First device to use Wi-Fi technology for host-peripheral connection

Article

HP Intros The First Wi-Fi Mouse For Your PC | eHomeUpgrade

From the horse’s mouth

HP Introduces Wireless PC Accessories to Enhance the Computing Experience

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My Comments

This mouse is the first to use the Wi-Fi technology as a “personal area network” i.e. to use a network technology to connect peripherals to a host computer. At the moment it requires the host computer to run Windows 7 and implement the “virtual network adaptor” technology in its Wi-Fi chipset.

Furthermore, the host computer needs also to run a device-monitor applet supplied by HP with this mouse. This whole functionality could be improved through the use of code being integrated in Windows 7.

This mouse is expected to have a 9 month battery life which is meant to be longer than with devices that run current Bluetooth technology. I would see that as a coup for Wi-Fi when it comes to applications ranging from mice and keyboards to other “sensor and control” applications like barcode readers used in business; remote controls or health-monitor devices. As well, if the chipsets used in this mouse are implemented in smartphones, PMP / MID devices (iPod Touch, etc) or tablet computers, this could help with improving device runtime when they are used with Wi-Fi networks.

As far as the software is concerned, I would like to have HP avoid “reinventing the wheel” for Wi-Fi mice, keyboards and similar peripherals by making use of “class drivers” that have been defined for USB or Bluetooth human-interface devices.

There is one question that could be asked about this device as in whether it could work over the regular wireless network using the network’s router or access point and sending the data back to the host computer via that local area network, rather than the host PC’s wireless adaptor being virtualised as an access point. This may be of concern with people who run a desktop computer that doesn’t have integrated Wi-Fi but is connected to a the network via Ethernet or HomePlug and this network has a Wi-Fi segment serviced by a wireless router or access point.

A similar setup has been achieved with the myRemote Android app which converts an Android smartphone in to a mouse or remote control for a computer. This one uses the regular wireless network and requires knowledge of the host computer’s IP address and that computer has to run a monitor program downloaded from the myRemote developer’s Web site.

Buyer’s Guide–Buying a printer for your small business

Introduction

You might be at that position where the computer printer at your small business is “on its last legs” or becoming impossible to run economically. On the other hand, you may find you are working your existing printer harder and need to consider a machine that is suited to your current workload.

Similarly, as the end of the financial year approaches, you will face advertising from computer resellers and retailers; and office-supply stores for technology like printers at very enticing prices, usually to allow businesses to buy capital equipment that can be quickly offset against their income for tax purposes. This can become more intense whenever the government announces significant tax breaks for business owners when they purchase capital equipment.

At this point, you could easily make a mistake concerning the purchase of a printer and end up buying the wrong machine for your needs. I have prepared this buyers’ guide so you can be sure you are getting the right printer to suit your business’s needs and be able to use a machine that gives you more “bang for the buck”.

Printer classes

Laser printers

HP LaserJet Pro 1560 printer

HP LaserJet Pro 1560 monochrome laser printer

A laser printer uses a xerographic dry-printing mechanism to print the image to the paper, in a similar way to how the classic photocopier worked. But they use a laser or, in cheaper printers, an LED to illuminate the photostatic drum with the computer-generated image to be printed.

Colour laser printers use four of these mechanisms to imprint the four colours and some cheaper versions may use only one drum and four toners to print the same page; which will take longer to come out.

This class of printer is typically known for printing many copies of “press-quality” documents and has started the “desktop-publishing” revolution.

It is worth knowing that some laser printers will use a cartridge which has an integrated drum as well as the toner supply while others like most of the Brother range will use a separately-replaceable drum unit. With the latter model, you may have to factor in the cost of the drum unit which will occur later on in the machine’s life; usually after 17000-25000 pages.

Business Inkjet printers

HP OfficeJet 6500

HP OfficeJet 6500 business inkjet multifunction printer

This class of inkjet printer is pitched primarily at business users and uses high-capacity cartridges and is optimised for a high duty cycle. They will also have business-target functionality like advanced fax functionality and the ability to work with advanced networks.

Consumer Inkjet printers

Canon PIXMA MX-350 multifunction printer

Canon PIXMA MX-350 multifunction printer with fax

Typically this class of network printer will be optimised for photographic printing and have inks that reproduce photos well. But on the other hand, they will be optimised for a low duty cycle with low-capacity ink cartridges. If they have fax functionality, this functionality will be very basic and as far as network connectivity is concerned, these printers will be suited to a basic small network.

Buying dilemmas that a business owner can face

As a business owner, you may face some buying dilemmas when you choose certain printers. This is especially as manufacturers design printers, especially multifunction printers, that effectively have similar capabilities to others of a different class. Here, the prices for the machines are similar and they may have similar print speeds or functionalities. But there may be certain key differences like the cost to run the machine or the machine’s prowess at particular print jobs.

