Your Guide To Wireless

Archos 705 WiFi

Flashing a diamond ring is all good and well, but if it's too puny to see, what is the point? This seems to be the mindset Archos was in when it forged its mammoth 705 Wi-Fi portable video player. If you like your mobile audio and video served up in super-sized portions, open your eyes wide because you are about to be dazzled. Unfortunately, open your wallet, too, as this gem doesn't come cheap, especially after shelling out extra for accessories you'll actually want. When you see how t...

Protecting your Wi-Fi connection

When you connect to the Internet through a wireless access point, you are using radio transmitters to send data between the access point and your computer. Anybody else with a Wi-Fi–enabled computer or a specialized radio receiver can also receive those signals. Unless you protect your Wi-Fi network, anybody with a Wi-Fi network interface can use it to connect to the Internet and possibly open files on your own computers. In many neighborhoods and business districts, as many as a dozen or mor...

Wireless Home

Wireless technology is transforming nearly every aspect of our lives. Think about the ways that mobile communications, mobile computing, and mobile entertainment affect the way we live, the way we work, and the way we play. Underlying all that mobility is the 19th century technology of radio transmission, paired with 20th century circuit boards and 21st century ideas about how technology can serve us. This post we will describe how wireless can help you live, work, and play better. This...

How To Set Up Wireless Encryption

Wi-Fi encryption uses the same key code on the access point and on each client computer to provide access to encrypted data. To add a key code to a Wi-Fi connection profile in Windows, follow these steps: 1. From the Control Panel or the system tray, open the Wireless Network Connection Properties window and choose the Wireless Networks tab. 2. Find the name of the network in the list of Preferred networks and click the Properties button. 3. Open the drop-down Data encryption menu ...

hField Technologies Wi-Fire Wi-Fi Adapter

We sometimes get so caught up in the excitement of the next big thing we throw the baby out with the bathwater. Based on the performance of the Wi-Fire Wi-Fi adapter, that might just be the case with IEEE 802.11g wireless routers. If you value range over throughput, this is the Wi-Fi adapter for you. This ungainly device doesn't rely on MIMO or IEEE 8011.n, it doesn't even require a PCMCIA slot. When we plugged it into the notebook USB 2.0 port, it delivered unbelievable range with a year-old...

Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender

Sure you're waiting for media-streaming devices to catch up to 802.11n, and the Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender does it in style, geek style, that is. The box isn't particularly attractive, but the dual-band Wi-Fi radio inside that's capable of operating on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequency bands. The built-in DVD player that is capable of scaling standard-def DVDs to 1080i. The wireless connection stumbled when tried to stream HD video with 5.1-channel audio attached, however...

Linksys WRT600N Dual-Band Wi-Fi Router

The Linksys WRT600N is the first 802.11n draft 2.0 router that can operate on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands simultaneously. It’s also the most expensive Wi-Fi router so far. The router at its default settings: The 5GHz radio operating in 802.11n-only mode and the 2.4GHz radio operating in mixed 802.11b/g/n mode. Both radios have access to the same integrated four-port gigabit switch. The latter was used for data and the former for streaming media to Linksys's DMA2200. The r...