Have Laptop Will Travel

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.

USB 3.0 being developed

Originally posted on September 20, 2007 @ 2:44 am

Ask any computer user and they will tell you that one of the things that they look forward to are fast transfer speeds. The advent of USB has put us in the right path. Even with the introduction of Firewire (which was admittedly a faster protocol), USB continued to be the popular choice and it has continued to be developed as evidenced by USB 2.0, which offered faster transfer speeds. But with the advent growing capacities of storage drives and the increased demand for data transfers for various computer peripherals, USB 2.0 just could not cut it anymore.  It’s good news that USB 3.0 is now being developed.

During the Intel Developers Forum, the formation of the “Superspeed” USB Promotions Group was announced. This new collective will be tasked to develop the specs for USB 3.0 that they are hoping will be able to become the standard for the next five years.

It’s too early to really know what USB 3.0 will be but preliminary information includes backwards compatibility with USB 2.0, lower power consumption, and a ten fold increase in transfer speed, that is, from USB 2.0’s 480Mbits/s to 4.8Gbits/s.

Let’s see how this will develop in the coming months.

Annoying flash drive virus

Originally posted on September 22, 2007 @ 6:58 am

A couple of days ago, my sister called me up looking for a particular document she needed for her citizenship application. She left the said document in my care and now she wanted me to send her the document. She also asked me to have the document scanned so I can send her a copy while waiting for the actual document to reach her through Fedex.

I couldn’t make my scanner work so I decided to visit a computer services shop and have the document scanned. Everything went smoothly and uneventfully — that is, until I went home and plugged in the flash drive I used to save the image file in the shop. The moment I inserted the flash drive my browser popped up and this weird message from “jayker” appeared on the page. I thought it was just some random pop-up ad and proceeded to email the file to my sister. But when I rebooted my laptop the first thing that popped up when I got to the Windows desktop was the same “jayker” message on my browser! I got virus from the flash drive itself without me even opening a single file. Apparently, this virus takes advantage of the autorun feature of flash drives in order to embed itself into a computer. It then copies itself to other computers or any other drives connected to the infected computer. The virus is believed to have originated in the Philippines. This virus is really annoying and since the level of infection is not yet that high, your antivirus software will most likely not detect or clean it yet.

Fortunately, there is a workaround. You can remove the virus on your own but it will take some knowledge of DOS and dealing with the Windows registry to do this. Just refer to the instructions posted on this site.

Great gaming with Bioshock

Originally posted on September 3, 2007 @ 11:44 pm

One of the most hotly anticipated games this year finally shipped out to the public this month. The game is Bioshock. This game has a good lineage behind it. It is considered a spiritual successor to System Shock — considered by many as a seminal game and probably one of the greatest games ever made.

Bioshock is a first person shooter in genre only. Yes, it follows the framework and gameplay style of the FPS. But it is much more than that. This is a game that engages you primarily not with the graphics (although it is pretty) or with the gameplay (which is adequate), it does so by delivering a tight and very interesting story. One that hooks you from the beginning and never lets go. The strange, creepy atmosphere is not just the product of the environment it is also enhanced by the deft storytelling that really pulls you into a world that has gone haywire.

If your laptop or PC has the juice to power up this bad boy then don’t hesitate to get a copy. Console freaks can also try Bioshock if they have an Xbox 360.

Solar powered WiFi

Originally posted on August 27, 2007 @ 10:57 pm

One of the raison d’etres of having a laptop is taking advantage of WiFi and the ability to surf the internet wherever you are. For me, mobile surfing is one of the greatest technological leaps that we have made because it has really made information accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Of course, WiFi still costs money to operate. Yes, there are free WiFi hotzones but that doesn’t mean the operators of the network are not expending money to give you the privilege to look at the latest football scores over your macchiatto. They shoulder not only the WiFi subscription but also the accompanying costs of operating WiFi devices — electricity being a big factor to the overall expense.

Solis Energy claims to have the solution though. The Orlando-based company said that it can employ solar energy to power low wattage devices like WiFi routers, security cameras — even traffic lights and sensors. This is the kind of innovation that is really welcome in our time when global warming really poses a serious threat worldwide. An alternative source of energy that is one hundred per cent green and renewable is the way to go. Al Gore should have reason to smile when he reads about Solis.