Gadgets

Problems Setting Up a Wireless Network?

October 2, 2008, by No comments yet

I recently purchased a D-Link DIR 301 wireless router starter pack from PC World at around £40 as I wanted to give my neighbour and friend free internet access as hes a bit strapped for cash having 3 kids and 1 dog to look after on his pittance of a wage (Hi John)… also because he wanted to try online dating (i suggest pleantyoffish.com). Anyway, I digress.

The setup of this wireless router was simple enough and I was happily up and running connecting my iphone to the network and surfing from the comfort of my living room, however getting Johns pc to play properly was another story. As part of helping out a friend I updated his PC to Windows XP from 98 and did my usual trick of maxing out the speed by turning off services… the net result was that I just couldn’t get the wireless dongle to work. so a quick email to DLink support later and here’s the fix which I thought id publish to help out others.

Click on start >> run >> services.msc and then click OK
- IN services window scroll down the window to bottom and you will find “Wireless Zero Configuration”
- Double click on it >> click on START (if START is blurred then click on STOP and then again CLICK on START)
- Click on OK at bottom when service is started again
- Close the services window
- Click on Start >> run >> ncpa.cpl and click on OK
- Right click on wireless ICON and click on Properties
- Click on Wireless network TAB
- Remove all ICONS from Preferred networks and mike that box empty
- In Wireless network window make sure that “USE Windows to configure my Wireless Network is Checked In”
- Then click on OK at bottom
- Again Right Click on Wireless Icon and Click on “View Available wireless Networks”
- Find Your wireless network and get connected to it By highlighting your wireless network and click on Connect

UPDATE: For some reason I had Excellent signal strength but the network kept showing “limited or no connectivity” after a bit of digging around I discovered that the “Wireless Zero Configuration” service had stopped even tho’ it was set to start automatically so if you have this issue just right click > properties and select START.

WTF! Dell Inspiron Mini 910

September 4, 2008, by No comments yet

Ive been eagerly awaiting the launch of the new Dell Inspiron Mini (910) for several months now and have purposefully held odd buying the eeepc or Aspire One notebook as I genuinely believed that Dell was about to come up with an amazing offer.

What a let down…

The Dell Inspiron Mini (910) is way over priced at £299 (thats a full £100 more than its sold for in the USA)

So based on value, capacity and functionality it looks like im going to be forced to buy an Acer Aspire One with its superior hard disk, keyboard and ultimately more affordable cost… or wait for bootleg ones to be sold on ebay :(

UPDATE

The Dell Mini is now available with Ubuntu for Netbooks which sounds promising and is £50 cheaper tho’ the spec is slightly reduced with less RAM than the Windows XP Version. Also reports from Gizmodo and Engadget say that all netbook prices are due to drop over the next few months which is great news!

I’ve still not bought one as both the Levono s10 and ECG GL10 look like contenders with the GL10 being particularly swanky – just hope they keep the Apple style keyboard!

Macworld 2008 – Interesting Hype Machine

January 15, 2008, by No comments yet

Just like the Atari and Amiga before it, Apple has its fanatics and an hour before the doors open on the event its interesting to see what hype is already springing up on the Internet.

Air

Lots of speculation and fake images of a super-thin laptop. Personally I think its going to be more about wireless everything as with the recent CES show which featured wireless TV’s and suchlike. so my guess is to expect wireless apple displays (except for the PSU)

People are also reporting that the apple store is down which does indicate either a significant technical problem or sizeable product update.

Both Engadget and Gizmodo are running dedicated post categories and have given us…. well nothing more than some images of people queuing, sleeping and ambling around an entrance hall with the obligatory apple "theres something in the air" poster.

Give it an hour or so and I’ll see if im right.

Go fanboys go!

Update

Heres a quick update on the first reactions of Macworld 2008.

