With a Slingbox SOLO or PRO-HD in your home, the SlingPlayer app will allow you to experience home entertainment on another level. The SlingPlayer app on the Boxee Box is essentially acting as a gateway to all of your favorite home entertainment devices. So what exactly can you control, you ask? Well, the list starts with your digital cable box, satellite receiver, DVR, DVD player and video on demand. You’re probably thinking what I was thinking, that seems like a lot! It is. I also thought to myself, why do I need this? There’s a good answer for that too. Most people have a home entertainment setup in one room of their home, the living room. Now with the SlingPlayer app on the Boxee Box you can take that full home entertainment experience to ANY TV, around the house, your vacation home or even your dorm room.

Simply navigate to the Boxee app menu on your Boxee Box to find the SlingPlayer app. Once logged in use Sling Media’s new program guide designed for users like you and I to browse content and change channels with greater ease. Not only can you do that, but you can even schedule and watch recordings on your DVR with full capability to fast-forward, pause, or rewind. Perfect for families with multiple TVs in their home.

So, if you have a Slingbox and have been looking for a way to extend your HDTV experience that currently only resides in your living room to a new place. Search no more! The Boxee Box can fulfill that dream for you.

Make sure to watch the video below too, to see the SlingPlayer app in action!

]]> http://resource.dlink.com/entertain/slingplayer-app-now-available-for-the-boxee-box/feed/ 1 http://resource.dlink.com/entertain/slingplayer-app-now-available-for-the-boxee-box/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/D-linkBlog/~3/hdJ0IohjrVQ/ http://resource.dlink.com/share/how-to-remotely-access-files-on-your-network-storage-device-step-1-of-3/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:39:24 +0000 David Murphy http://resource.dlink.com/?p=2664 Manipulating files on your ShareCenter® network storage device is easy: fire up your device in the network section of Windows Explorer to add, delete, move and copy files to your heart’s content.

But what if you want to access these files from a computer that’s outside of your network? Lucky for you, I’ll cover that in this and the next few blog posts.

First, if your network storage device is behind a router — and I hope it is, for maximum data security (among other reasons) — you’re going to need to forward a port to your ShareCenter device. Why? Your router needs to know not to block requests for your network storage device’s Web server. By forwarding a specific port, you’re essentially creating a digital tunnel, which you then use to forge a connection between an external system and your network storage device.

Here’s how to forward a port on a D-Link® router:

• Fire up your router’s web configuration screen, log in, and click on the top navigation button to get to the “Advanced” menu.
• Click on Port Forwarding in the sidebar.
• Enter a name for the Port Forwarding. I use, simply, “NAS.”
• Enter your NAS box’s IP address in the “IP Address” field (you can find this under the “Status” tab in your D-Link router’s configuration screen)
• Enter “80” for both the TCP and UDP ports.
• Save your settings.

Although the specific fields could vary depending on your router, the options should be clearly labeled and similar to the above steps.

Port forwarding is a super-useful concept in networking, one whose greater applicability I’ll explore further in the future. However, for your network storage-to-external system file-sharing, there are a couple more steps.  The next concept you need to master in order to access your network storage device from afar is dynamic DNS — conveniently, the subject of my next post!

Prefer to learn by watching? Click here to watch a video showing these steps in action.

It works like this: on one system, you run a “server” version of the application. And it just sits there, idling in the background until you make contact. On another system, you run a “viewer” version of the app. Forge a connection between your “viewer” system and your “server” system, and you can immediately see the screen of the server PC as if you were sitting right in front of it. Your mouse becomes its mouse; your keyboard, its keyboard.

Totally free, UltraVNC is one of the most powerful tools you can use for instances where you need to, say, connect up to your work system on a weekend. Or when you’re trying to initiate a remote file transfer between two systems that are separated by a great distance, but don’t have any kind of direct FTP access that could give you the files on your work system’s desktop.

