SmallNetBuilder - Other Articles

Interop 2012 Las Vegas Report

Tim Higgins — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:12:00 -0400

A brief report on what I discovered at Interop 2012.

Catching Up on News

Tim Higgins — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:53:00 -0500

It was a big week for NAS announcements last week. Here's a roundup of what happened while we were away.

NewerTech Power2U Reviewed

Tim Higgins — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:04:00 -0500

Upated - NewerTech's Power 2U seems like a good idea, until reality sets in.

SmallCloudBuilder Wants You

Tim Higgins — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:00:00 -0400

SmallCloudBuilder is looking for talented and knowledgeable contributors.

Introducing Intel's Communities [Sponsored]

Tim Higgins — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:24:00 -0400

In this first of two sponsored posts, we take a brief tour through Intel's five technology-focused social communities.

Announcing SmallNetBuilder's Wireless Radar Charts

Tim Higgins — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:43:29 -0400

We've added a new plot option to the Router and Wireless charts.

Dell Virtualization Solutions [Sponsored]

Tim Higgins — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:24:00 -0400

Dell minimizes the cost and complexity that often accompany virtualization with purpose-built solutions using Intel Technology. Get the free whitepaper, Virtualization: Progress and Opportunity.

New Product Finder Feature: Custom Performance Views

Tim Higgins — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:59:56 -0400

A new Product Finder feature makes it easier than ever to compare performance of only the products you're interested in.

Back To Work

Tim Higgins — Sat, 14 May 2011 13:31:33 -0400

Ok, folks, break's over.

Introducing The New SNB Charts And Product Finders

Tim Higgins — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:30:00 -0400

It's been a long time coming, but we're finally unveiling our completely redesigned Performance Charts and brand new Product Finders.

The Best Product Myth

Tim Higgins — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:49:15 -0500

The consumer product industry is built on the big fat lie of the "best product". Why do we fall for it?

Intel Buying McAfee

Tim Higgins — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:26:23 -0400

Intel today announced it is buying security technology company McAfee for $7.68 B. McAfee's revenue last year was about $2 B.

GE Announces Smart Grid Home Management Product Line

Tim Higgins — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:49:42 -0400

GE has announced a suite of products for consumer "smart-grid" energy monitoring.

Cisco Flip SlideHD Reviewed

Craig Ellison — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:39:05 -0400

Cisco's latest addition to the popular Flip digital camcorder line has more memory and a bigger screen.

Five Days, Five Linksys E's Contest Coming

Tim Higgins — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:35:00 -0400

Next week, SmallNetBuilder will be giving away a Cisco Linksys E3000 top-of-line dual-band N router and AE1000 dual-band N USB adapter bundle every day for five days.

Cisco Buying Design House MOTO

Tim Higgins — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:22:38 -0400

Cisco today announced its intent to acquire privately held MOTO Development Group, a design consulting firm that develops products and product strategies for the consumer industry.

What I Forgot To Say About the iPad

Tim Higgins — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:01:27 -0400

It's easy to criticize, harder to compliment. The iPad isn't all about disappointments and missing features.

The iPad is an App Killer

Tim Higgins — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:57:22 -0400

Apps are key to making tiny smartphone screens usable. But with a full-sized browser, apps are more of a convenience than a necessity for accessing web-based content.

Subscription TV Plan In the Works for iPad Owners

Tim Higgins — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:22:21 -0400

Time Warner and Comcast today announced plans to expand their TV Everywhere initiative to iPad owners.

The Dirty Little Secret of Today's Networks

Tim Higgins — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:39:34 -0500

A power outage provides some insight into how fragile our communications infrastructure really is.

Fun With A Femtocell

Tim Higgins — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:11:17 -0500

A brief encounter with a cellular network extender showed that some router firewalls are too aggressive for their own good.

Trying Out Netbooks: Acer Aspire Timeline 1810T

Tim Higgins — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:23:55 -0500

Some might say that Acer's Timeline 1810T isn't a netbook. But who cares when you get so much for $600?

Vote Now For Your Favorite Gadget

Tim Higgins — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:37:15 -0500

Online voting is now open in our partner NetShelter's Last Gadget Standing contest. Click on over and weigh in on your favorites!

Belkin Announces Bluetooth Music Receiver For iPhone, iTouch

Tim Higgins — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:15:00 -0500

Belkin today announced a Bluetooth receiver that enables iPhones and iPod Touches to stream music to home stereo systems.

Trying Out Netbooks: HP Mini 311

Tim Higgins — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:19:12 -0500

HP's latest netbook has a larger screen, roomy keyboard and properly-placed mouse buttons. But we're not a fan of its constantly-running fan.

Belkin Home Base Reviewed

Craig Ellison — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:23:46 -0500

Belkin's entry into the network-your-USB-devices competition has an interesting mix of features that might suit your needs...or not.

Jungle Disk Adds Server Cloud Backup Service

Tim Higgins — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:33:00 -0500

Jungle Disk today announced a new service for backing up servers in the cloud.

Belkin Adds USB Printer, Drive Sharer

Tim Higgins — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:04:08 -0400

Belkin has announced an adpater that shares USB printers and drives via a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.

New Approach Solves Wi-Fi Speed, Range Problems

Tim Higgins — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:00:00 -0400

Entropic and Atheros today announced they have formed a new industry group to solve the range and speed problems that have plagued wireless LAN users.

Cisco Buying Flip Video Maker

Tim Higgins — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:03:12 -0400

Cisco today said it is buying privately-held Pure Digital Technologies, creator of Flip Video products.

Plustek announces VIA-based SOHO/SMB Server

Tim Higgins — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:52:46 -0400

Plustek Technology has announced a multi-function server for home, SOHO and SMB users.

