Author: simonmackay

Foxtel–now to be offered in a manner similar to Canal+

Article

Telstra to offer FOXTEL on T-Box in May 2011 – Media Announcement – About Telstra

My comments

Most of the other countries in the world have at least one Internet service provider who provides IPTV or “triple-play” Internet service offering the TV channels that are expected in a multichannel pay-TV service as part of their TV deals. This is whether as a separate option or integrated in to the TV package.

For example, most of the French “triple-play” packages (Livebox, Freebox, Bbox, Box SFR, etc) offer the Canal+ pay-TV service as a “channel package”. Similarly, the channels offered through US cable-TV services are being offered via AT&T’s “FiOS” IPTV offerings.

Now this trend is coming to Australia with Foxtel, Australia’s main pay-TV brand, offering their TV channels through the Telstra T-Box IPTV setup. This will be offered in the same manner as what is done in France, where the Foxtel packages are sold as a particular add-on rather than the channels being part of packages that Telstra BigPond determines.

Advantages

One main advantage I have often seen regarding delivery of the Foxtel brand via IPTV is that there isn’t the need to run extra coaxial cable to each viewing location or fuss with a satellite dish in order to receive this content.

Some households that have highly-landscaped gardens can benefit because there isn’t the need to dig up the garden to run new cable from the street (in the case of underground-cable setups). As well, people who live in forested areas of the cities

Another advantage with this particular setup is that you only need one set-top box to receive the IPTV services provided through BigPond as well as Foxtel. This is more important to those of use who value the idea of “all the eggs in one basket” but have had to worry about room on the TV cabinet for the T-Box and the Fox Box; or extra inputs on the TV in order to have both these services.

Outstanding Questions

There are still some outstanding questions and issues that need to be raised concerning this service. One is whether a user can set up concurrent recording of shows broadcast on Foxtel, BigPond TV and regular TV at the same time. It also includes handling of sequential recordings, especially where the user requires a certain amount of run-on to be recorded to cater for when channels finish their shows later.

This same problem can extend to capacity issues for T-Box and will eventually require measures like support for “offloading” to approved NAS devices, and the availability of larger-capacity PVRs that work with the BigPond IPTV service. This can also open up issues like true multi-room setups with scalable customer-premises hardware in the form of PVRs that have different capacities and functionalities as well as view-only set-top boxes  Here this could allow for “follow-me” viewing, setting up recordings from other rooms and increased recording capacity and concurrency.

How this could affect the pay-TV landscape

It will also be interesting to see how long this deal will be exclusive to Telstra BigPond. This is especially real as some of the other ISPs in the Australian market like iiNet and TPG are offering IPTV service by “picking off” channels from various content providers. As well, Optus will want to get in to this new game by offering IPTV service and may want to run the Foxtel name in its lineup. Similarly, the Austar name, which covers the Foxtel lineup outside the capital cities will want to appear in any IPTV lineup in its market area.

It could then redetermine the role of the traditional multichannel pay-TV distributor like Foxtel or Austar, who used to rely on their infrastructure and their set-top boxes as being core to their operations, causing them to become a “content wholesaler” or “content franchise”. Here, the customer views these services through hardware provided via their IPTV operators such as “triple-play” broadband providers and chooses the service as an option that is part of their broadband, “triple-play” or IPTV package.

Call this cheap in Germany -Kabel Deutschland offering 100Mbps broadband for 20 € per month!

Articles – all in German language

Kabel Deutschland: Highspeed-Internet für knapp 20 Euro pro Monat – COMPUTER BILD

From the horse’s mouth

Information page on Kabel Deutschland’s Website

Translated facts and my comments

It certainly shows that the DOCSIS-based cable modem is being forgotten as a broadband technology. This is especially as people think of the “switched” DSL technologies (ADSL and VDSL) and the hot-shot fibre-to-the-door technologies as the preferred broadband setups for the home network.

In Germany, Kabel Deutschland who is the main cable-TV provider there, are offering 100Mb/s “headline-speed” broadband and VoIP telephony for 20€ per month for the first 12 months (which is the minimum contract length). Then it will go to a month-by-month rate of 40€ per month for the same service. There is even the option of a 802.11n Wi-Fi router with 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports on the LAN side for €49.90.

Like all European telephony+broadband and “triple-play” contracts, this one offers the “all-you-can-talk” for landline telephones in the country and for a few euro extra per month, “all-you-can-talk” to the common destinations in Europe, North America and Australia.

This service will be offered where Kabel Deutschland are running DOCSIS 3.0 technology for cable broadband which is at the moment 40% of the country.

This is an example of what lively competition can offer for telephony and broadband Internet. It also shows what can happen if another technology becomes popular in a country and companies who are standing behind a particular technology like cable Internet need to put this on the “radar”.