I’ve successfully used UltraVNC across my D-Link® home network to access my desktop system in one room from my laptop system in another — perfect for changing music that’s playing without having to get up, or loading up my desktop apps that allow me to stream videos, or messing with friends who hop on my desktop system while I’m in the other room. But that’s not all. I’ve also used UltraVNC (in conjunction with a few other network applications) to remotely dial into my parents’ computer from California to Ohio, where I’ve been able to troubleshoot difficulties they’ve been having. Sure beats a phone call!

UltraVNC is super-easy to use. The program even automatically configures itself to a quality setting that best matches your network connection: connect two systems on a gigabit network and you really will feel as if you’ve been magically transported to your second system’s desk chair. Connect two systems across a Wireless G connection and UltraVNC will automatically find a way to deliver you the best streamed desktop picture without killing your overall performance.

That’s UltraVNC in a nutshell: I couldn’t imagine a life without it, and I couldn’t make the best use of it without a killer D-Link network backing me all the way. Stay tuned to future blog posts, and I’ll get into the ins-and-outs of setting up UltraVNC for your own network.

To access your router’s configuration screen, you need to type your device’s IP address — for D-Link routers, this is most often found within your device’s manual or printed on the underside of the router — into your Web browser’s address bar. That’s it. Easy.

Depending on the router model, you might also be able to use the device’s NetBIOS name instead of an IP address. In this case, just typing a URL like http://dlinkrouter into your browser’s address bar is all you need to connect up to the Web configuration password prompt. Again, you can find this name printed in your router’s manual or on its underside if your device supports such a feature.

But suppose your router is tough to get to and the last time you saw the manual was when you were throwing it in the recycling bin? Or perhaps you’ve already tried typing the IP address into your browser’s address bar and nothing happened. Never fear, I’ve got a solution.

In this case, access your Windows Command Prompt. In the Start menu, click on Accessories and then on Command Prompt and then type ipconfig into the black window that opens up. The black window will then be populated with information similar to the picture below:

Scroll up to the top of the screen and start looking for the first adapter that’s populated with three fields: An IP address, a subnet mask, and a default gateway. The gateway is the device that connects your system to the Internet — your router — and the IP address you’re looking at is your router’s identifier. You can now type this number into your browser’s address bar to access the device’s Web configuration screen. And from there, you have access to the entire vault: Every possible configuration option that allows you to tweak your security, connectivity, and all sorts of other important options for maintaining an awesome home network.

I’ve previously covered a couple of fancier ways to bridge the gap between your wired desktop system and your wireless Internet signal. But these have all been hybrid methods that often still require a cord of some sort — as in the case when you connect your system to a wireless bridge.

A desktop-based wireless adapter grants you access to the same kind of wireless magic that’s otherwise built into a conventional laptop or Smartphone. And just like some of the laptop adapters I covered last week, desktop wireless adapters also come in two different formats: USB or PCI.

So which one do you pick?

Choosing is actually quite simple: a USB wireless adapter trades a bit of overall power for lots of convenience. It’s just as easy to operate as a flash drive. Plug your adapter into a USB port on a system that needs wireless connectivity, wait for Windows to install the appropriate drivers (or install them yourself), and — poof — up pops a wireless signal. Connect away.

And don’t let the small size of typical USB wireless adapters fool you. Their connective capabilities run all the way up to dual band Wireless N networking, like D-Link’s Xtreme N® Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-160). But here’s the caveat: A USB adapter might not be able to deliver as strong of a connection over as long of a range as a PCI-based wireless adapter can.

Why? Most PCI-based wireless adapters come with multiple large antennas that stick straight out of the rear of your system and help maximize your throughput in a Wireless N environment thanks to a transmission technique called spatial multiplexing. Since you have to install a PCI adapter right onto your system’s motherboard, you’ll discover that it’s less convenient than a USB adapter if you ever need to move it to another system. But a PCI-based adapter, like the Xtreme N PCI Express Desktop Adapter (DWA-556) is an excellent choice if you want top-notch wireless power for a single desktop PC.

There are other ways to eek even better performance from PCI-based adapters. Over the coming weeks, I’m going to run a few tests on my own wireless desktop setup and I’ll report back in a subsequent post with some must-do tweaks to achieve maximum wireless performance.

