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American Airlines first flight equipped with WiFi took off this morning from New York JFK bound for Los Angeles LAX.

The WiFi service (called "Gogo") has been installed on 15 American Airlines 767-200 planes so far and allows passengers to go online using their laptops and wifi enabled smartphones (such as blackberries and iphones).

The service offers free access to American's website, to Frommer's travel guides, and to some news headlines. Access to all other sites and services (such as downloading email) will cost $9.95 (for flights shorter than 3 hours) or $12.95 (for longer flights).

source

Dlink has announced their DLink DSM-750 HD media center extender is now shipping.

The $330 DSM-750 works best with Vista Media Center PCs (sorry XP Media Center owners, no HD for you) and streams HD content, music, and pictures from any device on your home network over 802.11n wireless or 10/100 ethernet to any attached TV.

We have to wonder though: why no gigabit ethernet: the extra cost over 10/100 would have been minimal and the performance improvement should be substantial.

Full press release on the DSM-750 follows.

DLink DSM-750 via SlipperyBrick

We told you about the Eye-Fi wireless SD a little while back and we were of the opinion that it was too pricey and they should just come out with a basic version that just uploads to your home network.

Guess what they just came out with? yep, 3 new eye-fi wireless SD cards, one of which does just what we wanted.

The Eye-Fi home is $79 for 2gb and just supports uploading to your home network, the Eye-Fi Share is identical to their original model adding uploads to online services such as Flickr for $99, and the Eye-Fi Explore adds a year of uploading at any of the 10000 wayport wi-fi hotspots across the US for $129.

Buyer beware though: we have heard reports that the read/write speeds on these cards are slow and that is a limiting factor on many digital cameras.

Eye-Fi wireless card article at Gizmodo

We told you about the buffalo linkstation mini 1TB NAS solution last month, and now Trusted Reviews has got their hands on one to review.

Here's what they thought:

"The LinkStation Mini may not be as fast as larger boxes sporting 3.5in hard disks (it took around one minute 30 seconds to write a 1GB file), and it may not offer quite as much RAID flexibility either. However, it does offer something that no other NAS appliance does - 1TB in a truly tiny chassis. It's also reasonably priced, considering the amount of storage on offer, and that Buffalo has used 7,200rpm SATA notebook drives.

Anyone who has been put off the idea of a NAS box for home, will welcome the diminutive dimensions of the LinkStation Mini, while the silent running means that you could house it in any room of your house without it annoying visually or audibly. If I could have got the web access working, the LinkStation Mini could have walked away with 10/10 and an Editor's Choice, but as it stands it still warrants a whole hearted Recommended."

(more at trustedreviews)

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the $350 Netgear ReadyNAS Duo twin-bay network attached storage.

Here's what they thought:

"The ReadyNAS Duo takes everything that makes the NV+ a great NAS appliance and packs it into a pint-sized desktop unit. It's an affordable choice for home users, delivers good overall performance and offers a wealth of multimedia features into the bargain."

(more at trustedreviews)

boing boing reviewed the Novatel U727 cellular EVDO USB stick that costs $280 (or $80 plus a $60/month 2 year contract with Sprint).

Overall they found it to be bigger than expected, installed easily, got good connectivity most of the time, and it doubles as a SD card reader.

If you live and spend most of your time in a large city this could be worth looking into.

(more at boingboing)

It appears that iPhone users are given free WiFi access at 71,000 AT&T WiFi hotspots including Barnes & Noble and Starbucks stores.

Instead of the usual login/payment screens iPhone users are seeing a new entry screen asking for their iPhone phone number and once the number is entered they get free access.

macrumors notes that this appears to be based on the "user-agent" setting of the web browser so this is easily faked on a laptop to get free access (as long as you have a valid iPhone phone number to enter).

(via macrumors)

Netgear has announced some new ReadyNAS network attached storage servers.

The 6 bay servers have Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1BG RAM, 128MG flash for the OS, gigabit ethernet, and RAID 0/1/5/6.

The ReadNAS pro comes in three sizes: 1.5TB, 3TB, and 6TB, and prices start at $2k.

(full press release after the jump)

I expect the MPAA lawyers are already working on lawsuits to sneak some tracking code into this device.

The Planex DigiJuke network attached storage device cost $525 for a 1GB system with gigabit ethernet. It's big selling point is that it comes with a little browser for searching and tagging youtube videos and torrents for download directly to the DigiJuke.

(via engadget)

ihacked has created a long range smart wifi snooper for piggybacking off distant free or unsecured wireless routers.

It uses about $150 in parts (some of which you may already have lying around): a DD-WRT compatible router such as the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54, a Hyperlink 2.4GHz 14.5 Yagi Antenna, a cheap tripos, and some screws/velcro.

Construction of this seems really simple, although it is a big too big to carry on business trips to take advantage of nearby free hotspots instead of paying the hotel $15 a night for their internet.

(full instructions at ihacked)

We think Buffalo's Linkstations are the best network attached storage solutions out there for the home or small office user, so we are excited to hear they are coming out with a mini version that accepts up to 2 500GB 2.5" disks for a total storage capacity of a terabyte and supports RAID 1 mirroring and RAID 0 striping in a package measuring just 40mm x 82mm x 135mm (1.6" x 3.2" x 5.3") and weighing 1.1lb

No word yet on price, but the Linkstation Mini will be available in May.

(More at buffalo)

We firmly believe in the importance of keeping your important files backed up, and we also think you can never have too much storage space, so we were pleased to get our hands on the Yellow Machine from Anthology Solutions which boasts a massive 1000 Gigabytes (1 Terabyte) of storage space (and is also available in a 1.6 Terabyte version).

The Yellow Machine is more than just a network storage device though: it also can act as the entry point to your home or small office network with a built-in 8 port Ethernet hub, firewall and proxy server.

