Tuesday, August 3

Daniel Drew Turner of MacWEEK looks at the Lucent-derived, wireless AirPort networking hub offered with Apple's new iBook.

The GameSpot interviews Sony's Phil Harrison on Sony's Internet and modem strategy for the PlayStation 2. Sony is encouraging the development of online games, but will not ship a modem with the unit because of the potential for obsolescence. Instead, consumers will have the option of connecting the PlayStation 2 to 56K modems, Ethernet, cable modems, or DSL, using the console's USB, FireWire, or PCMCIA connectivity.

The number of cable modem subscribers in the U.S. recently exceeded one million, according to Kinetic Strategies, Inc.

Cell phun

Wireless Dimension, the best source of cell phone rate and hardware information, is now Point.com.

The Wireless Application Protocol Forum is an industry organization for the creation of an open standard to deliver wireless data, including Internet data. Cell phone maker Nokia is offering a WAP development toolkit and a beta WAP server.

Miami-Dade County schools are teaching kids to drive and talk on cell phones. If only George "No Show" Jones had taken that class when he was a boy. Teachers emphasizes the use of hands-free kits (which one study found to be ineffective in reducing accident risk) and pulling off the road when possible to avoid cell phone dangers. BellSouth Mobility donated the equipment for the project.

News.com has a story about TeleVend, the company planning to use cell phones for vending machine purchases.

Home networking and modem sharing

I'm finally networking my house this week, primarily to share the cable modem. The Internet will soon be coursing through the cinderblock. I chose 10BaseT Ethernet for compatibility with the cable modem and the Mac G3's built-in networking. All I needed to buy was a hub, a network card for the PC, and a very long masonry drill bit to tunnel through cinderblock. I haven't settled on a proxy server solution, but I'm evaluating Sybergen Networks Sygate for the PC and Sustainable Networks IPNetRouter for the Mac.

Sustainable Networks has a couple of handy tutorials for sharing a cable modem, either with single Ethernet or dual Ethernet. The most essential tip is that the cable modem acts as a hub or router, so it either needs to be connected to the uplink port on your hub or it needs to be connected to a regular port with a crossover cable. For even more basic information, read Building Your Own Ethernet.

If you're interested in setting up your own home network for Internet access, networked gaming, and file and print sharing, head on over to PC Magazine's home networking tutorial.

Connecting a network to the Internet carries some security risks, particularly with cable modems. To learn how to fortify your network, read PC Magazine's "Plug Your Company's Common Security Holes."

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Friday, August 6

The USB version of ActionTec's Call Waiting Modem will support the iMac, blue G3, and other USB-equipped Macintoshes, as well as PCs running Microsoft Windows. The modem will ship later this month with an estimated street price of $129.99.

Computer Shoppers' "Risk-free Broadband Access" delves into practical issues involved in using cable modems and DSL, such as sharing the connection among multiple computers and securing your network against outside snooping.

Les Freed of PC Magazine reviews the MultiTech MultiModem USB.

Earlier this week Microsoft appeared poised to lowball its MSN Internet dialup service to gain market share from AOL, which has 17 million members to MSN's two million. ZDNet reports that Microsoft is backing off of such claims.

Emachines introduced the eOne, an iMac-inspired low-cost PC. If Windows isn't your thing but translucent fruity flavors are, check out the iGeek, available with Linux or BeOS.

Don't have any plans for the weekend? Try hacking into Microsoft's Windows 2000 test server. They're literally asking for it.

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