Engadget show us just how thin the Macbook Air is compared to Apples previous incarnations. Link

Gizmodo’s hands on gallery and comentary of the MacBook Air. Link

Cnet – Crave’s first look at the MacBook Air Link

Engadget point out that the MacBook Air doesnt have a replaceable battery and thus either an expensive service fee, or limited lifespan as already discovered with iPods and the iPhone (naughty apple!) Link

Gizmodo’s keynote gallery of the Macbook Air’s launch (anyone noticing wwhat product was Apple’s biggest anouncement yet? Link

Engadget show us something different with coverage of Apple TV 2 and what promises to be some sweet new features Link

Cnet – Crave talks about Apple TV 2′s new features Link

Gizmodo announce Apple Time Capsule Server for Backup Machine – this is something every self respecting Apple fanboy needs because despite what you say about PC’s you know the apple is just as unreliable! Link

PointUI – Windows Mobile Skin is Amazing

January 8, 2008, by No comments yet

I love my O2 XDA II Mini S (wow what a mouth full) and have had it now for over 18 months. My only 3 quibbles are:

  • Battery Performance sucks – I average 2-3 days before needing to recharge
  • Camera sucks – 1.3 Mega pixel is blurry, out of focus and useless in low light
  • Windows Mobile 5 is Slooooow

Well point 3 looks like its going to be remedied pretty soon, and I dont mean Windows Mobile 7 (which probably will be too hungry for my little XDA Mini). What i am talking about is PointIU.

Most people are harping on about how PointUI is a potential iPhone killer and to be honest, I don’t think that’s too much of a challenge what with the XDA’s already having more features than the iPhone can shake a stick at. What is nice is the finger based UI (User Interface) with some nice touch ‘n’ slide menu systems to navigate around… I admit its not as clever as the iPhone (yet) but this is open source and seems to have the support of the community.

What I Like

  • Finger Friendly (I recently lost my stylus and have been using biros for around 6 months now – Donations anyone?)
  • Jumps in and out of WM5 quickly
  • Replaces WM5 task bar and looks much better
  • Nicer power meter
  • Nicer volume settings
  • Easy access to comon apps

What I Dont Like

  • Touch-slide works back to front (up is down, left is right?)
  • Cant customise the initial tool options (I dont want email or Media Player)
  • Some common tools are tucked away
  • Doesnt auto-start easily
  • Needs to integrate interface into phone, txt and other standard services (hey I know this is only an early beta but lets look to the future)

Overall PointUI is amazing and deffo a step in the right direction. I’d like to see a development roadmap on the company website to stop people bleeting on about the same old feature requests on the forum.

Heres a Youtube Video  (more static images on Flickr).

Apple MacBook Pro Review

November 24, 2007, by No comments yet

I’ve been in a different part of the office for the last week working for the first time on a MacBook Pro. It’s the first time I’ve had to really work on a Mac for a number of years – since University in fact. I do own a Candy Mac G3 desktop which is fun to play with form time to time… however, Apples latest foray into laptops is leaving me feeling a little cold. Some things just don’t work well.

The keyboard is very unresponsive. I type heavily and even I have issues with keypresses not being registered which means it takes me ages to get anything done as its all riddled with typos.

Having to press Fn to access loads of common functions is a major pain and theres little in the way of help on the keyboard keys which show nothing.

No HASH symbol (have to type it in because THERES NOT ONE ON THE EFFIN KEYBOARD) … needless to say writing CSS is a major pain.

Vast expanse between front of laptop and keyboard. Sure im working on a 17″ machine but I find im having to type with my hands sideways for comfort as the feel of the front of the machine rubbing aganst my forearm is weird.

Taskbar keeps sliding into view when im casualy wafting the pointer over some work space.

No maximise function. I double click the title bar of a window and it drops it into the dock. This is making me insane!

No doubleclicking on the track pad.

Needless to say, I’m dreading coming into work for the next few days as this ‘puter is full of time wasting features/or lack there of useful features. I thought Apple was supposed to be king of usability… well I guess they dont know everything.

CRT Vs TFT Monitors

November 28, 2006, by No comments yet

I’ve recently upgraded to a dual monitor system which combines both a CRT and TFT monitor. Ive done this, not as a financial decision, but because both types of monitors display images very differently and as a web designer it pays to be able to see a project from your customers point of view, whatever technology they’re using.

I should really calibrate both monitors using some expensive calibration tools, but because the lay person doesn’t have access to this technology, so i’m not going to.

The main different I’ve noticed is that my TFT monitor (a Ryoku 19″) is much brighter, displaying gray on black with significant contrast even when the gray / black is almost identical. This particular piece of artwork when viewed on CRT just looks black.