Fulton Innovation was a founding member of the Wireless Power Consortium and were recently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to show off their latest, no pun intended, innovations.  They are working to unify a standard for wireless charging of all of your devices from phones to tablets and more.  The standard is called Qi (pronounced “Chi”) and it will bring together all of the makers of your favorite mobile devices and allow them all to charge wirelessly in a standards-based way.  Users will be able to charge a smartphone simply by sitting it on a table, or in many other ways.

Fulton Innovation is looking at a lot more than just phones and tablets though.  They are looking at entering your kitchen with such things as wireless blenders that will charge right on your countertop, induction ranges, even charging your electric car by simply parking it in a particular space.

All of this futuristic sounding technology has been developed and was on display at CES.  Now Fulton Innovation is working with third-party manufacturers to get their technology built and out into the marketplace.  You can visit them online to find out more and you will definitely want to watch the video below.

Interview by Nick DiMeo of F5 Live.

Zimri Speakers was recently at the Consumer Electronics Show to display their latest line of speakers.  They have a full range beginning with tiny bluetooth speakers that can be used with a laptop or even tablets and smartphones.  What sets their speakers apart is both battery life and the lack of distortion, even at the highest levels.

Moving up the line from the smallest speaker already mentioned, Zimri’s next entry is nearly identical, but has a slightly bigger body for better base and also an SD Card slot, allowing it to be a stand-alone music player.  Zimri also offers battery packs that can not only recharge your speaker, but also your mobile device.

You really have to watch the video below to get the full concept of Zimri Speakers.  The demo of the bluetooth range, especially in a crowded and noisy CES show filled with other  bluetooth devices, is absolutely amazing.  For more information you can visit Zimri Speakers.

Interview by Nick DiMeo of F5 Live.

The Altair Semiconductor Company specialises in 4G and LTE wireless chipsets for the mobile telecoms industry. Andy and Courtney chat to the CEO of Altair to find out more more about the transition to the latest wireless standards.

4G, LTE and mobile broadband were all key technologies at CES this year, with products incorporating 4G announced from Motorola, Samsung, Nokia and LG, to name but a few. When compared to the relatively slow penetration of 3G, 4G uptake is happening much faster and it’s even surprising the industry. Verizon is expected to have most of the USA covered by the end of 2012. China and India are not far behind with major deployments.

Tablets and smartphones are driving the market but Altair’s chipsets are included in 4G dongles, MiFi-type units and wireless broadband routers.

Interview by Andy McCaskey  and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

Veteran biker, Andy “Hog” McCaskey, checks out Vertix‘s Raptor helmet communicator. Let’s roll!

Vertix Raptor-i is a Bluetooth-based helmet communication system that brings together phone, intercom, radio and music player functions into a single unit. It’s perfect for any activity where wearing a helmet is the norm including motorcycling, motorport and skiing.

A microphone and speaker are fitted inside the helmet and Raptor unit goes on the outside. The unit’s controls are designed to be operated with gloves on and a remote control will be available in a few month’s time. Noise-cancellation and auto-gain control to ensure that voices can be heard clearly even at speed.

For the intercom function, two Raptor units can be paired together so that rider and pillion can talk or two riding buddies can chat between bikes.

The MSRP for the Vertix Raptor-i is $160 and it’s available now.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and RV News Net.

AikenLabs Immersive Motion Accessory System is a body-worn motion controller that takes real world actions and puts them into video games. Andy checks out some moves with Ethan from AikenLabs.

The Immersive Motion Accessory System comprises small black boxes worn on bands that connect wirelessly to a master controller which in turn, is connected to PC or game console via USB. Each box has an accelerometer, a magnometer and  gyroscope to accurately track motion. No optical sensor or camera is needed.

Once the boxes are in place on the player’s head, arms, legs or plastic sword, actions such as hitting, pushing or kicking in the real-world get translated into similar actions in the game. Cleverly, the system converts the gestures into standard game controllers actions such as button presses or joystick moves. Consequently the system can be used with nearly any game console straightaway; there’s no need to wait for developer support.

Interview by Andy Smith of Geocaching World.