If you can’t wait until then to decide on a USB vs. PCI adapter, I recommend you choose based on what’s most important to you between convenience and raw power. If it’s convenience, go USB. If it’s performance, PCI is probably your best bet. Check back here later for my recommendations on how to tweak your setup to avoid wireless interference.

These changes won’t make a lick of difference when you’re just surfing the Internet, but they could greatly impact your ability to use more advanced applications within your network — including apps that stream music or video to your phone, peer-to-peer file sharing, and apps like UltraVNC that remote-connect you to your desktop or laptop, or the process of backing up files to a network storage device.

In short, if you use an application that requires you to manually type in an IP address for the application to work within your network, then this IP address should always match a specific device on your network. Take peer-to-peer file sharing, for example. If, for whatever reason, you can’t get Universal Plug and Play-based Port Mapping to work between your software and your router, you’re going to have to manually forward ports from your router to your computer in order to maximize your download and upload speeds. You’ll have to keep on editing your port forwarding settings in your router configuration screen if your laptop keeps receiving a new IP address once per week. Yuck.

Given how simple it is to do — a far easier process than trying to do it from Windows, I note — there’s really no reason why setting up a static IP address from your outer shouldn’t be one of the things you do when configuring your network. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it leads to a lifetime of networking simplicity and application support.

Here’s how to do it in five easy steps:

• Fire up your D-Link router’s Web configuration screen and click on its Setup tab.
• From there, click on Network Settings on the sidebar.
• Scroll down to the Add DHCP Reservation section, check the Enable box and add your device’s name.
• Add your device’s IP Address and MAC Address. The IP Address you choose will need to fall within your router’s DHCP UP Address Range (see the DHCP Server Settings section directly above). You should be able to locate your devices MAC Address on the bottom of the device itself.
• Click Save.

Here’s the thing: if your signal is strong enough, there’s a good chance it’s going to pass right through the walls of your house…and keep on going. All your neighbors are going to see that your wireless network has the strongest signal they can connect their devices to. And if you’ve left your wireless network completely open — even though I’ve repeatedly advised against it — that’s the network that their devices will try to connect to by default.

So what’s a good neighbor — and a smart wireless network administrator — to do?

Password protection

First, slap a password on your wireless network to ensure that only trusted devices can surf the Web using your Wi-Fi signal. Do this by accessing your D-Link® router’s Web configuration menu and adding a password via its Wireless Settings menu. There’s no reason you should be sharing the bandwidth you pay for with users you haven’t shared your password with, especially since the actions of such users can potentially get you into trouble. And don’t even get me started about the security risks to your data.

Hide your network

You should also make sure your powerful network(s) don’t show up in your neighbors’ lists of potential connection options. D-Link routers make this a cinch. In your router’s Web configuration menu, hit up your wireless network settings and look for an option related to the “Visibility Status” of your wireless network. Flip the switch to “Invisible” and your router won’t automatically blast your network’s SSID onto the airwaves.

You’ll now have to know this SSID when it comes time to wirelessly connect new devices to your network, but your network’s name won’t automatically jump to the top of your neighbors’ lists of available networks. They won’t even know it’s there — which is a lot more effective way to be a good networking neighbor than naming your wireless network “Keep Out!” and hoping for the best.

To stick with the theme of making the most of your wireless network, in the next post I’ll show you can bring the power of super-speedy wireless networking to any laptop using a device no bigger than a flash drive.

So what’s the point of giving your router the power to email you? First off, you gain a detailed look at all of your devices’ networking activities, as well as information on the kinds of devices connecting to your network that you may or may not know about. In some cases, you can also receive instant notifications when new firmware updates become available that can give your router additional features, improved security, and simplified configuration.

Choose Your Log Options

Here’s how to set up router logging and reduce all the information that your hardware collects to just the key bits and pieces that you need to know.