The two main examples of this are: a high-end fax-equipped consumer inkjet multifunction like the HP Photosmart Premium Fax C410a ( an ePrint-enabled successor to the HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309a full-duplex inkjet printer) and a network-capable business inkjet multifunction like the HP OfficeJet 6500A Series; or a high-end business inkjet multifunction like the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Series and en entry-level colour laser multifunction like the HP Colour LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw.

High-end consumer inkjet vs a business inkjet

HP Photosmart Premium Fax C410 consumer inkjet printer

HP Photosmart Premium Fax C410 - a high-end consumer inkjet multifunction printer

A high-end consumer inkjet printer will be optimised for photo printing whereas a low-end networkable business inkjet will be primarily targeted at printing large runs of documents. This will affect ink-cartridge capacity, machine durability, functionality and printer throughput in many ways.

The former printer will typically have five or more inks and these inks will typically be in lower-capacity cartridges which need replacing more often than the four inks used in a low-end business inkjet printer. I would still suggest that businesses prefer the models with separately-replaceable ink cartridges because each ink can be replaced as needed.

As well, these consumer-level printers will typically have functions that make it easier to print pictures directly from a digital camera whether it’ is “tethered” by a USB cable or one takes the “film” (memory card) out of the camera. Some of these printers may offer the ability to print from a mobile phone via Bluetooth whether through integrated circuitry or an optional Bluetooth module.

HP OfficeJet 6500a business inkjet printer

HP OfficeJet 6500a - a modest-priced business inkjet printer

It may be worth knowing that some business-level inkjets are acquiring this kind of functionality but most of these printers won’t turn out the high-quality prints from digital cameras. Here, this functionality may be useful for applications where print quality doesn’t matter like hardcopy proofs that are used for “shortlisting” pictures for a project.

I would consider the premium consumer-level inkjet printer as a business printer if you rely on it for turning out high-quality digital prints whether from your PC or your digital camera and don’t do much printing on it. If you want the best of both worlds, you could get by with a dedicated photo-optimised printer for photographic jobs and a business-grade multifunction printer for regular business printouts.

High-end business inkjet vs an entry-level colour laser

An example of this situation is HP’s OfficeJet Pro 8500a inkjet and the HP Colour LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus multifunction inkjet printer

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus - a hign-end business inkjet multifunction printer

These printers have a similar throughput to each other when printing pages and also turn out a similar copy quality for the documents that are printed. It doesn’t matter whether the documents are ordinary text documents or documents filled with graphics. There may be some glaring functionality differences like the support for duplex operation or memory type. In this example, the OfficeJet Pro 8500a had “full duplex” functionality where it could print on both sides of a sheet of paper and scan both sides of a printed document whereas the LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw could only print or scan one side of a page. Conversely, the LaserJet Pro used flash memory for its fax-related features like no-paper receive, “fax vault” or send-later while the OfficeJet Pro used regular RAM memory for the same functions.

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw colour laser multifunction printer

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw - an example of an entry-level colour laser multifunction printer

The cost-per-page for an entry-level colour laser printer is slightly cheaper than a high-end business inkjet that is fed the high-capacity cartridges although manufacturers like HP are  implementing ink cartridges in these printers that have a similar or better cost-per-page to the laser printers.  On the other hand, the inkjet is more flexible with print media than the laser because it doesn’t use any heat to bond the marking material to the paper. This can make it useful for printing short-run documents to glossy material or printing out labels and transparencies.

Dedicated printer vs multifunction printers

An increasing number of printers on the market, like most of the printers I have reviewed on this site, are of the “multifunction” type with a built-in scanner mechanism. Here, these printers will be able to scan to the computer or work as convenience light-duty photocopiers. Most of the business-focused multifunction printers are able to work as fax machines and these units typically are equipped with an automatic document feeder.

Compare this with the dedicated printers which just print from a computer. This class of printer is typically represented by laser printers or some photo-grade inkjet printers pitched at the graphic arts users.

A multifunction printer can work well as an all-round “workhorse” printer for most office applications whereas a dedicated printer can serve “infill” requirements that the multifunction cannot achieve. For example, you could use a colour inkjet multifunction printer as the main office printer in a doctor’s office while you have a monochrome laser printer turning out health-insurance forms and accounts that are part of the workflow. Similarly, you could use an A3 colour inkjet printer for turning out plans, signs and similar documents while you use a regular A4 multifunction for regular printing needs.

Features worthy of note

Auto-duplex printing

A feature that is becoming common amongst a lot of printers is auto-duplex printing. Here, the printer is able to automatically “flip” the page to print on the reverse side of the paper. This has become popular as a paper-saving measure but some of us may find it of value as a desktop-publishing benefit.

