Netgear WNR854T

Considering of going WIFI 802.11n (draft)? Take a look at the Netgear WNR854T.  It supports 802.11(b/g/n), claims peak 300 mbps (but a review tells us differently).  The back side has a four-port gigabit Ethernet switch as well.

I have been telling myself to hold off at home, and I probably still will, for now.  But if I had to have a 802.11 N-draft, this would be what I compared everything else in the marketplace up against.

Greenphone

Saw the Greenphone, which was announced at CES this year.  Has a touch screen, runs on Linux/Qtopia, Bluetooth. The development hardware price of $695 however seems a bit steep. I’m sure it includes a lot of goodies, but I don’t see myself spending that amount of money on hardware so that I can write an application under the GNU GPL License.

Anyone want to hire me to write them an application/game they can sell for this phone? I may do it for nothing if I can keep a phone.

I would have liked to seen it with GPS.  Will it penetrate the US market this year? I enjoyed using Qtopia Embedded before, the experience was very rewarding in comparison to Microsoft’s Embedded Visual C++.  Good luck TrollTech!

A Consumer AOL Linux-based PDA?

I was excited when I saw AOL released a Linux-based PDA this year at CES.  First, I’m excited to see AOL branch out and try new things.  Second, its no secret that AOL has been a strong supporter of some widely known Open Source projects [ref1, ref2].

I cannot find anything for sale yet, or even a release date.  I would like to see the product released for a reasonable price AND AOL permit open source development to extend the device in ways they haven’t even thought of.  If they support this, you can bet I will pick one up.

5 things that would shock you

…maybe not.

Here I am having to talk about myself again — thanks Martin. When I saw your post, I didn’t think I could find five things. But here it goes…

BlackJack or iPhone?

Today a friend asked me if I was going to upgrade phones anytime soon. Honestly, I’m pretty content with my Sony Ericsson 710a minus a few issues (e.g. sync it up via Bluetooth on Linux).

My buddy was referring to the new BlackJack that I was able to check out just before the holidays. Is it nice? You bet! But tonight Jeremy pointed out the new iPhone released by Apple today at CES.

I am slightly leaning towards the iPhone. I need to get my hands on one and check it out for myself. The iPhone doesn’t appear to have GPS? Not that I need GPS on my phone, but that would be very convenient!

MSP430 eZ Design Contest Winners

Texas Instruments hosted a design contest a few months ago. I didn’t enter this contest and I didn’t jump and by one of the devices yet! The results and submissions are back!

My favorite design, which was the second place winner:

DNS-SD or uPNP = zero configuration

DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD) is already here, maybe you haven’t heard of it? Apple has their implementation out named Bonjour.

Apple is in one corner with DNS-SD, while Microsoft has their own Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). They both share a few similarities. Microsoft has already began laying other protocols on uPNP like SSDP.

Wondering what in the heck I’m talking about? Take a look at Zeroconf (zero configuration).

Vacation Part I

Happy New Year to family and friends!

It has been over a week that I have been off work, and I felt like I have accomplished more than I have all year long!

I celebrated one of the most mysterious days in a young child’s mind, Christmas, with both children. They were in awe, and I was rubbing my eyes with one hand and my little girl was holding the two fingers of my other hand gently guiding me down the stairs.