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Wireless is a technology that’s cheap, easy and useful right
now, and yet it’s a technology that’s still very young. Here’s a
quick look at what the future could hold for wireless
networking. It will only improve and develop with time.

The Radio and the Phone

Wireless networks will always win over wired ones, in the end,
simply because it is cheaper for signals to travel through the
free air than it is to install and maintain wires. If you want
an example of this, consider that telephones were originally
used for sending and receiving news reports. When radio was
invented, this stopped almost overnight — why bother going to
all that expense when it’s free over the air?

It’s the same way with computer networking. Imagine you have a
choice between a wired Internet connection and a wireless one.
Why would you choose the wired one? Because it’s cheaper? That
will change soon. Because you know how to use it? Wireless is
easier. There’s no reason why anyone wouldn’t switch in an
instant, if they had the opportunity.

WiMAX

You remember that wireless networking today uses a standard
called 802.11? Well, WiMAX is 802.16 — the next generation of
wireless. It’s still a work in progress, but the possibilities
are exciting.

WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave
Access, and is designed to complement existing wireless
equipment rather than replace it. The biggest advantage of WiMAX
is in its vastly increased range: instead of being measured in
square metres, WiMAX ranges will be measured in square
kilometres. Some say the strongest WiMAX stations could transmit
for up to 50 kilometres — over 30 miles!

This obviously opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
Wireless access would move from LANs to MANs: Metropolitan Area
Networks, covering a whole town or city with wireless access.
The question would no longer be whether there was a hotspot in
the area where you were, but which of the many WiMAX networks
you wanted to connect to.

Other benefits of WiMAX include speed of up to 70Mbps (almost 10
MB per second), and stronger security. Imagine a future where
ordering Internet access is as simple as connecting your
existing wireless equipment to the network, opening your web
browser, and buying a low cost subscription. That’s it — done.
No more access points, no more routers, no more configuration…
just wireless Internet, everywhere. WiMAX is going to take the
world by storm.

For the latest news on WiMAX, take a look at the WiMAX Weblog at
http://wimax.weblogsinc.com, or visit the WiMAX Forum (a
non-profit industry group set up to promote WiMAX) at
http://www.wimaxforum.org. WiMAX has been in development since
2001 now, and the first WiMAX equipment is currently expected to
hit the market as soon as the end of 2005.

Bluetooth in Everything

While Bluetooth’s most obvious purpose is to replace USB, it is
designed so that it can eventually replace almost every wire
there is (except power cables). That means that someday your TV
could be connecting to your DVD player by Bluetooth, or your
speakers could connect to your radio with it, and so on and on.

As you get older, expect to see fewer and fewer wires. I know
people said the same thing about paper, but it turns out people
like paper and don’t want a ‘paperless society’. How many people
do you know who have a thing for wires? Exactly. Once someone
figures out a way to provide reliable wireless power (better
batteries?) we’ll be set!

A Simpler Life

When you read about the potential of wireless technology for a
while, one thing sticks out in your mind: it all sounds so
convenient. Wires have so many flaws, especially when they go
long distances, and the overall wireless project is to remove
them from our lives — and then charge us less! That has to be
worth supporting, doesn’t it? I’ll make a prediction now: I
think that, within a decade, wireless access will be making
everyone’s life much easier, and they won’t even notice it’s
there. That’s the future of wireless. See you there.

About the author:

Original Source: Articles-Galore.com

Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of CyberTech SoftShop

Suppliers of the DeadEasy
Ebook Maker and Publishing Wizard.

The Video Craze – Affordable Video Production Equipment

New technologies in video production equipment combined with the
emergence of video–particularly digital video–as an acceptable
medium for film has made it possible for almost anyone to become
a film director virtually overnight. While the cost of film and
film equipment is financially prohibitive, video production
equipment is relatively inexpensive and can be mastered quite
quickly. While there is a great deal more to the art of film
that just having the right equipment, the accessibility of video
production equipment has encouraged many amateur filmmakers to
give it their best shot. Understanding the basics of video
production equipment is the first step to becoming the next
Steven Spielberg.

Filming Video Production Equipment

As you prepare to make a video film, it’s a good idea to take
stock of your video production equipment required for filming to
make sure you have everything that you need. Some common video
production equipment products needed for creating a professional
looking film include:

* Professional video cameras – From ENG cameras that are
slightly larger than your average camcorder to Studio cameras
that are connected via cable to dock recorders that do that
actual taping, there are many levels of professional grade
digital video cameras.