This is demonstrably so with laser printers like the Brother HL4150CDN colour laser that I recently reviewed. Here, the printer can print “to the edge” yet work on both sides of the page. As well, laser printers don’t have to “dwell” for up to 15 seconds to allow the ink to dry, thus it doesn’t have significant impact on print speed. Infact the previously-mentioned Brother printer could work both sides of two pages at once and with this, there is effectively no throughput penalty if you intend to do duplex or booklet printing.

Some inkjet printers, namely HP printers, may require a non-printed margin at the top and bottom of the page for auto-duplex printing. This is perceived to permit reliable paper handling but can be a problem if you intend to print landscape documents or “work to the edge” in your documents. It is also worth noting that some printers such as cheaper high-throughput colour lasers may only be able to use this function for the common document paper sizes like A4 or Letter.

At the moment, it is worth noting that not many of these colour laser printers that have auto-duplex printing can print on both sides of small-page “flyer-size” documents like A5, DL or postcard. This is usually because the auto-duplex mechanisms are not able to reliably push the small sheets of paper through the colour laser printing mechanism in order to print on both sides of the flyer.

It may be worth knowing that some high-end A4 multifunction printers will be likely to have “full duplex” functionality. This means that they will have auto-duplex printing as well as an automatic document feeder that can scan both sides of a page. This typically leads to functions like automatic “both-sides” copying and faxing.

Use as the business fax machine

Brother MFC-7460DN monochrome laser multifunction printer

Brother MFC-7460DN monochrome laser multifunction printer

Firstly, most of the multifunction printers that appeal to the business user will have an integrated fax functionality. This can be of use if that old fax machine has nearly “had it” or is becoming costly to run due to its use of the thermal-transfer tape.

Infact, the purchase of a low-end plain-paper fax that uses this kind of printing is really a false economy because these fax machines will work through the thermal-transfer tape even if a page is partially written on. Instead, a fax-equipped multifunction printer uses the ink or toner when and where it needs to mark the document.

As well, it will save on bench space because you don’t have to have a separate machine to receive your faxes on. This is an important requirement for small offices and shops where this space can be at a premium.

It is also worth knowing that the inkjet and colour-laser multifunction printers that have the fax functionality are capable of receiving and transmitting faxes in colour to businesses equipped with similarly-capable equipment. Here, if you select “Colour Fax” on these machines, they will transmit the document according to “best-case” rules where if the receiving machine isn’t colour-capable, the transmission will succeed with the document being in monochrome. Other examples of these printers offering increased value for money as a small-business fax machine include the business class printers offering a “fax-vault” function where you can set the unit to hold received documents in memory and print them when required; or “print-to-fax” functions or “fax-to-computer” functions so you can fax a document from your computer or capture a faxed document to your computer without reprinting it.

Of course, these machines will have the expected fax functionality and can work with a dedicated fax line or a shared phone line, including support for “distinctive ring” dedicated-fax-number setups like Telstra’s Faxstream Duet.

What to be careful of

The two-cartridge colour inkjet printer

A lot of inexpensive consumer and small-business inkjet printers still use two cartridges for their printing setup. One of these cartridges is the black cartridge while the other is a “tri-colour” ink cartridge that houses the cyan, magenta and yellow inks in one plastic body.

The main problem with this design is that if one colour runs out in the colour cartridge, you have to replace the whole cartridge even if there is plenty of ink remaining for the other colours. It can become more exacerbating if you print material using your business’s trad dress which will be dominant in particular colours.

This may be OK for an occasionally-used printer but should be avoided if you use your printer frequently. Instead, look for a midrange printer that uses four or more ink cartridges with each colour in its own cartridge.

Wi-Fi-only network connectivity

Another feature common with inexpensive network multifunction printers is to provide Wi-Fi as the only network connection method. This is more so with the printers that are positioned at the consumer end of the market.

There are a few limitations with this setup. One is that you have to run a Wi-Fi network to obtain the benefits of network connectivity and this can be fraught with problems because of Wi-Fi being a radio based method. For example, walls made out of double-brick, cinder-block or reinforced concrete can play havoc with a Wi-Fi link; as can metal-reflective insulation. This limits the ability to connect the printer to your business network using alternative network technologies like Ethernet or HomePlug powerline networking.

As well, a lot of these printers require the user to configure them for the wireless network by connecting them to a host computer and running manufacturer-supplied software before they will work with that network. The exception to this rule for most of these printers is Wi-Fi network segments that use WPS “push-to-connect” setup, where you may push a button on the printer or select a menu option to start the configuration process. This is although the HP ePrint-enabled Wi-Fi-only consumer printers like the Photosmart Wireless-E B110a economy printer and the HP Envy 100 (D410) slimline printer do support configuration for non-WPS wireless networks from the control panel.

