Tag: wifi

Categories
Apple

Mac Mini Getting Wired Up

Called the Apple Store this morning and they got a “limited quantity” of Mac Mini Airport Kits after all my waiting. Went there today and there were 2. So I got one and they took mini-me to get it installed. It should be done by tomorrow. Ends up being $99 + tax, installation included. Not a bad deal actually. $99 isn’t a bad deal for install included. Done by an Apple Certified Technician.

According to Apple Insider:

The upgrade kit will be available from an AASP and will include an adapter mezzanine board, a Bluetooth board, a AirPort Extreme card, and antennas for both AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth modules. The kit is not user-installable and must be installed by an authorized technician. According to documentation, the mini’s Bluetooth module is located on its own USB bus.

When configured with internal AirPort and Bluetooth modules, the antennas for AirPort and Bluetooth are located in the top of the Mac mini. More specifically, the AirPort antenna is located in the top, rear left-hand corner above the mini’s power button, while the Bluetooth antenna is located in the top, front right-hand corner of the computer.

Due to the placement of the antennas, users who stack other computers or displays on top of the Mac mini may experience reduced wireless reception. For the best wireless performance, Apple suggests that users do not rest anything on top of the Mac mini, or stack other Mac mini’s on top of one another.

So I should get it back tomorrow. Just in time to go back to school. Oh well, it’s something to look forward to all week ;-).

Categories
Mozilla

Minimo for PSP?

After seeing on Slashdot that you can browse the web using the PSP (and it doen’t look to bad), I do wonder if Minimo can be ported to work on the PSP. With Small Screen Rendering (SSR), it might actually be a pretty cool device for casual web browsing. It already has WiFi. I’m betting this is the first of many hacks we’ll see for Sony’s new mobile platform.

Get a Free PSP (need 5 people) and help me in the process. I already got a Mac Mini and an iPod. Also looking for some help on an iPod Shuffle (need 3 people). Free gear is good.

Categories
Apple

Mac Mini Wireless Upgrade

Just got off the phone with the Menlo Park Apple Store regarding getting my Mac Mini a Wireless Upgrade.

The card should come in soon (will call me when it’s in). They told me last week it should have been in sometime this week, so I assume that means it should be in relatively soon. Should be priced around the same as the Apple Store ($99). Installation may be $30, depending on the date of purchase. Not bad. I’m guessing since it’s such a new product, there won’t be an installation charge. But it should cost less than $130 to get WiFi. A little more than a 3rd party adapter would, but this way I don’t have extra adapters on my already somewhat crowded desk.

Haven’t seen any reports of people getting their mini upgraded yet, so I assume the kits just haven’t shipped yet. Hopefully in a week or so I’ll get the call that they have some (and hopefully they will still have some when I get there).

Categories
Apple

Apple is to damn sexy

Yes, I know, I’m a Mac nut. My favorite OS is Mac OS X, I dream of the G5 at night. The dual processor G5 is hot (in more ways than one)…

But Apple just made my day. The AirPort Express is just what I’ve been wanting.

I could see a few uses for me:

  1. Hook laptop to stereo
  2. Wireless access in the dorm
  3. Extend wireless network when @ home where it gets weak

The question is if I’ll upgrade my laptop to 802.11g (only if I can do it integrated via an IBM upgrade of the mini-pci card). That would make it super sexy. Perhaps that will be part II, since I’m not filthy rich.

And if I should get cables. Apple has that $39 kit which sounds pretty handy, though I might be able to do better.

Way to cool. Just way to cool. I’m thinking it fits me wants and needs perfectly.

Anyone know if there will be a way to pipe all audio (not just iTunes) over the Airport Express? Would be nice to do more than just music (games for example).

Now I guess it’s pretty much written in stone that a iWiFi enabled Pod is coming soon. I can’t see Apple missing out on that.

Categories
Tech (General)

I’m not alone

Survey on most hated technology is out. And I’m not alone.

I’m a geek, I carry a PDA almost everywhere. I have a home fileserver, laptop with WiFi hard drives and 1GB RAM, I like Linux, I enjoy geek toys.

But I hate cell phones. Annoying, distracting, bulky, silly.

I hate them in the train, in the mall, in the movies, in class. I hate when people use the Walkie-Talkie Phones in silent places. I hate hearing someone’s dirty conversation on the trainride home. I don’t want to know what your imagining doing to the body of your signifigant other. It’s sickening.

I hate phones ringing in restaurants, places of worship, funerals/funeral homes.

I hate being in touch 24×7. I like being able to say “Oh, I missed you? I was out for a while today”.

And those idiots who don’t look before changing lanes because they have a cell phone to their ear.

Or those older people who SCREAM over their cell phone, as if your voice needs to travel to the person over the air.

To hell with cell phones. To hell with annoying Cell phone users.

Categories
Networking

SanDisk and WiFi support for Palm OS 4

I always wanted WiFi for my Sony Clie T665C (Palm OS 4). I emailed SanDisk out of curiosity, and here was my reply:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support. We do not have Palm support and do not know when we will. There are business issues with Palm Source that are preventing us from delivering a solution. We apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused you.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this e-mail or contact our technical support department toll free at 866-SANDISK (866-726-3475). Our technical support team is open Monday through Friday, 7 am to 4 pm PST. Have a Great Day and thank you for choosing SanDisk!

Interesting to hear. I wish I could get WiFi on my T665C. It’s a great PDA, minus this one feature. I wonder what exactly is keeping San Disk from Supporting the Palm OS with their WiFI adapters? My Memory Stick slot would be a great solution.

Categories
Networking

Blasted network problems

My FM114P Router seems to have fallen to a case of bad Caps. Sucks. Thankfully Netgear is providing a replacement.