Introduction

I am reviewing the Braven 710 Bluetooth wireless speaker which is one of many Bluetooth speakers pitched at smartphone and tablet users who have these devices full of audio content. This one has a few features that make it stand out from the pack such as the ability to work as part of a stereo pair with a wireless link between the speakers as well as the ability to charge your gadgets from its own battery pack.

Price

The unit itself

RRP: AUD$229.99

Connections

Speakers

The unit itself

The Braven 710 is based around an aluminium tube with perforations on each side for the sound to escape. One of the rubberised sides is its control buttons while the other side has a peel-off end cap which exposes a standard USB output connection for charging gadgets, a micro USB input connection for when you charge the speaker’s battery or power it from external power, a 3.5mm stereo jack to connect a Walkman or Discman to it, another 3.5mm stereo jack so it works as a Bluetooth audio adaptor for other audio equipment. This is also where the battery-check button and bar-graph indicator exists so you check how much juice is remaining.

Touch here to pair your NFC-capable Android or Windows device with this speaker

You can pair your music-filled smartphone or tablet to the Braven 710 either using NFC “touch-and-go” pairing or the traditional push-to-pair method. For the former method, you touch your NFC-capable device to the underside of the device to start the pairing and connection routine. If you have to pair a device that doesn’t support NFC, you have to hold-down the PLAY button until you listen for a distinctive tone before you discover it on your device.

Rubberised control buttons on side of speaker

You have the ability to control your Bluetooth source device using the buttons on the “control side” of this speaker, with the ability to change tracks, start and stop playback or adjust the volume as you see fit.

It has enough sound output to fill a small room but has that similar sound quality to a small radio. Here, this would be enough if you are close to the speaker and there isn’t much noise around you beyond what is expected in the typical home or office. This is very similar to the Sony SBT-M8 that I previously reviewed and a lot of smaller “personal-sized” Bluetooth speakers.

Connections on the other side – Standard USB for power, Micro USB power input, audio input jack, audio output jack

As a “power bank”, the Braven 710 can charge a large-display phone like the Samsung Galaxy Note II halfway, but could easily manage charging regular-sized smartphones and similar gadgets “all the way”.

The end cap covers the sockets on the speaker to mak it waterproof

If you have the rubber end-cap on the socket side of the Braven speaker, the device would be compliant to the IPx5 standard for being waterproof and dustproof. This would make it appeal to use in wet areas like the bathroom or beside the swimming pool.

Limitations and Points of Improvement

One feature that I would like to see is one or two LEDs on the top to indicate whether the Braven 710 is powered on or not, or if it is Bluetooth-discoverable as part of the pairing routine. As well, Braven could work on a variant that has a built-in broadcast-radio tuner so the speaker can serve as a portable radio.

Conclusion

Personally, I would recommend the Braven 710 as a suitable Bluetooth speaker for applications like a bathroom speaker, beside the swimming pool or spa, or when you are alone doing some  “DIY” work. It would also appeal to individuals who want a personal amplified speaker where they place high value on a durable design.

Article – German Language / Deutsche Sprache

Zollverwaltung plant Smartphone-App | Netzwoche (Switzerland)

Verzollung per Smartphone geplant | PCTipp.ch

From the horse’s mouth

Swiss Customs Authority (Eidgenössische Zollwerwaltung EZV)

App download site

My Comments

The country who turns out the most precise and most premium traditional watches has taken anther step further with e-government. Here, the Swiss customs authority have worked on a mobile-platform app that overseas travellers use for calculating customs duty and VAT on goods they intend to bring back to Switzerland or registering these goods. This is also part of a simplification effort concerning how Swiss citizens have to deal with importing goods privately such as part of online shopping.

There are questions on what level of functionality this app will provide such as provision of other customs-related information or whether this will work just for private importers only with different software for businesses.

But at least it is an example of a customs authority implementing their e-government goals to more than just large importers. It also is a government department implementing the mobile platforms like smartphones and tablets in this role rather than just using a Web view on a desktop computer for this kind of e-government application.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Solwise

IP-W30AP product page

My comments

Solwise have released another of the wall-mount wireless access points which are initially pitched at the hotel and bed-and-breakfast trade. But in their sales copy, they were also pitching it at those of us who want a neat installation for that extension access point in our home network.

The IP-W30AP access point can create an 802.11g/n 2.4GHz dual-stream Wi-Fi segment and also has an up-front Ethernet socket. It connects to the host network using a rear-mount Ethernet socket and is powered by 802.3af-compliant Power-Over-Ethernet. As well, there is an RJ11 pass-through telephone socket so you don’t have to have a separate outlet for your landline phone.

