Have Laptop Will Travel

Alltel unveils WiFi service

Originally posted on October 8, 2007 @ 11:55 pm

With WiFi proving to be a wonderful business investment for many companies, business entities all over the world are more than happy to provide WiFi service to a very receptive market.

Alltel Wireless, just last week, launched its own WiFi service that caters to customers in North and South America. The new WiFi service will be powered by Boingo Wireless.

The Arkansas based company now ooffers WiFi and EVDO Wireless Internet package that offers both unlimited WiFi access from any of its hotspot. The price starts at just $9.99 a month, which is on top of the customer’s wireless internet plan. There is also a prepaid service in the form of prepaid WiFi cards that are available in Alltel Wireless stores. The values available is $19.99 a week or $9.99 a day.

Alltel officials said the new product offering is in line with its goal to provide customers various ways of connecting to the internet. The decision of Alltel to come out with a WiFi product came just a few weeks from Nokia’s own announcement that it will be offering a new phone that has built in WiFi capabilities. The Nokia 6301 will use UMA technology that will give users the ability to use either a GSM network or a wireless LAN.

New gaming router from D-Link

Originally posted on October 30, 2007 @ 6:41 pm

I love playing games using a gaming laptop. A laptop frees you and allows you to move anywhere in your house (or ANYWHERE, for that matter) to play your favorite games. Heck, I’ve even tried playing games while in the toilet! A gaming laptop transforms your whole house into an instant gaming room. Of course, if you are the type who loves playing games online then a gaming laptop will not be enough. You will also need a reliable WiFi and WLAN connection, one that has practically no lag and stable connections. These requirements have resulted in the development of a family of products called gaming routers that are optimized for the demanding conditions that gamers need.

D-Link recently released a new gaming router that offers a number of really cool features. The D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router can operate at the draft 802.11n standard (which makes it somewhat futureproof) and also possesses GameFuel technology as well as a nifty little OLED screen.

The new router boasts of having a quality-of-service technology. This means that the router will automatically give priority to gaming related traffic. It is also optimized for the gaming requirements not only for PC games but also for the Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles. The OLED screen is quite useful because it gives users a quick view of network statistics, the devices that are connected to the router as well as other important information.

The  D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router (model number DGL-4500) will sell for a $239.99.

The Samsung Q1 Ultra

Originally posted on September 6, 2007 @ 4:54 pm

Samsung recently released a revamped version of its Q1 ultraportable computer. This iteration did not sit well with consumers mainly because of its high selling price and the lack of a keyboard. The failure of this initial stab at the ultraportable market was such a dud that some manufacturers even looked at it as a sign that there is no business to be had in this sector and decided to just walk away from servicing this segment.

But Samsung has been steadfast in their commitment and they have now released the Q1 Ultra — which is a vast improvement over the previous model. It sports an 800 mhz Intel processor, Windows Vista, and connectivity to cellular networks. It also has a webcam. All these features have been squeezed into a form factor that only weighs 1.5 pounds. Of course, Samsung addressed the biggest gripe about the Q1 by adding a keyboard to the Ultra. Oh, and there is also the standard bluetooth and WiFi connectivity as well as a nifty 1.3 megapixel camera at the back.

Overall, the Q1 Ultra is a great device to own if you are the type who loves to surf and type out small emails to friends or even make mobile phone calls. It basically serves as specific set of functions — and it does them well. It will not, however, replace your notebook computer in terms of features and usability.

American Airlines to test inflight broadband internet access in 2008

Originally posted on August 1, 2007 @ 6:29 am

Laptops can be such an addictive machine. I remember when I had my first laptop — I just had to bring it with me wherever I went. Lugging around my computer made me feel so much more productive because I can squeeze in more work. Entertaining myself when I’m bored was also answered by having my laptop with me. With the advent of WiFi, bringing a laptop became so much more fun. You can now chat with friends, surf your favorite sites or even play online. Unfortunately, there are some areas where you can only wish that you can use the internet with your laptop. Long airplane trips are one of those situations where having an internet access would have made a great difference. Fortunately, American Airlines sees the world the same way I do.

The airline company has recently announced that it will begin tests for the deployment of inflight broadband internet access by 2008. The tests will initially be conducted on American Airlines’ transcontinental routes. The service is going to be fee based and will also block video conferencing and VOIP services so that these internet tasks will not disrupt ground to air communications. Also, this particular service will only be available in US flights because of the nature of the technology being used.

New Tools For The Blogger On The Road

Originally posted on June 3, 2007 @ 8:29 am

After only some days, the list can be updated.

With the introduction of the excellent offline Google Reader [modus], we can delete FeedDemon from the list and save $25.
Although FeedDemon still has some more features than Google Reader, Google Reader performs well and fast.

Another addition to the list, comes in the form of the new version of Windows Live Writer.
Windows Live Writer is an all straightforward, out of the box editor for most blog platforms. Installation is easy and writing is even easier. It feels like writing in Word, with support options for your theme, just less bloated than MS Word. If you blog alot and hate to be stuck in your blogplatform editor, Windows Live Writer is what you need.

The Editor comes with many insertion and formatting possibilities and also supports tags properly, but not 100% correctly if you want to use site internal tags.
Live Writer can ping services when publishing entries, or publish entries at a specific time. Basically you’ll find everything you need and the feel is nicer than writing in the WP editor.
Screenshots after the jump

[Read more…]