Recommendations for most businesses

General-office work

I would recommend a midrange network-connected business inkjet multifunction printer with four ink cartridges and auto-duplex printing for a “general-use” workhorse printer. It may be OK to use a high-end consumer printer or low-end business inkjet for low-traffic applications like a secondary printer.

A photo-optimised consumer printer like a Canon PiXMA or HP Photosmart may be good as a secondary printer for applications where you value high-quality photo prints with the full saturation. Some manufacturers may offer a dedicated photo-optimised printer but typically these can be very expensive and are pitched at the graphic-arts industries.

A dedicated monochrome laser printers can be useful for printing out forms or documents as what would be required of medical, legal or similar professions. Here, it would be wise to look for auto-duplex-equipped units if you turn out many multipage documents like most legal documents. As well, I would recommend that these machines are network-connected if you have or intend to have two or more computer workstations that will turn out the documents.

HP OfficeJet 7000 wide-format printer

HP OfficeJet 7000 A3 wide-format inkjet printer

If you don’t care about colour printing but turn out many documents, you could get by with a monochrome laser multifunction printer like the recently-released Brother units or the HP LaserJet M1212nf that I had previously reviewed. Then if you want to do colour printing at a later date, you could add on a dedicated colour printer like the HP OfficeJet 6000 inkjet; HP OfficeJet 7000 A3 inkjet or Brother HL-4150CDN laser “desktop-publishing workhorse”.

Promoting your business yourself

You may want to use a colour laser printer as a promotion tool for your business. I have infact written up an article about why it is worth considering these printers as a buying option. Here, it would be a good idea to stick to high-throughput colour laser printers like the Brother HL-4150CDN especially if you do a lot of your own short-run publishing, including “infill” print runs.

You may want to take advantage of the larger A3 page size as a paper size for signage and similar material. It may even come in handy within the office for turning out large spreadsheets or business charts that can have more detail. Here, you may look at a single-tray A3 multifunction like the HP OfficeJet 7500 for occasional A3 use or a dual-tray A3 multifunction like the Brother MFC-6490CW or dedicated A3 printer like the HP OfficeJet 7000 if you do turn out a lot of A3 material.

Brother MFC-6490CW A3 inkjet multifunction printer

Brother MFC-6490CW A3 inkjet multifunction printer

Conclusion

In simple terms, I would suggest that you check how much the printer will cost to run; such as the price of replacement ink or toner cartridges; the availability of high-capacity cartridges and the kid of cartridges used and other cost-saving practices like auto-duplex

Then make sure that your printer can suit your current needs as well as allowing for future needs.Here, you can then own and run the right printer that will serve your business’s needs for many years without being a drain on your business’s cashflow.

A standard for qualifying the provision of next-generation broadband for developments now exists in France

Articles

Fibre Optique : 11 zones labellisées Zone d’activité Très Haut Débit – DegroupNews.com (France – French language)

www.labelzathd.fr – Home site for the ZA THD logo program (France – French language)

My comments

It is so easy for land and building developers to hawk the possibilities of new technology like fibre-optic communications when they sell their properties. This was increasingly done through the 1970s to the 1990s as a way of stating that the development was “ready for the future” and is still practised today with some residential-commercial developments. In a lot of these cases, there really isn’t a way of benchmarking the quality and capacity of the fibre-optic technology that goes in to these locations and knowing whether they really live up to the expectations.

The French government have taken a step in the right direction with the “Zone d’Activité Très Haut Débit” (Very High Bandwidth Business Zone) where there is a particular logo for fully-qualified developments.

Here, they required the following standards of the infrastructure for the development to be “logo-compliant”:

  • Next-generation broadband to be delivered by optical fibre to every property
  • A minimum service bandwidth of 100Mbps symmetric “to the door” 
  • Provision for the competitive delivery of next-generation broadband by several retail providers.

This was to be supervised by SETICS in order to assure throughput and competitive-service compliance.

The current shortcomings that I find with this project is that it doesn’t qualify residential developments or the provision of next-generation broadband to the tenancy units (offices, shops, apartments) in a multiple-tenancy building like an office block, shopping centre or block of flats. These kind of developments are where there is the likelihood of hyping-up broadband infrastructure that falls short of the mark.

What needs to happen with this is to extend the logo standards to residential developments and multiple-tenancy buildings owned or managed by a particular entity. As well, local government should be involved in the promotion of the minimum-standard next generation broadband service so that if they have a logo like the “ZA THD” logo, they can become attractive to the “switched on” residents and businesses.

The ABC’s of Understanding Internet Service Providers | InternetServiceProviders.Org

Article

The ABC’s of Understanding Internet Service Providers | Internet Service Providers.org

Web site

InternetServiceProviders.org

My Comments

I was sent an email about this article at InternetServiceProviders.Org which is a new “at-a-glance” Internet-service directory for the USA. It outlines the common terms that will bamboozle people when they buy Internet service; especially as they read, listen to or watch the advertising that the ISPs will run.