We all want to listen to music while we are in the kitchen or bathroom, but for most of us counter space is at a premium. Sharper image has a solution for this problem. At CES 2012 Steve Lee of Netcast Studio spoke with Don of Sharper Image about their newest product the connected wireless speaker. It takes up very little space and is designed specifically for the kitchen or bath. You can either plug it into any AC outlet or it also works through the installed lithium batteries. There is between 3-4 hours of playback time on a fully charged battery. Once it is plugged in or started it will connect wirelessly to your Bluetooth enabled device including a smart phone or tablet. You can also take a call directly from the device with its built in microphone. It should be available in May or June for about $49.99 online at the Sharper image Web site or through various retailers. This should be a great product for the kitchen or bath.

Interview by Steve Lee of Netcast Studio

There are some products that are shown at CES that are just cool and everyone who is a kid at heart just wants, the AR. Drone by Parrot is one of those gadgets. This year at CES 2012 they introduced AR. Drone Mark 2. The Mark 2 (aka AR. Drone 2.0) is controlled by a smart phone or tablet. It has a one button launch. Once it is launched it will sit and hove till the next command. The AR. Drone Mark 2 can fly up to 150 feet in the air, or as far as wi-fi will allow.  AR. Drone Mark 2 has stabilization and pressure sensor technology built into it. On the front is an HD camera and a standard def camera on the bottom. You can stream and record the video back to the phone via wi-fi. The video can then be uploaded to your favorite social site, including YouTube and Facebook.

It come with two hulls one for in home use and one for outdoor use. It is built to take some crashes, but if something breaks you can get replacement parts are on-line. The AR. Drone Mark 2 should be available according to Peter George of Parrot in the second quarter of 2012 for about $299.00

Once you are finished playing with the AR. Drone Mark 2, you may want to relax with a little music and some quiet time, well Parrot has you covered there too. They are introducing a pair of stereo cordless headsets that are noise canceling called the Parrot Zik . They work over either Bluetooth or the included cord. They run on a chargeable battery and give about 5 hours of listening pleasure. Once the battery runs down you can continue listening by connecting the cord. What makes the Parrot Zik headphones stand out besides the great style by French designer Philippe Starck are the controls on the headphones. There is a sensitive touchpad on the headphone which allows you to skip back and forth thru tracks by swiping right or left and control volume by swiping up and down. The headphones fold down flat to fit into a small carrying case. There is no price or launch date at this time, but they should be available sometime in 2012 at various retailers. All together Parrot introduced seven new products at CES 2012, including three additional products in the car environment and the asteroid marketplace.   You can take a look at all of them at their Web site Parrot.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of [Geek News Central](http://www.geeknewscentral.com ) and Don Baine The Gadget Professor of Geek News Central

Todd interviews Greg Memo from GreenWave Reality, a global innovator in the emerging smart home services market including home monitoring and elderly care. On show is their home energy management solution that uses wireless (ZigBee) plug-in devices to monitor and control power consumption.

The system is not just limited to power management as other remote monitoring and control technologies such as lighting and video can be included. The complementary iPad app allows the homeowner to select individual rooms within the property and make adjustments if necessary – for example, a thermostat could be turned down or the timings changed to alter when the heat comes on.

The overall solution won a CES 2012 Innovations Award so congratulations to GreenWave. Available now, starting from $200.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast network.

If you’re a touchpad lover, then you’ll be in heaven with IOGEAR‘s new Wireless Multi-Touch Pad (GTP520R), freshly announced at CES. As you might guess from the name, it’s a wireless touchpad that supports multi-touch, which is pretty cool.

Anyone with a smartphone or tablet will be familiar with multi-touch and gestures, but most laptop touchpads don’t support either of them. The IOGEAR Multi-Touch Pad can bring multi-touch and gestures to Windows-based PCs and home theater computers (HTPCs), making browsing, scrolling, image viewing and navigating the web quicker and more natural.

• Multi-select: double-tap your finger and select multiple icons, or a section for drag’n'drop
• 1 Finger Gestures: mouse click, right/left mouse click, mouse select, vertical scroll, back/forward command flick
• 2 Finger Gestures: pan screen side to side and up and down, object zoom in/out, rotate object

As you can see from the picture, the Multi-Touch Pad has six hot keys at the top to control A/V media functions such as volume up and down, skip track and home. With a range of about 10 m, the Touch Pad is ideal for the wireless control from the couch of  home theater PCs and other media friendly devices. The 2.4 GHz frequency band is used and a USB nano receiver is included. To get an idea of size, the pad part is just under 5″ so it’s much bigger than a laptop touchpad.

