Archive for December 3, 2014

D-Link’s AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router Announced

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 3, 2014 by itnerd

D-Link yesterday announced the launch of its new line of high-performance home networking devices starting with the Wireless AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router (DIR-890L). Packed with advanced features, this router was designed to keep both the latest and legacy Wi-Fi devices running at peak performance. It combines Tri-Band with SmartConnect technology to distribute Wi-Fi traffic over three Wi-Fi radios giving you improved performance and reliability. SmartConnect technology automatically assigns each device on your network to the Wi-Fi radio where it can connect at its best possible speed. This ensures that older wireless devices do not degrade the overall performance of your network allowing faster devices to hit their top speed.

DIR-890L5

Key features include:

  • Ultra fast wireless transfer rates of up to 600Mbps (2.4GHz) + 1300Mbps (5GHz) + 1300Mbps (5GHz) for all of your web browsing,
    4K HD media streaming and gaming needs.
  • Tri-Band Technology with SmartConnect – Distributes traffic over 3 Wi-Fi radios for optimized network performance and reliability.
  • SmartConnect technology automatically assigns each device on your network to the Wi-Fi band where it can connect at its maximum possible speed. This ensures that older wireless devices do not degrade the overall performance of your network allowing faster devices to hit their top speed.
  •  Dual Core Processor gives you increased performance to support more devices and provide faster throughput.
  • Powerful amplifier, 6 high-gain antennas and Advanced AC SmartBeam technology combine for enhanced Wi-Fi speed and coverage inside and around the largest of homes.
  • Enhanced quality of service (QoS), ultra fast connectivity and DLNA support combine to provide a buffer-free 4K HD video streaming experience.
  • Dual core processor, Gigabit ports, and advanced QoS combine to deliver lag free gaming.
  • Advanced QoS prioritizes the most important data so you get lag-free gaming and uninterrupted streaming on multiple devices.
  • Designed to get maximum performance from the growing number of connected devices in the home.
  • Gigabit Ports provide all of your wired devices with blazing fast 10/100/1000 Mbps connections.
  • Dual USB Ports (USB3.0 & USB2.0) let you locally and remotely stream content from up to two connected USB drives using the free mydlink SharePort app.
  • Advanced wireless security with WPA2 and enhanced network security with dual active NAT and SPI firewalls.
  • Wi-Fi Protected Setup – Push button for easy connection to a wireless network.
  • Free mydlink Lite mobile app for monitoring and controlling your network.
  • Brand New GUI – New intuitive user interface for simple management of a wireless network; optimized for mobile devices with touch enabled controls and designed to give users quick access to the status and management of their router and connected devices.Backward compatible and optimized to get the best performance out of both legacy and newer Wi-Fi devices.

The AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router (DIR-890L) has an MSRP of $299.99 and is available now at Staples and other major retail outlets in Canada. Detailed specifications and information are available online at http://ca.dlink.com/products/connect/wireless-ac3200-tri-band-gigabit-router/.

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AirDroid 3 Announced With A Brand New Feature

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 3, 2014 by itnerd

Sand Studio today released a huge update to AirDroid with a new feature called AirMirror which allows Android users to use WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, Kakao, or any other apps installed on their Android device, on computer, Windows or Mac OS.

Here’s a video of it in action:

One thing to note is that AirMirror currently only works with rooted Android devices. Sand Studio is working major OEMs and mobile carriers around the world to make AirMirror work out of the box for their Android devices. So if you’re the more techie type of Android user, it may be worth a look. Check it out on Google Play.

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Bell Launches Streaming Service…. Cord Cutters Need Not Apply

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 3, 2014 by itnerd

So, Bell clearly must have felt it had to get into the streaming game since Rogers and Shaw’s Shomi streaming service launched. So today they revealed CraveTV. Here’s the key things that you need to know:

  • It launches on December 11th.
  • It will cost $4 a month.
  • It will be available to the Bell’s existing TV subscribers plus those on TELUS and Eastlink.
  • It will be available on your TV or set top box, smart TV, smartphone or tablet, computer and coming soon to consoles such as Xbox.

Here’s the key point. CraveTV requires a cable TV subscription to access it. That means that ‘cord cutters’ won’t be able to access it. Clearly Bell doesn’t want to make money off of those users, and that’s remarkably short sighted. Shomi is also limited to Rogers and Shaw Internet and cable subscribers and that too is short sighted. But they’ve appeared to have hedged their bets by being open to the idea of opening the service to anyone with an Internet connection. If that happens, and that’s a big if, Bell’s service is dead on arrival. If it doesn’t, one wonders if either service will find an audience given that Netflix is available to anyone who has any sort of Internet connection.