But I have always and will always advise Internet customers to consider multi-service deals which encompass regular or mobile telephony, and / or multi-channel pay TV as well as the broadband Internet. This is especially more so if you already have an ongoing telephone or pay-TV service and you want to start purchasing Internet service.

One thing that I would like to see from this site is a continual news feed about situations that will affect retail Internet service in the US. This includes service-provider behaviour like recent Comcast issues; the provisioning of improved Internet service such as fibre-optic Internet or efforts to bring broadband to rural areas.

ARM-based microarchitecture — now a game-changer for general-purpose computing

Article:

ARM The Next Big Thing In Personal Computing | eHomeUpgrade

My comments

I have previously mentioned about NVIDIA developing an ARM-based CPU/GPU chipset and have noticed that this class of RISC chipset is about to resurface in the desktop and laptop computer scene.

What is ARM and how it came about

Initially, Acorn, a British computer company well known for the BBC Model B computer which was used as part of the BBC’s computer-education program in the UK, had pushed on with a RISC processor-based computer in the late 1980s. This became a disaster due to the dominance of the IBM-PC and Apple Macintosh computer platforms as general-purpose computing platforms; even though Acorn were trying to push the computer as a multimedia computer for the classroom. This is although the Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga, which were the multimedia computer platforms of that time, were based on Motorola RISC processors.

Luckily they didn’t give up on the RISC microprocessor and had this class of processor pushed into dedicated-purpose computer setups like set-top boxes, games consoles, mobile phones and PDAs. This chipset and class of microarchitecture became known as the ARM (Acorn RISC Microprocessor) chipset.

The benefit of these RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) class of microarchitecture was to achieve an efficient instruction set that suited the task-intensive requirements that graphics-rich multimedia computing offered; compared to the CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) microarchitecture that was practised primarily with Intel 80×86-based chipsets.

There was reduced interest in the RISC chipset due to Motorola pulling out of the processor game since the mid 2000s when they ceased manufacturing the PowerPC processors. Here, Apple had to build the Macintosh platform for the Intel Architecture because this was offering RISC performance at a cheaper cost to Apple; and started selling Intel-based Macintosh computers.

How is this coming about

An increasing number of processor makers who have made ARM-based microprocessors have pushed for these processors to return to general-purpose computing as a way of achieving power-efficient highly-capable computer systems.

This has come along with Microsoft offering a Windows build for the ARM microarchitecture as well as for the Intel microarchitecture. Similarly, Apple bought out a chipset designer when developed ARM-based chipsets.

What will this mean for software development

There will be a requirement for software to be built for the ARM microarchitecture as well as for the Intel microarchitecture because these work on totally different instruction sets. This may be easier for Apple and Macintosh software developers because when the Intel-based Macintosh computers came along, they had to work out a way of packaging software for the PowerPC and the Intel processor families. Apple marketed these software builds as being “Universal” software builds because of the need to suit the two main processor types.

Windows developers will be needing to head down this same path, especially if they work with orthodox code where they fully compile the programs to machine code themselves. This may not be as limiting for people who work with managed code like the Microsoft .NET platform because the runtime packages could just be prepared for the instruction set that the host computer uses.

Of course, Java programmers won’t need to face this challenge due to the language being designed around a “build once run anywhere” scheme with “virtual machines” that work between the computer and the compiled Java code.

For the consumer

This may require that people who run desktop or laptop computers that use ARM processors will need to look for packaged software or downloadable software that is distributed as an ARM build rather than for Intel processors. This may be made easier through the use of “universal” packages that are part of the software distribution requirement.

It may not worry people who run Java or similar programs because Oracle and others who stand behind these programming environments will be needing to port the runtime environments to these ARM systems.

Conclusion

This has certainly shown that the technology behind the chipsets that powered the computing environments that were considered more exciting through the late 1980s are now relevant in today’s computing life. These will even provide a competitive development field for the next generation of computer systems.

Next Windows to have ARM build as well as Intel build. Apple,used to delivering MacOS X for Motorola PowerPC RISC as well as Intel CPUs, to implement Apple ARM processors on Macintosh laptops.

Product Review–WiFi Analyzer (Android)

Links:

Android Market direct link

qrcode

Click on or scan this barcode from your Android device to install this program.

Introduction

I am reviewing WiFi Analyzer which is an elementary wireless-network site-survey tool for the Android platform. This program is free-to-download but is ad-supported with ads that can be suppressed for a few weeks at a time through a user option. There is also the ability for users to donate via PayPal to keep the program being developed.

