You’ve no doubt seen the split keyboard that iOS 5 brought to the iPad, but it turns out it has a few hidden buttons on the edges. Here’s how they work. My biggest gripe with the split keyboard was that it forced me to type certain letters—like T or Y—with certain hands. Depending on [...]
With all the talk of 300Mbps broadband and increased national average speeds , it would have been very easy to miss one of the most important points made in Ofcom’s latest research into the UK’s internet connections – that millions are settling for crappy connections for no good reason.
It’s obviously a good thing that [...]
RIM’s VP of developer relations Alec Saunders has offered up free PlayBook tablets to Android developers today in exchange for their apps. All they’ve got to do is make sure they’re signed up and have submitted their Android app to BlackBerry’s BB AppWorld by the 13th of February. If your humble narrator didn’t know any better, it would seem that RIM is desperate not only to get rid of their remaining stock of the PlayBook BlackBerry tablet, but to get Android users interested in working with them, no matter the cost. For a company whose tablet was once several hundred dollars, giving these tablets away for free to developers might seem like a move of madness. Of course the truth of the matter is that there’s no better way to get people to love your hardware than to get the greatest creators of software on your side. And there’s no greater way to get a developer to work for your platform than to give them free hardware, right? Incorrect, ladies and gentlemen, the best way to get a developer to work on a particular bit of hardware is to make that hardware popular on your own. If the user base exists, the developers will come and grab the cash they’ve got burning a hole in their pockets. On the other hand, when you’re in the position that RIM is in right now, the best solution may well be what they’re doing right now. So Android developers, grab yourself a free tablet and play gleefully upon it! You can get all the tools you need for Runtime for Android apps beta over at Blackberry.com and start tapping away at your future market. Look at how easy it is to get into! Story Timeline BlackBerry PlayBook Review on Apr 19th 2011 Unlucky thieves snatch $1.7m-worth of PlayBook tablets on Dec 17th 2011 PlayBook put on desperate $299 sale on Jan 3rd 2012 RIM should think Type not Touch for the new PlayBook on Jan 17th 2012 RIM CEO to deliver imminent PlayBook refresh as stock dives on Jan 24th 2012 BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 launch next month, Android apps due February 6 on Jan 31st 2012 [ via Saunders] PlayBook free per Android App says desperate RIM is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear . © 2005 – 2012, SlashGear . All right reserved.
Dear Lifehacker, My old router has died and I need a new one. There are so many wireless routers out there that I don’t know what to buy. Is dual-band worth it? What should I look for in my new Wi-Fi router? Sincerely, Desperately Seeking Wi-Fi Dear DSWF, Sorry to hear about your dead router. Think of it as an opportunity, though, to upgrade your wireless and wired home network. Modern routers have a lot of nice features your old router may not have had (depending on when you bought it, of course), so let’s look into some of your options. We’ll try to address some common scenarios and features that may appeal to you. The Basics: Things Your Router Should Have You’ll definitely want to make sure the router supports the latest WPA2 security rather than just WPA or, even worse, WEP. Most current routers support WPA2, but free routers from an ISP can sometimes be really outdated. If you’re building a wired network with clients that have gigabit ethernet adapters, also look for a router that supports that fast gigabit transfer speed. Also make sure the router supports Wireless-N (802.11n) for fastest transfer speeds; Wireless-N is backwards compatible with Wireless-G (802.11g) and Wireless-B (802.11b) devices, so your older computers and gadgets will still be able to connect to it. Do You Like to Tinker? Consider Custom Router Firmware If you’d like to hack your router for more features and customization with free, open-source firmware like Tomato or DD-WRT (both can help you turn a $60 router it into a $600 router ), be sure to check those site's supported routers before going shopping. Some routers—like Buffalo's Nfiniti G300NH —actually ship with DD-WRT pre-installed. ( Ed. note: This is the router I use. ) Dual Band or Not? A dual band router can broadcast wireless signals on the popular 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz one (or both at the same time). This allows for greater compatibility with more wireless devices, and this increased versatility may be worth the slight