specimen

30 Aug, 2004

Ethernet Jack Wireless Points

Posted by pwestbro 19:42 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Hardware
Wi-Fi Network News has a post about new access points that plug directly into ethernet jacks. These Aruba access points are powered over with Power over Ethernet and connect to a Aruba switch (I assume that the switch has built in Power over Ethernet.)

Also Aruba worked out a deal with Ortronics to make 802.11 access points that are built into the ethernet jacks. This seems like a great product to use when wiring a house. I would have loved to use it when I wired our house. This would solve all of the wireless dead spots in our house, since there would be more consistent coverage

30 Aug, 2004

SoundBridge includes free 802.11

Posted by pwestbro 14:30 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Electronics
SoundBridgeMy last post described the Linksys Music System. I really like how inexpensive it was. Now it looks like Roku has brought down the price on their SoundBridge, by including free 802.11.

For the people who have already bought one of One of the SoundBridges, they can get a free Roku tested 802.11 card, $100 off another SoundBridge or their High-Def media player, or send a $50 refund check.

I really like the features of this player. The one that really interests me is that it can work with the open source server software made by SlimDevices.

29 Aug, 2004

Linksys Music System

Posted by pwestbro 14:42 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (1) | Trackback Trackbacks (1) | Electronics
I am amazed about all of the cool network music players that are out there now. Now there are 802.11b media players that are available for less that $200.

Wireless-B Music SystemThe Linksys Wireless-B Music System is a 802.11b device that plays MP3 and WMA music files from a PC, as well as music streams from the Rhapsody Digital Music service. It looks like it is only compatible with Windows PCs. If it were compatible with Mac OS X, this would be a serious competitor to the Squeezebox, since it is so much cheaper.

29 Aug, 2004

BL-C10A Network Camera

Posted by pwestbro 14:22 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (4) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Electronics
BL-C10AI have been interested in buying a network camera for a while. I think that it would be great to have a camera that could be used for looking at who is at the front door, or to be used as a baby monitor.

Panasonic makes a BL-C10A which is a ethernet network camera. It has a 100-degree per seconds pan-and-tilt control that can be operated remotely. It looks like it has a web interface to see the pictures, as well as sending pictures via mail or ftp.

It looks like it supports different versions of Windows, I wonder if I could use it with Mac OS X, from the browser.

24 Aug, 2004

Spellchecking in Firefox

Posted by pwestbro 19:12 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (1) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Computer
blogggity.com has a post on a spell checker for Firefox. It looks like there is a sourceforge project where they ported the spell checker from Mozilla into an extension for Firefox

23 Aug, 2004

IceRocket

Posted by pwestbro 19:20 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | General
IceRocket.com is a new search engine, that has some pretty cool features. The search results can contain a thumbnail preview of the home page of the resulting web site. Also it has a feature where you can email a query to them, and get an email response with the result.

I don't think that this will be serious competition for Google, but they do have some good features.

23 Aug, 2004

2Wire MediaPortal

Posted by pwestbro 18:50 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Electronics
2Wire MediaPortal2Wire is working on a pretty cool DVR. The MediaPortal is a PVR that can receive standard def and high def satellite signals, as well as ATSC and NTSC broadcasts. It will record HD broadcasts in 480p, 720p and 1080i. It will record up to 180 hour of standard def content, and up to 25 hours of high def content.

In addition to the DVR functionality, it will play, store and organize video, music and photos localy and from networked PCs.
 (More)

20 Aug, 2004

Another Vonage post

Posted by pwestbro 20:10 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Phone
There is one more thing that I want to do with the Vonage phone line. The vonage phone line is only connected to the new jacks that are were wired when I ran structured wiring to a couple of places in our house. The next thing that I want to do is to wire the original jacks to this phone line. What I will do is run the new Vonage line on one of the pairs of wires on the Cat 5 that goes from the distribution panel, to the external junction box. Then I will connect this line to the rest of the house wiring.

I probably will not do this until I get a UPS for the phone adapter, and the DSL modem.