Bringing Flintshire’s broadband ‘notspots’ up to standard

Articles

BBC News – Plan to tackle Flintshire’s broadband ‘notspots’ (VIDEO)

BBC News – Action to eliminate Flintshire broadband ‘notspots’

My Comments

Another area of Wales is being tackled when it comes to providing broadband Internet of a real standard. This area encompasses Caerwys communities, Talacre, Deeside industrial estate and Ysceiflog; which are in the Flintshire county. Here, local government, in the form of the Flintshire County Council, is behind the effort

This issue has been made real because of the business necessity of a proper broadband Internet service. An example that was cited in the articles was the Northop Hall Country House Hotel losing a GBP£70,000 conference contract because the broadband Internet service wasn’t up to standard for overseas guests who were doing international business at a conference. Here, proper broadband Internet is becoming an expected service for hotels and similar venues, especially if the hotel wants to be valued as a place for business conferences.

I have always made readers aware of the common limitations that occur with ADSL broadband Internet deployments in regional and rural areas when I have commented on broadband in the country.

In these setups, the telephone exchange that services these areas is equipped with the DSLAM which is the necessary equipment for the broadband service, but the cabling infrastructure between the exchange and the customer’s premises is long and commonly operating below par. The ADSL broadband Internet service works at its best when the consumer’s ADSL modem receives a strong signal from the DSLAM installed in the exchange; and long or derelict telecommunications-wiring infrastructure between these devices works against this goal.

As well, in some cases, the telco has used pair-gain wiring – a cheap and lazy telecommunications wiring method –  to connect an increased number of telephone services in an area with fewer wires. Such services wouldn’t work well with machine-to-machine communications and are totally incompatible with ADSL.

These situations can work against the provisioning of real broadband Internet in rural areas and whenever Internet is provided to these areas, it isn’t just putting the appropriate modems in the equipment rack in the exchange that needs to be considered. These deployments may have to include reassessing the wiring in the neighbourhood and, in some cases, doing necessary work on the wiring to enable people to subscribe to broadband Internet at a real bandwidth.

I just hope that telecommunications companies always keep tabs on the condition of the telephone wiring infrastructure in the country and do better research on providing a proper standard of broadband Internet service in the country.

Book Review–”Windows 7 For Seniors” by Michael Price

A lot of my computing-support work has been to help many friends of mine who haven’t had much exposure to computers with many different computing skills. Typically, they would buy a Windows-based desktop or laptop or have their business buy one of these machines, but I often end up having to show them through various techniques associated with using this computer.

Windows 7 For Seniors In Easy Steps

Publisher Easy Steps Limited
ISBN 978-1-84078-386-5
Recommended Price US$14.99
GBP£10.99
CN$16.95

I had come across this book title and others in the “For Seniors” series at Belgrave Book Barn in Melbourne and bought this one for AUD$29.95 tax inclusive. Amazon currently have this book online for US$9.53.

This book is part of the “For Seniors” series of computer books that are pitched at older people who haven’t had much experience with computers. There is a similar book called “Laptops For Seniors” which focuses on the use of Windows-7 laptops rather than desktop computers which this book focuses on.

This book covers Windows 7, whether you install it yourself such as through an upgrade or have the operating system delivered with your new computer, which will be the most popular way to acquire it. Here, it will show what can and can’t be done on different versions of the operating system, especially with the user interface.

All techniques are covered complete with illustrations, easy to read typesetting and reduced jargon. If they need to use jargon, they explain it out properly. Even the pictures used to illustrate Web pages and digital-imaging techniques are based on landscapes and other similar imagery.

As far as Internet connection goes, this book talks about “dial-up” or PPPoE connections where the computer’s operating system manages the connection and pushes the now-common network-based Internet connections to the “Networking” chapter later on in the book. At least they tell users who use the network-based methods to head to that particular page.

When it talks of email use, it describes how to do email using Windows Live Mail or using the free webmail setups. The free webmail setup that is illustrated in this book is the ubiquitous GMail service and it explains how to work your existing account or set up a new account with GMail.

As far as anti-virus programs are concerned, it had suggested the use of free programs like the AVG Free antivirus program. This is even though the new Microsoft Security Essentials anti-malware program had come out recently, but has at least it has exposed a free program that can do the job.

What I have liked about this book is that it covers most computing tasks that can be done with Windows 7 and treats the older novice computer user with respect. Even the title comes across to the reader in a respectful manner. As well, it covers the common usage scenarios that the older people will encounter as they use their new Windows 7 computer.

So I would recommend this book, along with the “Laptops For Seniors” and other books in this series as a computer guidebook for older novice computer users.

New changes coming ahead for the handheld PlayStation Experience

Articles

Sony’s official NGP announcement video hits the web | Engadget

PSP Reborn: The Quad-Core Next Generation Portable (NGP) | Sony Insider

Your Guide To The Sony Next-Generation Portable | CNET Crave

Sony annonce sa "3DS killer" | TF1.fr (France – French language)

My Comments

Sony have implemented a few changes for the PlayStation Gaming Platform which will be affecting this platform as a handheld-gaming platform. What they have realised is that the PlayStation Portable or PSP has reached its peak and is facing competition from the iOS and Android mobile devices when it comes to handheld gaming.