But, to cater to today’s people, they have provided a USB charging socket for use with charging smartphones, external battery packs, Bluetooth headset adaptors and similar gadgets. This would be able to work at 500mA which would satisfy overnight charging of most of these gadgets but wouldn’t work well with tablets like the iPad or just work in a way to avoid compromising these devices’ battery runtime.

As for this device’s power supply needs, Solwise have you covered with a power injector or, as I have covered before, you could bring this access point on to a HomePlug AV500 segment with their Power-Over-Ethernet-capable “homeplug”.

Being pitched to the hotel installation, this device can support the sophisticated VLAN setups with multiple SSIDs mapped to different VLANs. On the other hand, it doesn’t have the ability to support WPS-based “push-to-connect” device enrollment – this would be something you would have to do at your home network’s main router. As well, they could make available a simultaneous dual-band variant that can exploit the 5GHz band either to 802.11n or 802.11ac standards.

For home network users, this device would come in handy as an extension access point for installations where you are wiring for Ethernet and need to bring Wi-Fi in to the “other part” of the house. This is more so with those houses that implement thick walls or foil-lined insulation where the Wi-Fi wireless network wouldn’t perform properly. Similarly, this would work well for that “guest-house” bungalow or similar building where you are wanting to “go the extra mile” and wire for Ethernet as part of establishing a multi-building home network.

Article

Free Wi-Fi networks in SF, San Jose join hands through Hotspot 2.0 | PC World

My Comments

The Wi-Fi Passpoint or Hotspot 2.0 technologies have been made available to allow those of us with mobile devices to benefit from public-access Wi-Fi without having to deal with Web-based sign-in routines every time we want to use these facilities. But they have been pitched primarily at mobile phone operators and ISPs who want to offer Wi-Fi service for their subscribers.

But San Francisco and San Diego have implemented this technology as part of their free public-access Wi-Fi setup, which I see as being a first for this class of public-access Wi-Fi. Typically these services implement a Web-based login routine which occurs at the start of each session and this may be provided in order to assent to the service’s terms and conditions. With these setups, it becomes impossible to continue a usage session even if you move out of the network’s scope temporarily and it also becomes impossible to roam between the different locations ran by the service without having to log in again.

What they have done is to prove that the Wi-Fi Passpoint or Hotspot 2.0 technology can work well with single-location or multi-location public-access Wi-Fi setups whether free-to-access or pay-to-access. For example, a chain of restaurants, a public-transit system or a community Wi-Fi setup can benefit from this by allowing the users to move between locations without a need to log in again.

The next question that may be raised is to simplify the provisioning experience, especially when it comes to provisioning the same service across multiple devices owned by the same user. This may range from setups where you simply assent to terms and conditions through services where you establish a session-based account like most docket-based hotspot setups to the services offered by WISPs and telcos which are based on an existing customer account.

Who knows, this could be the trend for easy-to-use secure public-access Wi-Fi as different scenarios are being tested.

Articles

WiFi and Satellite Equipped Tractors to Follow Yorkshire’s Tour de France | ISP Review

Wifi tractors en route for the tour | Farming UK

From the horse’s mouth

Avonline Satellite Broadband (now Bigblu Broadband)

Home Page (updated link to be online by 25 June 2018)

National Farmer’s Union

Press Release

My Comments

The Tour De France 2014 is starting off in Yorkshire UK and is an event that moves from location to location depending on where the péléton are cycling in this race. As I have seen for myself when I have watched this cycle race on SBS TV, it attracts huge crowds with various locations of flat land near the race route resembling caravan parks due to the many motorhomes showing up at each point because people hire these so they can follow the race by vehicle.

This time, the National Farmer’s Union in the UK have answered to the needs of the connected spectator by setting up mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. But how have they done this even though access to decent broadband in rural areas is non-existent? They have equipped two tractors with a public-access Wi-Fi hotspot consisting of a Wi-Fi hotspot router connected to a satellite-broadband modem provided by Avonline Satellite Broadband (now Bigblu Broadband). This means that each tractor has its own satellite bandwidth which is distributed by Wi-Fi over a range of 500 metres from where it is parked.

Locations

One question that has been raised is whether the mobile hotspots and their satellite backhauls would cope under the pressure of many spectators tendering the images and video they take to multiple social networks using these networks. This is similar to situations that hoteliers would encounter when their guest-access Internet services are at capacity as all of the guests download multimedia content at the same time.