“Multi-touch control is changing the way we interface with devices,” said Bill Nguyen, senior marketing manager at IOGEAR. “From tablets and smartphones to laptops and computer peripherals, people have trained their hands to use touchscreens comfortably and productively and our Wireless Multi-Touch Pad takes this control to the next level.”

The IOGEAR Wireless Multi-Touch Pad is available now for an MSRP of $79.95.

Cox Logo

A confidential document got leaked out stating the Cox cable has decided to get out of the wireless business. Within 24 hours, Cox officially stated this was true – on March 30th, 2012, Cox will end their wireless service.

Back in 2008, Cox bought part of the 700 MHz spectrum to start Cox Wireless. Last year they launched the service, however, the plan didn’t pan out. Maybe part of it was because Stephen Bye left in March (he headed the wireless division).

“Cox is working to make this transition as seamless and easy as possible for our customers,” said Len Barlik, executive vice president of product development and management.  “We are proud of our employees’ dedication to delivering the excellent customer service that Cox is known for, and we will continue to keep our wireless customers’ satisfaction a top priority during this transition period.”

This affects customers in the  Hampton Roads, Roanoke and Northern Virginia; Orange County, San Diego and Santa Barbara, Calif.; Omaha, Nebraska; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; and Rhode Island and Cox communities we serve in Connecticut and Cleveland, Ohio. This only affects wireless and 3G services. Cox will be giving a $150 credit to those who had the multi-service.

Ofcom, the UK’s regulator for the telecommunications industry, issued an update on its plans for the auctioning off of the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands. These are the frequencies that will be used for the delivery of 4G services.

There has already been one consultation on the auction of the frequencies but based on the responses received, Ofcom has decided to carry out an additional second consultation at the end of 2011 which will run for around 8 weeks. The outcome of the consultation and auction proposals will be published in the summer of 2012, with a delayed frequency auction expected in Q4 2012. More likely Q1 2013, based on their track record.

Ofcom think that this delay to the auction is quite acceptable because the frequencies involved won’t be available until 2013. The last region to turn off the analogue TV signal will be Northern Ireland on 24 October 2012, freeing up the 800 MHz spectrum. The digital switchover programme was announced in 2005 and started in 2008, moving by region until 2012. I don’t know what it takes to achieve this technically, but it seems rather slow. It’s not as if the UK is a big country.

Looking back historically, Ofcom awarded the 3G spectrum in 2000. Mobile telecoms company Three was the first to offer 3G services in 2003, so it took 3 years to move from award of spectrum to service availability. I’m really hoping the that telecos can move a bit faster than they did with 3G but frankly I’m not holding my breath. The whole digital TV changeover and 4G auction has been a farce here in the UK with the US and other parts of Europe well ahead. I won’t be surprised if us Brits are still waiting for 4G in 2015.

Three US Senators have introduced a new bill aimed at getting the FUD out of today’s 4G coverage mess.  The “Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act” will attempt to do something that providers have done their best to avoid – state plain facts about their coverage and it’s speeds in their advertisements.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn introduced the act today.  It stems from the mess that came when providers began advertising 4G networks that don’t technically meet actual 4G standards.  To get a great technical breakdown of what real 4G is, and what many wireless companies (AT&T and T-Mobile for instance) are actually using (referred to as near-4G) head over to the article on Wikipedia.

The new bill would require providers to guarantee a minimum speed, provide real coverage area maps, and specify the technology being used.  It also would cover network reliability and pricing.  Finally, it allows the FCC to oversee the speeds of top carriers and provide comparison tests that users can look at when deciding which carrier they should enter into a contract with.

A similar bill passed the House of Representatives back in June of this year.  Expect it to be a harder sell in the Senate, where telecom lobbyists are sure to put up a tremendous fight.

Do you have a large home in which your wireless router signal is not available in some locations. I have that situation in my home, where the kids bedrooms wireless signal is 1 bar or less. Today I fixed that by installing a Linksys RE1000 Wireless-N Range Extender.

Total setup time of the wireless range extender from opening the box to having it installed was 10 minutes. The kids bedrooms now have 5 bars of wireless connectivity. I am not sure why I did not do this earlier, as it is going to cut the kids complaining considerably. While we have strict family policies on what can be done on the Internet in their own rooms, when it comes to doing homework I would rather have them focused in their rooms so my wife and I can be productive and make noise in the rest of the house.

