The whole concept behind WiFi service is being able to get online where such a service would make sense such as a hotel or a coffee shop while you whittle away the hours sipping your fancy drink. Then again sometimes you don’t have such luxury.

The TRENDnet TEW-654TR Wireless N Travel Router provides 802.11n connectivity for your devices, should you have access to an internet connection via Ethernet, all in a small package. TweakTown has a review:

The TEW-654TR is a tiny thing for a router. It easily fits in the palm of your hand and could even be put in a pocket without too much trouble. It measures only 0.73″ high x 3.15″ wide x 2.36″ in length. This makes it one of the smaller types of these devices on the market.

While nifty that access to an Ethernet cable is the sticking point for such a device.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers got around to creating a final standard for the 802.11n wireless communications protocol last week which means you’re bound to see a deluge of companies claiming their hardware supports the final Wireless N standard.

D-Link would like you to know their entire range of Wireless N routers for consumers and business are compliant with the standard so you don’t have to wander around with that dirty Pre-N label burning a hole into your soul.

Hit the break for the full release.

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If you’re the security conscious type, the sort of person who believes the world is out to get them or at the very least likes to protect their business, or other properties, you might want to check out what the Sports Museum of Los Angeles has done with many D-Link 2-way Audio Internet Cameras and some D-Link Power over Ethernet adapters.

An interesting usage of commodity hardware to protect some very valuable sports memorabilia.

Hit the break for the full PR.

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Running any form of large network is bound to be somewhat trying, running one for inquisitive minds with a need for power and performance well, that’s something else entirely.

D-Link’s DGS 3400 and 3600 network switches are fueling George Mason University’s push to provide speedy Ethernet connectivity to their campus labs allowing them to push into distributing computing resources and bring in virtualization to their students and faculty.

Seems like a hefty overhaul which students should be making good use of once those Fall courses begin anew.

Hit the break for the full details.

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Integrated network chips have eased the cost of networking your computers…so why would you want to buy an addon card for your gaming rig? Well your favorite operating system, namely Windows, usually has the system’s CPU take care of the incoming packets which can degrade performance a bit.

The EVGA Killer Xeno Pro hopes to minimize the impact of network transfers as the NIC is capable of handling the data being streamed in leaving your system’s processor to take care of other things. AnandTech has a look:

Let’s start by saying that this isn’t going to be
a network card for someone hanging on to a 7 Series NVIDIA card or a
Radeon 1k part from ATI in a single core CPU system. When upgrading,
spending the $120 cost of the Killer Xeno Pro on a better graphics card
will net you a great deal more performance. Even putting that money
into the CPU is likely to get you more for your money in general. This
is a card that should be targeted at the online gamer with a good
system who wants to make sure every possible advantage is covered.

An interesting device with plenty of potential but you’ll want an insanely high-end machine to match its price tag.

Broadband internet service in the US is not what you’d call “effective”, in fact if you asked most customers they’d use all manner of colorful language to describe what they get from their service providers. One cable company seeks to change all of that.

Cablevision is rolling out DOCSIS 3.0 support for its coverage area, mostly in the northeast (NY, NJ, CT area) and starting on May 11th they’ll be offering a 101Mbps download/15Mbps upload tier with no usage caps for $99.95 a month. DSLReports has the tasty details:

While we know that Verizon is testing 100Mbps FiOS connectivity in
employee homes, no U.S. incumbent is currently offering 100Mbps,
whether FTTH or cable. Several cable operators have started offering
50Mbps or 60Mbps connectivity, but pricing for these services usually
start around $140 — after bundled discount. Cablevision’s pricing and
the lack of a cap highlights how seriously they have to take the FiOS
competitive threat.

Yes please, now, thanks.

Cramming all of your information and easily accessing it over your network can be quite troublesome. You could go the dedicated computer server route but that would mean a large case, an operating system to support, and a RAID card to handle it all, or you could got the NAS route.

Thecus’ N7700 network attached storage device can hold up to 7 SATA drive internally (and an extra eSATA drive) with your choice of RAID modes that offer up performance, reliability, or both. TweakTown has a look at the device:

The N7700 is a nice progression from the N5200 Pro, but the benchmarks show that there is still room for performance improvements. Thecus is really in a catch 22; add a faster processor and more memory and the cost of the build goes up, plus they would also need to improve cooling to cope with the added MHz. As it sits right now, the N7700 is silent from 6 feet away in my computer room and to be honest I would prefer a silent solution over a 10% improvement in transfer speeds. Even as it sits right now, the N7700 is the fastest NAS server we have tested to date.

It is a speedy unit but it’s not exactly cheap, the relatively hands-off maintenance might just make up for it though.

Normally upgrading to a new technology means all manner of improvements from which you’ll never look back, which isn’t always the case with Wireless N routers. Sure the increased wireless speed is great but the severe lack of inexpensive Gigabit ethernet enabled N routers sure does put a damper on things.

The ASUS RT-N15 SuperSpeed N looks to modernize your ancient home network with both GigE and N technologies so you’ll be your most productive self on the internets. TweakTown has a few thoughts on it:

When I first looked at the ASUS RT-15 I thought it looked a little cheap. With the complete lack of antennas I was sure that my range and performance would be terrible. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find out that neither was true. ASUS has packed some serious features and performance into this little white box. You certainly can expect great performance right out of the box.

Some added USB ports or removable antennas would’ve been nice to see but it’s an inexpensive router with plenty of great features already.

Sick of HDMI, component cables, TOSLINK and the myriad of connectors required for a successful A/V system setup? Broadcomm thinks it has the answer. Use trusty Ethernet cables instead!

Today the company announced BroadSync HD, technology that the networking firm says will not only enable lip-smacking HD streaming, but eventually make Cat 5 the connector of choice as per the IEEE 802.1 AVB draft standard. They may be actually onto something, especially as digital media keeps encroaching into mainstream entertainment…

Broadcom is leading the effort to promote the AVB draft standard, which uses standard Ethernet connectivity (i.e. Category 5 cabling and RJ45 connectors), as the common underlying technology for high quality network-based streaming that will eventually replace most other types of connectivity presently used in A/V equipment. Since Ethernet is cost effective and widely used in networking today, modifying it is much easier and less expensive than adding networking to existing dedicated interfaces.

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, this site has info IEEE 802.1 AVB and what it means for compatible networking equipment.

Source: Press Release