NGP – Next-Generation Portable

This console, which is intended to be the successor to the PSP has also been rated as a a “Nintendo 3DS-killer” according to TF1 in France.

It has a 5” AMOLED touchscreen but there are still the control buttons that eager gameplayers can keep “mashing”; as well as two analogue joysticks for its control options. Like the iOS and Android devices, there will be support for sensors. These will be in the form of a GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer as well as a front camera and a back camera as well as rear touchpads.

All these sensors are there to permit “augmented reality” and other enhanced gaming experiences. Examples of this included looking around sports-type games in a first-person form such as looking around a pool table or golf tee before hitting off that shot.

The gaming performance has been improved over the PSP with use of a quad-core Cortex A9 processor, 512Mb RAM and PowerVR SGC 543 MP4+ graphics subsystem. This then can allow for some of the more heavier titles that will appeal to a lot of the players.

This console will have network connectivity in the form of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. But there will be versions that will come with 3G wireless-broadband technology, in a similar vein to the smartphones and tablet computers.

I often wonder whether this connectivity will allow for more than downloading of games and extras from the PlayStation Store or playing games via the the PlayStation Network. The applications that I am thinking of include peer-to-peer gaming; interaction with the DLNA Home Media Network or interoperability with the PS3 games console.

The storage in this console consists of an SDHC card slot for user-data storage as well as 16Gb on board/ But Sony are also using a new flash-memory-based cartridge format for distributing pre-packaged games.

As far as games availability goes for the initial run, most of the games that are available for the PS3 are intended to be ported to this console. It will be interesting to see what games will take advantage of the touchscreen and the sensors that this handheld has.

I also wonder whether the games will make use of the relatively-large choice of user interfaces that this console offers such as the buttons and joysticks, the touchscreen or the sensors. This is whether as alternative interfaces or as interfaces that are particular to the game or part thereof.

PlayStation Experience for Android – PlayStation Suite

As well, Sony intend to bring out a “PlayStation Suite” app for certain Android phones so that these can be played like the PSP or the NGP. The big question that I have about this is which phones will be able to run this software and whether there will be the full range of games on this platform. This could certainly put Apple on notice when it comes to the smartphone as a gaming platform, because of the PlayStation platform’s prowess with the advanced games like the Final Fantasy series of adventure games.

At the moment, this PlayStation Experience will be limited to an emulator which will be used to play the games that existed for the original Sony PlayStation console.

Conclusion – What could happen to the PlayStation brand?

The introduction of sensors and touchscreens to the PlayStation Experience could allow Sony to add extra dimensions to the games available for this platform and use the PlayStation name as a reference point for console and mobile gaming. Who knows whether Sony will extend this brand to premium Windows and MacOS X games that are meant to be played on those “gaming rigs”?

Product Review–Pioneer NAC-3 Internet audio system with 2 iPod Docks

Introduction

I am reviewing the Pioneer NAC-3 (XW-NAC3) Internet music system with 2 iPod docks. This DLNA-enabled network media unit is a flagship model that heads a series of iPod speaker docks that Pioneer has recently released and is the latest attempt by this company to sell “small-set” audio equipment like portable, clock and table radios.

This Japanese company has always been known for high-quality home audio / video equipment since the 1960s and car audio equipment since the 1970s but has dabbled in the highly-competitive product class at various times through the 70s and 80s, initially selling these goods under the “Centrex” brand in some markets but eventually simply selling them under their own brand. This unit is an example of how Pioneer, along with the other Japanese consumer-electronics companies are trying to get their claws back in to a very competitive product class which is awash with many cheap Chinese-built products that are sold under many different brand names.

As an echo to the earlier attempts in the “small-set” audio product class, this unit has functionality that makes it stand out from the pack. One party piece is to work with 2 iPod or iPhone devices and play tracks from one or both of the devices and another one is to properly implement “three-box” DLNA Network Media functionality where it can be managed by a Windows 7 computer or other DLNA control point.

It will also be the first time I have reviewed a network media device and am implementing these “at-a-glance” tables for this class of device. Regular readers may have noticed that I am implementing these “at a glance” tables when I review laptop computers and printers so people can see the basic facts about these products before they read the review text.

Pioneer NAC-3 Internet radio and iPod dock

Price

Recommended Retail Price: AUD$699

Functions

Internet Radio vTuner
Network Media DLNA
3-box DLNA functionality Controlled Playback Device
– Content Selection
– Audio Content Playback
– Volume Adjustment (Network media)
Local Stored Memory USB
iPod / iPhone 2 iPhone docks

Connections

Input
Audio Line input 1 x 3.5mm stereo jack
Output
Video Line output 1 x composite RCA jack
Network
Ethernet Standard 100BaseT Ethernet

Speakers and Sound Output

Output Power 10 Watts RMS per channel
(8 ohms, 10% THD)
2 channels (stereo)
Speaker Layout 2.0 stereo layout 2 x  3” (6.6cm) Full-range
2 x 3” (7.6cm) Passive radiator

 

The unit itself

Pioneer XW-NAC3 remote control

Card-type remote control

This unit has been designed to appeal to the young generation who just want something new rather than your “father’s old station-wagon”. Here, it has a shape that is similar to a banana and is finished in a glossy-white plastic cabinet. It can come with three different speaker-cloth colours – burgundy-red, black or white. As well, it comes with a card-size infrared remote control which you have to use for operating most functions including access to Internet radio.