Setup is simple, you use a computer currently connected to the network via your wireless network, you install the CD and it steps you through the process. Of all network upgrades I have made this was simply the easiest by far the only thing I needed to remember was the password for the wireless network.

The Linksys RE1000 also comes with a built in Ethernet port, which you could use to plug a set top box or other device into is that may not be wireless compatible to bridge to your wireless router.. Heck it could even be connected to a printer in another room, or a computer that may not have a wireless card in it.

Priced at 89.00 this is a great way to get more range and add flexibility to your current network configuration. It will plug into a wall plug or you can use the cable it comes with to hide it away.

I dig in deep and give you a inside look at Google+ along with a whole bunch of tech news on top. I also talk about some new initiatives I am working on that I am pretty excited to see where it leads. I am scouting for talent in Hawaii specifically details on the show.

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Delkin New 64gb SDXC Card.

Recently my wife volunteered me to fix her friend’s old laptop.  The friend is a teacher and had recently begun taking her notebook PC  to school with her, but couldn’t connect t the school’s wireless network.

Within a couple of minutes of booting up the PC the problem jumped out at me – the old Toshiba Satellite lacked a wireless adapter.  To resolve this I ordered the ZyXEL NWD2105 Wireless N Adapter from NewEgg.  It costs just $9.99 and I got free 2 Day shipping.

The Wireless N Adapter is tiny so it doesn’t get in the way.  It comes with a USB extension cord and an installation CD.  The installation CD may not be needed with Windows 7 (I can’t remember the last time I needed one), but I did have to use it in this case – perhaps because the notebook was running Windows XP.

Start off by installing then the device drivers and ZyXEL utility and then reboot the computer.  After restarting Windows you can plug the adapter into an open USB port.  Windows installed the new device and within a minute or two it automatically connected to my home wireless network.

My experience with this device was brief – I couldn’t do any extensive testing since I had to return the laptop to it’s owner, but it worked flawlessly upon installation.  $9.99 is certainly a small price to pay to, not just make an older PC more usable,  but get it right up to the latest WiFi standard of 802.11N.

Recently I received a review unit of the Netgear WN2000RPT WiFi Extender.  It’s a tool that I am surprisingly well qualified to test.  You see, we live in an old, restored Victorian and my office, and router, are on the third floor.  However, most life takes place on the first two floors, where a laptop, tablet, and smartphones are in use.  Connectivity is there, it’s just not great.  It’s a long way for a “G” router to throw it’s signal.

The WN2000RPT comes with a simple setup and simple controls.  There are 4 wired ethernet ports on the back, along with a power switch.  On the front, there are five indicators that show your current status.  Colors change from yellow to green based on connection.  Different indicators light based on what you are doing.  It’s very simple and straight-forward in use.  You can place it anywhere that you have at least a small connection to the router.

Find a place to put the extender, plug it in, and turn it on.  Once it makes a connection to your home network the LED indicator will turn green.  Use your device to connect to the extender.  Once connected you will need to open your web browser – it doesn’t matter which one you use, any web browser will work here.  It should open to the site http://www.mywifiext.net  From there the wizard will walk you through a simple set-up process.  Once finished, the network name will change to YourNetworkName-Ext.

Our laptop normally has one or two bars on the first floor – not exactly unusable, but it makes web site load times a bit slower than what they are on the desktop with it’s wired connection.  Of course WiFi can never match ethernet, but it can come reasonably close.

Once I reconnect to the Extender with the laptop I received four full bars.  Web sites loaded much faster – noticeably so.  The extender is sitting in the same room as the laptop – there was one bar when connected to the router, which is two floors overheard.  The WN2000RPT requires very little signal strength to get a foothold and boost the signal up.

To further test the difference the Netgear device could make I used an app on my phone called WiFi Analyzer.  I took a reading near where the laptop and extender were located.  The router is graphed in blue, while the extender if depicted in red.

The Netgear WN2000RPT retails for around $70 – about the same price as a good router.  If you have a relatively small home to cover  – say 2000 square feet – then it’s probably not necessary.  But, if you have larger space that you want to blanket with WiFi, and especially if your are slinging media around, then this is a must-have.  The additional signal strength this device provided was more than noticeable, as you can see in the pictures above.  It has made our first-floor devices much more useful now that we no longer need to walk around looking for the best spot for a signal.

