A-Blogging We Will Go
When Netscape first popularized the Web in the mid-1990s, the Web offered people a way to self-publish information of any kind in an unprecedented way. Web users responded accordingly by creating an amazing array of Web sites dedicated to everything from their love lives to far more technical topics. The problem, however, is that Web self-publishing still requires a needless amount of technical sophistication and proficiency in HTML coding. To counter this difficulty, companies including Microsoft have developed friendly Web-page-creation tools�such as Microsoft FrontPage�that largely shield users from coding HTML. Enter the Web log or "blog," as it's more affectionately known. Source: Connected Home Express, September 4, 2002.

Next-Generation OSes Make Better Connections
Microsoft and Apple Computer will both release OS updates this month that will have major repercussions for the connected home. Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), due in late August, will form the basis for Microsoft's next-generation OSes, including Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition (code-named Freestyle). Apple, meanwhile, just completed development of Mac OS X 10.2 (code-named Jaguar). I recently spoke with both companies about these releases. Source: Connected Home Express, August 7, 2002.

Palm vs. Pocket PC: Two Mobile Challengers Improve in 2002
Portable computing devices based on the Palm OS have long dominated the market, thanks largely to the simplicity of the underlying software and a wealth of available add-on software and hardware products. But devices based on Microsoft's competing mobile platform, Pocket PC 2002, recently have made strong gains in the market, especially with enterprises. The Pocket PC is known primarily for its powerful Windows-like environment, its compatibility with Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel, and digital media features such as video and music playback. To counter Microsoft's gains, Palm and its OS licensees have advanced the Palm OS platform to include many of the most popular Pocket PC features. So as we move into the second half of 2002, let's evaluate these products to see which platform is best for the connected home. Source: Connected Home Express, July 10, 2002.

Digital Convergence lets you take Technology on the Road
I pay a lot of attention to digital convergence because various digital and networking technologies are converging at an ever-quicker rate. Today's convergence themes are far more exciting than anything that the industry anticipated at the dawn of the PC revolution. (Readers who remember IBM's unfortunate PS/1 ads featuring a housewife accessing recipes from her kitchen-based PC know what I'm talking about.) And nothing is more exciting today than the ability to take technology with you. Source: Connected Home Express, June 19, 2002.

New Wireless Standards in the Works
Like most technologies, wireless networking is evolving at a rapid clip. Although most wireless installations this year will likely be of the 11Mbps 802.11b (Wi-Fi) variety, newer, faster versions are already superseding 802.11b. But the future of wireless isn't all about faster speeds; it's also about lower prices and easier configuration. As you might expect, Microsoft has an interest in this market. Source: Connected Home Express, April 17, 2002.

Hub of a Connected Home: To PC or Not to PC
A new generation of connected entertainment devices is appearing this year, and many of those devices seek to usurp control of digital media tasks from the PC and move them into your living room. I can understand why many people want to enjoy digital photos and movies on their TV, which is usually much bigger than their PC monitor. Likewise, stereo systems in people's living rooms are often more powerful than the speakers connected to their PCs and are in a more central spot in the home. Source: Connected Home Express, April 3, 2002.

Adding Wireless to Your Home Network
After you have an Internet connection, perhaps shared among several PCs on a home network, you might want to add wireless capabilities. Today, most wireless connections use a technology called Wi-Fi, the 802.11b wireless standard, which offers speeds of up to 11Mbps, although you can usually pull in speeds closer to 4Mbps to 8Mbps. During the past few years, wireless connectivity has come down in price and become much easier to install and configure. Source: Connected Home Express, March 25, 2002.

Sharing an Internet Connection
You have a connection to the Internet�either through a dial-up modem or a broadband solution such as cable modem, DSL, or satellite�and a home network using wired or wireless solutions. The next step is to connect the two and share your external connection so that people using any PC on your home network can access the Internet. Thanks to today's modern OSes, some simple networking hardware, and a little know-how, sharing your Internet connection is easier than ever. Source: Connected Home Express, March 6, 2002.

Making the Connection
My previous column, "Fun with Home Networking" received a lot of positive feedback, but many readers were confused about how to implement the technologies in their own homes. Implementing these technologies is easier than you might imagine, but you must have a general understanding of how to install home networks and how to combine and connect computers so that they're more useful and powerful than they would be on their own. The first step, however, is to make a connection with the outside world. This can be accomplished with a dial-up modem or a broadband connection, including cable modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and even satellite. Source: Connected Home Express, February 20, 2002.