This unit can play music from 2 iPod or iPhone devices; a Bluetooth A2DP-compliant audio source, a USB Mass-Storage Device or a line-level source as well as material over the network. But this set lacks some functions that I have been used to with most Internet radio units that I have reviewed previously on this site.

One function that it misses is the ability to connect to the host network via Wi-Fi wireless. Here, you have to connect it to the network using an Ethernet cable, but you could use a HomePlug kit or a Wi-Fi-Ethernet client bridge to connect it to the home network and want “around-the-home” flexibility without needing to lay Ethernet wiring. The other function that it lacks is access to regular broadcast radio, whether FM or DAB+ digital radio. This may not be of concern if you are seeing this unit as an Internet-enabled complementary radio / network music terminal / iPod speaker doc while you use your ordinary radio (which most households have plenty of) for listening to regular local broadcast radio.

iPod playback

2 iPod docks on the Pioneer NAC-3

You can play and charge two iPods or iPhones here

The ability to play and charge 2 iPod or iPhone devices is useful for quite a few applications. For example, a person who has one of those high-capacity “iPod Classic” series devices can still use this device as a “jukebox” alongside their new iPhone 4 that they have just signed a contract for. This is infact the demonstration setup that I used with an iPod Classic and an iPhone that I had borrowed from a teenage boy that is living with me.  Similarly, a household with many “iDevices” can this as a charging station for two of these devices. The two-iPod function is augmented by a dual-device shuffle mode which plays tracks from each of these devices sequentially. The iDevices can even be put in to “shuffle” mode so as to allow the unit to randomly pick music across the devices.

Bluetooth A2DP

The system can also work with Bluetooth A2DP audio sources like a lot of mobile phones, tablet computer (including the iPad) or some MP3 players. Here, this worked as a “Bluetooth speaker” for my Nokia N85 mobile phone and had worked as expected. The track navigation and PLAY/PAUSE buttons on the remote control had controlled the music playback on my phone.

The pairing experience was a bit confusing because there was one procedure to set up the paring code but this didn’t make the unit “open for pairing”. You actually had to press the PLAY button on the remote control to achieve this goal and begin the pairing process.

Network functionality

All the media available via the home network connection is accessed when you select “Home Media Gallery” as the function source. This includes the Internet radio as well as music files available from any of the DLNA Home Media servers on your network.

Internet radio

The Internet radio works from the vTuner Internet-radio directory and has the similar directory structure to all of the other radios that I have reviewed. It has the ability to store 30 Internet-radio stations with 10 stations in three “classes”. You will have to use this function once you regularly listen to particular Internet-radio stations because if the set loses connection with the station, you will need to “retune” to that station.

It can handle jitter and latency situations OK but as I have said before, it goes to the “Home Media Gallery” menu once it drops out and loses the connection. This can happen at busy times when the Internet service is oversubscribed and there isn’t proper QoS functionality on the network between the radio station’s server and this set.

DLNA network media

This unit integrates properly with the DLNA Home Media Network. Here, it will work as a network music player where you select your content using the NAC-3’s display and remote control; and it will even list the UPnP AV / DLNA Media Servers that exist on your network when you select the “Home Media Gallery” function so you can start “delving” in to the content on your desired server.

It also works properly as a network-controlled music player when you use a UPnP AV / DLNA control point program like Windows Media Player 12 (Windows 7) or a mobile phone with a DLNA media control program. I have even tried this with my Nokia N85 phone which I use as a personal “Walkman” and have “pushed” music held on the phone to this unit via the home network. As well, unlike some DLNA-compliant media players that are meant to work under network control that I have used, this unit will even play a program of music that you direct it to play from the network-based control device.

Sound Adjustments and Quality

There are bass and treble controls accessible from the remote control but I had kept the bass and treble set at “flat” so as to hear a sound that I can assess fairly. There is a “sound-effect” button which allows the system to be switched between a “vivid” mode with a bit of extra bass and treble, a “Lo-Fi” mode which yields a cheap transistor-radio sound and an “ALC” mode which keeps the sound level constant for use in noisy environments.

Even if I don’t use the sound-effect modes and I have the bass and treble flat, this Internet radio doesn’t sound like a “gutless wonder”. There is still some punchy bass even with popular music that was recorded before there was the desire to make such music sound boomier and louder. Yet you still hear the vocals and instruments that carry the body of the music clearly and distinctly. Even the heavy bass lines from the recent dance tracks that were on the iPod and iPhone that I borrowed from the teenager to try out the dual-iPod functionality didn’t worry this music system much and they still sounded “tight” – there wasn’t that old bass-heavy “jukebox” sound.