Like all other WiFi site-survey tools, this program relies on the “beacon” information sent out by wireless networks at regular information and a low-traffic wireless network may occasionally show up on the program’s radar whereas a regularly-used network will exist on the program’s radar.

Data views

This program has a few different methods of visualising the wireless-network space that your Android device as listed below.

There is a Channel graph which, like inSSIDer, can show the relative strength of each SSID on the Y axis and channel positioning on the X axis. This can be useful for determining whether a wireless network is being swamped out by other networks or determining where to tune the wireless access point’s operating channel to.

Wi-Fi Analyzer for Android Channel Graph

Wi-Fi Analyzer Channel Graph

There is also a time graph which shows relative signal strength of access points over a time period. This can be useful for determining what happens when a certain network comes on line for example.

There is also an access-point list which lists each access point that the Android phone can pick up. Here, you are provided with the ESSID, BSSID, channel number and security type (including WPS capability) of each access point and can have this sorted by ESSID, channel,signal strength or security type (“openness”). This list can be grouped by ESSID and security type so you can identify multi-access-point networks. This view may not be accurate if you have multiple wireless routers in an area set to default SSIDs like “linksys” or “dlink” but working on different WEP keys or WPA passphrases.

Wi-Fi Analyzer Network List

Wi-Fi Analyzer Network List by ESSID

There is a Channel-rating bar graph which measures channel useability by the number of stars where the more stars that exist, the better the channel is for your network. You can also “set” an access point to this graph so you can compare channels to the one it is tuned to at the moment. Again, this would come in handy for tuning the access point for best operation.

Lastly, there is a Signal strength meter which allows you to measure the signal strength of an access point. This can be useful for locating rogue or interfering access points or simply to determine the coverage of an access point.

Wi-Fi Analyzer signal strength meter

Wi-Fi Analyzer signal strength meter

There is the ability for one to connect to a network if the user installs the “WiFi Connector Library” either through the application or by visiting the Android Market. This can allow the user to “lock-on” to a network while monitoring other wireless access points.

It works well as a basic handheld tool for setting up a new wireless router or access point or keeping a small wireless network operating at its best. For businesses who run public wireless hotspots, this program allows them to assess their hotspot’s performance or find rogue access points (fake hotspots / evil-twins).

Usage tests

I had put the program to some usage tests with different wireless networks including my own and a wireless hotspot, This hotspot was a complementary-use service run by a small independently-run cafe whom I have been helping out with concerning its performance and keeping it “business-safe”. Here, I used the signal-strength meter to check that there was proper signal coverage over the public dining room and terrace area of that cafe. I also used the channel-graph view to determine if there are other access points or ad-hoc wireless networks able to be picked up in the cafe. Both of these functions worked well with assessing the hotspot’s coverage and quality-of-service.

As well, I used it in two shopping strips to assess how it and the Samsung Galaxy S Android handset that I was running it on could handle many wireless networks. It is able to identify each SSID and plot it properly on the graph and could cope with me walking into and out of particular access-point coverage ranges.

Limitations and Points of Improvement

For this application, the program could support “whitelisting” of BSSIDs against an ESSID so that one can easily know if the access point that is using your ESSID is really your network. This would work well with managing public networks like wireless hotspots by identifying rogue access points like the aforementioned “fake hotspots”. It can also work well with managing multiple-access-point wireless networks.

A “Pro” version, which would be sold for at an extra cost and wouldn’t have in-app advertising, could provide various extra functions like SSID whitelist management for use in optimising or managing wireless-network activity in particular sites or GPS support for “plotting” network coverage maps or the ability to keep standard log files for use with desktop software.

It is worth noting that this program is restricted to the frequency bands that the smartphone or tablet can cover and this is typically the 2.4GHz platform. At the moment, there aren’t any Android devices that can cover the 5GHz spectrum using their own hardware.

Conclusion

At last this is a program that answers my need for a cost-effective easy-to-use handheld network-survey tool in a popular smartphone platform. It can therefore be a good companion program to the inSSIDer program that I had previously reviewed on this site.

Tablet computers – where are they really used and for what

I have read some articles about the new tablet computers like the Apple iPad and the Android-based units. People in the industry seem to pitch them as portable computers that are used as an alternative to a netbook. On the other hand, I read about these computers being used at home as a “lounge-room” computer that is used for Web-browsing, working the Social Web (Facebook, Twitter, etc) or watching YouTube clips.

It is interesting to see what you readers are using these computers for rather than just relying on what the press or manufacturers are running with concerning this class of computer.

