Category: news

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Which Airport Extreme 802.11n do I have?

Apple have released two versions of their new 802.11n Airport Extreme base station.

The first version only had 10/100 ethernet LAN ports, the newer version has 10/100/1000 (ie gigabit) ethernet LAN ports.

The problem arises that though they have different part numbers, MA073LL/A for the original version and MB053LL/A for the newer gigabit model, both models share the same model number, A1143.

So how do you tell the difference?

There are only two ways really.

One on the box the base station came in, the model will be identified by the part number. MB053LL/A means it is the newer model. There is nothing else on the box which mentions gigabit ethernet.

I know when I bought mine from the Apple Store in Birmingham (in the UK) I was quite concerned whether I had the newer model or not, particularly as it had only just come out.

The other way is via the Airport Utility, which can identify if it is a gigabit ethernet model or the older version.

Gigabit

It’s not that clear from the raw model which is which, but if you have the box or you can access the base station via the Airport Utility then you can find out if you have gigabit ethernet or not.

For other Airport base stations I have a table on my website which goes through all the differences.

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BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to provide a joint on-demand service

There is Channel 4’s 4oD service, BBC’s iPlayer, now we have plans for a new on-demand service for television.

Broken Television

The BBC is reporting how the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are going to work together to provide a new on-demand service for viewers.

The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to launch a joint on-demand service, which will bring together hundreds of hours of television programmes in one place.

The service is set to go live in 2008 and will offer viewers access to current shows and archive material.

Read more.

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Olympus E-510 EVOLT Review

Digital Photography Review has posted a review of the Olympus E-510 EVOLT and the reviewer was very positive about the camera.

I’ve been using the E-510 for an unusually long time – the delay in publishing this review meant I ended up living with it for several months, which allowed me to really get to know it in the same way an owner would. And my overall impression, I have to say, is very positive indeed. 

I often think these long term reviews are so much more useful and realistic than someone having the camera for a few days or even a few hours. It’s only after a lot of use that  you really get to know the ins and outs, the things that work well and the things which annoy you.

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UX1XN Battery Life

The more I use my Sony VAIO UX1XN, the more I like it, however the more I use it the more the limitations of it really start to annoy me.

UX1XN

The main limitation is the battery life which is less than two hours, however that, though annoying in itself, is not the main annoyance. No the main annoyance is the trickle of power the UX1XN uses when it is in standby mode.

If you use hibernation mode then you’re generally okay, if you use standby mode, don’t leave it for a couple of hours, otherwise when you try and use it again, you will find the battery drained.

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Safari Memory Hog

Safari (web browser on the Mac) does annoy me now and again by pretending it needs lots and lots of memory which then slows my whole Mac down.

I’ve just had to force quit Safari which was demanding 5.16GB of virtual memory. This was playing havoc with other stuff I was doing on the Mac.

Once I quit Safari, all was fine and everything speeded up.

I am not sure why Safari gets this demanding with memory, but it does happen quite a lot, so every so often I have to quit Safari and restart.

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802.11n’ised WET54G

I am currently looking for a 802.11n version of the Linksys WET54G which I have been using with my EyeHome.

The Linksys WET54G is an ethernet wireless bridge, basically it enables you to connect (wired) etherent devices to a wireless network.

As you might guess from the name the WET54G is an 802.11g device which has been working okay in conjunction with my EyeHome. However the limitations of the 802.11g wireless network means that I have had some buffering issues with some video files.

I am hoping with an 802.11n network that I will solve these buffering issues and will be able to stream my EyeTV recordings (in the main BBC recordings) smoothly without stuttering.

The problem I have is that Linksys don’t (yet) make an 802.11n version of their WET54G. I am not sure which 802.11n devices do work with Apple’s implementation of 802.11n.

Another 802.11n Airport Extreme as a WDS node for me is not really a solution as WDS effectively halves the wireless bandwidth.

So if you have any suggestions leave me a comment with a recommendation.

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Amazon Digital Book Sells Out!

Despite a lot of scepticism and negative coverage about Amazon’s new digital book reader, the device has sold out according to the BBC.

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader has sold out despite scepticism about whether the device will prove popular. A notice on the Kindle pages on the Amazon web store said “heavy customer demand” for the device meant it would be out of stock until 3 December. Since its launch on 19 November the device has been widely examined but opinions about it are mixed.

Looks like people are interested in this digital book reader. Is this the device for e-books what the iPod was for digital music? We will have to wait and see.

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“it’s too flawed to be anything other than a novelty”

The Guardian has reviewed the Sony VAIO UX1XN and found that though a wonderment of design, it is somewhat fiddly to use.

But delightful though this notebook is to look at and hold, it’s too flawed to be anything other than a novelty.

UX1XN

The review also mentions issues with the keyboard and the tablet input, which I both agree with.

… there’s the first disappointment – the keyboard. You wouldn’t want to do much more than tap out an email on it, as the size of the keys make it no good for touch-typing. Double-thumb input is feasible, but the tiny keys make it hard to be accurate.

and

The touchscreen is a nightmare. Fiddly to calibrate, it failed to retain its settings and eventually refused even to acknowledge that it was in fact a touchscreen. So I resorted to the pointing device.

I still think it is useful and not as flawed as the review makes out, and the more I use it, the more uses I find for it.

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Installing Ubuntu 7.10 as a Guest OS on Parallels

After having a few problems and reading a variety of guides on installing Ubuntu as a guest OS on my Parallels installation on my iMac I finally managed to get there after a suggestion from KevanV on Jaiku.

Go to the Ubuntu website and when you download the ISO ensure you that you check the box which says Check here if you need the alternate desktop CD. This CD does not include the Live CD, instead it uses a text-based installer.

Then when you install Ubuntu ensure you use the text based installer.

Also when asked which screen resolution you wish to use ensure that you check 1024 x 768 only.

Once installed the graphical user interface works just fine.