Limitations and Points of Improvement

The Pioneer NAC-3 Internet music system could benefit from integrated Wi-Fi wireless-network or HomePlug powerline network connectivity. This is more so because it is the kind of network device that appeals to being taken around the house from room to room.

It could also benefit from a headphone jack because some people use this jack to connect a more-powerful active-speaker system or an amplifier to these devices for increased sound output. As well, the VIDEO output on this unit could be used not just for iPods and iPhones that have a video output. Here, this jack could work with the DLNA network media player to play pictures and video material through a connected TV set.

The Internet radio functionality could have some improvements in the way it operates. It could come back to the “last-tuned” Internet station or attempt to reconnect itself after a dropout. But this may have to be facilitated through a separate “Internet Radio” function on the function selector like what most other Internet radios have.

Conclusion

I would recommend this unit for people who either run two or more iPods or iPhones; a Bluetooth-enabled music-capable phone or have established a DLNA Home Media Network and want a “complementary” transportable device that can get the most out of their digital music library available on their portable devices or home network.

What is the “new computing environment” and how to go about it?

When I talk of laptops, wireless routers and network-capable printers, I make frequent references to a “new computing environment” that these devices can enable.

What is the “New Computing Environment”

Sony VAIO E-Series laptopThe “New Computing Environment” is a home computing environment that is based around portability and flexibility. The seed for this environment has been sown with the widely-publicised Intel Centrino campaign and is becoming stronger in a lot of households.

It consists of most of the computers in the house being laptop or notebook computers.It may also include the use of “all-in-one” desktop computers similar to the newer Apple iMacs or HP TouchSmart desktops. The goal is that these computers are able to be moved easily around the house at a whim.

This environment will also encompass the use of smartphones and tablet computers for secondary computing activities like casual Web browsing, email and use of social networks.

There is a Wi-Fi home network in place that is served by at least a wireless router that is the network’s Internet “edge”. The computers may connect to that router via Ethernet if they are close to it but are typically connected to that router using the Wi-Fi network segment.

What does this lead to

Increased flexibility

The key benefit is to increase flexibility when it comes to computer use. The major benefit is that you can relocate the computer as you need it. An example that was portrayed in an Intel Centrino radio ad that was played in the UK was someone who was writing out an email on a laptop being being interrupted by another household member who had come in to do the vacuuming. Then they are able to move somewhere quieter to do the rest of their work.

Netgear DG834G ADSL2 wireless router

Netgear DG834G ADSL2 wireless router

As well, the “New Computing Environment” also leads to increased “casual computing” setups like viewing sites like YouTube or Facebook while lounging around on the sofa; going through one’s email while relaxing in bed or flicking through online news sites while in the kitchen. I even wrote a short article on this site about the trend of young people visiting Websites while watching TV.

Catering to temporary workspaces

Another very common scenario is a household without a dedicated workspace. This is where the kitchen bench or the dining table becomes a temporary office. Some households may have a collapsible table like a card table or trestle table along with one or more folding chairs, set up in a lounge area or landing for use as a temporary workspace; or may have such furniture on hand to set up a temporary workspace as required. The “New Computing Environment” allows the user to shift the computer along with the rest of their work whenever they need to do something like set the table for a meal.

Even if a household has a dedicated workspace, there will always be the need to create another temporary workspace to suit another person’s work or study needs or to suit a different type of work.

Storage flexibility

Similarly, laptop computers are much easier to store when not in use. For example, they can be put in a drawer when not needed, as I have mentioned in an older article regarding use of a laptop as a kitchen PC. This allows the machine to be well out of harm’s way which can be of concern in a busy household or with some children and pets.

As well, the laptop is also more suited to households who have older “davenport” or “roll-top” desks which are capable of being closed up when not in use. Here, these computers can be used at and stored easily in these desks. It also allows these desks to become the elegant piece of furniture that they are known for.

Suitability with “downsized living”

This computing environment is becoming increasingly relevant with people who live in smaller houses and apartments; especially city apartments.

This class of user includes “empty-nest” parents who are moving to smaller premises because their children have left the family home, but still need to be able to look after their grandchildren when they come around.  Here, their computing equipment doesn’t need to cause much space to be taken up in these smaller living quarters.

The “home-business” laptop

This kind of computing environment also suits the use of a “home-business” computer that is used at home but taken to the workplace while you are working. For some small-business operators, a large laptop like the Dell Inspiron 15R or the HP Probook 4520s may be the only computing device that they need to use for all their computing needs and you just pack this machine in the boot (trunk) of your car before you head to or from your workplace.

Implementation notes

Starting out

You will need to use a laptop computer that is commensurate to your computing needs. But it will have to be equipped with an integrated Wi-Fi wireless network interface of at least 802.11g WPA standard. This covers most laptops made over the past five years. I have reviewed plenty of laptops and notebooks on this site and will be reviewing more of them as they come along from different manufacturers. You can have a look at the list of equipment reviewed here on this page.