Fun with Home Networking
My father was recently in town visiting and after he saw the Apple iPod in my car, we started talking about digital media and home networking. As I walked him through all the digital music, photo, and video tasks I perform at home with my PC, I realized that all this modern technology can be overwhelming; my father was constantly amazed at what is possible today. Most amazing, of course, is the price of this technology: Most of it is inexpensive, although it can often be time-consuming to figure out. Source: Connected Home Express, February 6, 2002.

Mobile Computing in 2002
In my opinion, mobile computing is about compromise. You want to travel light, but you want to maximize computing efficiency. Note my use of the word efficiency rather than power. Most people don't need the latest and greatest microprocessor, especially if it's encased in a 10-pound desktop replacement. Source: Windows & .NET Magazine UPDATE, January 31, 2002.

Almost Anything is Possible with Wireless
I think most PC users are now comfortable with the concept of wireless networking; modern wireless hardware and a state-of-the-art OS such as Windows XP or Mac OS X are an unbeatable combination. When you're connecting a home network, however, wireless isn't always the best choice. Source: Connected Home Express, January 9, 2002.

What's Next for Wireless?
As we approach the end of 2001, I want to look back at one of the most popular and interesting topics we addressed this year�wireless networking. Today, with 11Mbps Wi-Fi�the 802.11b wireless standard�becoming a common networking scheme for businesses and homes, you'd think the future was clear. But a lack of standards and a set of competing technologies that functionally overlap point to a future in flux. Source: Windows & .NET Magazine UPDATE, December 13, 2001.

Internet Home Alliance Integrates Its Way Into US Homes
In the battle for the hearts and minds of consumers seeking online services, many companies originally chose to go it alone with Web-based offerings that targeted the limited number of PC users who dominated the early Internet. But with the range of non-PC devices and extra Web-related content that's appeared in recent years, it's become obvious to some companies that an open alliance would be necessary so that each company wouldn't have to duplicate the skill sets, features, and services of its competitors. Source: Connected Home Express, November 7, 2001.

Use CD-R for Digital Audio, Data Archival
Don't let your memories fade because of a hard-disk crash! Recordable (and re-recordable) CD players are inexpensive, readily available, and easy to install, and although 650MB of space might seem a bit paltry in these days of mammoth-gigabyte hard disks, recordable CDs are still an excellent way to back up important data, such as digital media. Source: Connected Home Express, October 10, 2001.

Pocket PC: The Ultimate in Mobile Digital Media
It's now possible to take a sizable music collection with you in a package that fits in your pocket. And that device is much more capable than a standard portable audio device. It's definitely worth looking into. Source: Connected Home Express, August 29, 2001

Notes from the Wireless Battleground
Wireless networking is transforming the way people work and play with computers, and if you're as excited about this kind of thing as I am, you'll be happy to know that high-speed wireless networking is no longer the play thing of the rich and famous. Let's consider what's possible with 802.11b networking technology�beyond the obvious. Source: Connected Home Express, June 14, 2001

Welcome to the Wireless Generation
The 802.11b networking offers a number of advantages over a HomeRF solution. In addition to its much faster speed of 11Mbps, 802.11b-based networks can be configured in various ways that make them more appealing than other wireless solutions. Source: Connected Home Express, June 14, 2001

Put the Internet Where You Want It to Be
I've never gotten around to wiring the whole house for Ethernet. And over the past several months, my thoughts have turned again and again to a wireless solution as an alternative, given my reliance on Internet connectivity. So two weeks ago, I finally got everything hooked up. I can't believe I waited this long. Source: Connected Home Express, June 14, 2001

Tunes to Go
A look at sharing digital music at home and on the road, because recording audio to your hard drive is only the beginning. Source: Connected Home Express, June 8, 2001.

Paul Thurrott on Connected Home
An index of digital media articles I've written for Connected Home Express and Connected Home Magazine.
 

Internet, Networking & Sharing Tips From Connected Home Magazine

Tip: Sharing Calendars on the Web
A recent spate of standards-compliant electronic calendars are making it easier than ever for people to make, maintain, and share their schedules. Windows users should take a look at Mozilla Calendar. One of the coolest things about the open source Mozilla Web browser suite is that it's extensible, and hackers are currently working on a variety of add-ons that build on the Mozilla platform. One of the most useful, Mozilla Calendar, will actually be rolled into the wider Mozilla suite at a later date, but it's available today in beta form and works very well (it's free, and always will be). Mozilla Calendar, like iCal, supports Web calendaring standards, so you can also use this product to publish and subscribe to Web calendars, and that means that Mozilla Calendar is interoperable with iCal (and you can utilize the library of calendars that Apple supplies for iCal). The Mozilla Calendar folks also supply a set of holiday files for various nationalities.