Product Review–HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus multifunction inkjet printer

Introduction

I am reviewing the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus, which is the high-end model in Hewlett-Packard’s business inkjet printers. It is snapping at the heels of the previously reviewed LaserJet Pro CM1415 and its peers as a general-office colour workhorse printer and I will explain further why it is doing so.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus multifunction inkjet printer

Print Scan Copy Fax /
E-mail
Paper Trays Connections
Colour Colour Colour Colour 1 x A4 USB 2.0
Ink-jet Resolution ID Copy, Optimised book copy, Super G3 Large-capacity A4 tray Ethernet, 802.11n WPA2 WPS wireless
Auto-duplex Duplex automatic document feeder HP ePrint email-to-print IPv6 ready

Prices

Printer

Recommended Retail Price AUD$449

Optional Extras:

Optional high-capacity paper tray

There is no need to pay any additional fees to use the HP ePrint service.

Inks

Standard High-Capacity
Price Pages Price Pages
Black $45.00 1000 $62.00 2200
Cyan supplied only $43.00 1400
Magenta supplied only $43.00 1400
Yellow supplied only $43.00 1400

The printer itself

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus printer - ink cartridges up front

Front-loading ink cartridges

This high-end printer has the ink cartridges installed up front in a similar manner to the Brother inkjet printers. It therefore avoids the need for users to lift a heavy lid when they need to install new cartridges in this unit; and there isn’t much effort needed to make sure the cartridges are in place; both of which I also find very important when this printer is used by older users or those with limited dexterity.  As well, this arrange also allows HP to use cartridges that have a page yield similar to that of their LaserJet printers.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus control panel

Touchscreen control panel

Like the LaserJet CM1415 printer that I previously reviewed, this printer uses a touchscreen as its control panel. This provides for access to the common functions as well as the HP ePrint Apps; and can provide for a more intuitive usage experience. As well, it uses this display to show animations concerning maintenance and repair procedures like ink replacement, paper loading or paper-jam rectification when these procedures needed to be done thus reducing the need to have others train new users in these procedures.

It connects to the network via Ethernet or 802.11n WPA2 WPS Wi-Fi and has automatic wireless override if it is connected to an Ethernet or HomePlug network. A feature that I am pleased about and is becoming very relevant nowadays is that the OfficeJet can now work properly on an IPv6 network as well as a current-generation IPv4 network.

Walk-up functions

This unit has a very capable copy function that would satisfy most business requirements including ID-copy functionality where you can copy both sides of a small document like an ID card on to one side of one sheet of paper; a function I had first come across with the LaserJet CM1415.

But the feature that most impressed me with this printer was the quick duplex-copy function where it could copy both sides of a document on to both sides of a sheet of paper. I ran this printer on a duplex-copy “race” against my regular HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309a and found that this can copy both sides of an A4 page much quicker than the Photosmart could. This is more so due to the printer being pitched at the small office where throughput is considered very important.

This printer works with the HP ePrint cloud-based printing functions and is able to perform as the “network printing appliance of the office”. This functionality was able to work as expected especially with “email-to-print” and the print apps.

Computer functions

The driver installation can be a pain especially if a software desktop firewall takes too long to respond but, after I suspended the McAfee firewall software, it installed very quickly.

After that, it worked as expected for printing via the network. Windows 7 users will benefit from the tightly-integrated “Device Stage” presentation which has the “branded look” but without the excess baggage of the typical device driver / print monitor package.

You can scan to the PC but can also set the printer to scan directly to a folder anywhere on the network, which can be useful if you don’t want to have a computer running a troublesome scan monitor program in order to provide control-panel-started “scan-to-computer” abilities. You still have to use the HP software or the printer’s Web interface to determine the path where you want scanned-document images to end up at and this will work with the standard network file-transfer protocols.

Print Quality

As I have said before, this printer is intended to “snap at the heels” of an economy colour laser multifunction printer. This is demonstrated more so with documents that look just as sharp as those emerging from the HP Colour LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw which is a “general office” colour laser printer that I am measuring this up against. It doesn’t have the “laser shine” that is part of a laser printer’s output and may not be considered “up to snuff” for some business users.

The auto-duplex print mechanism is very accurate with the registration but still requires the blank top and bottom margins for it to work properly. Thankfully these are slightly smaller than on previous auto-duplex HP printers that I have reviewed before.

When this printer prints photos, the images look sharp and very defined but the colours don’t have the saturation that one would expect. It is similar to the picture quality that a laser printer would yield for a photograph; and may be good enough for quick hard-copy requirements. This may be a problem with printers that are “pitched” at business users because manufacturers don’t see don’t see mainstream business users printing out many photographs even though they may take pictures as part of their business life.

Limitations and Points Of Improvements

There are still a few shortcomings with this printer that HP could improve on.

Firstly, the printer could benefit from T.37 email-fax and T.38 real-time-fax endpoint functionality in order to make it relevant with other IP-fax solutions. This could be implemented either as an HP ePrint gateway service or as a local facility that uses “wizard-based” setup. I have raised this in relation to having this machine support a full-functioned fax service because of the impending arrival of packet-based telephony networks in most countries.