• Fire up your D-Link router’s Web configuration screen and click on its “Status” tab.
• From there, click on the “Logs” link on the sidebar. You’ll now see your router’s log, a text-based record of activities, attacks, and other networking information that’s probably a bit too detailed for you to make any real use of.
• Uncheck the box that logs perceived router attacks by third parties: Your log, limited to a small number of entries at once, will fill up far too fast if it records every instance of someone trying to bother your network. (There are just too many systems testing your network on a daily basis for this information to prove useful.) Stick to System Activities and Notices only to receive barebones information about your router’s core operations, including any internal errors that pop up.
• Apply Log Settings

Logging? Check. Emailing? Check.

Now that we have your router ready to log, it’s time to tell it how to email its information right into your Inbox.

• Click on your router configuration’s “Tools” tab.
• Click on the sidebar link that says “Email Settings”.
• Check the box for enabling email notification.
• Give your router the configuration details it needs to connect to a mail server of your choice. If your SMTP server requires a specific port (or authentication process), enter the appropriate settings detailed by your email provider.
• If you don’t want a constant barrage of information from your router, be sure to select the “On Log Full” option for emailing your log files to yourself. This tells your router to only email you when your log file is full.

On router models that are enabled to email you when there’s a firmware update for your device, check the appropriate box under the “Firmware” sidebar option on your router’s configuration screen. That notification in itself is worth the five minutes it takes to set up your router’s email settings, as firmware updates can increase your router’s stability and connectivity — and maybe even add new features, too!

It doesn’t take long to set up your router’s logging and emailing features, but they’re worth the added bit of communication. From learning about incoming connections when you aren’t home, to receiving upgrade alerts when your router’s ready for new firmware, logging and emailing is one of the seldom used but very handy features your router delivers!

The bad news? Depending on which password you’ve forgotten – the Wi-Fi password that enables you to connect devices to your router, or the administrative password you use to log directly in to your router —you’re either in for a short visit to your router’s Web configuration screen or a total router reset.

The Forgotten Wi-Fi Password

I’ll start with the easy one: the forgotten Wi-Fi password. Once you’ve set and saved a Wi-Fi password on your laptop, after all, you won’t ever need to change it — though I do recommend you change all of your passwords a few times a year.

Resetting your D-Link® router’s Wi-Fi password is easy:

• Type your router’s IP address —192.168.0.1— into your Web browser.
• At the login screen, select “Admin” from the drop down menu and enter your admin password.
• Once you access the Web configuration screen, click “Setup” in the top menu.
• Select the “Wireless Settings” link on the left-hand side.
• From there, click on the “Manual Wireless Connection Setup” button.
• Scroll down to the field representing my “Pre-Shared Key”. If you don’t see it, select a security mode from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the screen first.
• Type in a new password. (I use a hybrid WPA/WPA2 security mode.)

That’s it! Now for the more challenging of the two: the forgotten admin password.

The Forgotten Admin Password

If you forget your Web configuration password, you’re stuck: you have no way to change any settings on your router. Your only recourse is to use a paperclip or other pointy object to reset your router to its factory settings. With the
paperclip, hold down the tiny reset button on the back of your router for about five seconds. Your router lights will blink to confirm the factory reset. You can now use the router’s default password to log into its Web configuration screen (look in your router manual if you can’t remember what this is). Once you’re in, be sure to change this password to something unique. (To ensure a strong password, try Strong Password Generator.)

Saving Your Router’s Settings (Just In Case)

While a factory reset is simple to do, you unfortunately lose all of your router’s configuration settings. There is good news, though. With just a few clicks in your router’s Web configuration screen ahead of time, you can save your router’s configuration to a file on your computer so you can restore your settings easily after a factory reset.

Here’s how:

• Click on the Tools menu at the top of the page
• Select the “System” option on the left
• Click “Save Configuration.”

This is also where you’ll go to restore your router to the settings you saved if you ever need to reset your router.

We all forget passwords. But with a little prep work, your router will be ready to rebound when you have a memory slip.

Computers have made our world faster and more connected, but they’ve also made our digital lives more complicated and divided. Most people have files stored across several different machines. Your family photos may be sitting on your home desktop, your work reports on your laptop, your memories and documents scattered about. Not only does this digital disorganization make your most important work and personal files hard to find; if your materials aren’t backed up, it also puts them at risk of being irretrievably lost.