Compaq Presario CQ42

Compaq Presario CQ42 entry-level laptop

If you are intending to buy a new laptop computer, I would suggest that you look at the buyer’s guides that I have written – “Buying a Laptop or Notebook Computer”. Here, I have suggested the use of the 15” laptop computers as a sole or main computing device for this environment. If you have very basic needs like emailing and basic Web surfing, a unit equipped with a low-end processor and around 2Gb memory, like the Compaq Presario CQ42 that I have reviewed here, can suit your needs here. It is still worth it to spend as much as you can afford on the hard disk capacity because as you use the computer more regularly, you will end up filling the hard disk more quickly.

On the other hand, you may want to use an “all-in-one” desktop computer like one of the Apple iMac, HP TouchSmart Desktop or Sony VAIO J or L Series computers. These have the computing power, secondary storage and the screen integrated in one slim lightweight housing, with a separate keyboard and mouse. They may be useful as a “common” or “family” computer and can be stored or moved easily as long as you know how to reconnect the keyboard and mouse.

Printers

A lot of people who set up for the “new computing environment” typically use a direct-connected printer and bring the laptop closer to it in order to plug it in when they want to print or scan something.

Canon PIXMA MX-350 network multifunction printer

What you need to do for proper implementation is to use a network-enabled printer. Here, these printers connect directly to the network either via Ethernet or Wi-Fi wireless and accept their print jobs through this connection. Multi-function printers can also expose their other functions like the scanner, fax or memory-card slots to the network.

This avoids the need to connect the laptop to the printer every time you want to print something out. With a network printer, you just select that printer from the list of printers when you specify a print job from your laptop and, moments later. you will find your print job in the printer’s output tray. Here, the job is sent via the network to the printer rather than via a cable that you always connect to the printer.

“Easing the gap” towards flexibility

Some users who are used to a regular laptop computer connected by Ethernet to a single-port broadband modem at a regular workspace may still get in to the habit of connecting the laptop to the wireless router using the “old way”. This is more so if they see their computer’s home location as being on the desktop near the router and while at that location they plug it in to the Ethernet socket on the router.

Some operating systems may react in a strange way if the user plugs in the Ethernet connection while the wireless connection is still active. This may be not of concern with newer operating systems that can automatically deactivate the Wi-Fi wireless network interface if the computer is connected to the network via an Ethernet cable.  Here, the user needs to know how to manually enable and disable the Wi-Fi wireless network interface in the laptop.

Some of the computers will use a separate “Wi-Fi” button to turn the Wi-Fi modem on an off whereas more recent examples will require you to press the “Fn” key and a function key with a transmitter symbol to turn the wireless network on and off. This function may also be known as a “flight mode” and in some cases, will turn the Bluetooth function on and off at the same time.

Then what you might end up doing is to forget using the Ethernet cord and just use the laptop wirelessly as you realise you can use the Internet at home without wires.

Network-attached storage devices

If you are considering expanded or secondary data storage space for the “New Computing Environment”, you will be interested in buying a network-attached storage device. This is a dedicated external hard disk that is accessible from computers connected to your network. It is different to the idea of repurposing an old desktop computer as a shared storage server because the device is designed specifically to be a storage device and will end up being quieter, more efficient and more reliable to run than the old desktop computer.

They are relevant as a backup device; to offload rarely-touched data from your computer and/or to works as a standards-compliant media server for your music, digital pictures and videos. I have touched on this latter application in the DLNA Home Media Network series article: “Setting up for PC-free operation”.

An increasing number of wireless routers are offering NAS functionality when a USB hard disk is plugged in to them. This may be good for starting out or a temporary network-storage solution but a dedicated network-attached storage device can do the job much better for long-term use. As well, most of the routers that offer this function are very under-powered when it comes to handling USB hard disks and you would then have to use a self-powered USB hard disk or connect the “power” USB connection on small USB-powered hard disks to a powered USB hub.

Is wired technology relevant to the New Computing Environment

There are some cases where wired-networking technology is relevant to the New Computing Environment. One main case would be to support network printers or networked AV devices that don’t have integrated Wi-Fi functionality. This would be more so as you consider purchasing an Internet-enabled TV or Blu-ray player for your home and a lot of these devices may just have an Ethernet socket rather than Wi-Fi connectivity.

Another case would be to use a secondary access point to extend wireless-network coverage, such as with buildings that use thick walls made of brick, stone or similar materials; large buildings or outbuildings on a property.

Here, you may think that you have to lay Ethernet wiring through the premises and this may be expensive and of poor value if you aren’t renovating, extending or rewiring your building. In most cases, you could use HomePlug AV technology as your wired “no-new-wires” technology because this uses regular AC wiring as a data carrier.

Conclusion

What I am hoping to do with this is to explain the “New Computing Environment” that is becoming a major trend as far as home and small-business computing is concerned. This is where the computing environment is centred around the use of portable computers that connect to a wireless network.

