Connectify Dispatch combines multiple internet connections into high speed bandwidth

Connectify, a company known for software that can turn your computer into a wireless hotspot, is at work on a new project called Dispatch that will turn all internet connections available to your device into one glorious (and hopefully faster and more stable) stream of high-speed bandwidth.

The project appears to take some of its cues from live video broadcasting companies like LiveU, which sells custom made backpacks wired up with 3G/4G and Wi-Fi transceivers. These backpacks then spread the traffic load over whatever available networks it can connect to in order to maximize bandwidth, which is obviously a major plus if you're streaming live video.

Dispatch, however, is planned as a software-only solution for the masses – no special backpack required. It will dynamically manage the traffic based on which networks provide the greatest bandwidth and have the clearest signal, which also means that even if one of the networks drops out entirely, you'll still have internet access on another network.

The number of simultaneous connections will depend entirely on what hardware you have on your system, but a user that has, say, a netbook with inbuilt Wi-Fi, tethered smartphone, Ethernet and an extra Wi-Fi or mobile data card for good measure (a reasonably common setup for many) will be able to have four connections going at once.

The Dispatch software manages multiple network connections on the fly (Image: Connectify)

The plan to launch an API for Dispatch also sounds like a good move, allowing programmers to integrate the tech into their own applications.

Connectify has made a video that showcases an extreme-power setup using Dispatch (below), but we'll be interested to see how the software performs when it's actually out in the wild. We imagine the most likely use-case scenario for the majority of people will probably be a desktop machine with both an available Ethernet and Wi-Fi connection, which both end up connecting to the same router/access point. Will we actually see much of an improvement in these cases, or will the real performance improvements be seen when using entirely different networks (i.e. 3G/4G and Wi-Fi)?

Connectify says that Dispatch can potentially double or triple speeds in torrent applications like BitTorrent, but we'll just have to wait and see.

The Kickstarter page for the project has, at time of writing, raised about $30,000 of the $50,000 funding goal, with 15 days left to go.

Comments

Nerf Vulcan Sentry Gun tracks targets and avoids friendly fire

Anyone who plays video games will know that few things protect an area like a well-placed sentry gun. In the real world, though, even a person's bedroom or office could use a little protection sometimes, which is why one designer has built the Nerf Vulcan Sentry Gun. Using a custom program and some servos, the sentry can automatically locate targets and unleash a stream of foam darts at over seven times the usual speed, while keeping its owner out of the crosshairs. Britt Liv Ulrike Michelsen, a chemical and biological engineering student from Germany, designed and constructed the sentry using mostly basic electronics and some plywood. This isn't the first time she's modified a Nerf gun, but building this robotic turret is arguably her most ambitious project to date. Luckily, the Nerf Vulcan already operates using an electric motor, so controlling the actual firing mechanism through a computer was just a matter of connecting it directly to an Arduino Uno and a laptop. ...

Students crash rockets to develop new asteroid sample collection technique

In what at first glance seems like a terrible sense of direction, in March students from the University of Washington fired rockets from kites and balloons at an altitude of 3,000 ft (914 m) straight into the ground at Black Rock, Nevada: a dry lake bed in the desert 100 mi (160 km) north of Reno. This may seem like the ultimate in larking about, but it's actually a serious effort to develop new ways of collecting samples from asteroids. The test was part of the “Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments” project. The idea is to find cheaper, more efficient ways of collecting samples from asteroids and hazardous areas on Earth, such as volcanoes and nuclear disaster zones, by using penetrators instead of soft landers or ground crews to hammer out sample cores. According to the team, this would result in lower cost than soft landing techniques by reducing the velocity and vehicle mass needed to gather the sample, minimizing damage on impact, as well as being mechanically s...

Review: i-H2GO hydrogen-powered remote-control car

At the end of last month, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies began shipments of its latest hydrogen fuel cell-powered remote-control toy car, the i-H2GO . Like its predecessor, the H2GO , it runs on hydrogen obtained from user-supplied water. The main thing that's new about the i-H2GO, however, is the fact that it is now controlled using a free app on the user's existing smartphone. I got my hands on an early production model, mainly just so that I could truthfully say "I've driven a fuel cell car." Like the H2GO, the new car comes with an included Refueling Station. The user pours purified water into that device, and it proceeds to electrolyze the H2O, separating it into H and O – hydrogen and oxygen. A plunger on the station rises as hydrogen fills its temporary holding compartment. The user then connects the car to the station using a built-in hose, and manually pumps the hydrogen from the station into the car. The car's fuel cell subsequently combines...

ANBARASUASOKAN

Search This Blog