Powerline networking has a reputation for promising capable “hardwired” networking solutions, but historically often fell short when it came to delivery. Having tried a few iterations of the alternative-to-Ethernet over power wires in the past, in my personal experience this reputation has also proved well deserved. Of course with each new generation, the technology evolves and is therefore worth another […]
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As part of a recent effort to consolidate all of our backbone networking kit into a structured wiring panel, it was necessary to add a switch to the mix. Never having played with a “Green Ethernet” device (D-Link DGS-1008G) it seemed like a good idea to pick one up and find out how green it was in comparison to two […]
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We don’t usually cover networking product announcements, but this one was too interesting for me to pass up because I’ve been looking for something just like this for when I travel and need to stay in a hotel that uses web browser based authentication for WiFi access – which isn’t supported by most of the small (Netflix enabled) media streamers […]
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A couple of months ago, security researchers released details about a security vulnerability in Wi-Fi Protected Setup, the pin-based system for quickly and easily adding new devices to a Wi-Fi network. As it turns out, routers with WPS enabled are susceptible to a brute force attack that allows interested hackers access to the network in just a couple of hours. […]
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Kaleidescape has made its mark with its high-end DVD and Blu-ray distribution systems and media servers. While many DIYers have built their own solutions for serving movies across their home networks, Kaleidescape’s systems are intended to deliver the same experience to any user in a sleek, albeit expensive, turnkey package. At the heart of a Kaleidescape system is the Kaleidescape Server for storing […]
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By default, Mediabrowser runs largely as a local application. It’s easy to set up the program with the media libraries pointed at any location, local or networked, but all of the playstate and settings information is stored locally. Mediabrowser has long been easy to tweak to share the playstates and display view settings by moving certain files to a network location […]
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QNAP unveiled a number of new products at CES this week. QNAP launched a new lineup of Turbo NAS servers, along with a new VioStar NVR Surveillance System, V3.6 Management Firmware update, and the JB-1200U-RP expansion storage module for the recently announced TS-x79 SMB-class Turbo NAS. Admittedly, most of QNAP’s products are geared more toward business users. Most of us don’t really […]
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Just when you thought we had run out of devices in need of an app store, along comes Netgear with the announcement of their new Smart Network App Store. The idea behind the Smart Network App Store is to create an app store for your network and it’s connected devices. The demonstration apps they showed off, such as a wireless […]
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It seems like just yesterday that network equipment manufacturers were falling all over themselves to release Draft-N Wi-Fi devices so that they could squeeze in a whole product cycle before the IEEE finalized the 802.11n spec. The idea of a wireless network that could send data at 150Mps meant that it just might be possible to place that HTPC anywhere […]
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If building a home server is on your to-do list for the new year, then perhaps a little how-to guide is just what you need to get started. I’m not sure about all of the hardware choices made for this particular guide. Intel Xeon processors tend to carry a price premium that isn’t really warranted for a WHS box, though […]
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