“Wi-Fi-ready” consumer electronics–what should you know

Article

Why you should avoid proprietary Wi-Fi dongles | Crave – CNET

My comments

Previously, I had written an article about using HomePlug to connect a TiVo device to your home network if you don’t have Ethernet connectivity near the TiVo device. This was after I had seen poor Wi-Fi performance from the TiVo-specified 802.11g Wi-Fi adaptor that a TiVo that was on show at a consumer-electronics show was connected to. This is infact the beginning of a trend by consumer-electronics manufacturers to differentiate their product ranges.

What does it mean if consumer-electronics is “Wi-Fi-ready”

Consumer-electronics manufacturers will place a range of network-enabled consumer-electronics products like flatscreen TVs or Blu-Ray players as “Wi-Fi-ready” or “Wi-Fi-enabled” units. These units will be cheaper than the products that have Wi-Fi functionality integrated in them and this fact is used as a way of differentiating between particular models or ranges.

When you want to use the “Wi-Fi-ready” TV or Blu-Ray player on your home network’s Wi-Fi segment, you have to buy a special Wi-Fi network-adaptor module from the consumer-electronics manufacturer through their retail front. Most such adaptor modules will come in the form of a USB “dongle” that plugs in to a specified USB socket on the device but some manufacturers may require that their technicians install the module in the set for you. This latter practice may be more so with TVs sold by some European manufacturers who are used to having add-on functionality modules available for installation by their technicians at a later date upon their customers’ request.

Of course, nearly all of these items of consumer electronics will have an Ethernet socket on them so you can connect them to an Ethernet network segment or a HomePlug networks segment with the appropriate bridge device.

The Wi-Fi dongles or modules

The dongles or modules are usually peculiar to a manufacturer’s products or may only work with a certain subset of their products such as those that are based on a particular design. They usually cost more than a USB-Wi-Fi network adaptor sold for general-purpose computers. As well, the modules, especially the dongles, may not give the same kind of Wi-Fi performance as a setup where the Wi-Fi functionality is integrated in the device.

It may also be worth paying attention to the price difference for the model that comes with Wi-Fi and the model that is “Wi-Fi-ready”. If the device of concern is a TV set, I would suggest that you compare the two models that have the same screen size and display technology. It is also worth asking if the retailer does sell the Wi-Fi module and how much for. This is because in some cases, the aforementioned price difference at the store may be less than the cost of buying this module.

What can you do with a “Wi-Fi-ready” device if you don’t have Ethernet at its location?

This same situation can also hold true if you wish to go for the cheaper “Wi-Fi-ready” model yet integrate it in to the home network in a “no-new-wires” manner.

I would suggest that you use a HomePlug AV setup to connect the “Wi-Fi-ready” device to the home network if you don’t have an Ethernet connection in place at the device’s location. This also includes situations where you may move the device to a newer location such as “pushing” the existing Internet-enabled “Wi-Fi-ready” TV to the secondary lounge area or bedroom.

Most of the HomePlug AV starter kits which comprise of two HomePlug AV-Ethernet bridges (a.k.a “homeplugs”) can typically cost the same as the add-on Wi-Fi adaptors. It is also worth knowing that if you pay a bit more, some of these kits even come with an integrated Ethernet switch which may be useful if you have two or three network-enabled video peripherals near the TV or are likely to connect the PS3 or Xbox 360 to the TV.

Other comments

One situation that I would fear most with consumer-electronics would be to use the optional Wi-Fi module technique used in the current crop of “Wi-Fi-ready” equipment to provide network / Internet connectivity to cheaper equipment at extra cost to the consumer.

Here, the equipment would have no Ethernet socket yet still show “network-function” teasers in its user interface and describe the functions in its user manual and marketing literature. But the user would have to buy a Wi-Fi or Ethernet module in order to link the device to the  home network before they benefit from network and Internet functionality.

Like with the Wi-Fi-ready scenario, the user wouldn’t be able to use cheaper or better-value hardware to network-enable their device, therefore end up paying the premium for network connectivity.

VDSL now in Havelland, Germany–Let’s not forget small communities outside large urban areas

Articles

DNS:NET bringt VDSL ins Havelland | VDSL-News (Germany – German language)

My Comments

Comments relating to an experience with an ADSL service in a country district outside an urban area

Even a country district outside of a well-serviced metropolitan area can suffer limitations with communications. This can happen where you have “green wedges”, farming districts (e.g. wine districts at Yarra Valley or Rosebud) or “beauty districts” (e.g. The Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne or the Blue Mountains in Sydney) located on the edge of or as “pockets” in a metropolitan area and many small communities exist through these areas.

Take Yarra Glen, which is located in the Yarra Valley Wine District outside of Melbourne, for example. You could get the radio and TV programmes receivable in the Melbourne metropolitan area very easily but you can end up with a telephone system that is allowed to “go rotten”.

This was exemplified when I saw a friend of mine who was living in the town and she had trouble with her ADSL Internet service. She had an ADSL modem but it appeared that there was no ADSL signal after she had the service for a few years. The service provider suggested that she try out another modem and she bought a wireless ADSL router and this unit wouldn’t show the existence of ADSL service.

