Apple’s Mighty Mouse sports a 360-degree scrolling button, but now Logitech has come up with its own next-generation scrolling mouse. The MX evolution mouse boasts an “almost frictionless” high-speed scrolling wheel to rapidly scroll through long documents. The wheel operates in two modes. The ‘free spin’ mode allows you whiz through hundreds of pages in 7-second bursts, or you can stay in standard mode and use it like an ordinary scrolling mouse.

The MX Revolution also includes a number of other new features, such as a ‘quick-flip’ button for quickly cycling through open document windows, and an Internet Search button that will automatically connect to the internet and perform a search whenever you highlight a word in a document. The MX Revolution is a wireless mouse, but includes a built-in rechargeable battery, so you don’t need to spend a fortune on batteries.

There’s also a more compact version, called the VX Revolution, which is designed for use with laptop computers. Both models are Mac-compatible, although you will need to be using Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later.

Next-gen WiFi
The WiFI Alliance will start certifying next-generation wireless LAN products in the first half of next year. The alliance will test 802.11n products for interoperability and certify them using parts of the evolving standard that are unlikely to change. Boxes with a new WiFi logo should start to appear by June 2007, according to Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik.

Extending Vista
Microsoft will send a beta of Vista out to five million users for a public test that will help it track down bugs and ensure that Vista works with as wide a range of hardware as possible. Microsoft hopes this will help it meet the November 2006 deadline for getting Vista into the hands of business customers.

Corded peripherals can only mean one thing: cable clutter. Tripp Lite answers the call for a wire-free workspace with its Bluetooth adapter. Simply pop the tiny dongle into a free USB 2.0 port on any desktop or notebook, and connect up to seven Bluetooth-enabled devices wirelessly. Adaptive frequency hopping guarantees that your wireless connections won’t get crossed.

URL : Bluetooth USB2.0 Adapter with Adaptive Frequency Hopping

Bluetooth headphones banish pesky cords, but their heavy, bulky designs often fail in the comfort department. Not so with Logitech’s FreePulse Wireless Headphones. These lightweight, behind-the-neck-style cans are easy to wear and use Bluetooth 2.0 to deliver crisp, interference free sound up to 33 feet from your music player. The Bluetooth adapter fits in any standard headphone jack, and Logitech promises at least seven hours of battery life per charge.

Hawking Technologies claims its HNC290G Wireless-G IP Camera will automatically configure router settings, making setup a snap even for novices. We installed two of them on two different home networks, and in both instances, the auto-configuration mode failed. Once up and running, however, the inexpensive Webcam delivers outstanding video that’s bright and finely detailed.

Hawking did an outstanding job detailing the setup instructions for the camera, which features a built-in Web server and does not need to be attached to a PC. But the setup wizard had trouble reading the router’s DHCP settings, and, when tried configuring the camera for remote viewing on the Web, the novice and semiautomatic modes didn’t work.We manually opened the Web and video ports on our Linksys 802.11g router using the manual-setup option and sailed through the rest of the process.

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The D-Link RangeBooster N650 DIR-635 wireless router, D-Link’s first stab at networking gear based on the Draft 802.11n spec, does little to separate itself from the Draft N competition. (Vendors aren’t promising that Draft N hardware will work with final-spec 802.11n products but a firmware upgrade will probably bring Draft N products in line with the final spec.)

In terms of looks and connections, the DIR-635 is fairly standard. Three adjustable antennae protrude from the black-and-silver box, and the back of the router offers up the standard ports: four LAN jacks for hardwired connections, a WAN port for connecting the router to a modem, and one USB port.

Setup is straightforward. The included CD walks you through all the steps, from plugging in the cables to powering on and configuring network settings. A 90-page electronic manual further details the setup and configuration processes, and translates tech-speak into plain English. In an interesting move, D-Link in this router has done away with the familiar Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security option, offering support for only Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2.

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I am about to get wireless Internet. In order to make my system more secure, is it possible to shield the access point? I will be placing the router on a shelf in my home office. Can I put something on the back of the shelf to disrupt the signal? For instance, would aluminum foil block the wireless signal, or would it act as an antenna?

Although wireless access points are omni directional and susceptible to blockage and interference by some building materials, relying upon anything other than encryption to protect your system is largely futile.

The radio waves that carry your wireless signals can travel quite far. Even though you may not be able to connect to your access point, someone else may still be able to receive your signals and decipher your traffic. Imagine someone walking at night with a flashlight. He can only see so far as he walks along, yet others hidden out of range of the flashlight can easily see him. The same is true of wireless radio signals.

There are some steps you can take to minimize the likelihood of someone eaves dropping on your network. First, see if your wireless access point has a power setting. This will help restrict how far your signal is sent, though you’ll want to experiment with this setting because it can potentially make it difficult for you to connect to your access point. In addition, restricting signal strength can also limit the speed of your access point.

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