Trying Out Netbooks: HP Mini 2140

Tim Higgins — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:34:34 -0500

The HP Mini 2140 is the story of a love affair gone bad.

Best Buy Electronics Recycling Program Now Available at All U.S. Stores

Tim Higgins — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:11:07 -0500

Best Buy announced today that its electronics recycling program is now available at all of its 1,006 stores nationwide. Consumers can bring up to two (2) units per day, per household, for recycling at any U.S. Best Buy store.

Dell Expands Free Computer Recycling Program

Tim Higgins — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:49:46 -0500

Dell today announced expansion of its U.S. Reconnect recycling partnership with Goodwill Industries to six additional states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Vermont.

Trying Out Netbooks: Dell Mini 12

Tim Higgins — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:04:19 -0500

Updated The Dell Mini 12 might be too big to be considered a netbook. But who cares with all that beautiful screen space?

ATEN CS661 Laptop USB KVM Switch Reviewed

Tim Higgins — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:31:12 -0500

ATEN's Laptop USB KVM Switch gets you a quick remote desktop connection with no software hassles.

SmallNetBuilder's CES 2009 Wrap Up

Tim Higgins — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:53:00 -0500

Notable findings and products that didn't make it into our other show coverage.

TRENDnet CES 2009 Announcements

Tim Higgins — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:32:53 -0500

TRENDnet's CES 2009 introductions focused on draft 802.11n wireless products. Details were sketchy and pricing and availability were not given on any of the draft 11n products.

CES 2009: Marvell Unveils Single Stream 802.11n Device

Tim Higgins — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:21:25 -0500

Marvell today announced a draft 802.11n single-stream Wi-Fi device.

The Marvell 88W8786 supports bit rates up to 150 Mbps and has been sampling with "multiple customers" since "mid 2008". The company said products using the device are expected to be in production this quarter.

Buffalo CES 2009 Announcements

Tim Higgins — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:00:00 -0500

Buffalo is using this year's CES to announce a revamped strategy for its NAS products and to re-enter the wireless LAN market in the U.S.

CES 2009: LaCie rolls out HDMI-connected USB Drive

Tim Higgins — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:33:28 -0500

LaCie today announced a USB external drive with built-in HDMI supporting upscaled 1080p video display.

NETGEAR CES 2009 Announcements

Tim Higgins — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:00:00 -0500

NETGEAR introduced two new draft 11n dual-band routers, a 3G router, two networked media players and a diskless version of its popular ReadyNAS Pro six-bay NAS. The company also announced new service-provider-only products and a new HomePlug AV powerline to Ethernet bridge.

CES 2009: Ralink preparing 450 Mbps Draft 802.11n chipset

Tim Higgins — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:18:47 -0500

Ralink Technology today announced a 450 Mbps, 3 stream, draft 802.11n router chipset with beamforming technology.

Cisco CES 2009 Announcements

Tim Higgins — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:03:00 -0500

Cisco chose CES to announce its Wireless Home Audio (WHA) line and three new dual-drive NASes.

CES 2009: Iomega announces cheap NASes ,er, "Network Hard Drives"

Tim Higgins — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:02:02 -0500

Guess we missed this one in the flurry of CES releases. On Monday, Iomega announced two Home Media Network Hard Drives that will hit store shelves later this month at MSRPs of $159.99 for 500 GB and $229.99 for 1 TB.

The single-drive NASes run EMC's LifeLine Home software and have iTunes, UPnP AV and DLNA media servers, gigabit Ethernet LAN connection, USB 2.0 port for printer sharing and storage expansion and EMC Retrospect Express backup software bundled in for Windows and Mac OS client backup. Also bundled is 2 GB of free MozyHome online storage.

CES 2009: QNAP adds 6-bay High Performance NAS

Tim Higgins — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:17:46 -0500

QNAP today introduced the newest member of its Pro Turbo NAS series.

CES 2009: SanDisk Intros Push-Button Backup Flash Drives

Tim Higgins — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:01:49 -0500

SanDisk announced its Ultra Backup USB portable flash drives. The drives are designed to protect photo, music, video and other types of digital files with the touch of a button and no software installation.

The drive protects backed-up files with password-protected access control and AES hardware-based encryption.

The Ultra Backup ships in April in capacities of 8 GB - 64 GB with MSRPs between $39.99 and $199.99.

HP Announces Tech Recycling with a Buyback Twist

Tim Higgins — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:51:44 -0500

HP today introduced a recycling program that includes a way for consumers to receive cash for unwanted technology equipment.

Through the HP Consumer Buyback and Planet Partners Recycling Program, consumers can receive cash back for their unwanted PCs, monitors, printers, digital cameras, PDAs (personal digital assistants) and smartphones of any brand. If there is no value, consumers can responsibly recycle their HP and Compaq-branded products for free.

Go to www.hp.com/go/ConsumerBuyback for further details and to get a buyback quote.

D-Link CES 2009 Announcements

Tim Higgins — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:00:00 -0500

D-Link's CES product rollout includes two draft 11n routers, two network surveillance video recorders, two IP cameras and a previously-announced MoCA coax-to-Ethernet adapter. However, firm pricing and availability were given for only three of the nine products announced, so please curb your enthusiasm right now!

CES 2009: Storage Appliance introduces Clickfree Transformer

Tim Higgins — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:30:10 -0500

Storage Appliance today announced a small device that turns any USB hard drive into a Clickfree automatic backup device.

The Clickfree Transformer Cable connects between any Windows Vista, XP or 2000 computer and USB drive to convert it into a Clickfree backup drive that searches, organizes and backs up 400 different file types.

The Cable Backup has an MSRP of $59.99 and is available now direct from the Storage Appliance website and other retailers.