increase in cost. With a dual band router, you can separate the 5GHz traffic from the more crowded 2.4GHz traffic—so your older Wireless-G devices don't drag down the rest of the network. You can get a really cheap (under $40) dual-band router, but, as of this writing, the most highly-rated ones tend to hover around the $100 mark and can sometimes cost almost double their single-band counterparts. The dual band Netgear N600 (WNDR3700) retails for $159.99, while the Netgear N300 (WNR3500L) is $99.99. In the end, whether or not the extra cost for a dual band router is worth it depends on your network needs. If you want to run your home network like a coffee shop for easier guest access , a dual-band router is key. Look for a router that specifically says it allows guest access—which separates the public Wi-Fi from your private Wi-Fi network. Also, keep in mind that some routers may be dual band but not support simultaneous operation on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands (i.e., dual-radio broadcasting). If you have a mixed network—some older Wireless-G clients that can't or won't be upgraded to Wireless-N (e.g., the Nintendo Wii) and also Wireless-N devices—make sure the router supports simultaneous dual-band. Other Features to Consider Routers are offering a lot of added networking features these days. Here are a few that might interest you: Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) – This reduces the number of steps you might have to take to connect your wireless devices to your router. Push a button on the router or enter a PIN number to network the devices, and the WPA2 security will be set up for you. If you want the most streamlined setup possible, WPS is great, but it can make manual connections harder. USB Ports – If you’d like to create a shared network drive, some routers enable you to plug in a USB hard drive to the router and share that drive. It’s a useful feature, but can be very slow and/or inconvenient (forcing you to use a FTP or HTTP server to access the drive, for example). If you don’t have a network attached storage (NAS) device, however, and don’t mind the performance compromise, look for this feature in your next router. Printer Sharing – Some routers also let you plug in a printer to the USB port for network printing. You might need to install printer drivers on all the PCs to use this, but if you don’t have an easily network-able printer you can use your router as a print server (keeping in mind this may also slow the router down). Firewall and VPN Support – Most routers today say they have the best intrusion detection, firewall, and VPN support. If you need to access a company network over VPN, however, make sure you talk to your company’s IT department before buying the home router. As a former IT admin, I saw some users’ routers just wouldn’t work with our VPN implementation, making it a problem for everyone all around. At the very least, your router should support VPN passthrough (IPSec, PPTP and L2TP) for typical VPN traffic. Remote Access, 3G/4G and more – The latest routers are adding even more functionality, like being able to remotely access computers on your network through the router or sharing 3G/4G broadband connections. Some are being designed to more easily connect to your TV or media center. There aren’t that many routers that support these newer features, so you’ll have to decide how important this is for your usage scenario. Which Router to Buy As for which particular router you should buy, that depends on your budget and needs (above). You might find best performance/compatibility using the same brand for both your router and network cards. Or if you’re used to using Linksys products, upgrading to a newer Linksys model might make sense for you. SmallNetBuilder is a great source for finding router reviews and recommendations. Here are a couple of options to get you started, though: Buffalo Technology Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Router & Access Point (WZR-HP-G300NH) – currently $65 on Amazon , supports WPA2 and 1GB ethernet, plus 2-year warranty Linksys E4200 – a simultaneous dual-band N router that also looks pretty sleek ( $179.99 direct on Cisco ) Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router – has USB storage option and guest network access ( retailing for $159.99 from Netgear ) Photo by nrkbeta . Yours, Lifehacker P.S. If you have helpful tips of your own for shopping for and selecting a new router, let’s hear them in the comments.
Your iPhone (or other iDevice) has but one button you use constantly: the home button. It has many functions , and so it’s prone to becoming unresponsive through heavy use and the passage of time.
Designer Khoi Vinh has discovered that this problem is easily resolved with a little WD-40:
In my experience, on not just [...]