Ultra Cool Gadgets

Like its smaller cousins, the Roku M1000 and M500 network music players, Roku’s SoundBridge Radio is designed liberate your digital music from your computer and let you crank up Internet radio stations and your unprotected digital music files in the room of your choice. But unlike those products, the SoundBridge Radio doesn’t require a hi-fi system because the SoundBridge Radio is the hi-fi system. And not a bad one at that.
Featuring two linear magnetic drive full-range speakers and a linear magnetic drive subwoofer — each powered by built-in amplifiers — the SoundBridge puts most table-top radios to shame. If you have a lot of space to fill with your music, you’ll want to think twice before replacing your stereo system with it. But for a unit this size, the SoundBridge offers excellent sound performance, and its many ground-breaking Wi-Fi features make it worth the price.

Technical Details
- WiFi music system with advanced digital music streaming functionality, pair of stereo speakers, and subwoofer
- Native support for Apple iTunes and Rendezvous, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player 10, and Rhapsody
- Accesses free Internet radio stations via broadband connection; bright 280 x 32 vacuum fluorescent display
- Patented Linear Magnetic Drive stereo speakers and subwoofer with acoustic enclosures and built-in digital amps
- Ultra-fast 400 MHz Blackfin DSP; measures 11 x 6 x 6.5 inches (W x H x D)

Customer feedback:

1. This is a great appliance, easy to install, and does everything they say it does. BUT…there are no outputs so it can not be connected to external speakers or to a music system. If it had just two RCA jacks, it would be a fiver for sure. There are less expensive devices on the market that will do the same thing however, the R1000 acoustics is excellent.

2. I bought this (from Fry’s $249) after I read a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/business/09pogue.html). Arrived in 2 days. Opened the box. Popped the batteries into the remote. Plugged the radio to the AC outlet.The display in the front panel asked a few questions so that the radio can get connected to your wifi network. Fairly easy even if you are using WEP security and you know how to hook up a wireless device. But if you are using WPA security, you may have to start up with WEP, upgrade the firmware, then move to WPA. The unit I got had version 2.5 and the current version is 3.0. WPA is supported starting from version 2.7.
Once you have the radio hooked up to wifi, there’s really nothing else much to do but start selecting your stations. I suggest that you go directly to Radioroku.com. This site helps you find internet radio stations and listen to them on your PC or on your Soundbridge with a click of a button. Believe me radioroku will make things a lot easier for you.

The Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drive 500GB offers easy, high-performing network attached storage for any small office network (recommended up to 15 users). Two USB host ports allow for added expansion. Print server capability and award-winning EMC Retrospect backup and disaster recovery software are included. Plus, it communicates seamlessly with UPnP AV media devices. This network hard drive is a cost effective solution for sharing files and increasing network storage capacity.

Minimum system requirements: Red Hat Linux 9, Apple MacOS X 10.2.7 or later, Mandrake Linux 10.0, Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Red Hat Fedora Core 3, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Microsoft Windows Vista Business, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional / XP Professional, Debian Linux 3.0

The Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N Notebook Adapter is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your notebook computer. Just slide it into your notebook s PC Card slot and enjoy incredible high-speed wireless network access while retaining true mobility.

Technical Details

* High-speed Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) networking for your notebook computer
* MIMO technology uses multiple radios per band to create robust signals for maximum range and speed, with reduced dead spots
* Operates in the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands–choose the one with least congestion in your area
* Also connects to Wireless-G, -B, and -A networks
* Compatible with Windows XP and Vista

Customer feedback:

1. At first, my experience with this card was very similar to the other reviews. The connection was extremely slow and I could not get it to switch from wireless-A to wireless-N. I could only use A on the 5.0 GHz frequency or G on the 2.4 GHz frequency. I tried restarting my computer, trying with and without my firewall and security software, restarted my router, et cetera, and the connection remained poor. However, once I turned off the wireless network monitor (the green icon that appears in the lower right after you install the driver) and simply connected through the Windows “choose a wireless connection” screen, my connection was very fast, reliable, and otherwise just like being connected with an Ethernet cable. Since then, I have had no problems and I no longer use the wireless network monitor that came on the installation CD. I am not recommending that you disregard the installation instructions, but I do recommend not using the wireless network monitor afterward. Just connect via Windows and the connection is great.
As I type this, there are two walls between my router and the wireless adapter and I still have signal strength of 4 bars (out of 5) and speed of 162 Mbps. Nearer to the router, I routinely get 5 bars and 297 Mbps.

