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AirGo, the ultimate wireless outdoor speaker uses Airport Express inside
The AirGo is a sturdy outdoor speaker designed by Russound, a company with years of experience making quality speakers. While there are a lot of great things about the AirGo, being shown off this week at CES 2012, the most interesting thing to me was that instead of using Bluetooth or cables or even embedded AirPlay for transmitting audio from a music machine, the AirGo instead has a space on the back for inserting your own Airport Express. You buy the speaker, and then put in your own little Wi-Fi unit from Apple, which is where all the audio comes from. There are some distinct advantages to this, one of which is that you can use the Express as a Wi-Fi extender (not to mention that you might already have one lying around your house). But the AirGo has more to it than the novelty of an actual Airport Express inside. The enclosure of the AirGo can best be described as rugged. This unit is designed to live outside. Russound did extensive testing in a variety of harsh conditions to ensure that heat, rain, and all the elements an outdoor speaker might encounter will not affect the unit. And yes, we were assured the Airport Express can withstand some pretty harsh conditions (temperature-wise). The Express is sealed inside a watertight enclosure on the back of the speaker system, and they were smart enough to provide a way to see the status light on the Express without having to open this cover. And if your Express needs an update, that is easily done wirelessly as you would normally do. If the Express dies, you won't need to buy another speaker, either, and Russound specifically designed the form factor with plenty of space, so even if Apple changes the external look of the Airport Express, the new version will probably still fit just fine. Business up front, party in the back The speaker base is largely metal, giving it heft and rigidity. There's a large handle up top for moving the unit around. The speaker itself is incredibly high quality, and I was very impressed with the sound even when relatively quiet, so if you like a little background jazz while sitting on your patio, you'll still hear a very crisp and clear sound at low volumes. Then there's loudness, which was more than adequate. We were in a small room for the demo filled with executives and media types chatting, but we could hear the music quite well. The speaker quickly filled the room when cranked up, drowning all the noise out. From the heavy duty power cord to metal base to metal speaker grille, this thing is designed to last. There's also a power light on the front so you know it is on. The overall design reminded me of an old TV set, mounted on a pivoting armature. Of course, quality doesn't come cheap. The speaker sells for $399 (not including the Airport Express), which some users might balk at, but this is not some cheapo plastic Bluetooth speaker you toss in your backpack. This is a product for people who care about quality and durability, and probably spend a lot of time lounging by the pool or perhaps entertaining outside. Really, I could see some business like a caterer using these to quickly set up ambient music at an event. So if you're looking for a solid product that can withstand any number of tough uses, that price tag makes a lot of sense in the long run. You'll likely be enjoying this speaker for years.
AirGo Outdoor Speaker adopts AirPort Express, shrugs off rain
Sure, you could buy an outdoor speaker with native AirPlay support, or you could stuff that spare AirPort Express you have laying around into the AirGo Outdoor Sound Station. This weather resistant speaker forgoes the usual baked in BridgeCo silicone for an integrated AirPort Express dock. Of course, this kind of ad hoc integration isn't cheap -- the AirGo will set you back almost $400, and that's without an Apple AirPort Express. The AirGo's AC cord (that's right, no batteries) ensures that you won't get too far into the great outdoors with this rig, but Russound's CEO is confident that weather won't be a problem. Rain? "Break out the Slip 'N Slide," he says "and continue to rock on." Sounds good to us. Slide on past the break for the official press release.
