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SmallNetBuilder - Small Network Help - Netgear announces new wireless router designed for open source firmware

For the last few years, the Linksys WRT-54G had become the first router to be supplied with GNU open-source code. This opened the field up to hackers and tinkerers who wanted a commodity-priced network infrastructure device to be able to be "shoehorned" with third-party code. This yielded the concept of a consumer-grade router being one fit for business use once some freely-available firmware such as DD-WRT was downloaded from the Internet. This also included "hotspot in a box" solutions from the likes of Fon being available for this router. Some computer-press articles described the Linksys router as the "little router that could" because of the way users could make it do more.

When Linksys had gone to an improved chipset which wasn't opens-source, they released another variant of the model known as the WRT-54GL. This model was run on the same open-source firmware as the earlier series routers and this provided continuity to the field-programmable-router model that had existed before.

Now, Netgear have responded to the challenge that Linksys put up with the WGR-614L router that works on the same open-source code as the Linksys WRT-54GL. From what I have observed, this could be the beginning of a defined software "platform" for a network-infrastructure device that is user-programmable.

This concept could go further with expandable memory for primary-storage use or secondary-storage use; and / or hardware expansion abilities like USB peripheral connectivity.

Farewell to Bill Gates who started Microsoft and was one of many who brought computing to the masses.

As he leaves the office of the company he had founded, will this company continue to set up a competitive playing field for IT-based technology? How will Microsoft continue to exist in the era where the broadband Internet has become the "4th pillar" of mass media.

He has achieved a level playing field for the commodity computing environment through the use of common and ubiquitous technologies like the Microsoft BASIC interpreter; and the MS-DOS and Windows operating systems. This has also included a level playing field where people who want to improve or extend on these ideas can know how to improve and extend with little effort.

He has also pushed the idea of "anyone can be a programmer" from the company's start from the BASIC interpreter in many hobbyist computers sold through the 80s, through the Visual BASIC development package available for the Windows platform, through the Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition being available for free to hobbyists, to the XNA initiative which allowed hobbyists to write games for the XBox 360. Will this idea continue on with any newer platforms that Microsoft builds?

I have heard competitors say that once Bill Gates leaves the building, the company will collapse and that Windows will die because of people walking away from Office to the open-source office suites and walking away from Windows to Apple Macintosh or the GNU-based *NIX (Linux / FreeBSD) platforms. Even in the 90s, some jokers were reckoning that the company was bought out by News Corporation and someone related to Rupert Murdoch had been installed in Bill Gates's position.

Now, this day will become a turning point in information history as we start to see how Microsoft will evolve under new management and whether they will continue to have influence over the "4th pillar" of mass media

I am talking about a product differentiatior service for residential and small-business Internet service that could appeal to householders, small-business owners and professionals who have more than one location where Internet access is desired.

Here, you have one Internet account and login name that can be used concurrently at different sites. The account would be on a plan that suits multiple-site use, with such features as usage-limit balancing, technology-agnostic setup or "common standard" setup for all locations. It also allows the provider to supply the service at a cost-effective price because the customer is wanting to be loyal to that provider by having them supply all their Internet (or telecommunications) needs.

The concept could allow for some sort of "technology-agnostic" access, such as cable Internet at one location and DSL Internet at another location. It can allow for usage-limit pooling so that the usage limit that the customer signs up to covers the locations in a fair and equitable manner. There can be the ability to have a "common standard" setup arrangement with the same bandwidth and same login parameters available for all sites.

The idea may not appeal to subscriptions where one runs a wireline (cable, DSL or fibre-optic) service and a wireless (3G cellular, iBurst or WiMAX) service because most carriers will prefer to charge more for the wireless service. This is although users will prefer to run a wireline setup as a primary service and use the wireless service as a "fail-over" or "travel" service.

A classic example that this kind of subscription would take off with is the "work / home" setup that is part of the small business operator's or professional's life. These users would want to have Internet access both at their home and at their place of business. This often opens up the desire to gain access to work data held on their workplace computer from home as part of following up business while at home. This kind of deal could allow for "business class" Internet at the workplace, plus "residential class" Internet at home, charged for at a cost-effective rate.

Another example would be the provision of Internet access at the main residence and at the holiday house. This would certainly appeal to those countries like the Scandinavian countries where there is a common practice of maintaining a "summer house" and a "winter house". Here, the concept of a "right-size" access plan could cater to access at both locations at a proper and equitable price.

The only problem with this idea is that most who are in the utilities, telecommunications and Internet industry are used to charging the usual amount for each site even though the customer may maintain multiple sites. This has been an entrenched practice because most of these services were provided by government or private monopolies. This practice of treating customers with multiple sites better is practiced primarily by service providers who supply services to government and large businesses on a contract or tender basis, but it isn't being practised with residential and small-business customers because there typically isn't much at stake.

EN FRANÇAIS (IN FRENCH)

Les lignes des DOM peuvent être testées sur DegroupTest - DegroupNews.com

IN ENGLISH (EN ANGLAIS)

The "Departments Outres-Mers" lines can be tested on DegroupTest .

Now the DegroupTest and DegroupNews resources that I have previously mentioned in this blog concerning broadband / triple-play Internet access in France can now extend this service to France's "Outre-mer" colonies.

Now you can know whether competing Internet operators are working in a particular colony island and if that island has the full ADSL coverage.

During the classic film era, most SLR cameras were connected to accessory flashguns via a standard "X-Sync" cable or hotshoe mount. This catered for a large system of accessory-lighting devices that can work with other manufacturers' cameras. There was also a standard mechanical cable-release connection so beloved of portrait photographers that could work again with any of the decent 35mm SLR cameras on the market. This again allowed for a wide variety of mechanical and electromechanical remote-release devices to be available especially to the portrait photographer.

In the digital era, most manufacturers are supplying flashguns and remote-control devices for high-end cameras that can only work with particular camera models, usually their own models. This often has put limitations on people upgrading to better camera equipment for fear of losing full compatibility with certain accessories. It has come about through manufacturers selling recent-model SLR camera systems that work fully with so-called "dedicated" flashguns that work with the camera's exposure settings.

To improve things as far as photography equipment design is concerned, we need to gain support for the return to a standard peripheral connection. I often reckon that USB and its wireless variant can work as a standard photography peripheral connection because of its support fo standard device classes. In this case, the USB Human Interface Device class can work as a standard camera remote-control device class for manipulating the camera's shutter and other functions. In the case of the flash, a standard device class could be implemented for flashguns, thus allowing for shutter synchronisation and flash-intensity adjustment from the camera. As far as the tripod is concerned, a standard connection can permit the development of a tripod with power pan-tilt capabilities which can come in to its own with panorama photography. Similarly, the tripod's "pan-handle" can be a place where camera remote-control buttons can exist. The USB connection standard allows for use of standard USB hubs, whether device-integraged or as an accessory, thus allowing for many devices to work off the one camera. This can cater for studio setups where many flash units are needed to be used for example.

For wireless setups, the low-power Bluetooth (WiBree) standard or the Wireless USB standard can be used for the wireless links whereas wired setups can use USB with mini-USB or micro-USB connectors for on-camera connections.

One group who would need to know about the concept of USB, Wireless USB or Bluetooth for photo/video applications and who can have that as a standard is JEITA who represent the major Japanese photography and electronics firms.