Warpia Easy Dock Spearheads the Wireless USB Revolution

Wires. Lame, right? Always getting tangled up, keeping you tethered to your desk. But! We've hit the age of wireless USB. Now Macbook and PC alike can connect cordlessly to any desktop setting through products like the Warpia Easy Dock.

We had some concerns over the InFocus wireless set-up that popped up last month, but Source R&D's Warpia Easy Dock seems to be a cleaner solution. Both products are built on Wisair's wireless USB technology, as will at least a few more similar offerings coming later this year.

Also appealing: the Easy Dock has plug-and-play functionality, and works across both PC and Macbook lines. Whether it's worth the $150 price tag depends on how much use you'll get out of it; I can certainly see the advantages in a professional setting, or for those with netbook regret who want a larger display to work with.

Source R&D Debuts Wireless Laptop Docking Station for Mac & PC Users

Easy Dock brings your laptop content to your desktop computing environment for convenient use of speakers, mouse, keyboard & external monitor

SAN JOSE, California, Mar. 9 – Source R&D announced today the availability of the Warpia Easy Dock, which will allow users to wirelessly connect their notebook/netbook/Macbook to any traditional desktop setting. With the Easy Dock's straightforward plug-and-play interface, consumers can have both the convenience and portability of a laptop, as well as the comfort of a desktop computer. Easier on the eyes, ears and hands, users will no longer have to squint at a miniature screen, deal with a below average sound quality, or fumble with a tiny keyboard.

Based on wireless technology from Wisair, a leading provider of single-chip based Wireless USB solutions, the Easy Dock consists of a USB dongle that connects to your laptop and a receiver that connects to your monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers. Your laptop will instantly recognize the dongle and begin submitting a wireless signal to the receiver, transmitting the image with a resolution of up to1400x1050 to your monitor's screen.

"Perfect for professionals working from home, students on-the-go, or families with both MacBook and PC laptops, the Easy Dock gives customers ultimate portability and comfort," says Marc Levaggi, VP of Marketing for Source R&D. "They can take their compact notebook to business meetings, while still having the option to do more intensive work at home with a full-size keyboard and monitor. It's also a great solution for those who want to play media on high quality speakers."

Compared to other laptop docks on the market, Easy Dock stands out for its wireless quality; adding capability without contributing to cable clutter. Priced affordably at $149.99, the Easy Dock and works with Windows 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X Leopard, and Snow Leopard. For more information, please visit http://warpia.com/Product_Guide-Easy_Dock.pdf.

Zinnet's Brite-View LinkE Streams Content to Four Devices Over Powerline Networks

Sometimes Wi-Fi just doesn't do the trick when streaming something to several devices. Zinnet's Brite-View LinkE system will cover you there by allowing you to stream things over a powerline network to four ethernet devices and at up to 200Mbps.

It's pretty simple: You plug an ethernet bridge into a wall outlet and connect it to a modem. Then you plug the four-port ethernet switch into another wall outlet and tada! You're able to stream content.

The kit's even a pretty decent deal at $90, especially compared to $150-$170 kits. [PR Newswire via Engadget]

WiFi is / is not dangerous: BBC edition

The UK has been a hotbed of discussion in the WiFi is dangerous / not dangerous debate as of late, and it doesn't look like that's about to change anytime soon, with the BBC now getting into the act with an investigation that aims to get to the bottom of the problem/non-problem. To that end, the BBC's Panorama program recently paid a visit to a school in order to compare the levels of radiation from the WiFi signals in the classroom to that from a typical cellphone mast. According to the BBC, the radiation from the school's WiFi proved to be three times higher than that from the cellphone mast, although that was still 600 times below the government's safety limits. Bringing a bit of common sense to the program, Medical physics expert Professor Malcolm Sperrin advised against tossing WiFi altogether, saying that "it's impossible to prove that something has no effect." He also added that he's "more concerned about the heat laptops generate and the impact that could on sensitive parts of the body." Words to the wise, to be sure.