2. Wow! I went from a top of 54 MPS to 270 MPS! That is along with the Linksys WRT600 N wireless router. Internet speed test was about 4000 KBS before I used this adapter, now I am hitting 11849 KPS. I love it!

The EtherFast 8-Port 10/100 Workgroup Switch is a quick and easy way to boost your network’s performance while migrating to the power of Fast Ethernet. With support for half- and full-duplex speeds, the switch allows your network to run at 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps, 100 Mbps and an incredible 200 Mbps.
The 8-Port Workgroup Switch is designed to meet the needs of small-business and home networks. The eight-port rack-mountable switch is great for enterprise and medium-size business use.

Technical Details

* Device Type - Switch
* Ports Qty - 8 Ports
* Data Transfer Rate - 10/100 Mbps
* Compliant Standards - 802.3, 802.3u

Customer feedback:

1. If you’re considering buying this switch, you most likely have more than a few computers to network. And if you’re the casual home user, this switch will give you appreciable performance at a great price. As a geek with 4 constantly-on computers with a mixed OS network, I can say that this switch (which was an upgrade from a 5-port 10/100 hub) really improved my network connections.
First off, you should know the difference between “hubs” and “switches”. Hubs are your typical central connecting device that will allow you to hook up more than one computer on to the network at a time. They are usually quite cheaper than switches, at the price of loss of performance. Switches have separate bandwidths for each port, unlike hubs; thus, allowing more traffic to go through between each computer on your network. Of course, if you’re going to be doing nothing but sending e-mails and occasional web surfing, a cheap hub will do all of this for you. But for the heavy gamers or those that want to use network intensive tools will appreciate the individual bandwidth that each port gets.

2. This is a great little box for connecting a small network without breaking your bank. The EZXS88W has a great work/size ratio. It’s small enough to set on top of a computer case and provides eight ports of full duplex, 10/100 networking.
It has a very informative display to give out info for connection speed, duplex connection and collision. The setup is as simple as plugging in the power and network cables. I have yet to run into any problems with this unit and would recommend it without a second thought.

The Linksys WUSB300N Wireless-N USB Network Adapter lets you access the fastest and most advanced wireless solutions currently available. With this unit enabling your PC or laptop, you can run media-intensive applications at amazing speeds, without the hassle or expense of stringing a lot of wires. The Linksys Wireless-N USB Network Adapter uses the very latest in wireless networking technology, Wireless-N (draft 802.11n). By overlaying the signals of multiple radios, Wireless-N’s Multiple-In, Multiple-Out (MIMO) technology multiplies the effective data rate. Whereas ordinary wireless technologies are confused by signal reflections, MIMO actually makes use of these reflections to increase the range while reducing dead spots in the coverage area. This means the signal travels farther, maintaining wireless connections at up to three times the distance of standard Wireless-G, so the farther away you are, the more speed advantage you get. This Wireless-N adapter is fully backward compatible, so it works great with standard Wireless-G and -B routers, but when both ends of the wireless link are Wireless-N enabled, you can experience increased throughput by using twice as much radio band, which allows speeds up to 15 times that of standard Wireless-G.
To help protect your data and privacy, this wireless adapter can encode all its wireless transmissions with iron-clad, 256-bit Wireless Protected Access (WPA2) encryption. Yet, despite a robust and deep set of features and functionality, configuration is simple and easy with an included web browser-based configuration utility. The incredible speed of Wireless-N networking is ideal for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and voice-over-IP telephony, and gives you plenty of headroom to run multiple media-intense data streams at the same time, without worrying about a degradation in performance.

