Home wireless network

GIZMO GALLERY

If you want a home wireless network that's powerful and supports the latest Wi-Fi standards, check out the Linksys Mimo wireless G broadband router.

Mimo stands for "multiple input, multiple output" and it's a new technology that uses several antennae to deliver better signals.

Connect the router to your cable modem and it will deliver powerful coverage without dead spots. Linksys claims that the Model WRT54GX, delivers three times the range of comparable products.

A router costs around $200 (versus a normal non-Mimo router for about $75) and it's another $120 (versus $50) for special PC cards.

But it works with any built-in 802.11 compatible device and claims to be compatible with the new 802.11n protocol. The Mimo network allows robust encryption; so security should not be a problem.

Whiz phone

The Samsung SGH-D500 mobile handset was rated as the 'world's best mobile phone' by the 3GSM Association World Congress held at Cannes in February 2005.

It's a new generation device equipped with a host of features that will probably become the industry standard.

The Samsung SGH-D500 is a tri-band, mega-pixel digital integrator.  It includes 96 MB of user memory, a 1.3 Mega pixel camera, a 1.9 inch TFT screen that offers 2,62,000 colours, video recording and messaging facilities, Bluetooth, Wi-fi, email and syncML connectivity, a speakerphone and an MP3 Player music player.  The phone has received rave reviews in the European market and it's being released in India at around Rs 23,000.  For Apple buffs  "Apple I Replica Creation:Back to the Garage", by Tom Owad, is a must-read for geeks of a certain age. Owad offers DIY schematics for recreating the original Apple 1 circa 1979 from spare parts bought off the shelf and assembled in a garage just the way the original prototype was.  The next step is redeveloping the original Mac software "� Owad offers instructions on rewriting the entire OS from assembly language.  Then he teaches the reader how to play with the newly reconstructed Apple. This is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who like solder on their fingers.  Light and neat  

The HP Compaq Tablet PC TC1100 is a juiced-up version of the older TC1000 with 1GHz Pentium M processor.

This 1.3 kg, 11"x8"x1" device is among the smallest, lightest tablets available. With the 450 gram detachable keyboard attached, it's like a 1.7 kg ultralight laptop.

The 10.5 inch screen tablet can rotate 180 degrees for viewer convenience. The keyboard can also be twisted and hidden behind the tablet, and the entire set up folds into a docking station cum monitor stand with space for secondary storage drives.  You can also attach a full-size keyboard into a USB 2.0 port or the dock. Alternately, you can use the stylus onscreen.