice chat features of Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger. Michael Zhong, a sales executive for the school, said, at present, eChineseLearning’s students number about a hundred, most of them hailing from the U.S.
Via [pcworld.com]