I like surprises. This was the case when I walked down to get my business mail and discovered I had a package from the folks at LapWorks. They asked if I’d be interested in reviewing one of their new products – Ergo Fan Riser. Since I had purchased one of their laptop desks a couple of years back, I was intrigued and agreed. Although the product appealed to me for ergonomic reasons, the product will also appeal to people who have notebooks that overheat.
Continue Reading February 26th, 2007
Every so often I hear an idealist talk about ranking without links. Evidently Google has the ability to algorithmically determine what is quality content and what is not. (I, too, believe they have that ability, I just believe they look at linkage to determine what is quality and what isn’t.)
It is disturbing, however, when I […]
Continue Reading February 26th, 2007
I have been looking at some webcam software for Mac OS X. There are a few features that I was looking for:
- Capture video when motion is detected.
- Be able to email pictures when motion is detected
- Ability to log in to see current video from remote location.
I tried several other programs, but none of them worked well. Then I tried the free trial of SecuritySpy, and really liked it. It can be configured for simultaneous webcams and network cameras. It also has a built in web server to server the current video, and see the video and pictures that had been captured in the past.
Continue Reading February 26th, 2007
I have been having problems upgrading our Linksys BEFSX41 to the latest version of the firmware. While in the process of flashing the new version of the software, the web page refreshes to a missing page. Once that happens, the web interface of the router doesn’t respond. This happens with Firefox and Safari on the Mac, and with Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows
The instructions on this page worked perfectly. The command line tftp tool on Mac OS X upgraded the router seamlessly. I used the instructions were the password is specified on the command line. (There is a space between the end of the file name and “octet”.)
Continue Reading February 24th, 2007
FON was having a special promotion for their one year anniversary, where they were giving away free Fonera routers, so I decided to sign up for one. I have been intrigued with the the Fon “movement”, where you create an open WiFi network to share your broadband connection. Those who share their broadband, can get free wireless access any any other Fon wireless network. I see the sharing of your broadband connection as similar to leaving your bittorrent client running after a download finishes. These types of sharing create a sense of community
I am not sure how sustainable their business model is. Fon is relying on people putting these routers on their broadband connection. Some ISPs are OK with sharing broadband connections, like SpeakEasy. And other ISPs are partnering with Fon, like British Telecom. Most other ISPs do not allow this type of sharing. This could potentially cause your broadband connection to be terminated, if the ISP finds out.
The hardware itself, is pretty simple. It has a single CAT-5 port for connection to a broadband connection. It has a single WiFi antenna, for both the public and private wireless networks. The installation instructions indicates that the router should be connect directly to your broadband connection. The Fonera router creates two seperate woreless netwoeks. One is the public network and the other is a private network.
I had a few problems with the hardware. Since the router only has the single WAN port, it is impossible to connect wired devices to the private network, with their instructions. Also, I don’t see any specifications about how this router has configured QoS, so traffic on the public network could negatively affect that from the private network.
I worked around these problems, by putting the Fonera and my firewall router, behind another router. This router is configured to prioritize all traffic from the firewall router over that from the Fonera. In addition to making sure that the network traffic is prioritized correctly, it also make sure that any one on the wireless network can not access our internal network.
I also had problems with the wireless itself. After it was all connected, I was only able to see the private network. All connection attempt failed after entering the password. I was never able to see the public network. While this was happening, I had no problem connecting to the Airport Extreme right next to it. I think that either the wireless signal is lower or the Fonera is not able to handle the interference with other wireless networks.
With all of these problems, I have decided to not use this router. I will find someone else that I can give the fonera to.
Continue Reading February 24th, 2007