As well, it is an example of using network equipment powered from motor vehicles i.e. the Massey-Ferguson tractors to provide Internet access and making sure that the equipment does survive the distance with uneven power-supply conditions that this entails. I see this also appealing to other rural districts like France’s rural districts who want to cater to the connected visitor who attends a special event like a fair, rally or a cycle road race like the Tour De France.

Click to play “Back British Farming” video (if you don’t see it below)

Update (15 June 2018)

Due to corporate restructuring affecting Avonline Broadband, the satellite ISP mentioned in this article, which has led to it being rebranded to Bigblu Broadband, I have readjusted the Web link for this ISP and references to the name to reflect these changes.

Article

Great gadgets: Solwise antenna and wifi hotspot | John Norman’s Blog

From the horse’s mouth

Solwise

Wireless 11n USB CPE with built-in 12dBi antenna GBP£41.08

Solwise Wireless USB repeater GBP£47.75

System total GBP£88.83 VAT and delivery to UK included

My Comments

There are those of you who use a caravan, motorhome or other similar recreational vehicle as the mobile holiday home and are likely to spend time at caravan parks or campgrounds rather than set up somewhere like at the beachfront or the bush. Increasingly these places are offering a public-access Internet service with Wi-Fi either as part of the package or for an extra charge, in order to make themselves relevant to the “switched-on” traveller.

But the problem with gaining access to these Wi-Fi services from your caravan is that your site may not be in a position where you can gain reliable reception of that service. Similarly, the vehicle’s metalwork will also play a part in attenuating the Wi-Fi signal that gets in to the van.

You may think that the typical Wi-Fi range extender may cure this problem but most of these devices have integrated antennas which may not be all that “crash-hot” when it comes to picking up the Wi-Fi network’s signal properly. But the clever people at Solwise have partnered a pair of devices that can bring the Wi-Fi network in to the caravan wherever you are.

The first device is a USB Wi-Fi network adaptor with a 12dBi panel aerial. This single-stream 802.11g/n device can be mounted outside the vehicle or building and connected to a regular computer via its USB socket using a 3 metre USB cable. The second device is a dual-WAN 802.11g/n wireless router with a choice of Ethernet or USB serving a wireless-broadband modem for its WAN / Internet service. But it also is able to work with the abovementioned USB Wi-Fi network adaptor effectively as a router.

On the LAN side of this router, you have a separate Ethernet connection along with the Wi-Fi network offered by the device. This earns its keep not just with smartphones and tablets but also with devices like network-attached-storage units, printers or DLNA-capable media devices because this means that you are not dealing with having to log on to the venue’s public-access Wi-Fi network to run these devices or share their resources through that network.

Being a two-part setup, you you can locate the network adaptor outside the vehicle and plug this in to the router’s USB port to effectively “bring in” the Wi-Fi service. It is also designed to support the “quick set-up quick tear-down” requirements that these kind of travellers would need and there are accessories available through Solwise to provide a semi-permanent mount for the USB network adaptor.

According to the screen shots in the manual, there is apparently a “bridge” mode to allow the router to be an extension access point that plugs in to your Ethernet or HomePlug AV(2) wired backbone. This could come in handy at home for extending that wireless network but I am not sure how this is implemented fully, something which could be written up on further.

It sounds like Solwise are fielding another device which would have some utility value when it comes to having that small network how you like it.

Article

Linksys LRT-224 Product Review (Page 3) | SmallNetBuilder

Previous Coverage

VPNs and remote access in the home and small-business space – a lot of unanswered questions

From the horse’s mouth

Linksys

Product Page (LRT-224)

My Comments

I was skimming through a SmallNetBuilder review of the Linksys LRT-224 VPN endpoint router and came across a feature that could appeal to those of us who are creating “box-to-box” VPNs between networks.

This feature is called “Easylink VPN” and requires the creation of an account username and password on the destination router and the user to supply to the origin router  the outside (WAN) IP address, account username and password for the destination router to establish a “box-to-box” VPN.

I do see some limitations with this concept as it is applied nowadays. One is that it is set up to work onliy with VPNs that have the Linksys LRT-2×4 series VPN routers at each end which doesn’t bode well for the goal of an interoperable easy-to-set-up VPN.

Similarly, there isn’t a way of identifying whether an IP-address conflict could occur once the VPN is established. As well, there isn’t support for dynamic-DNS setups which can make things easier for people who implement most residential and small-business Internet services that are “DHCP-only” rather than having the option to create an IP address.

But what I see of this is an attempt to allow home-office-plus-shopfront business operators and similar users to create a “box-to-box” VPN between locations without creating extra room for mistakes during the setup and provisioning phase/ It could also work well with the UPnP RemoteAccess and ContentSync profiles as part of the goal of a multiple-device personal “cloud”.