Delivering the Internet from Your Wall Outlets
As handy as Wi-Fi systems are, they're not always the right choice for use at home. Maybe the Wi-Fi signal isn't sufficient in some parts of the house or maybe you have a device that can't maintain a Wi-Fi connection. This is a problem that I encountered at home and, after trying several Wi-Fi solutions, I decided to install a Powerline Network Adapter. Problem solved.
In this case, the signal strength was sufficient but neither of two Wi-Fi adapters that I installed on a desktop computer could reliably acquire or hold a connection. One device always acquired the signal without a problem but then lost it. The replacement for that device could maintain the connection but the process of acquiring a connection sometimes took half an hour or more. My wife needed this connection for work and she was not amused.
The needs were modest. All work-related activities on the computer were text-based so speed wasn't particularly important but we needed reliability. I bought a pair of Netgear 85 Mbps powerline network adapters, plugged one in and connected it to the router, and then plugged the other one in by the remote desktop and connected it to the Ethernet port. The computer saw the network connection and that's the end of the story.
True, it's only an 85Mbps connection but that's more than sufficient for the need. If a higher speed had been needed, Netgear also makes a Powerline AV 500 adapter kit that promises "up to" 500Mbps. The weasel words in the description are Netgear's way of admitting that distance and line noise can adversely affect data speed.
Wi-Fi is generally a better choice, in my opinion, because it doesn't rely on hardware that must be installed near each device that will join the network and therefore the devices aren't tied down to a specific location. But with the increasing number of Internet-connected devices that are stationary (televisions, for example) powerline networking may finally take off.
This isn't new technology. It was around last century and I recall visiting an off-site exhibit at PC Expo in New York City that previewed a dozen or more Internet-connected devices such as radios, picture frames, and even refrigerators. The dot-com implosion and other limitations may have delayed the introduction of these devices but now, nearly 15 years later, the reality is emerging.
Just Plug It In
When you're setting up a home network, you have 3 choices: Run multiple CAT-5 or CAT-6 wires from some central switching location, perhaps in the basement, to each room. This is a great solution if you're building a new house; otherwise, it's probably a non-starter. So that leaves Wi-Fi, which works for most people, and powerline networking, the choice that most people overlook.
Powerline networking is often easier to set up than Wi-Fi. Literally, the user needs only to plug the devices in and start using them. Setting up powerline networking doesn't change the way your outlets work; you'll still plug things into them for power just as you always have. But now data signals will also travel on the wires that run throughout the house.
You'll need at least two adapters—one located near your router and the other adjacent to whatever device you want to connect to the network. Adding more devices requires only the addition of one new adapter near the new device and the adapters don't have to be the same brand or have the same performance specifications.
The basic adapters such as the ones I'm using cost about $60 for the pair and come with Ethernet cables. Faster adapters will double or triple the price.
The most common mistake that people make when installing a powerline adapter is to plug the adapter into a surge protector. Unless the surge suppressor has been designed to accommodate powerline networking, and most haven't been, it won't work.
Powerline adapters face challenges that other devices don't need to be concerned with. Data needs to be converted to a signal that can be transmitted on the copper wires, of course, but the carrier signal (the power company's 60Hz 110v power) is a less-than-perfect sine wave and the sine wave can be distorted by line noise, spikes, surges, and brownouts. The designers needed to account for all of these problems and, generally, they've done a good job.
While Wi-Fi networks have an effective range of about 150 feet, powerline networking devices can sometimes exceed 1000 feet—enough for even the largest house.
Most of the companies that manufacture networking gear also make powerline network adapters but often these are given minimal space on the company's website and vendors don't give them as much space as they deserve.
The next time you need to add a device to your home network, powerline networking is worthy of being considered.
Content-Aware Move: How Is This Possible?
