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Linksys joins the NAS party with its upcoming NAS200 unit
Some PC World ads let slip a bit of new gear from Linksys, including the NAS200 Network Storage System, Linksys' first NAS product. About all we know about the box so far is that it's got dual drive bays and looks as boring as all get out, but it should be a welcome addition to the lineup for any Linksys/Cisco fanboys in the house. Linksys is also apparently prepping the CIT400 DECT Skype phone, which doesn't need no stinkin' PC, just like Netgear's SPH101. There's also that WRT600N we spotted in November and the PLE200 PowerLine AVEthernet Adapter, but deets are slim -- we're sure we'll know more soon.[Via TG Daily]
Cisco -- not apple -- announces iPhone branded VoIP phones
We hate to break it to everybody who thought the inevitable Apple phone was going to be called the iPhone, but Cisco, which has apparently had the trademark on the name since the 90s, is launching a line of Linksys "iPhone" VoIP devices (yes, that's right, lower case "i", uppercase "P"). Why wait until now to launch the iPhone name? We can't say for sure, but we imagine Cisco was probably trying to work behind the scenes to sell the rights to the name to Apple, but things didn't pan out -- but since "iPhone" is already a fairly ubiquitous brand without even being launched, hey, why not run with it? We won't dwell long on the loss of the name iPhone to describe the Applephone (which is what we'll henceforth be calling it), so on to the gear. Expect to see the $180 iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype CIT400 (pictured), which from what we can tell, is merely a Skype handset; also, announced is the $200 iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype WIP320 (pictured after the break), a SIP VoIP phone. So, that's it; Cisco cashes in on the iPhone name, current VoIP products get rebadged to the new label, and we all rest easy knowing that our cellphone investments are still safe for at least another three weeks or so.
Linksys introduces CIT310 DECT phone with Yahoo! inside
Nothing gets our heart pumping quite like a new VOIP handset, and when it's a dual-function model that can connect to a landline too, well, we sometimes have trouble containing our excitement. The latest system in a seemingly endless parade of similar products comes from Linksys, whose CIT310 supports Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, and looks a lot snazzier than some of the other phones we've seen from this company. Based on the DECT standard, the CIT310 hooks up to your PC's USB port and your regular telephone line, allowing you to make and receive both Yahoo! and POTS calls anywhere within range of the base unit. Additional features include zip code-based business searches directly from the handset's small color screen (including one click calling) and local weather info in case your weather station, TV, PC, thermometer, and newspaper all happen to crash simultaneously. This model will available for an even $100 exclusively through Amazon until sometime in January, so you should be able to pick one up in a bricks-and-mortar store right after you've finished returning all those other VOIP devices you're bound to receive this holiday season.[Via Geekzone]
Linksys preps DualBand 802.11n WRT600N router
Linksys has a new one in the oven, the WRT600N. The "DualBand" 802.11n router covers 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies simultaneously to fight interference, and claims 802.11g pwnage of the 12x variety. The router also sports the usual 4 port Ethernet hub, along with a fancy USB port that allows you to hook up a hard drive or thumbdrive and have it automatically transmogrified into NAS storage. No word on price, but Linksys should be getting official on this thing at CES 2007 in January. Keep reading for a couple more angles.
Linksys WRT350N Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
Linksys busted out a new pre-N wireless router today, the WRT350N Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link. They're claiming wireless throughput speeds of up to 12 times 802.11g with this thing (your mileage can, and almost certainly will, vary), but if you're pushing high-def video around the house you'll take all the bandwidth you can get, right? To sweeten the deal, the WRT350N also includes a wired Gigabit switch (which is still somewhat rare in a consumer-grade router) and a USB port that'll let you turn any external USB mass storage drive into a plug-and-play Network Attached Storage device. Looks like they're shipping this thing now (or at least very soon) with a street price of $120.Update: Whoops, we knew that price sounded too good to be true. The actual MSRP is $249.Update 2: Geez, you wouldn't think that pricing on a router would be this hard to nail down. Now the word from Linksys is that the WRT350N will set you back only $229. Stay tuned for more price corrections as we receive them.
