Now that we’ve got a little history, terminology and use of Wi-Fi down (see our previous article), we can jump into the more practical matters of actually finding and setting up a wireless router.
For years, Nintendo has had loyalty clubs in Japan and Europe. Recently, and with much rejoicing, Club Nintendo has debuted in the USA. If you have a recent Nintendo console in the house, along with occasional game purchases, it’s an easy way to get in on some freebies. The club is set up to support family accounts, as well, so parents can control the experience for children a bit.
The freebies are nothing mind-blowing, but there a couple of gems, if you like Nintendo’s stylistic design. One of the cheaper items available is a little bin that’s just big enough to hold a few Wii Remotes. The top end is a collection of Nintendo’s classic Game & Watch handheld games, re-packaged as a DS game. The kids may also like some of the card games or DS cases you can get.
So, for the price of a little bit of time and a little bit of surveys, Nintendo fans can earn a little bit of bonus.
As the world gets more wired, and the practical uses of computers continues to evolve, the concept of having a computer in your kitchen is becoming more and more common (HGTV even has an article on their website about it and how to best place a kitchen PC from a design standpoint). A kitchen PC can have many practical uses beyond being just another gadget toy, such as:
I love Chipotle. I also love cool technology. Put the two together, and you have Chipotle’s new online ordering iPhone app. The app seems very straightforward. It detects via GPS where the nearest Chipotle is, and then allows you to customize your burrito order, making ordering take-out even that much more easy. The app is so thorough, it even has selections for two different kinds of meat and the various toppings!
Unfortunately for me in this case, I don’t have an iPhone. My phone is a company-issued Blackberry Tour. One can only hope that Chipotle sees the wisdom and business sense of releasing its app to other Smart Phones. On second thought, however, NOT having the Chipotle App on my phone is probably very good for my waistline.
Last week I wrote about the first web browser designed specifically for kids, KidZui. The Makers of KidZui have recently embarked on a new venture, taking their concept of a kid-friendly Internet to a new level by creating ZuiTube, which is essentially YouTube for kids. Rather than a competitive service to YouTube, ZuiTube works by filtering YouTube content, and aggregating the best kid-appropriate material from YouTube directly to ZuiTube, so that young children can enjoy the benefits of YouTube without the dangers. Says Cliff Boro, CEO of KidZui:
There’s so much great content on YouTube for kids, but there’s so much horrendous content that’s completely inappropriate. So our goal with ZuiTube is to give kids the best of what YouTube has to offer without parents running and screaming because there’s just so much bad stuff as well.
ZuiTube is positioned to be both an educational and entertainment vehicle, providing elementary-aged school children with thousands of videos and “channels” to view. With tools like KidZui and YouTube, children can enjoy and explore the vast knowledge base of the Internet with the minds of their parents put at ease.
If you’ve bought a new Windows PC in the last few years, you’ve probably become familiar with Microsoft’s latest OS. Windows Vista definitely had some teething pains, like any major new OS release has, but due to a variety of factors, Vista gained a very bad reputation out of the gate that it really hasn’t been able to shake completely. So how does Microsoft fix it? They release another OS.
That might sound like a bad thing, but really, it’s very good. In reality, Windows Vista is a very good performer on recent hardware. Releasing a new OS gives Microsoft the opportunity to really polish its next OS. The new OS: Windows 7. Read all about it:
Before the final version comes out in October, we’ll do a full review, especially in setting up Windows 7 to use in your household. Stay tuned.
When I was a child, the Internet was something that existed solely on military bases and at universities. As I entered my teenage years, managed services such as Compuserv, Prodigy, and America Online became popular. These services allowed parents to manage what type of content their children could and couldn’t view, and gave children a somewhat structured environment in which they could harness the new online world without much danger of running into inappropriate content. When the Internet came into the forefront, parental controls became much more difficult.
When I was growing up, it was common to use these devices to control the lights and appliances in your home when away on vacation, or just year-round, to give the appearance of activity within the home and to discourage would-be burglars. The devices were fairly simple. You set the on time and off time, plug a lamp into the device, and then plug the device into the wall. The lamp will go on and off like clockwork every day based on the time you set. X10 modules work on a similar principle, but in a much more advanced way. X10 not only provides the basic security measures of the old analog light timers, but also has the capabilities necessary to create a full-fledged home security system and home automation system.
Not that long ago, wise homeowners started wiring their homes with Ethernet cables for easy internet and network access throughout the house. Some even tried to future-proof by installing conduit piping for the cable, so they could easily string a different cable through, if the technology moved in that direction. Thankfully, through the the magic of radio and computers, Wi-Fi has made all our lives easier. And maybe a little harder. Read more…
My wife and I recently moved into our first house, so now that we’ve got the immediate issues good-enough-for-now (walls painted, wallpaper removed, water heater replaced, yadda yadda), we’ve each settled into more fun projects. My first project along those lines was setting up a home-theater PC. I’ve got a few observations from the experience.
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