19 Aug, 2004

More Vonage

Posted by pwestbro 20:32 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (1) | Trackback Trackbacks (1) | Phone
Yesterday, I switched out phone to the Vonage phone line. Now all calls to our landline phone line will be forwarded to the Vonage phone line. The phone line is working great. In fact, the TiVo work well with the line too.

Since SBC does not have have Local Number Portabilty, I still have to keep my old line. I have cancelled all of the other features, except for Call Forwarding. I also change the line to be at a Metered Rate. So now I am playing $9.21 for a line that I had paid $60. (More)

18 Aug, 2004

Audio Advantage Micro

Posted by pwestbro 19:06 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (1) | Trackback Trackbacks (1) | Electronics
Audio AdvantageI was looking for a cheap way to get digital audio out of my mac, and it looks like Turtle Beach has a solution. has a post on this litte device. The Audio Advantage is a usb audio device that has analog audio and digital audio out.

With Mac OS X, it looks like it will only output analog stereo audio or PCM digital audio. With Windows, it looks like it will output Dolby Digital or DTS. Also on Windows it can have simulated surround sound.

This looks like a great device for only $30.

17 Aug, 2004

Vonage delivered

Posted by pwestbro 20:20 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Phone
Our Vonage broadband phone adapter was delivered yesterday. The installation was pretty easy. I decided not not install it as the Vonage documentation instructed me. I plugged the adapter directly into my dsl modem, which has 4 ethernet ports. I have saveral static ip addresses, so I allocated one for it directly. I decided that I didn't want to plug my current firewall into the adapter itself because I wasn't sure about how well the modem adapter would route my non-phone traffic. Also, I didn't want to put the adapter in my internal network, becase if I had a lot of network traffic, it could interfere with the bandwidth for it.
 (More)

15 Aug, 2004

HUSH ATX Media PVR

Posted by pwestbro 15:08 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (1) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Electronics
HUSH PVRHush Technology is coming out with another cool product. Their Hush ATX Media PVR is a silent Microsoft Windows XP based PVR and media center, that looks like it does a lot of cool stuff. Here are the specs of the hardware:
Since the only input looks to be the Hauppauge NOVA-S, Digital SAT TV Card, I don't think that this will work in the US, without some modification. I wonder if it could be replaced with a NTSC or ATSC card, and the software would just recognize it.

Also I am not sure about how much this will cost when it does come out, and if it comes out in the US.
 (More)

15 Aug, 2004

HUSH AVX Music Server

Posted by pwestbro 14:47 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Electronics
HUSH AVX Music ServerWhile looking at the HUSH ATX PC case, I saw that Hush Technololgy makes a Media server. It seems pretty cool. It is a component size device that has a CD drive, in order to rip CDs. The interesting features is that it comes with a Dell Pocket PC device, with a 802.11 card. They have installed software that automaticalllyy finds the music server on the network, and then allows control of it. The interface on the PDA, also allows you to search for your music on the server.

The AVX Music Server has a 160Gb drive, and what I think is the coolest features is that it is fan less, so that it should be silent, except for the drive. A couple of things that I would love to see are digital audio out, as well as video out, so you are not tied to the PDA based remote.

15 Aug, 2004

Hush ATX

Posted by pwestbro 14:12 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Hardware
Hish ATX
/. mentions the Hush ATX which is a Silent PC, made by Hush Technologies. The whole case is made from a bunch of aluminum heat sinks, and it is fitted with heatpipes. Here is a review from TrustedReviews.

Logic Supply has them for sale for $1675, for a 2Ghz Celeron model. It looks like they are out of stock now.



12 Aug, 2004

Local Number Portability for Campbell

Posted by pwestbro 14:55 | Permalink Permalink | Comments Comments (0) | Trackback Trackbacks (0) | Phone
When we get the broadband phone from Vonage, I will want to transfer our current number over to it. According to Vonage's web site, it is not possible in my area, but looking at the California Public Utility's web site it should be possible. Here is a link to a page that is supposed to remind consumers that Local Number Portability is available.


1 2  Next»