Bluetooth is for Devices, not Networking
You might have heard about an emerging wireless standard called Bluetooth, which is designed to wirelessly connect devices to your PC or Mac. Unlike 802.11b ("Wi-Fi") and similar technologies, however, Bluetooth isn't about networking and PC-to-PC connectivity. Instead, Bluetooth lets you wirelessly work with an upcoming selection of mice, keyboards, PDAs, printers and other similar devices. Bluetooth devices must all be within several feet of a Bluetooth hub, which will someday be built into PC and Macintosh computers as standard equipment. Until then, hardware makers will offer Bluetooth adapters, most of which plug into a standard USB port. Microsoft will release Bluetooth keyboards and mice this fall, and other companies, like D-Link, Hewlett-Packard, Palm Inc. and others are working to integrate Bluetooth technologies into their products as well.

Wireless Speeds Got You Down? Consider Next-Gen Wireless Techs
If the paltry speed of 802.11b ("Wi-Fi") wireless--advertised as 11 Mbps, but typically no better than 5-6 Mbps--has you wondering about the performance of digital media playback or transferring large files, it might be time to look into some of the higher-speed solutions that are just now becoming available. Hardware that uses 802.11a, for example, typically runs at about 20-25 Mbps, with a theoretical maximum throughput of 54 Mbps, and because it operates in a less crowded radio frequency than Wi-Fi, chances are you'll experience less interference, further improving performance. Another high-speed wireless solution, 802.11g, offers backwards compatibility with 802.11b and, again theoretically, speeds comparable to 802.11a. However, because 802.11g runs in the same radio frequency as 802.11b, it is subject to the same performance issues that plague its slower sibling. Another advantage of 802.11a is that there are solutions available now, whereas 802.11g is still a few months away.

Master the Keys to Efficiency
Whether you're using Windows or Mac OS X, you can be more efficient if you you�re your hands on the keyboard and aren't constantly reaching for the mouse. The (ahem) key to successful keyboard navigation, of course, is familiarity: In both operating systems, there are a number of global key combination that let you navigate throughout the user interface, select elements, cancel operations, and so forth. Because Windows came of age before the mouse, this particular system has a far more complete key-based interface, and all of the UI widgets were designed to be keyboard aware. In Mac OS X, however, Apple carried forth the mouse-based tradition of previous Mac operating systems, so not all operations are possible from the keyboard. But Mac OS X 10.1 did add a new feature called Full Keyboard Access that lets you reach some UI elements, such as the menu bar, dock, and toolbars, that were previously unavailable. You can turn this feature on in System Preferences.
     To find out more about Windows key combinations and shortcuts, open up Help look for "keyboard shortcuts" in the index. In Mac OS X, open Mac Help and enter "keyboard shortcut" in the Ask box.
 

Take Your Web Browser Back
With online advertisers getting increasingly desperate, a number of technically sophisticated but highly irritating ad types, such as pop-up ads, pop-under ads, and various scrolling animations, have been making the rounds lately. Well, if you've had it with such distractions, I've got some good news: You can make them go away. And though the best solutions cost a bit of cash, there are some freebie alternatives as well.
     The best free (and ad-free) Web experience you can have is via Mozilla, the recently released open source Web browser. Mozilla includes pop-up ad blocking right in the product, and a free add-on called Banner Blind will kill Web ads of all kinds, including the standard banner ads you see everywhere.
     Internet Explorer users have options too. I recommend and use GuardWall's Guard-IE, a $30 life saver that includes pop-up ad blocking with an interface for getting at the pop-up windows you do actually want, cookie and Web bug protection, and more; a 20-day trial is available. For a free ad-killer, check out AdShield, which can suppress ad image downloads and stop ad-based browser windows from opening.
     Mozilla
     Mozilla Banner Blind
     Guard-IE
     AdShield

Sharing Files Between OS X and a PC
If you've recently added a new iMac or other Apple Macintosh computer to your home network, you've probably seen how easy it is to share your PC-based Internet connection with the Mac. But the Mac can also access your Windows-based files if you know the trick. On Mac OS X, this capability it built-in, if hidden: To access Windows-based file shares on OS X, select Go then Connect to Server from the Finder menu and type the following address into the Address text box:
       smb://[machine-name]/[share-name]
where [machine-name] is the name of a valid Windows machine and [share-name] is the name of a valid share point on that machine. If you typed in a valid address, OS X will prompt you to supply valid Windows workgroup name, user name, and password information to access the share, and then add a shortcut to the desktop from which you can navigate the share. OS 9 users--or OS X users that wish to have their Mac appear as a Windows machine on the network--will need to purchase a third-party application for this functionality. I recommend Thursby Software DAVE.