As well, I would like to see the implementation of flash memory functionality in a manner similar to the Colour LaserJet Pro’s fax functionality in this printer. Here, it could permit a proper “fax-vault” functionality for handling confidential faxes or permit improved fax archiving. This function could be taken further to provide fail-safe printing and improved fail-safe ePrint functionality.

The printer could Improve on photo-printing quality especially with the saturation. If they don’t feel it is appropriate to create an OfficeJet business inkjet printer with the high-quality photo-printing abilities of a Photosmart printer, HP could market-test and create a “bridge” printer lineup with the high-quality photo output, quick document output and cost-effect consumables.

Conclusion and Placement Notes

This printer is one that can put you in to a quandery whether to buy a printer like the HP Colour LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw laser or this model for use as a colour workhorse printer even though this printer is relatively cheaper to buy and run; and has some more functionality and media flexibility than the LaserJet.

If you simply want a highly-flexible general-purpose “workhorse” printer for that office, professional practice or shop; I would recommend this machine. On the other hand, if you are needing the speed and exact output capabilities of the colour laser printer, head for the Colour LaserJet CM1415fnw as a “general office” printer.

HomePlug now integrated in the power supplies for “triple-play” equipment

Articles

These French-language articles are both from France, which is one of the few countries which can boast a lively competitive ADSL2 or fibre-optic powered  “triple-play” Internet-service market. Here, these services are based around each service provider providing an Internet gateway device known as a Freebox, Neufbox, Box SFR or something similar, which I refer to as an “n-box”. These are connected up to an IPTV set-top box that is connected to the TV set and they are known as a Freebox Décodeur or Décodeur SFR or something similar.

neufbox Evolution : le CPL intégré dans l’alimentation – DegroupNews.com

FreePlugs: Free.fr (France – French language)

My comments

The HomePlug that is a power supply unit

Previously I have been observing the developments concerning HomePlug powerline networking and have seen some HomePlug devices in an interesting form-factor. This form-factor is in the form of a single-box combination device which works as a power supply for a piece of equipment as well as a HomePlug-Ethernet bridge for that device.

These devices would have three cables

  1. AC-voltage cable to plug into the AC outlet
  2. Low-voltage cable to plug in to the device in order to supply power to that device
  3. Ethernet cable to transmit data to and from the device and the HomePlug-Ethernet bridge in this box

A few companies like Netgear had tried these as “on-ramp” accessories for their routers but Free and SFR are taking off in their own right to use this as part of their “triple-play” environment where the TV set-top box and the modem are effectively part and parcel of each other in the home network. This is also achieved as a way of “idiot-proofing” these setups and avoiding unnecessary service calls.

Why not take this further

Bringing network printers to the HomePlug network

Quite a few network-capable inkjet printers that I have used or reviewed are using an external power supply rather than having the power-supply in the unit.

This is typically in the form of a power-supply “lump” similar to the typical charger unit that comes with a laptop. On the other hand, Lexmark and Dell use a power-supply module that plugs in to the printer and the AC cord plugs in to this module.

These setups could be used to provide HomePlug powerline networking capability to a printer as long as the printer has an Ethernet socket. This would provide a logical alternative to Wi-Fi wireless networking which is known to be unreliable at times.It is due to the fact that Wi-Fi it is based on radio technology which can be affected by metal furnishings, walls that are made of dense-material construction like double-brick or stone walls; or building insulation or double-glazing that uses metal foil to improve its insulation qualities.

On the other hand, manufacturers could simply integrate HomePlug powerline networking in to a SOHO printer design like the HP Envy 100 which has an integrated AC power supply without the need to create an extra socket for the Ethernet connection.

802.3af and 802.3at Power-Over-Ethernet – a perfect marriage with HomePlug

The 802.3af Power-Over-Ethernet standard and 802.3at high-power version of this standard uses the same Category 5 cable to provide power to a device as well as convey data between the device and the network. This is typically implemented with wireless access points, security cameras and IP telephones to provide a robust yet simple power-supply setup for these devices in business networks.

Here, a HomePlug-AV-Ethernet bridge could be integrated in to an 802.3af / 802.3at compliant power-supply module to provide a “one-cord” solution for connecting a device to a home network as well as powering that device from the AC power. The device would have to have an Ethernet socket capable of taking the Power-Over-Ethernet power; and this could appeal to a wide range of device classes like Internet radios, IPTV set-top boxes and electronic picture frames as well as the usual suspects like desktop IP telephones, Wi-Fi access points. Ethernet switches and security cameras.

Conclusion

This demonstrates that the use of power-supply integration can bring the reliable no-new-wires network that is HomePlug AV to more devices in a cost-effective design-friendly manner.