Qualcomm swallows Airgo, announces first 802.11n Draft 2.0 chipset
As we edge ever closer (right?) to finally seeing a finalized 802.11n protocol, companies are shoving (sometimes in secret) draft-spec 802.11n kit into their products to take advantage of the here and now. Taking yet another baby step towards the goal, Qualcomm is releasing a fourth-generation chipset, dubbed the AGN400, to take advantage of Draft 2.0 of the IEEE 802.11n standard. The chipset itself was crafted by Airgo, who just so happened to be acquired by dear Qualcomm in one fell swoop, and also features Airgo's True MIMO Gen-N technology. Although Airgo has had its quibbles with backwards compatibility in the past, this device will supposedly play nice with all previous 802.11s, including the earlier draft of 802.11n and the typical trio of 802.11a/b/g. Reportedly ready to fit a "full array" of interface buses for OEM products, this Draft 2.0-compliant chipset purportedly provides "significantly better performance, a greater feature set, and enhanced interoperability" over the previous rendition. While pricing details weren't discussed, it should be ready for the world to see by CES, while True MIMO Gen-N products should be available by "the first quarter of 2007."[Via PhoneMag]
Airgo makes advances in WiFi-delivered IPTV
Airgo Networks seems to have made some significant advances in the delivery of IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) over WiFi, and has announced that Caton Overseas and STMicroelectronics will be using their technology in set-top boxes. According to Airgo, the company has further tweaked its MIMO technology (which is, of course, the same technological basis for the still-to-be-determined 802.11n standard) to better deliver wireless video around the house. Airgo's latest chips, called True MIMO Gen3, can apparently provide transmission speeds up to 240mbps throughout a 6,000 square foot home -- enough to handily transmit three HD channels -- under ideal conditions though, as it was tested in Airgo's model home. And we know our homes often ain't model when it comes to wireless transmission, now don't we?
IEEE "Task Group N" rejects first 802.11n draft proposal
In a move that came as little surprise to those who know how these things work, but that will still probably hurt manufacturers who've been releasing MIMO-enabled networking peripherals for the last few months, the IEEE 802.11 working group tasked with creating a next-gen WiFi standard has recently rejected the first draft of the highly-anticipated 802.11n. Not only did the first 802.11n draft fail to capture the 75% supermajority needed for passage, it couldn't even muster a regular majority among "Task Group N," which is a troubling development for those consumers who have already gone out and purchased pre- or draft-N gear from Linksys, Netgear, and the like. As we've reported in the past, some manufacturers had warned -- and independent testing corroborated -- that draft-N gear could negatively effect current 802.11b/g products already on the market, by hogging the available 2.5GHz bandwidth and causing performance issues on existing WLANs. Still, taken in a historical perspective, rejection of the first draft of a proposed 802.11x specification is not uncommon, and actually seems to be the rule, rather than the exception, in the life-cycle of these multi-year, multi-party standards talks.
Linksys touts draft 802.11n gear interoperability
Despite earlier concerns voiced by chipset manufacturer Airgo that draft 802.11n gear will "degrade" or "disable," current 802.11b/g networks, Linksys claims that it has tested and approved its upcoming suite of draft-n routers and adapters for interoperability with current products on the market. Since 802.11n relies on the multiple channel MIMO technology to deliver higher bandwidths, there has been some speculation that pre-N networks would dominate the spectrum designated for 802.11 communications, even though the draft specification specifically requires so-called mixed mode operation. While it's certainly reassuring to know that Linksys has been working with multiple vendors to ensure that current WiFi gear will perform at "peak levels" in the presence of 802.11n signals, the real test will come when we start seeing actual real-world deployment of these speedy new networks.
Airgo and Asus team for MIMO laptop
So, you've ordered a brand-new draft-n router and want to get a laptop to match. Sure, you could always pick up a card and slot it in. But if you want a portable with the latest WiFi card built-in, you may want to take a look at the version of the Asus A6T being marketed by Asus and Airgo. The laptop includes an Airgo True MIMO card, which Airgo says is capable of throughput of up to 240 MBps, along with full backwards-compatibility with existing 802.11 networks. While we don't expect Asus to sell a whole lot of these, if you want bragging rights to the laptop with the fastest built-in WiFi networking (when operating on a compatible network, that is), now's your chance.
Pre-N WiFi gear: consider yourself warned
So for those not following the IEEE 802.11n draft spec pending approval and ratification, it could still be a while before that gets sorted out and "true" 802.11n gear hits the market. Of course, that hasn't stopped manufacturers from making 802.11n-speed (or faster) and MIMO wireless devices for the past couple of years, but now that the spec drafts are merged into one, the first "proper" pre-N chipsets are hitting the market, and finding their way into actual devices. However, eWeek and the Farpoint Group advise a big caveat emptor on pre-N purchases, as early gear tested by the two has shown issues from incompatibility to poor performance and range that's sub-par to existing non pre-N Airgo Gen 3 True MIMO chipset-based devices. So do you really need that pre-N gear that much? Obviously it's your call, but being an early adopter does have its tradeoffs.
