Wi-Fi alliance announces mesh networking standard
<i>another</i> mesh standard.<p>Bluetooth 1.0 in 2002 with support from the Palm Pilot, to give you a sense of how long ago that was technologically, already had this dream and implemented a Personal Area Network using &#x27;scatternet&#x27;.<p>Probably the single largest blow to the dream of meshed devices everywhere, imho, was Apple&#x27;s decision to limit the iPhone&#x27;s (2007) bluetooth support to headset-only when bluetooth was capable of so much more. Admittedly there was probably substantial pressure from the carriers who were scared of the idea of phones communicating with out being mediated&#x2F;dependent on cell tower infrasructure, but its one thing I cannot forgive apple for. The other phone vendors fell into line.<p>Android 4.0 (2011) implemented Wifi peer-to-peer, which the Wifi Alliance called &quot;Wifi Direct&quot; that would allow for Personal Area Networks using existing wifi hardware.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.android.com&#x2F;guide&#x2F;topics&#x2F;connectivity&#x2F;wifip2p" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.android.com&#x2F;guide&#x2F;topics&#x2F;connectivity&#x2F;wifi...</a>
[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Wi-Fi_Direct" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Wi-Fi_Direct</a><p>Now that bluetooth has returned to its roots with Bluetooth Low Energy, maybe we have another chance at flash-mob mobile gaming - everyone on the same bus can join in to a chatroom or a roleplaying game for the duration of the ride.