Steerable WiFi cantenna

Despite maybe, possibly being illegal in some parts (but not many), fearless DIY-er Adrian Smith has gone forth and out-MacGyvered all other cantenna makers with his steerable, WiFi-sniffing rig. Using the requisite tin can, along with a PIC microcontroller and a couple of servos, the cantenna is able to be controlled by a custom Visual Basic program that can automagically sniff out the strongest wireless signals and zero in on them (complete with satisfying bzzzzz, whizzzz sound effects, we're sure). Unfortunately, he hasn't provided detailed step-by-step plans for the more engineering-challenged among us, so you'll need some reasonable skills of your own to put one of these to use "sharing" your neighbors' bandwidth.

[Via Hack a Day]

Wi-Fire

1,000 feet you say? That’s the claim made by hField Technologies, makers of the Wi-Fire; a wireless device that extends the reach of a standard Wi-Fi signal. Big question is does it work?

In a nutshell yes, it really works but with a few caveats. The biggest one being it’s a uni-directional antenna – that big square thing you see clamped to the laptop. You have to turn it towards the location of your wireless hub. The good news is that’s about as hard as it gets. Everything else seems to work flawlessly.

The unit is USB powered and doesn’t seem to affect battery life or performance on my Macbook. My apartment is 800 sqft. and I’m only about 100 sqft. from my wireless hub at any point in time but I wanted to test the extremities and see how far I can move away before the signal dropped. To my surprise I was able to leave my apartment and go all the way across the street. Mind you the street in front of my apartment has a total of 4 lanes. It was only then that I noticed my signal had dropped below half but I was still surfing the net, checking email, and IM’ing. Of course this is with the antenna having a clear line of sight of my bedroom window which is where my wireless hub sits. I then decided to test the signal from my parking garage which is underground. As expected it could find no signal but not to the fault of the Wi-Fire. All wireless signals dramatically fade when concrete is in the way.

My only big gripe is the design. It’s hideous and makes my pristine white Macbook look like a Borg assimilation. It comes with a plastic clamp which securely holds it to my screen but I found myself constantly checking if it had marred my casing. After a few weeks of use I’m glad to report no damage was found.

Although the Wi-Fire is small, it’s by no means compact. I’m sure hField Technologies could have created a sleeker unit but I suspect they were more concerned about function than form. The good news is it works and rather well too. It’s compatible with both Macs and PCs via a simple driver install but the $80 price tag may drive some people away. If you live in a home larger than a 1,000 sqft. a wireless repeater can be had for the same price but then again you wouldn’t have the mobility afforded by the Wi-Fire. With that being said it’s a solid deal and gets a recommendation from me.

One note to hField, get to work on a smaller version!

Buy It Here: Wi-Fire

Simple setup to prepare your own radio modem

Eric Seifert worked on the idea of using an “iPod” FM Transmitter and a standard radio receiver with a headphone jack to create a radio modem. The results were positive. Therefore, he put this information open for anyone who enjoys DIYs. Some examples encoding and decoding software are available on his site to help you.

First requirement, a Linux box with the ALSA and SDL libraries. He used a standard PC sound card, an iPod FM transmitter, and an FM radio to construct a radio modem at home. FM transmitter is linked to the sound card that outputs amplitude encoded data. The FM radio receiver takes care of the transmission and transfers it to soundcard’s line-in for further decoding.

You need not worry about the complexity of the procedure as the hardware set up is simpler than it appears. Don’t miss this opportunity to acquaint yourself with more circuits while having fun in your spare time.

Via: Hackszine

Taipei gets 1,000-strong fleet of WiMAX-equipped taxi

Looking for something else to be envious of now that in-flight WiFi is starting to be more readily available? Then look no farther than Taipei, which has just announced the roll-out of a 1,000-strong fleet of WiMAX-equipped taxis. Alright, so a short cab ride might not send you into the same sort of internet withdrawal that a five hour flight does, but we're not ones to turn down mobile broadband when it crops up in places normally reserved for a bit of down-time or "conversation." Best of all, the in-taxi WiMAX will apparently be free during the initial stage, although VMAX Telcom hasn't yet decided if it will charge a fee in the future. No word on any expansion plans beyond the initial 1,000 cabs just yet either, but the service will apparently be limited to the greater Taipei area -- at least until VMAX's WiMAX coverage expands to other parts of Taiwan.

[Thanks, Tim]