Over the past few versions of Photoshop, Adobe has added several new content-aware features. The CS6 release, out now in public beta and scheduled for release by mid year, raises the bar to include content-aware move. When I watched an Adobe presenter show the feature, I could barely believe what I saw and now that I've use the feature myself with my own photograph, I suspect that a wizard may be hiding behind the computer. Click a small image for a larger view. Click the larger view to close it.
I started with a relatively low quality image of my daughters on a rock in southern Ohio. They're in the middle of the frame and I thought moving them forward and left would be a good exercise.
Here I have drawn a very loose selection around them. Unlike selections for many other kinds of effects, content-aware move seems to work better with a looser selection.
Here I've dragged the section that I want to move to its new location. Photoshop is beginning to process the image so both old and new components are present.
Here's what Photoshop did. The small image looks good and even the larger image you'll see when you click to enlarge it is surprisingly good. Still, a few imperfections are obvious.
There's a shadowy ghost effect left of Kaydee and the rocks right of Elizabeth don't look quite right either.
This was the first step: I used the clone stamp to fix the area left of Kaydee and did some preliminary work on the rock on the right side with content-aware patch.
Here's the finished image. By using the clone tool, I was able to finish the rocks in a way that looks more or less realistic. I suspect that most people wouldn't notice the manipulation unless they were looking for it.
A few weeks ago, I showed you how Adobe Lightroom could improve this nearly 10-year old photo of my older daughter but I left the image with a telephone pole growing out of Elizabeth's head.
The photographer is supposed to watch for errors such as this but apparently I was asleep at the shutter release that day.
Remember how bad the original image was before I got it to this point using Lightroom 4?
In Photoshop CS6, I selected the region with the telephone pole and the wires. In previous versions, content-aware fill would have been my tool of choice but that wouldn't have worked very well.
Here's content-aware fill in CS6. It tries to fill in the selected area with what's in the surrounding areas. In many cases, that's a good choice. For this image, it's not.
Here I've changed from content-aware fill to content-aware patch and I've moved the cursor to the left to tell Photoshop that this is the area I want it to use.
The result, while not perfect, is considerably better than what I could have achieved with content-aware fill. Now just a little additional work is needed.
After using the clone tool, here's the final result.
Better?
And another thing ...
When you're working with type, Photoshop will show you samples. Tiny samples. Who can make any sense of this display?
Now there's an option to change the size (small to huge) or to eliminate the preview. I decided to give Extra Large a try.
Wow! Now I can see what to expect. This is a small and seemingly insignificant feature that designers will use to great advantage.
Earlier this week, Adobe let me know that the CS6 preview has been downloaded more than half a million times in less than a week. That suggests a strong interest in the new features and, given the new features, I can understand why.
If you'd like to learn more about what Photoshop CS6 has in store for you, check out the free two-and-half-hour introduction by Photoshop legend Deke McClelland at Lynda.com. That's right—the entire program is provided for free to anyone, whether you're a subscriber or not. Free is a very good price!
When You Have a MOV and Need an AVI
There's no shortage of file formats. Not long ago, I had an old Technology Corner Real Media file that I needed to provide to a law firm in England but the law firm wanted an MP3 file. I never liked Real Media files, even when that was the only reasonable way to stream audio, so the Real Media player wasn't present on my computer. I could have installed the player, played the file, captured the audio, and saved it as an MP3. Instead, I downloaded a free conversion program and used that.
The download I used specializes in converting Real Media files to MP3 but later I found an online service that does a lot more, even if it doesn't handle Real Media files.
The basic assumption is this: You have a file, either on your computer or on the Internet. The file is in one format but you would like to have the file in some other format. Easy.
Start with any of 18 video file formats or 9 audio formats or 5 image formats or 5 e-book formats or 3 presentation formats or 13 document formats or 6 compressed-file formats and convert to any other reasonable format. Converting a Microsoft Word file to a movie file wouldn't be reasonable, of course, so don't even try.
And speaking of video, Convert.Files supports 27 file-sharing sites—from YouTube and Vimeo to, well, some that are decidedly in the red-light district. The system will convert files up to 200MB. If the file is larger, you'll be directed to Video Toolbox, which handles a smaller subset of files but has a limit of 600MB.