The only drawback I found was with my phone.  While it can see, and “connect” to the extender, unfortunately Android does not support DHCP.  So, even though it “connected”, it could not use the connection.  Since the the laptop and tablet were the major devices involved in our daily home-use, this was only a minor setback.

[UPDATE: In fact, Android DOES support DHCP.  It seems that I needed to visit mywifiext.com with each device to enable, and the I was able to get it working flawlessly]

In the end the Netgear WN2000RPT proved to be more than worth its relatively minor cost.  It provided a significant signal boost and it could do so from almost nothing.  The connection was solid, never dropping out, as some WiFi can do.  And, you can pick one up online for $60-70, so it’s really a great little addition to any home that lacks a quality WiFi signal everywhere.

Back with a special 90 minute podcast for you to catch you up from no show on Monday.. I have a great contest kicking off on the show today. Get qualified by becoming an Insider and or making a one time $25.00 donation details in the show tonight. Lot’s to share on my trip to Silicon Valley and the headache I had getting there.

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Apple goes nuts over App Store Name.
Plastics in the Ocean hammered home.
Hawaii Carriers offer free calls to Japan.
New NASA Facility.

Show Notes:
Fight the Merger.
Netflix is a Target for Big Media.
Hollywood’s Hatred for Netflix.
Screens it’s all about Screens.
Lets Tax Driving Now?
Inside our Abandoned Collider.
Travel Router Packs a Big Punch.
Screen Play DX/HD.
Limewire Judge Tells RIAA their Insane.
FCC to push for Data Roaming Plans.
Microsoft buys 660k IPV4 IP’s for cool 7.5 Million.
ARIN watching IPv4 Sales.
Hunting for Spammers in Botnet.
MySpace dumping Millions of users.
P2P Lawyers win one for Copyright Claimants.
Oxford Dictionary LOL.
Trademarked Keyword Paid Searches in UK under fire.
United Airlines and Continental Merger.
Music and Film Cloud Locker from Amazon.
Kodak Revenue from Trademark Infringement.
Yahoo Quits MyBlogLog.
How tough is your iPad2 Glass?
Macs and iPhones match up.
Photo Shopping Hubble Images.
16 Million Bill for March Madness.
Will Android Change Everything.
Are you gonna pass on Earth Hour.
Stardust Spacecraft Killed.
Will Senator Gifford come to Space Launch?
Free and Clear Appliance Images.
Copyright Group drops suits.
Use Pirate Bay? You shared your private info again!
Limewire Shutdown curtailed P2p Activity.
Photo Re-Touching Tips.
Roll it off by the Inch.
Wireless Monitors using Display Link Technology.
Roxio Video Game Source Capture.
Socks make you Lazy.
iPad Arcade Stick.
Never Loose your Tabs in Firefox.
CCleaner helps with IE9 and Firefox Cleanups.
Send To trick in Windows.
7 Android Annoyances Solved.
Home Sharing on Apple Mobile Device.
Video Hunters Application.
Firefox First 48 Hours.
Webm and Firefox 4.
Firefox Video Must Watch!
Apple 4.3.1 update just Bug Fixes.

Taiwanese Edimax has been making steady inroads at the cheaper end of the market with a range of products which typically undercut the market leaders on price. As with its Chinese sibling TP-Link, I’ve always been a bit wary of their products but recently I had the opportunity to try out the Edimax 3G-6200n, a 3G 11n wireless router and I was pleasantly surprised by the build standard and the features on offer.

To start with, the 3G-6200n cost £40 from Amazon. For comparison, the equivalent Netgear (MBRN3000) costs about twice as much. The Edimax device is quite an old device released in mid-2009 so the 11n is only of the 150 Mb/s variety and the LAN ports are only 100 Mb/s. The Netgear’s 11n runs to 300 Mb/s but still only has 100 Mb/s LAN ports. If you are only routing internet traffic, 150 Mb/s is going to be perfectly adequate.

On opening the box, there was the router itself, a PSU that usefully has an on/off switch, a short USB lead, various manuals and a CD. The router itself is plastic but it’s not really plasticky, if you follow. I’ve had Belkin devices that were worse. Interestingly, there’s a switch on the back that turns off the wifi – that’s not something I’d ever seen before.

Getting the basic router up and running was straightforward. Turn it on, plug one end of a network cable into a LAN port and connect the other to a PC or laptop.  Open a web browser with http://192.168.2.1/ and login into the router using the provided username and password.