Save Money When Going Wireless
Many people assume that you need to get a wireless access point in order to add wireless devices to your home network, but that's not the case. A thrifty alternative is to forego the access point and simply install a wireless network interface card (NIC) in one of your home PCs, and configure it to work in ad-hoc, rather than infrastructure, mode. Then, any wireless-equipped laptops can be configured this way, and you'll be up and running, sans access point, and at a savings of at least $100.

Networking XP with 9x/Me Machines
If you move from Windows 9x/Me to XP in the coming days and want to network your new PC or new OS with other machines in your house, you need to remember a few key details. Unlike 9x/Me, XP was built with networking security in mind, so you'll have to logon to an XP box before you can use it and, if you're wise, you'll password protect that account as well. But once you do this, you won't be able to access shares on your XP box from 9x/Me machines. Here's why: In a Windows workgroup based on NT, 2000, or XP, you must supply valid credentials (your logon/password) before you can access network resources. And these logons and associated passwords must be configured on any XP (or NT/2000) machine on the network. So let's say you logon as "sally" to a Windows 98 machine. To access an XP machine on the same network, you'd have to set up a "sally" account on the XP box that used the same password. Once you set it up like this, accessing shares will work the same way it did with 9x/Me.

Repurpose That Old PC as a Media Server
In the old days, people would often toss out an old PC when the new one arrived, because PC technology moved along so fast that the old one was often useless. Today, that's often no longer the case, and any PC that's less than five years old can often be repurposed as a spare PC for the kids, a gift to a local school or charity, or you can use it as a dedicated media server to store your audio, movie, and photo files. If you do choose to go the media server route, be sure to purchase a new, high-capacity hard drive first, and back up often. Then, put it on your home network, and map drive letters to it from your other PCs. I use a home media server for this purpose, and it works fine on the wired Ethernet, home phone line, and wireless networks we employ.

Say Goodnight, Even When on the Road
One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is Windows Messenger, which lets you perform text chats and audio and video conferencing. But video conferencing doesn't have to be work related, despite its name: If you go on the road a lot, bring along a Web camera and you can say goodnight to your family back home, even when you're not there. Optimally, both sides of the conversation (home and the traveler) will have a Web cam, so they can see each other. It's the next best thing to being there.

Keep It Secure with Wireless
Following up on last week's tip, if you do go the wireless route, be sure that you're securing your home network against intrusion. Many wireless networks are automatically set up so that someone with a wireless card could come by your house--or live next door--and access your home network, and the Internet, using your connection. To ensure that your data is safe, and your network bandwidth isn't compromised from the outside, there are a couple of simple things you can do. First, make sure your wireless access point isn't broadcasting its SSID, which will prevent most cards from even finding your network. Then, harden your network from the outside, by hard coding the MAC addresses of your wireless cards into the management software for your access point, so that only your machines can use the network. Be sure to use 128-bit encryption if possible, and if you're using a bridged network, with wireless and wired components, consider keeping them separate so that machines on the wireless network can't access resources on the wired one. Also, be sure that you've got the latest firmware update for your wireless access point; many companies, such as Apple, Linksys, and others, have shipped crucial security updates for their hardware.

Home Networking the Easy Way
The benefits to networking your home are pretty clear, especially if you've recently purchased a new PC and want to keep the older model in service. But wiring a home for CAT-5 Ethernet cable can be invasive and expensive. Instead, consider wireless networking based on the 802.11b ("Wi-Fi") standard. Wireless network cards are relatively cheap, usually $100 or less, you won't need an access point--the piece of hardware that connects your wireless network to a more traditional wired network--because Wi-Fi can work in "ad-hoc" mode (no access point). So for $200, it's possible to connect two PCs wirelessly, and these PCs can then be moved anywhere in the house without a need to rewire or deal with cables. And with speeds up to 11 Mbs per second, you won't experience delays.
 

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Microsoft's XP Internet, Networking & Sharing articles
Getting Started with Home Networking
Courtesy of Microsoft: Linking computers to create a network greatly expands their capacity and can even save you money. Does your home contain two or more computers?

Windows Messenger: Get Started with Real-Time Communication
Instant messaging gives you all the advantages of e�mail with more immediacy and the added bonus of knowing when your contacts are available online.

Getting Started with Remote Desktop
With the Remote Desktop feature in Windows XP Professional, you can remotely control your computer from another office, from home, or while traveling. This allows you to use the data, applications, and network resources that are on your office computer, without being in your office.

(c) 2001-2002 Paul Thurrott. All Rights Reserved.
This site created entirely with Windows XP and FrontPage 2002.