And did we mention that it looks nice?

Read on for the rest of the review......

DSP Design has unveiled the first PC that is powered through a standard ethernet (CAT5) cable.

The POET 6000 is less than an inch thick, silent, runs windows XP from a flash drive, has a touch screen, uses only 13w of power, and in our opinion would be perfect as a media center extender & web browser in your kitchen/bedroom etc.

(more from DSP Design via BBC)

We have a lot of tech gadgets at home all connected together and the biggest thing that drives us crazy is when something goes wrong with our network. Usually we end up disconnecting everything, rebooting the cable modem, rebooting our router, restarting all all devices, getting new IP addresses etc.

At times we have thought "wouldn't it be great if we had some software running that could visually show us all our network and help us understand any problems".

That is why we were happy to bump into Pure Networks and their Network Magic software as it does exactly what we were looking for:

"Network Magic software elevates home networks from an uncooperative collection of hardware — cables, routers, adapters, PCs, printers, and other devices — into a finely tuned, smoothly running network, all while leaving you firmly in control. After all, you're not asking for much from your home network. You just want to be able to plug it in, turn it on, share some pictures, print where you want, surf when you please—you know, enjoy yourself."

From Q2 Network Magic will also be included with D-Link routers.

Learn more and get a Beta version of Network Magic

Susan Crawford found some very interesting wording in a legal brief filed by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) as part of a lawsuit brought by a number of advocacy groups over the Broadcast Flag (a mandate that by mid-2005 all devices capable of receiving a digital signal have to obey a flag settable by the networks to prevent copying).

Now this is bad in itself as it limits our rights to record a program for viewing at a later date but it gets worse: in the brief the FCC claims that they have regulatory power over "all instrumentalities, facilities, and apparatus associated with the overall circuit of messages sent and received via all interstate radio and wire communication."

So, if a Gadget (PC, Tivo, home distributed wiring control panel, wireless router, networked hard drive) is capable of receiving and/or transmitting on any digital file the FCC thinks they can regulate it and force manufacturers to support the broadcast flag.

Now the FCC is on a morality crusade at the moment, starting with Janet Jackson at the Superbowl and leading to 20 ABC affiliates refusing to air "Saving Private Ryan" on Veterans day because they were afraid of FCC fines over the violence and the F word, I don't want an organization like that trying to regulate my pc, my home network, and my internet use.

(Does the White House know? at Susan Crawford blog)

The guys over at Popular Science came up with a fairly easy way to increase bluetooth range from 50 feet to about 5000 feet, as long as you are confortable wielding a soldering iron.

"So I detached the stock antenna from a Linksys USBBT100 Class 1 USB Bluetooth adapter ($70; linksys.com) and replaced it with a larger HyperGain RE05U 2.4GHz antenna ($15; hyperlinktech.com). With that simple mod, I can make a Bluetooth connection up to a mile away—about 4,950 feet farther than most."

Sounds fun

(popular science via engadget)

Buffalo Technology has announced the first 802.11g wireless router designed for consumers and small business users that can operate a VPN (virtual private network).

A VPN allows you to connect to your home network over the internet from any location and sets up a secure encrypted network connection between your network and your computer.

The AirStation Wireless Secure Remote Gateway (WZR-RS-G54) will be available November at an estimated street price of $199.

Press Release

(via wifinetworkingnews)

Another interesting find at Digital Life last week was the Hawking Technology HSB1 802.11b/g wireless signal booster.

The Hawking wireless signal booster is a little box that you connect to the antenna connector of your wireless router. The wireless signal booster then boosts the power output from a typical 100mW up to 500mW.

The wireless signal booster works with just about any wireless router and the extra power should result in much better range: up to 1200ft indoors and up to 3800ft outside.

This looks like a great little gadget if you need your wireless to reach to all corners of your house.

The Hawking HSB1 wireless signal booster will be available November 1st.

Jumping back to Digital Focus the other night, we wanted to tell you about some interesting 802.11g wireless technology we saw.

Unlike Belkin (who launched "pre-n" 802.11n technology and got told off by the official Wi-Fi standards organization) most wireless companies are focusing on improving and extending existing 802.11g wireless while they wait for 802.11n standards to be approved.

Netgear was at Digital Focus and they had networking gear that makes 802.11g both faster and longer ranged.

The Netgear Double 108 Mbps technology provides two simultaneous 108 Mbps wireless streams: an 802.11b/g stream perfect for fast file downloads, e-mail, Internet browsing, and online gaming, and an additional 802.11a ”fast lane”, free from congestion and interference, which is ideal for prioritizing traffic for applications such as home-based businesses and high quality video streaming.

The Netgear Double 108 Mbps technology also uses XR™ Extended Range technology from Atheros Communications offering up to three times the range of basic 802.11g technology.

Does it work as well as they claim? we're not sure yet but we are going to try and get some Double 108 gear and try it out.

Tivo were showing off the new Humax DRT800 DVD Recorder with Tivo Service, it's basically an 80 hour tivo with a DVD recorder that lets you record to DVD as easily as you record a program to hard drive.

What Tivo weren't showing at Digital Focus was just as interesting:

One of my pet peeves with Tivo is that my Tivo only operates wirelessly over 802.11b, which slows down the rest of my network from 802.11g speeds.

It is getting to the stage where I am tempted to setup two wireless networks: one 802.11g (or pre-n) for everything else and one 802.11b for Tivo.

Talking to a Tivo rep however I heard that Tivo will support 802.11g wireless "sometime next year".

Another thing I wanted to talk about was Tivo to Go and the word there is that it's getting close to being launched (Q4 or November - January), my guess is watch CES for the big announcements.

Bigger picture of the Humax below.