wireless network
Wire Your Living Room Over Wi-Fi with a Bridge
3:00AM Gina Trapani | More devices in your living room have Ethernet ports than ever before, but you can’t plug them into the network if your router’s in the other room. When your Wi-Fi access point is in the home office but your TiVo, Xbox, and media centre are screaming for network love under your TV in the living room, you want a wireless bridge (also known as an Ethernet converter). A wireless bridge catches your home network’s Wi-Fi signal and provides ports where you can plug in wired devices near it. Let’s take a look at how to wire up your living room using a wireless bridge. More »
Give an Old Laptop New Life with Cheap (or Free) Projects
4:00AM Kevin Purdy | Like a famed race horse or a classic book, you don’t just throw away a laptop because it’s banged up a little. Even if it seems outdated and underpowered, most any laptop is still small, quiet, and relatively low on power consumption, making it a seriously valuable spare to keep handy—even without a working screen. With some free software, a little know-how and some creative thinking about your home network, nearly any old laptop can find its second wind, and today I’ll run through some of the best ways to get it there.Photo by daveynin. More »
Reveal Wi-Fi Network Passwords with WirelessKeyView
1:00PM Gina Trapani | Windows only: By default Windows hides WEP and WPA keys stored on your PC to connect to various Wi-Fi networks, but freeware utility WirelessKeyView lists them for you. When you’ve forgotten that Wi-Fi network key, run WirelessKeyView to see all the networks your Windows PC has ever connected to using its default Wireless Zero Configuration mechanism. (This utility doesn’t reveal keys stored by third-party network connection software.) Delete keys from old networks that you no longer need, and easily copy keys to the clipboard to send or save. WirelessKeyView is a free download for Windows XP and Vista. Thanks, Vijay! WirelessKeyView [NirSoft] More »Free Wi-Fi for Sydney delayed
11:01AM Sarah Stokely | The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the state government’s plan to offer free wi-fi for the Sydney CBD has been delayed.
The state government had promised free wi-fi by 2009 for the CBD, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, Liverpool, Newcastle, Wollongong and Gosford. They’re now saying the complexity of the project and the number of tenders is slowing things down.
Maybe they just need to get Adelaide-based ISP Internode on the case – they’ve been offering free municipal Wi-Fi in Adelaide and other regional areas for a fair while.
More » Localise settings for NetStumbler
11:37AM Sarah Stokely | Recently we told you our Top 10 Wi-Fi Boosts, Tweaks and Apps. Reader Krusher_00 commented with a handy localisation tip for using NetStumbler for detecting networks:
“Make sure you’ve got the correct channel selected. In Australia the standard is to use either channel 1, 6 or 11 as these are the only 3 channels that don’t interfere with each other.
If you see your neighbours have points on 1, 3 and 5 for example then your wireless is going to be affected if you decide to use channel six.
You can however have points on the same channel, this just decreases the maximum throughput that can be achieved (more noticeable if they’re using their wireless all the time).”
Thanks for the tip, Krusher. :)
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