As with all routers, there’s a plethora of sections to go through and configure – basic setup, WAN, LAN, wireless and so on. I’d say the device was well featured without being advanced. For example, the wifi only allows you to setup one SSID and there was no auto setting on the channels, but port forwarding and virtual servers are there too. After I’d set up the wifi, I was able to disconnect the cable and work wirelessly.

As you might guess, the main reason for getting this router was for its 3G functionality. Round the back of the router is a USB port into which a 3G modem dongle can be plugged in. Once connected, the router can share the 3G connection wirelessly. Helpfully, there’s a short USB cable included that can be used to position the dongle for the best reception.

How is this different from a “Mifi” or similar device? First, the Edimax is not battery powered, secondly it has LAN ports and finally it doesn’t have to use 3G all the time. It can be configured to use a DSL or cable modem normally and only fall back to the 3G modem when the modem connections fails.

In this instance I was only interested in a 3G connection. Unfortunately, you can’t plug any old 3G dongle into the 3G-6200n but Edimax provides a compatibility list (zipped pdf). I was using an Huawei E1550 which was listed as being supported and sure enough, it was.  To get the connection to work, I had to configure the APN, username and password for the mobile provider that I was using within the router’s web interface. These details are easily available from the internet via a Google search or the mobile providers website.

I was able to connect using both Three and Vodafone SIMs in the Huawei E1550. Download speeds were usually over 1 Mb/s and less than 2 Mb/s but it varied a good deal depending on how the dongle was positioned. I noticed that the router started and stopped the 3G connection as required so it wasn’t constantly connected. One minor issue with that was that sometimes an initial request for a web page was met with a timeout as the connection hadn’t been made fast enough. Upon refreshing the page, it would be served successfully. This only happened a couple of times and I suspect the problem is more with the mobile phone network being slow to respond than the router.

Overall, I was impressed by the Edimax 3G-6200n and at £40 I think it’s excellent value. If you do need to share a 3G connection, particularly when you need both wired and wireless connections, then this is a good solution. The only downside is that it’s not a portable solution. And finally, remember to check that your 3G dongle is compatible.

A few hours ago the news broke that AT&T has agreed to purchase rival mobile carrier T-Mobile for $39 billion.  As that news sinks in the big question becomes – is it good for consumers?  AT&T says that the U.S. wireless industry is “one of the most fiercely competitive in the world, and will remain so after this deal.”

I tend to feel otherwise.  After all, has anyone noticed the pricing plans seem to be a bit similar?  Has anyone noticed the ridiculous pricing of text messages?  I am not accusing them of collusion, but if forced, I could make that argument.

So now, years after breakup of Ma Bell, the telco’s have moved another step closer to regaining that old “one company to rule them all” feel.  AT&T, however, would like you to think otherwise.  In their press release they lead one to beleive this is about infrastructure and moving their network closer to 4G.  That makes sense because AT&T has gained a notoriously bad reputation in recent years due to connectivity issues, mainly with iPhone users.

So what does everyone think?  Will this be good for consumers because it will bolster the under-powered AT&T network?  Will it be bad for consumers because it takes away another option for those shopping for a wireless plan?  I tend towards the latter, but if you feel differently then let us know in the comments.

Steve Stanzione of D-Link shows off a couple of their latest products to Andy McCaskey, including the Boxee Box.

First up is the Whole Home Router 1000, an 11n wireless router with an interesting design – it’s a black cylinder. The design isn’t just a pretty face, it encapsulates six aerials that create a steerable array that can focus the wireless beam on the location of the receiving wireless device. Out in the second quarter of 2011.

Next is a wireless-n IP camera with IR LED ring for night-viewing. As with many of these devices, you can view the camera image via D-Link’s personal web portal and there are the usual smartphone apps as well for Android and iOS. Apparently IP cameras are selling well and surprisingly, aren’t being used for home security. Many are being used to keep an eye on the interior of homes, keeping track of children and pets or watching over babies.

