E-MiLi can also be used with other wireless communication protocols that require idle listening, such as ZigBee.

ENGADGET: New 'subconscious mode' could improve smartphone battery life, supress your WiFi id

In addition to new processor-slowing software on smartphones, E-MiLi requires new firmware for phones and computers that would be sending messages.

ENGADGET: New 'subconscious mode' could improve smartphone battery life, supress your WiFi id

Shin points out that E-MiLi is compatible with today's models, so messages sent with future devices that use E-MiLi's encoding would still be received as usual on smartphones without E-MiLi.

ENGADGET: New 'subconscious mode' could improve smartphone battery life, supress your WiFi id

When used with power-saving mode, the researchers found that E-MiLi is capable of reducing energy consumption by around 44 percent for 92 percent of mobile devices in real-world wireless networks.

ENGADGET: New 'subconscious mode' could improve smartphone battery life, supress your WiFi id

It's called E-MiLi, which stands for Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening.

ENGADGET: New 'subconscious mode' could improve smartphone battery life, supress your WiFi id

In that mili-second, James, then with his back to the basket, whirled to his right to take full advantage of the subtle technical mistake of the best on-ball defender Indiana could place against him.

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The researchers have created such firmware, but in order for E-MiLi use to become widespread, WiFi chipset manufacturers would have to adopt these firmware modifications and then companies that make smartphones and computers would have to incorporate the new chips into their products.

ENGADGET: New 'subconscious mode' could improve smartphone battery life, supress your WiFi id