D-Link releases RangeBooster line of draft-N gear
Probably feeling left out now that all its competitors have released gear conforming to the troubled draft-802.11n WiFi standard, D-Link has finally entered the game with a pair of routers that promise increased range and throughput over traditional 802.11/a/b/g equipment while maintaining compatibility with previously deployed products. So far the reviews we've read about similar routers from Linksys, Buffalo, and Netgear have not been all that positive, so we're not expecting too much from the 3-antenna RangeBooster N 650 and 2-antenna Rangebooster N, although the fact that you can pick up the latter for under a hundred bucks may convince you to give it a try. Still, you're probably not gonna get anywhere near the bandwidth that D-Link promises, and with the controversy over 802.11n still raging on, you're probably better off with a MIMO-equipped 802.11g model instead.Read- RangeBooster N 650Read- RangeBooster N[Via PCMag]
FON wooing "foneros" with $5 router
Remember that FON service we brought to you a few months back, which aims to create a worldwide network of private hotspots wherein members can hop onto any other members' routers for free VoIP calling? Well after receiving a fresh infusion of cash from Google and Skype, the company is storming into the U.S. and Europe with a deal straight out of a domestic wireless carrier's playbook: give away or heavily subsidize the hardware in order to lock customers into long-term commitments. In this case, Fon is "selling" Linksys routers for $5-a-pop (or five Euros in Europe) in exchange for users agreeing to open up their network to other so-called "foneros" for 12 months, though by doing so, they are free to make calls from other members' hotspots during that period as well. As you'll recall, those folks unwilling to provide public access can still tap into other members' signal, but must pay $3-a-day for the privilege. The future of the company is no way assured, though, as this whole operation could go down in flames should Internet providers take FON to court for enabling their customers to share bandwidth; on the bright side, you'll only be out five bucks plus shipping and taxes if the business folds.
Netgear and Linksys get draft-n routers reviewed
With all the pain associated, usually there's a bit of a pay-off for early adopters. They are, after all, playing with the "latest and greatest," right? Doesn't seem to be the case with the three new draft-n routers that just hit the market. We already hit up the disappointing Buffalo WZR-G300N, and it seems Netgear's WNR854T and Linksys' WRT300N fared little better. In fact, neither product managed to best its own predecessor. The PC Mag reviewer did have a lot of love for the actual setup and feature set of both of these products, with snazzy parental controls from Linksys and a built-in Gigabit Ethernet switch from Netgear (a first for consumer routers) among the evident router maturity these two companies have reached. Sadly, the fun stopped there, since out of the box neither product managed much connectivity at all, and even after firmware updates the two routers marked up some pretty lame benchmarks. Netgear beat all with 124mbps at 10 feet and 105mbps at 60 feet, but its lame 28mbps at 120 feet and abysmal 2.8mbps at 160 feet were thoroughly trounced by Netgear's own RangeMax 240 pre-n product. Linksys, like Buffalo, didn't even manage a signal at 160 feet, and across the board lost to its own pre-n product, the SRX400. That's gotta hurt. As much as we love that bleeding edge, we think we're going to sit this round out, mmkay?Read - Netgear WNR854TRead - Linksys WRT300N
Linksys releases WIP300 and WIP330 802.11g VoIP handsets
Linksys has finally released those 802.11g-capable VoIP phones that we've had our eye on for awhile, although they are going for significantly more than we expected, with the Nokia-esque WIP300 priced at $220 and the high-end WIP330 (pictured) sporting a rather steep $370 tag. As you may remember, both models let you do the Internet calling thing from 802.11b/g-enabled routers and support SIP v2 standards, while the pricier unit adds hotspot support and the ability to browse the web on its 2.2-inch color display. If you're on the fence about throwing down several hundred bucks for a handset when other solutions let you use existing cordless phones on the cheap, the fact that domestic SkypeOut calls are completely free for the rest of the year may help you justify the cost to yourself.
Airfoil Airport Express streaming comes to Windows
It's been over a year since Rogue Amoeba came out with Airfoil, a program that lets you stream music from your computer to an Apple Airport Express using any application, rather than just iTunes. Unfortunately for Windows users, Airfoil was Mac-only, leaving the Airport Express as an iTunes-only device on Windows boxes. However, that's now changed, as Rogue Amoeba has launched a beta version of Airfoil for Windows, which the company says will work with most Windows media programs, including Windows Media Player and Real Player. Of course, in the past year, Airport Express has had a lot of competition on the Windows streaming front, with devices like the Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge undercutting it on price, and offering full compatibility with most Windows programs out of the box. But if you're a Windows user with an Airport Express and you've grown frustrated by its limitations, here's your chance to set it free.
Linksys intros EC1000 ExpressCard and OGV200 traffic optimizer
Linksys had some gear to announce at this year's E3, and when we caught up with them last night they hooked us up with the skinny: they've officially gone ExpressCard with the EC1000 gigabit Ethernet adapter, the followup to the PC Card PCM1000, which will have an integrated pop-up RJ45 jack and will fit in your 34 or 54 slot. They also had a dedicated hardware network traffic optimizer which goes by the callsign of OGV200. This one will make sure your game and VoIP traffic will make it to its intended destination faster than any other traffic traveling out of your home's data pipe -- simple enough. Both are available now for $59.99 and $69.99, respectively.
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' WTR54GS Wireless-G Travel Router reviewed
We sure wish we'd had Linksys' WTR54GS travel router a few months ago at CES, where press room Ethernet connections were few and far between, and the single venue offering free WiFi seemingly devoid of techs to keep the network running. Mobile Tech Today also seems to think that this 802.11b/g router would have served us well, providing both basic SecureEasySetup-compatible WEP and WPA encryption along with more advanced Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) and browser-based fine tuning options for regulating traffic. With four out five stars from MTT, the only downside to this 5.2-ounce router is its range, due mostly to the internal antenna, but when you're sitting five feet away from it in your hotel room that probably won't matter too much.
