Ultra Cool Gadgets

Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house. Share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without inconvenient and obtrusive cables. Create an instant wireless network on the go. Extend the range of your current wireless network.
Featuring AirTunes for playing your iTunes music wirelessly on your home stereo or powered speakers, AirPort Express brings not only the Internet but your music to wherever in your home you like to enjoy them most — whether you use a Mac or Windows PC. Unmatched in its ease of use, it delivers data rates up to 54 megabits per second, fits in the palm of your hand so you can take it wherever you go.

Technical Details

* Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house
* Share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without inconvenient and obtrusive cables
* Create an instant wireless network on the go
* Access an AirPort Express wireless network
* Compatible with Windows XP or 2000; Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later

Customer reviews:

A) Yes, the directions stink, but there is hope for you Windows users. If you have the typical Windows wireless network setup (computer, router, laptop, access points, etc.), then follow these easy steps to get your AirPort up and running.
1. Before you go wireless, physically connect your AirPort to your router with an Ethernet cable. Plug in the AirPort, and wait until the LED turns solid green.
2. Start the AirPort Admin Utility for Windows. You now want to configure the AirPort to join your existing network “wirelessly”. You should see the AirPort Base Station appear with its IP address in the Base Station Chooser.
3. In the lower right-hand corner, click on Configure… Click on the AirPort tab. In the “AirPort Network” section, Use base station to: “Join an Existing Wireless Network”. Underneath that, type in your existing wireless “Network Name”. You will be asked to change the password as well.
4. Click “Update” in the lower right-hand corner of the Configure window. Your AirPort will be restarted, and the LED should turn solid green again.
5. Finally, disconnect the AirPort from your router, and remove the connecting cable. You should NOW be able to plug in your AirPort anywhere to join your existing network.

B) I have a G4 Powerbook, a printer, the airport express, and two toddlers. What the wireless capabilities have done is make my house much more enjoyable to all of my family. I keep my Powerbook on my coffee table, my printer on the top of my stereo unit. My oldest daughter, 4 years old right now, can walk up to my laptop, turn it on, click on her Barbie.com shortcut on the desktop, and print out new coloring sheets for her and her younger sister. Then, while they color, with a couple of clicks, she can play any of her music from iTunes. With everything so accessible, my daughters are becoming more computer literate, and have very little interest in watching TV anymore, and there are no wires traipsing across the house. And as far as ease of use? I had it up and running in less than 5 minutes, without ever looking at the manual. After being a PC person until just two years ago, these are the exact reasons that I converted to the Mac world.

Backing up is something we all know we should do, but often don’t. And while disaster is a great motivator, now it doesn’t have to be. Because with Time Capsule, the nagging need to back up has been replaced by automatic, constant protection. And even better, it all happens wirelessly, saving everything important, including your sanity.
Time Capsule includes a wireless 500GB or 1TB hard drive designed to work with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. Just set Time Capsule as the designated backup drive for Time Machine, and that’s it. Depending on how much data you have, your initial backup with Time Capsule could take overnight or longer. After it completes, only changed files are backed up–automatically, wirelessly, and in the background. So you never have to worry about backing up again.

Technical Details

* A revolutionary backup device that works wirelessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard
* Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Leopard-based Mac on your wireless network
* 500 GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA server-grade hard drive gives you all the capacity and safety you need
* More than just a wireless hard drive, Time Capsule is also a full-featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n technology
* Works with Mac and PC

Customer feedback:

1. I’ve been using Time Machine since I upgraded to Leopard. While Time Machine is great for backing up my iMac, its a pain to have to hook up my Mac Book Pro and new Mac Book Air to an external hard drive. The Time Capsule is great for that. So long as my laptop is open and running, a backup can happen. Make sure you remember to do your first backup using ethernet. Otherwise it is going to be slow. Apple does not want to bog down your network with backups, so when you are backing up wirelessly, it will intentionally throttle the connection sped.
This device also functions as a wireless router. I was able to remove my previous Air Port Extreme from the network. The large size is nice because you are able to share one large drive and backup several smaller computers. My iMac and laptop all backup just fine.

2. I just got my 500GB Time Capsule and, so far, it’s been an absolutely outstanding experience. I was already on a wireless network and was a little confused about how well this thing would go in. So, followed the simple instructions that came with the AirPort Setup Utility and, voila, I was talking to the Time Capsule (TC). I decided to stand the TC up as a separate, Apple only wireless network, and to connect (specifically, bridge vs. Double DHCP) the TC up to my existing router. The installation took about five minutes and was absolutely flawless (I now have an Apple-only 802.11n network, and my original 802.11g network for guests). Oh, and did I say the 802.11n wireless is bloody FAST?!
As soon as I specified the TC as my Time Machine backup server, two minutes later the initial backup was cranking away. No false starts, no crazy configuration management or Regedit blah blah blah — I plugged it in, gave it a couple of key data points, and it was up and working!