When the conversion is complete, Convert.Files displays a message that includes a download link. If you miss it, you'll have 24 hours to pick up the converted file. And, if you're thinking of trying to convert files that are protected by some sort of digital rights management, forget it.
For more information, visit Convert.Files.com.
To convert Real Media files, try downloading the Jodix converter.
Short Circuits
Scammers, Forget the DOJ. Now Microsoft is on the Case
When US marshals raided office buildings in Pennsylvania and Illinois last week, they were accompanied by technicians from Microsoft. The target: Command and control points for "botnets". If you've been off the planet for the past decade or so, a botnet consists of hundreds or thousands of lobotomized computers that send the delightful spam we all receive with such enjoyment each day.
The techies and the marshals came with warrants deployed and, when they left, the servers had been deactivated.
Earlier, Microsoft had filed a civil suit as it continued its efforts to bring down some of the criminal operations that are a plague on the Internet. Although Apple and, to a lesser extent, Linux operating systems have taken some market share from Microsoft, Microsoft is still the clear leader when it comes to desktop computing.
Clearly law enforcement is outgunned when it comes to cyber-crime and a former federal prosecutor, Richard Boscovich, who now works for Microsoft, is credited with putting together the operation that combined the company's technological knowledge with the Feds' law-enforcement capabilities.
This isn't the first Microsoft foray into thwarting crime. Court orders obtained by Microsoft previously brought down other botnets. Boscovich compares Microsoft's actions to basic neighborhood watch programs that alert police when volunteers spot a potential problem.
The crooks will rebuild, of course, but maybe the combined efforts to shut them down will eventually pay off.
Apple Prepares to Release iThink
Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to announce a product aimed at improving the intelligence of Americans. It's called the iThink and it's about the size of a first-generation iPod but, instead of headphones, the device's wires terminate in sticky pads that are designed to be placed on the user's head. The technology is so revolutionary that it will be limited to distribution in the United States.
The iThink is designed to stimulate the brain's frontal lobe, the part of the brain most closely associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving. Cook says that the external wires will be eliminated in later versions. The company, he says, is working on a way to connect the pads to the device via Bluetooth technology but admits that a second interim step may be required—possibly a small connector attached to the back of the head.
According to Stanford University cognitive research scientist Aprelaya Durak, who set up test panels to work with Apple to test the device, improvements in critical thinking have been substantial. The improvements are in the range of 0.5% to 0.9%.
Apple says that it's time for Americans to think different, literally. "Apple has given Americans what it can in terms of hardware," Cook said. "Now we need smarter users and I think we have conclusively shown that the iThink will help to create those users."
iThink will be coupled with a new desktop-based application called iMemories and a cloud-based service called iRemember. These will be used to store, replay, and share new ideas, thoughts, dreams, and possibly even nightmares if the user signs the appropriate privacy and security agreements.
Although the device will manufactured in China, the US departments of Commerce and Justice will not allow the iThink to be exported to other countries once they are imported into the United States. "It would be disastrous if these fell into the hands of the certain hostile regimes," said Aymnut N. Stein, senior threat analyst at the Department of Justice.
Cook says that the first generation iThink will go on sale before the end of this year and will be priced around $999. He notes that a second generation device should be ready no more than 3 months later. The iThink2 (or i2Think; the name hasn't yet been set) is expected to double the original iThink's ability to improve cognitive performance and will sell for about half the price of the original.
Rarely does the first day of April coincide with a program day for TechByter Worldwide as it did this week. For the gullible, I'd like to point out that "Durak" is Russian for "fool" and if you say "Aymnut N. Stein" aloud several times, iThink you'll catch the drift of this account. If you still want to learn more about iThink, please click here.
The author's image: It's that photo over at the right. This explains why TechByter Worldwide was never on television, doesn't it?