Customer feedback:

1. I got this with my new linksys wireless-n router and this little thing works great. In a part of the house where I barely got a signal from my old dlink w-g router I know get a 70-80% strong signal with speeds between 250-350mbps!
I highly recommend this adapter to anyone. That stand, although it comes with the adapter, is not needed. The retail comes with an extra ~1ft long usb extension cord. Remember: All Linksys wireless-n adapters and routers are backwards compatible to w-b/g.

2. I have had three different USB network adapter in the last one year. Linksys WUSB300N Wireless-N USB Network Adapter is the most stable and fastest one.
Prior to this one, I had a similar product from Belkins. Everytime I restarted my machine, somehow the device couldn’t start by itself and I often had to unplug it and plug it back in to get it recognized. With Linksys WUSB300N, nothing like that happens. As soon as the computer starts, the device starts to work correctly.

The D-Link DNS-323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure, when used with internal SATA drives, enables you to share documents, files, and digital media such as music, photos, and video with everyone on the home or office network. Remotely accessing files through the Internet is also possible with the built-in FTP server. Whether you are allowing access locally or over the Internet, keep data safe by only giving rights to specific users or groups. When configuring the DNS-323, you can create users and groups and assign them to folders with either read or read/write permissions. This is ideal for an office environment with employee-specific sensitive data or for the home where you can ensure your children will only have access to age appropriate material.

Features

* SATA Drive Support
* Internet Access via FTP
* UPnP AV for Storing and Streaming Media Files
* 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Port
* USB Print Server Port
* Built-In Fan Included

Product features:
* Secure and share your digital files
* Insert one or two internal 3.5 SATA hard drives without tools or cables
* Protect your important files with mirrored hard drives using RAID 1 technology
* Access stored files over the Internet
* Hard drives not included

Customer feedback:

1. Receiving the product is another revelation. I’m the obsessive-compulsive type who can see every single flaw, which tend to be plenty on mass produced products these days. I couldn’t find one scratch on the brushed metal sides of this NAS case. The product is very solid, with hefty metallic casing (I don’t think you can find any NAS box made of metal under $200.. or maybe even $500), that actually has a suede rubberized finish on top and bottom. The metal case proved to be important as it helped dissipated the heat of the drives as I turned off the fan with scripts later. It is also VERY spatially efficient, with no space wasted. The only gap between the drives were well thought out as cooling channel. I don’t think it could get any smaller without hurting its function. The speed-controlled fan is very quiet to the point of being nearly silent; an amazing feat due to its size (40mm). I don’t think I have ever seen a small fan that quiet. The lights are discreet, no Christmas colors. The box looked great and exuded quality. I can’t complain about the build quality at all. It’s just well made with solid components. D-link’s accountant must be asleep at the switch.

2. It’s a new product, and surely firmware updates will make it more stable as time goes on. Now on v1.02. But overall, I’ve had a great time with this, and few problems other than the normal Windows network browsing issues. I am now running backups from three systems to this NAS without any issues (Mac, Linux, and XP). The speed is very good on gigabit ethernet. Power management works well - the disks spin down after 5 minutes of inactivity, and it’s more economical than running a full-blown PC to share data.

The Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router is really four devices in one box. First, there’s the dual-band Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires. There’s also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100/1000 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together at up to gigabit speeds. The Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.
We’ve also included a Storage Link that lets you easily add gigabytes of storage space onto your network using readily available USB 2.0 hard drives — or plug in a USB flash disk for a convenient way to access your portable data files. The built-in Media Server streams music, video, and photos from the attached storage device to any UPnP compatible media adapter. And you can get to your files from anywhere in the world through the Internet.

Technical Details

* Internet-sharing Router and 4-port Gigabit Switch, with a built-in, dual-band, speed and range enhanced Wireless Access Point
* Two simultaneous, separate, radio bands double your available bandwidth
* MIMO technology uses multiple radios per band to create robust signals for maximum range and speed, with reduced dead spots
* Connect a hard drive or flash-based USB storage device to allow access to your music, video, or data files from within your network, or through the Internet
* Advanced wireless security and SPI firewall for protection from Internet attacks

Customer feedback:

1. Purchased because needed extended range to reach a computer in my basement (3 floors down from my router) and I wanted to get a gigabit router. I also liked the storage link function. Overall, the router performs great. I don’t get the blazing speeds in the basement, but I do get connection where my old G router did not quite make it there. I also believe that moving my router may also increase performance. Setup was very easy moving from one linksys router to another, however I would say that the wizard doesn’t do everything it should…
I also like the interface (with the exception of storage link noted below) and it is VERY easy to set up. I use a VoIP phone and it was simple to set up the phone for QoS and that has worked flawlessly. (Another big reason for purchasing the phone.) You can set QoS by MAC address, IP address, ports, etc. Very few people use this function and you definitely should.