Finally, Andy looks at the Boxee, D-Link’s flagship product. He reckons the Boxee’s best feature is the on/off button so that it’s not necessary to unplug the device to reboot it. This in some ways reflects the immaturity of all the media streamer products, not just the Boxee – I had an Archos device which was forever hanging on certain media and you had to unplug to restart. Anyway, the Boxee’s range of codecs and the innovative remote control generally set it apart from the competition.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Andy McCaskey invites Ian Collins of Clickfree into the booth to talk about ClickFree’s automatic backup solution. I think all of us know that we’re supposed to backup our hard drives and memory cards, but how many of us actually do it? Not many going by the number of times friends have phoned me up to see if I can undelete files or recover hard drives that have gone south.

Clickfree provide “the ultimate backup experience”, a combination of idiot-proof software and external USB harddrives which makes backing up and restoring files absolutely painless. No software is installed, it’s that easy.

And if you couldn’t even be bothered to plug in a USB drive, Clickfree have released a wireless version of their backup solution, the C3 Wireless Automatic Backup. Connect the unit to each PC, laptop (or Mac) in turn to initialise the software and settings, then simply leave it connected up to the power on a shelf and it does it’s business. 500 GB costs $179, 1 TB is $249. What price peace of mind?

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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On the first night of CES, Andy talks to serial entrepreneur, Ajit Pendse, CEO of Pomdevices about Sonamba, a product aimed at helping older people stay in their own home when otherwise they might have to go into a care facility.

The Sonamba Internet-connected tablet is intended to be used by the elderly person for daily communication with family and reminders about medications. It also acts a base station for other devices in the home that monitor activity elsewhere, e.g. in the bathroom. Panic buttons can be used to summon assistance in emergencies.

Caregivers can install an app on their iPhone that shows the activity in the monitored home and also make changes remotely to alerts and other settings.

Available now from a variety of resellers, with many different purchase options, but starts from $69 per month.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Todd talks to Al Baron from Polk Audio which has introduced an incredible 82 new products in 2010. Polk Audio provides high quality audio components for a range of different of environments.  Not just the home, but auto, marine and outdoors.

A couple of highlights from the year includes Wireless Surround effects speaker which replaces the rear speakers with single unit. As it’s wireless no cables are required except for power. Available now for $399.

Continuing the surround sound theme, the PolkAudio SurroundBar delivers surround sound from a single unit and pairs well with flat screen TVs to give a big audio experience with minimum of fuss. There’s just one cable from the TV to the speaker. Starts from £349.

PolkAudio also have a range of subwoofers that are wireless ready so they can start off wired and then be converted to wireless with the addition of $99 module. Very easy to use and keeps your investment going for that little bit longer.

Finally, Al talks about the Blackstone TL series of compact home theatre speakers. These are small powerful speakers for home audio that pack a punch and give big sound from a small box. A 5.1 home theatre system runs $499 upwards.

All products are available now.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

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Altec Lansing has developed a speaker system that allows you to play the music on Bluetooth enabled devices through out your house. Using Bluetooth only the system has a range of 33 ft. If you attach the wireless adapter to a computer then the range extends up to 300 ft depending on how many walls you have. Enough so that you can have the adapter in one room and the sound playing outside near your pool.

This is CD quality sound and doesn’t distort even if you crank the volume up. It uses apt-x control technology and Waves Maxx to over come the tinny sound that Bluetooth speakers tend to have. Producing a superior sound to other devices in the same price range. The Altec Lansing InMotion Air remote control works various audio libraries including Windows Media and iTunes. The controls are mounted on top of device and it is designed to look good no matter where it is. It runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The Altec Lansing InMotion Air should be available in February 2011 exclusively at Radio Shack.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Esbjorn Larsen took a look at a booth that was showing wireless charging pads and cases. This booth was partnership between multiple companies including Qualcomm Duracell Everwin and Gill Industry Their final product will be called WiPower. Each company plays a part in the development and distribution of the product. This shows how many companies end up getting involve just to get a product to market. Also why sometimes there are delays.

I believe that Qualcom is working on the wireless technology involve, Duracell the battery technology, Everwin the manufacturing process and Gill is a leader in innovative furniture production. They are looking to inbed the technology directly into desktops. I kind of wonder what they were doing at CES. I suspect they were looking for potential retail partners, but it wasn’t clear. The mats themselves looked potentially interesting. It would be nice to get rid of all the wiring and cables. However I don’t want to replace a bunch of cables with a bunch of pads.

I hope these pads and cases can be used with multiple manufacture’s devices, or I can have one large pad for my desk. I suspect these devices will not be out this year. When they do come out they will probably be at a different price point.

