We’ll soon have another wireless provider to be annoyed with. Cox Communications—yes, the cable company—plans to enter the wireless game next year piggybacking on on Sprint’s network; it will launch its own 3G network, sans Sprint, before the end of 2009. (It’s also moving toward its own 4G, using LTE, network, but that’s a further out.) Cox is moving into this arena in order to compete with the likes of AT&T and Verizon, two companies that have diversified their operations: AT&T with U-verse and Verzion with FiOS. And now I ask, how does Cox rate? We’ve all heard the Comcast horror stories, and I’ve only used Cablevision and Time Warner, so I’ve not idea how Cox operates. → Read More
57,000 Rage Wireless Guitars were sold to date and now the Chinese-made Guitar Hero axe is being recalled. Allegedly, if an user installs the AA batteries incorrectly, a circuit board malfunctions causing acid to leak and the world to implode. Owners are asked to return the dangerous guitars to the original place of purchase for a full refund. Maybe you can apply $40 to $60 refund to Logitech’s Premiere Wireless Controller, but just be careful with this one too; the rosewood fingerboard might give you a sliver. → Read More
At first glance, you might mistake this doodad on the left for an ordinary, run-of-the-mill thumbdrive. Don’t be fooled! It’s a 3G modem from AT&T called the USBConnect Quicksilver. If you’re a weakling, you’ll love this thing because it weighs less than an ounce. Everyone, and I mean everyone, can lift one ounce, so less than one once should be a cakewalk. According to SlashPhone the Quicksilver is the first device of its kind to use the new Icera Livanto chipset, which accounts for its pocketability. The modem handles GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G data. The price with a two-year contract is $100 plus there’s a $100 mail-in rebate available, which makes this little guy a wheel of a deal. Just don’t lose it, eh? → Read More
Tired of the tyranny of headphone wires when listening to “Headphone Silence” on your iPod 200 times in a row? Who isn’t! Lucky for you there’s Onkyo’s MHP-UW2, a pair of unfortunately named wireless headphones that operate on the 2.4GHz frequency. You have to plug a receiver into the bottom of your iPod in order for it to work, but once that’s out of the way you’re golden. Rather than trust the machine translation, we’ll merely mention that it’s due for release November 14 (in Japan at least; USA?) for around ¥20,000, which, right now, is about $197. → Read More
The problem with radio waves is that they just can’t seem to pass through things. That’s why I maintain a direct line of sight to my wireless router at all times — even when I’m not using it! And with this range extender for my Airport Express, now I can make my router higher up and more visible in the room — because that’s why I bought a wireless networking solution: to make my cabling and backend electronics more prominent! Do you think wireless devices need to be high up in the air in order to transmit effectively over distances of 10 or 20 feet? Do you believe dinosaurs walked the young Earth with mankind? Then have I got a product for you, Sarah Palin! [via BBG and UberGizmo] → Read More
I didn’t have a good time with the last wireless keyboard/mouse combo I had, but I’m ready to try again. This keyboard has the most dumb/smart feature of all time, a Ctrl-Alt-Del key. That’s awesome. Yes, there are jokes to be made, but I use the task manager for more than killing crashed programs. Anyway, the keyboard also has a “rotary button,” commonly referred to as a knob, and about five billion function keys (I count at least 27 in reality). They appear to have made the same mistake as Microsoft did, in not separating the F-keys into distinguishable groups. Trouble brewing! At least it comes with a cool-looking mouse. The Vector mouse features a sort of right-handed curve in its design, which I trust is reasonably comfortable. I question the wisdom of having two tiny, indistinguishable buttons right next to each other there, but maybe it’ll work out. Anyway, if you don’t like it, you can always replace it with their more generic Wireless Optical Mobile mouse, a smaller, more traditional affair. Price is $80 for the set, no word on the Mobile; I’d guess around 40 smackers. → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_M4DaJ5FQ Tokyo-based Taiyo Corp. [JP] is selling a new wireless toy helicopter for indoor use that can be used even in very small rooms. The beginner-friendly, so-called Micro Master HG3, features special sensors that prevent the helicopter from crashing into ceilings by descending automatically right before it would happen. → Read More
The future is near! Soon the days of wireless, LCD technology will be gone and the era of wireless organic EL TV will be here. Sony is showing off the prototype at the companies dealer convention along with other non-wireless, organic EL TVs. The 3mm thick TV is simply a tech demo of what’s to come with Sony withholding pertinent information, such as battery life and range. We do that speakers are on top and there is a broadcasting tuner box but, of course, there isn’t any mention of price or availability; maybe CES 2009. via AVwatch → Read More
Raise your hand if you like paying $10 or so for 24 hours of airport Internet access that you’re only going to use for 15 minutes. While I certainly wouldn’t suggest that you use this trick for endless, free web surfing on a for-pay wireless network, maybe your conscience would allow you to just quickly jump on to grab your e-mail or some music for your MP3 player before you board. Debuggable Ltd has the full story, but the basic gist is that when you open up your web browser in most airports that charge for wireless access, you’re re-routed to the service’s sign-up and payment page. The trick is to enter the web address you’d like to visit and add “?.jpg” to the end of the URL. So you would go to http://www.crunchgear.com/?.jpg for instance. Apparently these for-pay networks don’t block image files (yet), so you’re able to slip through the cracks this way. The guy who discovered this even used a Greasemonkey script for Firefox to automatically append “?.jpg” to every URL he visited. Clever, no? [Debuggable Ltd via Digg] → Read More
What’s there to say? These new Logitech speakers look slick, they’re wireless via an unobtrusive little dongle, and they claim 12 hours of battery life. Looks like you can charge them via USB. I’ve heard good things about the smaller Logitech speakers, so while I won’t expect to fill a room with these things, they might be nice for… I don’t know, picnics. → Read More
For about the price of a docking station, you could just skip the whole docking part altogether, assuming Kensington’s new Wireless USB Docking Station works as advertised. The device costs $229.99 and features a DVI port, five USB 2.0 ports, and an audio out jack. It can handle monitors up to 1680×1050. It appears to be simple enough to operate, too. You’ve just got to be within 15 feet of the device and your computer either has to have a built-in wireless USB host device or you’ll have to purchase one, like this $75 one from IOGEAR. That might be a deal-killer right there. Newer notebooks should be coming out with the wireless USB stack built-in, though. Wireless USB Docking Station [Kensington.com] → Read More
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