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.
Linksys rolls out draft 802.11n gear for networks and laptops
Add Linksys to the growing number of companies rolling out products that adhere to the draft 802.11n standard. The company's new additions are the Wireless-N Broadband Router ( WRT300N) and Wireless-N Notebook Adapter (WPC300N ). As you've probably already figured out, the WRT300N can connect your equipment to your broadband network and serve as an access point for wireless devices -- such as a laptop equipped with the WPC300N (or, of course, most 802.11b/g devices). The WRT300N is expected to retail for about $150, while the WPC300N should go for about $120. Seems a small price to pay for 100 mbps throughput -- if you can really get that kind of speed, that is.
Sprint announces EV-DO router and USB dongle
Instead sitting back and frowning on bandwidth hogging EV-DO to WiFi routers, Sprint has decided to jump into the game themselves with a new device made by Linksys. Accompanying the new router -- which, like current solutions, merely hosts existing PCMCIA EV-DO cards -- is a new USB dongle that brings EV-DO functionality to owners of laptops that lack PC card slots, or adventurous desktop users. Both products are due in the second half of this year, with the router going for "slightly under $200." The USB dongle still lacks a price, but we imagine it will be rather popular, especially for MacBook Pro owners with their incredibly functionless ExpressCard slots.[Thanks, Michael]
Disney to release HD MovieBeam STB
It's a good thing we all have our OTA antennas ready because we're going to need them to enjoy the latest in HD entertainment: MovieBeam. Disney started testing this back in 2003 and now it looks like it's ready to go and in HD to boot. No firm release date yet It is availabe in some ares now and Cisco's Linksys division is going to make the STB and both Cisco and Intel are helping to foot the bill. If we're lucky there may even be Viiv support. MovieBeam will be available in 23 cities and come preloaded with 100 films from most of the major studios. Considering the price of $200 plus a monthly and per movie fee, I wonder how many people are going to take advantage of this, not to mention how this will effect our OTA HD that we love so much. They are distributing the content with datacasting and I can only imagine where they are getting the wireless bandwidth from. Now we just need one to test in the HDBeat labs. This should be interesting to watch develop.
CES: Linksys networkable DVD player KiSS DP-600
Linksys is the next to jump headfirst into the living room, with this networked DVD player (DVD? that's so old school), but wait, it's got next gen features with this old-gen tech. It will connect to the internet for it's program guide, streaming media, video on demand and other content besides playing DVD's and WMV.No word on DRM, will this work with Viiv, Media Center, HANA or any of the other alphabet soup of technologies shooting our way this year? No word yet, but this will probably still be a cheaper source of high definition content than HD-DVD or Blu-ray players will be this year. No word either on price, although it is shipping "soon".Features: 1920x1080 playback Playback in Windows Media Video 9 HD, DivX HD, Nero Digital, XviD, MPEG-1, 2 and 4, WMA, WMA Pro, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis Built-in WLAN 802.11g connection for cable-free access to the Internet or home PC Ethernet 10/100 technology HDMI connection Online Electronic Program Guide (EPG) WebRadio 3 with more than 3,000 radio stations Online weather forecasts for any continent, country or town StockView where you can check and convert currency values Online games Video-on-Demand - availability depending on the area
HDTV over WiFi: 802.11a helps
No, we're never satisfied. You'd think that just having the ability to stream HDTV over WiFi would be good enough, but it's not. We want it to be flawless; no hiccups, stutters, pixelation, nothing. Since we don't have a hard-wired Ethernet solution, nor a screaming Ethernet over Coax option just yet, we took the plunge and snapped up another router: the Linksys WRT55AG.While the picture above may look like a funky blue insect, it's actually our new 802.11a router sitting on top of our 802.11g router. The longer antennas are the high gain range extenders that didn't really help our HDTV, but now we can sit in our neighbor's bathroom and surf the web on Sunday mornings. Find out after the jump how we set this configuration up and if it helped bring HDTV perfection to our Xbox 360.
Microsoft shows off IPTV plans, partners
As the convergence race heats up, Microsoft is not sitting on the sidelines, as last week at the IBC show in Amsterdam they shed more light on their plans for IPTV devices with SBC, Intel, Motorola, Linksys and others. Among the announcements made for NTSC markets were:Previously announced Scientific Atlanta set top boxes including SD and HD receivers and DVRs, as well as IP-over-coax and DVB supportA Thomson/Intel box that is said to be commercially available, supporting Microsoft's IPTV Edition platform. Expandable to include DVR features, it also supports Windows Media 9, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoded sources.A system-on-a-chip developed with Sigma Designs specifically intended to support all IPTV edition features and lower cost so that it can be included in set top boxes, TV's, DVD players and gaming consoles. I don't think this nearly answers the question of where the Media Center Edition platform's future lies, but Microsoft is clearly doing everything they can to make sure they have their devices at the heart of your digital entertainment center of the future.