2. First thing I have to say is that the network storage feature does not work at all. The first time you set it up it works and after that it’s anybody’s guess.

Introducing the new Linksys Network Storage System. Now you can quickly and easily add storage capacity to your network with greater ease. Organize your life into one media library. Rip your music and movie library and store them digitally. Share your photos, videos, and music files with everyone on your network. Access them anytime, anywhere–even across the world! Protect your precious data automatically.

* Two drive bays and two USB ports for exceptional expandability
* Share files locally or through the Internet
* Rest easy with one-touch backup or schedule automatic backups
* Standalone device: doesn’t require a PC to be on

Technical Details

* Ethernet connected network storage with two available SATA hard drive bays adds shared storage directly to your network
* Add even more storage with two USB 2.0 ports for hard drive or flash USB storage devices
* Securely share files locally or through the Internet (FTP, HTTP) with no dedicated PC needed
* Advanced backup software included
* Built-in media server for streaming to PC or UPnP AV digital media adapter

Customer feedback:

1. Overall, I am very happy with this product. As some may have mentioned the cooling fans are a bit loud so you may want to find an out of the way corner where you have cat 5 internet cable access to your NAT where it can sit and “hum”. The one thing I felt this unit should have offered was a Print Server function on one of the two USB ports. It doesn’t.
Bonus info 1: note that the NAS 200 does not support NTFS on the internal SATA drives. You can however add USB drives that are already formatted in NTFS and it will work fine.
Bonus info 2; you cannot control who gets access to the data on the USB drives. In effect when you add a USB drive it becomes ‘Public’ for all registered users to read/write.

2. I battled a bit with this product at first then realized it was my network causing the problem not the NAS200.

The Linksys Wireless-G broadband router is really three devices in one box. First, it’s a wireless access point, which lets you connect Wireless-G or Wireless-B devices to the network. There’s also a built-in four-port full-duplex 10/100 switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices. Connect four PCs directly, or daisy-chain out to more hubs and switches to create as big a network as you need. Finally, the router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.
To protect your data and privacy, the Wireless-G broadband router can encrypt all wireless transmissions, and it supports the industrial-strength wireless security of 802.1x authentication and authorization. The router can serve as a DHCP server, has NAT technology to protect against Internet intruders, supports VPN pass-through, and can be configured to filter internal users’ access to the Internet. Configuration is a snap with the Web browser-based configuration utility. With the Linksys Wireless-G broadband router at the center of your home or office network, you can share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers, and multiplayer games with the flexibility, speed, and security you need!
Product features:
1. I currently have two 802.11b adapters and a 802.11g adapter and they perform excellent in my environment. Quite amazing because my house is literred with 2.4ghz phones. Also I have 3 computers using the “wired” ports. All devices seemlessy interact with each other. Of course transfers are a little slower to any of the wireless devices (excluding the 802.11g device). I have had no connection drops and the unit is a lot colder than my previous router (the BEFSR41W). My old router used to warm up a lot but this one doesn’t suffer from that issue. I definitely recommend this product to anyone looking to buy an excellent router backed with excellent support. Unlike many other companies Linksys updates their firmware quite often with new features.
2. I love the fact that I’m not tied to the cable with my laptop. This was so easy to install and connect.

Product features:

* All-in-one Internet-sharing router, 4-port switch, and Wireless-G (802.11g) access point
* Wireless data rates up to 54 Mbps–5 times faster than 802.11b
* Shares a single Internet connection and other resources with Ethernet wired and Wireless-G clients
* Interoperates with 802.11b clients at 11 Mbps
* Advanced wireless security with 128-bit WEP encryption, MAC, or IP address filtering