After many troubleshooting hours on the telephone to the service provider and the wireless router’s manufacturer, we found that the telephone infrastructure had “gone rotten” as far as proper ADSL service was concerned. The service provider had come back with information that a lot of repair work needed to be done at the exchange (where the DSLAM was) and at a lot of wiring points between the exchange and her location. This then allowed the router to register proper service and the service had yielded significant improvement since the repairs were done.

I have been following the issue of country areas being set up with decent-standard broadband service and even hamlets, villages and small towns that exist outside a metropolitan area need to be considered.

Comments and notes on the Havelland VDSL deployment

This VDSL2 deployment is taking place in the Brandenburg-Land (German Federal State) outside the Berlin metropolitan area. For Australian readers, this may be similar to a deployment that takes place in a state like South Australia but isn’t servicing the Adelaide metropolitan area. It is in the Havelland district which is between Brandenburg town and west of the Berlin metropolitan area.

There are two main deployments in this area – one in Seeburg which will have a fibre backbone and one covering Elstal (Wustermark) and Falkirk which will have a radio backbone. Each deployment will use the VDSL2 technology to bring the next-generation broadband to the customer’s door and this technology has been valued due to less need to lay out new infrastructure to the door.

DNS:NET, who are behind this project, are working on extending its next-generation broadband infrastructure to bring this calibre of service to the small Brandenburg communities.

Conclusion

The reason I was citing the Yarra Glen poor-quality ADSL incident is that small communities that exist just outside major urban areas are at risk of being neglected when it comes to providing proper broadband service. I was citing this in conjunction to the Havelland VDSL deployments because DNS:NET were working on small communities outside the Berlin and Brandenburg conurbation by making sure they have real next-generation broadband service.

It also caters for the reality that as urban sprawl occurs, these communities will end up becoming part of that urban area and their transport and communication infrastructure needs to be taken care of.

Mobile Users Becoming More Susceptible to Phishing Scams

Article

Mobile Users More Susceptible to Phishing Scams – www.enterprisemobiletoday.com

My comments

Why are mobile (smartphone and tablet-computer) users more susceptible to phishing scams?

The main reason is that the operating interface on the mobile computing devices is totally different to the operating environment on a desktop or laptop computer.

One main reason is that most of these devices don’t have a large display area in their Web browsers or email clients due to them having smaller display screens. This leads to the software designers designing a “clean and simple” user-interface for software pitched at these devices with minimal controls on the interface; which eliminates such concepts as fully-qualified email addresses and URLs. A lot of these devices even conceal the address bar where the user enters the URL of the page to be visited unless the user directly enters a URL that they intend to visit. Similarly, the email client only shows the display name for the incoming email, especially in the commonly-used “list-view”.

It is also augmented by the lack of a “B-option” interface in a mobile operating system. This is compared to what is accepted in a desktop operating environment with functions like right-clicking with a multi-button mouse or using Ctrl-Click on a single-button-mouse-equipped Macintosh to gain access to a context-sensitive secondary menu. Similarly, all scientific calculators used an [F] key and / or an [INV] key to modify the function of formula buttons either to gain access to the inverse of a formula or obtain another formula.

Such an option would allow the user to select a “function” button before selecting the option or displayed item in order to open a context-sensitive secondary-function menu or select a secondary function.

This discourages users from checking the URL they intend to click on in an email or the fully-qualified email address for an incoming email.

What could be done?

The Web browser and email client could support “phish detection” which could provide a highly-visible warning that one is heading to a “phishy” Web site or receiving a suspicious email. This function is just about provided in every desktop email client that most of us use but could be implemented in a mobile email client. Similarly, an email service could integrate filtering for phishy emails as part of its value-added spam-filter service.

There could even be the ability to have a “magnifying glass” touch button on the browser or email-client user interface which, when selected before you select an email address or URL, would show the fully-qualified email address or URL as a “pop-up”. This would have the domain name emphasised or written in a distinct colour so you know where you are going. This same interface could also be in place if one enters a URL directly in to their Web browser.

The mobile browsers could also support the Enhanced Validation SSL functionality through the use of a distinct graphic for the fully-validated sites. As well, a wireless-broadband provider or Wi-Fi hotspot could offer a “phish-verify” proxy service so that users can see a “red flag” if they attempt to visit a phishy Website similar to what happens in Internet Explorer when a user visits a suspicious Website.  This is similar to how some mobile providers warn that you are heading to a website that isn’t part of their “free-use” Website list and they could integrate this logic in to these proxy servers.

Conclusion

In general, the industry needs to look at the various user scenarios that are or are likely to be in place to improve secure Web browsing and email. Then they have to enable user-experience measure that can allow the user to verify the authenticity of Websites and emails.

This is more so as the small screens end handheld devices end up as the principal Web user interface for people who are on the move. It will also become more so as the “10-foot” TV interface, with its large screen with large text and graphics, D-pad navigation technique and use by relaxed and mostly-tired viewers relaxing on comfortable furniture becomes a mainstream “lounge-room” interface for the Web.