Joseph Moran

It’s common these days to be out in public and see people who appear to be talking to themselves. In many cases, a closer look usually indicates that the person is actually chatting with someone else through a small earpiece wirelessly linked to their mobile phone. Such devices employ Bluetooth , a technology that’s used […]

Price: $29.99 (for up to three PCs) Pros: Simplified folder and printer sharing; effectively repairs errant network connections Cons: Lacks network intruder monitoring; no remote access or web publishing features, limited router support for device-specific functions Over the past few years, the category of home network management software has grown considerably. Typified by products such […]

Researchers at Indiana University’s Department of Computer Science recently released a report outlining a way hackers could potentially access and change the configuration routers on home networks. They described how some JavaScript built into a Web page could be used to log into the administrator account of a home router and change its DNS settings. […]

Price: $249.99 (MSRP)Pros: Component AV inputs with pass-through support; allows multiple simultaneous viewers; player software can record video off local networkCons: Confusing and inflexible network setup, no WPA support Back at the turn of the decade — or millennium, if you like — the digital video recorder (DVR) revolutionized TV watching by letting viewers record […]

Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc.Author: Rob TidrowISBN: 0-470-07808-1Price: $12.99 The aim of Wiley Publishing’s Wireless Networking Visual Quick Tips is to give readers the skinny (and at 199 pages, the book is quite thin) on everything wireless — from access points to the Wireless Zero Configuration feature of Windows — while striking an optimal balance between […]

Model: SPH101Price: $250 MSRPPros: Compact; good audio quality; easy to set up and use.Cons: Pricey; runs warm; limited battery life; won’t work at hotspots that require authentication. Before it was purchased by eBay last year, relatively few people (at least in this country) had heard of Skype, the Luxembourg-based Internet telephony provider. But after about […]

Model: WIP300Price: $180 to $200Pros: 802.11g support, color displayCons: Limited battery life; can’t connect at hotspots that require authentication Since its purchase by eBay about a year ago, IP telephony provider Skype has been rapidly gaining in both visibility and users. In fact, a growing list of vendors have released (or are planning to release) […]

Price: $39.95 Pros: Easy connecting to wireless networks and sharing resources; graphical network device management Cons: Overly large and obtrusive event notifications Remember the days when the typical home network consisted of a single PC connected to a dial-up modem? Well, we don’t either. These days, the well-connected home is more likely to have a […]

Model: MG1000Price: $299.99 (MSRP)Pros: Downloads music over a WLAN, no PC required; built-in FM radioCons: Doesn’t support WPA encryption; no equalizer; Web site doesn’t support Firefox If music is at all important to you, you probably keep an iPod or another portable music device within close reach to satisfy your musical cravings. But if downloading […]

Price: FreePros: Helps you find relevant search, mapping and other information without having to type in your location.Cons: Limited coverage areas and Web site choices; not yet available on mobile or non-Windows platforms. It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have the Web as an omnipresent resource for all the various bits of […]

Prior to the existence of the Internet as we know it today, if you needed a secure connection between two systems on remote networks, your choices were essentially to use a dedicated high-speed circuit like a T1 line or to rely on a slow modem, with both options often getting quite expensive. Hamachi sports an […]

Price: FreePros: Anyone can set up a hotspot using almost any wireless hardwareCons: It may conflict with other network software; requires a dedicated PC running Windows Internet Connection Sharing Setting up a hotspot usually requires the purchase of specially-designed and often expensive access points and/or software. 2hotspot from Alepo offers a different approach with its […]