Comment

Hedy's Folly

the Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
Nov 26, 2013
A mind-opening and entertaining read for cellphone/GPS/WiFi users who are curious to know how their gadgets work. Hedy’s earlier film Ecstasy went viral; she was courted by and married an international arms trader; bored as a potiche, she escaped to Hollywood, befriended a bad boy music composer and together they invented the basis of modern day telecommunication technology. Simply put, when two moving objects (airplane-torpedo, satellite-cellphone user) communicate with just one frequency, their signal can be easily intercepted and jammed. Their solution is synchronized frequency hopping, now called spread spectrum, i.e. transmitter and receiver rapidly switch from one frequency to another to prevent jamming. Today’s cell phones and many other telecommunication devices work on the same principle with microwaves instead of radio waves. Years ago, radio was called wireless, now it’s Wi-Fi, déjà-vu? Read the 3-4 page Introduction, like? Read the Afterword, still like? Then enjoy the whole enchilada!