Microsoft Blue Track Says Goodbye to Laser

Although Microsoft is not breathing a single word in relation to an event it has cooking for September 9, 2008, under the slogan “Say Goodbye to Laser,” leaks from its partners are managing to paint a more complete picture. As it has been speculated, the new technology, which will be unveiled in the second week of the coming month, has been incorporated in a mouse. The Microsoft Blue Track mouse, featured in the adjacent images, reportedly sports a LED in combination with wide angle lenses, instead of a laser diode. In this context, despite the attempt to build anticipation with consumers, the Blue Track mouse is by no means reinventing the wheel. Read More »

Free Linux Wireless Driver from Atheros

Atheros Communications, a pioneer in wireless network solutions, is pleased to announce the free availability of the ath9k Linux driver for IEEE 802.11n wireless devices. The ath9k driver will be soon included in the Linux kernel. “The ath9k driver comes shortly after Atheros hired two key Linux wireless developers - Luis Rodriguez and Jouni Malinen. [..] We have been informed Atheros does plan to add access point support to ath9k and to work with the community to enhance and complete access point support in the Linux kernel. It is understood there is plenty of work required on the wireless stack to complete full access point support. Jouni Malinen will help drive this process within the community while Luis helps enhance regulatory compliance in the Linux kernel.” - the MadWifi team. Read More »

Laptops Aloud

It’s not long until the holiday season begins and with the widespread availability of Wi-Fi in hotels and airports, and Wireless Hotspots all over the place I’m guessing that a lot of you will be taking your laptop with you on your travels this year. The only trouble is they’re so nickable, all it takes is a momentary distraction, and it’s gone. Well, this little freeware utility isn’t going to stop you doing something daft, but if might just alert you to the fact that someone is interfering with it, and if it does get pinched, they won’t be able get at the data stored on it, at least not easily. Read More »

Top Ten Notebooks You Couldn’t Do Without

Mobile computing has conquered both the high-end and the mainstream markets and analysts claim that the number of sold notebooks will outpace desktop systems by 2010. Mobile gaming is still a niche market, dominated by bulky notebooks with significant price tags, but most of the general-purpose laptops deliver optimal performance at a reasonable price tag.

The first entry in the mainstream notebook line-up is the Acer Aspire 5920 model, that comes rigged with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 chip running at 1.6 GHz. The system also packs 2 GB of DDR2 memory and runs Windows Vista Home Premium. The 15.4-inch LCD display sports anti-glare technology that boosts the video output and offers a comfortable computer experience. The system sells for about $910 via the company’s retail outlets. Read More »

Don’t Watch This Space

Microsoft, Google. HP, Philips, Samsung and Intel are amongst the big names behind the White Space Coalition, which is looking at ways to provide high-speed wireless Internet access using the gaps between TV channels. The gaps, which are designed to stop channels clashing with one another, are essentially wasted space, but until recently it was thought that any attempt to use them would result in interference and broadcasters are naturally against the idea. Read More »

Watch Detects Wi-Fi Signal Strength

They’re already selling a Wi-Fi detecting shirt, and now Thinkgeek is bringing the technology from chest to wrist with a Wi-Fi detecting watch. Read More »

Spy Pen Detects Wireless and RF Signals

The Auto Detective pen detects wireless and RF signals. The light starts blinking when it detects “signals within the ranges of 900/1200/1300 and 2400/2600/3000MHz”. The faster the blinking the closer you are to the spy device you’re detecting. As an added bonus it’s supposed to have some feature that helps detect counterfeit bills. The unit runs $16 and is made in China. I’ve already placed my order. I have reason to believe my girlfriend bugged the house because she suspects I’m cheating. Which I am, but she’ll never catch me. The bag-lady and I only make out at the bus-stop. I don’t invite her over because she smells like urine.

New Dice Make Computer Diagnosis Easy

PC Dice are a sophisticated diagnostic tool used to determine the current problem with your computer. They run $27 for the set of three dice. You just give them a good roll, and presto your problem reveals itself.

The green die has the words Virus, Spyware, Modem, Video, Network and Reboot. The blue die comes with Install, New PC, Upgrade, No Idea, Quit and $$, and the red die features Windows, Unix, Linux, Wireless, Wired and Mix.

Now I’m not saying that these work better than the real IT department, but they definitely do. Their archaic method of spinning a big wheel with computer problems listed on it is simply no match for this technological breakthrough. Read More »

Gefen’s Wireless USB Range Extender

Wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB for short) technology is not something really new and exciting nowadays but sometimes things are getting a face lift as in the case of the new range extender from Gefen that is capable of increasing the useful range of the wireless USB technology to as much as 30 meters.

Gefen is a well established and liked company, active in the computer peripherals market segment and the newest product from this company comes as a four-port Wireless USB 2.0 Extender that enables users to deploy USB compatible devices at pretty big distances from the host computer system. The Gefen wireless USB range extender comes made of two modules, a sender and receiver system that delivers USB connectivity while keeping things plug and play simple. Read More »

Wimax Gains Some Speed

The WiMAX mobile communication technology is finally ready to go from the lab to the field testing phase and this fact makes all major telecommunication companies face a few important decisions that they should undertake concerning their 4G strategies.

According to the news site digitimes, the research firm ABI Research expects that the first WiMAX real world deployments would convince the major players in that field to more readily adopt the new standard. It is said that most mobile communication operators are expected to sooner or later field WiMAX technologies and networks all over the world, mainly using the 2.5GHz and the 3.5GHz frequencies.

“The mobile wireless industry is in a state of major change as mobile operators decide which IP-OFDMA path they will take for their 4G networks,” says ABI Research principal mobile broadband analyst Philip Solis. “The new and unproven (on a large commercial scale) mobile WiMAX has positioned itself against the potential Goliath that LTE (Long Term Evolution) is expected to become.” Read More »