Interview by Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Andy talks to Steve at D-Link’s pre-press event and gets a rapid-fire look at the latest offerings from the company, including

• a wireless Powerline router, bundling three functions into a single device;
• a wireless media router that will take SD cards or USB3 external drives for delivering HD content to media streamers or players;
• a SmartBeam Wifi transmitter, a directional antenna that can focus the wireless signal to a particular device.
• a wireless-n IP / Internet camera, integrated with the MyDLink portal, so you can view the picture from your PC, your smartphone, your tablet.

There’s further info on all these products and more at D-Link’s special CES website.

If you’ve not used Powerline (aka Homeplug), the technology converts your home’s electrical system into a data network, so it’s good for places where wireless coverage is poor. It’s very handy.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Andy talked to Kevin at the Zigbee Tech Zone. Zigbee tries to help people centrally and remotely control the devices in their homes and businesses. Zigbee creates a wide range of devices that work together intelligently to help you control your world. The devices work wirelessly together in a mesh network and are made to work in most western homes. They work either through ac outlet or batteries and use little power.

The devices are also created to work with the new smart meters. They include sensors/smart plugs, and displays. You can monitor your electric usage in almost realtime. This allows you to control your usage and save money over time. Zigbee not only creates products that can be used to control electric usage, but also home security, medical monitoring, home entertainment and even blind, drapery and shade controls. Zigbee continues to work with all levels of government and other industries to create a standard for these types of device.

As we use more and more devices in our homes and businesses, we need an easy way to control them both in the home or business and remotely. this is where Zigbee fits in

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Dave Baarman presents Fulton eCoupled Wireless Power (ecoupled.com). They have systems for wirelessly powering things such as cell phones and even systems using conductive ink for “smart packaging” that actually lights up the packaging when placed on a special conductive grocery store shelf. You are going to be blown away by where this is headed. Listen to the full interview and post commentary to get some insights into where ecoupled charging and what symbol to look for when you are purchasing electronics.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Tom Newman of The Fogview Podcast.

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You are sitting front of your TV with your lap top open, all of a sudden you see a video on the lap and you want to show it on your TV, You want to be able to do it fast and easy, that is what the EZAIR allows you to do. The Ezair receiver plugs into your HD monitor and the transmitter plugs into your PC.

Now you can stream the content from your pc to your TV. Your lap top must be within line of site of the hardware and can’t be more than 30 feet away. The signal that is sent out is proprietary, so someone in the next room can’t steal the signal and see what you are showing on your monitor. There are two modes, the first is the mirror mode, which as you might expect takes what is on your pc and shows a copy of it on to your TV. The second mode is the extender mode, which allows you to show one thing on your TV monitor , while working on something else on your computer.

There is both a home and business solution. The home solution EZVIEW transmits video to a single monitor up to 780p and is $149.00. They now have a Mac solution called EZDOCK which can transmit up to 1080p video to one monitor for $159.00 The business solution called EZVIEW+ be set up as a docking station and can transmit video to up to 3 monitors at 1080p. The business model cost $189.00. If you want to transmit audio from your PC to your 5.1 receiver then you might want to look into the EZVIBE which is available for just $89.00. EZAIR products should be available at your local retailer sometime in January and for further information you can visit the EZAIR site.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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Actiontec a maker of routers and modems for major internet providers including Qwest and Verizon is introducing a new consumer product called MyWirelessTV.  They are doing this together with their partner Cavium Networks.  This is a wireless adapter that allows you to push content from one room to another. It can travels about 150 feet and runs over the 5 giga hertz range, so there is little interference from other products. It can push up to 1080p60 HD TV and even 3D TV. The package cost $199.00 and contains both a receiver and transmitter. There is a HDMI input on both the transmitter and the receiver. On the receiver there is also a USB input this is for a back channel. which allows you to connect a keyboard and issues directions to the transmitting device. You can stream content from one transmitter to a single receiver or stream the same content from one transmitter to multiple receivers in various rooms. With this device you could have your Blu-Ray player in one room and stream the content to any other room in the house or even to an outdoor deck or pool. No longer is there a need to buy separate Blue-Ray players for each room. With this product there is very little latency and so you can move from one room to another and keep up with your latest sporting events. Actiontec is taking pre-orders now for the product and it should be available in Q2 or late Spring.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of The Geekazine Podcast and Tom Newman of The Fogview Podcast.

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