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Canadian Heartbleed Hacker Faces More Charges

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 3, 2014 by itnerd

You might recall that the Canada Revenue Agency got hacked via the Heartbleed exploit. That in turn took their website offline during tax season. Following an investigation, a teen was arrested. Well, that teen is now facing new charges

An expanded RCMP investigation produced more charges in the revenue case, plus new allegations of other attacks both in Canada and abroad.

The Mounties now allege Solis-Reyes transferred sensitive data from the revenue agency’s network and have charged the computer science student with obtaining a computer service directly or indirectly, and intercepting a function of a computer system.

They also allege he attacked several other unrelated computer networks.

The additional charges include illegally obtaining computer services, illegal interception of computer functions, five counts of possessing unauthorized computer passwords, three counts of possession of devices used to hack computers and two more counts of mischief to data.

Solis-Reyes is scheduled to appear in court in Ottawa on Dec. 19.

Well, that’s interesting. It sounds like he was busy but left a trail for cops to follow. Of course I have to mention that none of this has been proven in court, but it should be interesting to see what evidence the cops have on this kid.

 

 

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Bluetooth 4.2 Announced

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 3, 2014 by itnerd

The latest version of the Bluetooth specification was  announced today. The new Bluetooth 4.2 specification cites enhanced privacy measures, increased speed of data transfers, and an update that will allow Bluetooth Smart sensors to directly access the Internet. From the press release:

Bluetooth 4.2 is all about continuing to make Bluetooth Smart the best solution to connect all the technology in your life – from personal sensors to your connected home. In addition to the improvements to the specification itself, a new profile known as IPSP enables IPv6 for Bluetooth, opening entirely new doors for device connectivity,” said Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “Bluetooth Smart is the only technology that can scale with the market, provide developers the flexibility to innovate, and be the foundation for the IoT.

And when it comes to privacy:

The new privacy features put control back into the hands of the consumer by making it difficult for eavesdroppers to track a device through its Bluetooth connection without permission. For example, when shopping in a retail store with beacons, unless you’ve enabled permission for the beacon to engage with your device, you can’t be tracked.

I wonder how that affects iBeacons and other similar ways to track users indoors?

Expect this new version of Bluetooth to start showing up in devices shortly with a full feature rollout by the end of the year.

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Review: Late 2014 Apple Mac Mini

Posted in Products with tags on December 3, 2014 by itnerd

This past weekend, I was hired to do a swap of a mix of various Apple Mac models to the new Mac Mini which rolled out recently. Now this Mac Mini had not been touched by Apple in some time, so it was a relief when Apple finally upgraded them. However, you’ll have to be on your toes if you want to buy one.

The first reason that you’ll need to be on your toes is that the RAM is not upgradeable. That’s right, the computer that was incredibly easy to upgrade now has RAM that is soldered to the logic board. That means that you not only will pay more for 8 or 16 GB of RAM that you should have to pay, but you can’t buy it with say 8GB now and upgrade later when prices drop. That is a complete #fail in my mind. My advice? Buy it with 16GB of RAM because if you don’t you’ll be sorry later.

The next reason that you’ll need to be on your toes is the processor. The good news is that the Mac Mini is using a Intel Haswell series i5 processor. The bad news is that you only get dual core options this time around rather than having dual core and quad core options that the previous generation had. Not only that, the version of the Haswell processor that Apple elected to use is SLOWER in some ways than the Ivy Bridge series of processors that were in the last generation, Mac Rumors ran a story on this a while ago that highlighted this fact with detailed comparisons of this Mac Mini and the previous Mac Mini. What all of this means is that for general purpose computing, word processing, surfing the net, etc., they’re fine. But if you want to do anything that requires processing power, you should look elsewhere. Now one could correctly argue that the target users of the Mac Mini won’t care, and I will admit that there is truth to that. However, the Mac Mini if you outfitted it right could give you a relatively quick computer at a low price if you were a quasi power user. That option is now gone.

But it’s not all bad. Apple actually did make some improvements in this version of the Mac Mini. They include:

  • They now include the Intel HD 5000 or Iris 5100 GPUs which are significantly faster than what used to be in the Mac Mini
  • 802.11ac Wi-Fi
  • Thunderbolt 2 ports (at the expense of FireWire I will note)
  • PCIe-based flash storage as an option which makes storage ultra fast

The key improvement that was made was the price has dropped. The Mac Mini now starts at $549 Canadian which is a good price. But I have a hard time recommending the Mac Mini to anyone other than an entry level user. That’s a shame as the Mac Mini used to be a cheap way to get decent amounts of power onto your desk while having options to upgrade. Now, it’s just a cheap computer with no ability to upgrade and it’s now lacking in power. Apple may wish to rethink that, and quickly.

 

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