* Stabilization Equipment – Including simple tripods, shoulder
mounts, camera dollies and high tech camera cranes,
stabilization equipment ensures that the video production is
smooth and not shaky. Additionally, stabilization video
production equipment can help determine the type of camera shot
that is available for a production.

* Film Quality Lighting – Beyond just lights, film quality
lighting banks include grip lighting, reflectors, crate grids
for lighting effects and scrims to control different aspects of
light diffusion.

* Microphone/Audio System – While many video cameras contain a
microphone to capture sounds, creating a professional quality
video requires separate audio equipment including shotgun mics,
audio mixers and pole audio devices.

Editing Video Production Equipment

Once you have your film on video, additional video production
equipment is required for editing and finalizing a video into a
complete entity. Using professional quality editing equipment
can give your video the polished quality that separates it from
home video or amateur productions. Typical video editing tools
include:

* Video Editing Software – Unlike film, which much be edited
manually, video can be edited right on your computer. Using
professional video editing software, you can add transitions,
trim scenes and put the whole project together seamlessly.
Selecting the right video production equipment for editing is
critical to the final quality of your video.

* Sound Mixing Equipment – A professional video will use sound
mixing equipment to balance volume levels, add ambient noise and
include a soundtrack to the video. Additionally, sound mixing
can transform the standard video mono-audio into a heightened
stereo experience.

* Video Duplication Equipment – Once you film is complete, video
duplication equipment will be required for copying and
distributing your film. Professional video production equipment
will enable copies that maintain the sound and video quality of
your master video.

About the author:
Paolo Parodi is an expert author who writes for Video
Production Equipment

Well, you’d be surprised. There really are all sorts of things
you can do with wireless networks — you’re only really limited
by your imagination! THE Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)
yesterday released results of a six-month trial of an advanced
wireless networking system which is expected to be commercially
deployed here by 2005.

The $600,000 trial between April and October this year at the
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) involved four equipment
vendors: Avaya, Cisco, Intel, and Proxim.

Here are a few weird and wonderful ideas to get you started, but
don’t be afraid to try out anything else you think of.

Build a Real ‘Network Neighbourhood’

You can extend wireless networks as far as you want, using
repeaters and directional antennas. If some of your neighbours
put repeaters in their houses, then any networks in the area
could be extended to cover a gradually larger range.

Ultimately, if you have co-operative neighbours, you could turn
your whole street into a wireless hotspot: you could even all
share one super-fast Internet connection, paying less per person
than you usually would for a much slower one. There is even a
name for this: a ‘freenet’ or ‘community net’. People who have
tried it find that it makes people feel much closer to each
other, bringing back long-lost social ties within the local
community.

Bear in mind, though, that you’re basically running your own ISP
if you decide to do this, with all the support issues that could
involve. You might want to ask your ISP’s permission first, in
case they get upset about you sharing your connection so freely.
Whole books have been written about this topic — for more
information, you might want to read one of them, such as Rob
Flickenger’s ‘Building Wireless Community Networks’. If you live
in a big city, you might even find that someone’s already trying
to do it in your areas.

Store Files in Your Car

If you put a small wireless-enabled hard drive in your car, you
can use it as a mobile file server, avoiding the need to send
files around on the Internet or burn them to a CD. This can be
especially good if you often move large files around. You could,
for example, upload your files to the car-server when you’re at
home, and then download them again when you get to work.

There are other uses of this too — you could, for example, send
music files from your computer to the car to play on your
journey, without having to physically move anything at all.

Make Cheap Phone Calls

If you get a Bluetooth-enabled headset, you can use your
wirelessly networked computer to make cheaper (or free) phone
calls. Voice over IP (VoIP) software such as Skype makes it easy
to call anyone in the world, and using a headset makes it even
more convenient than using a phone — you can do whatever you
want while you talk.

Most VoIP software is limited to calling other VoIP phones,
which is free. Services like Skype, however, allow you to call
real phone numbers too. Since the call is made in whatever
country the number is in and then routed over the Internet to
you, you can call worldwide for not much more than the cost of a
local call. There are few things more fun than chatting to your
friend half the world away for an hour and knowing it only cost
you 50 cents — and that all they had to do was pick up the
phone.

Watch Media on Your TV

There is a new wave of wireless media devices that connect to
your TV like a cable box or a DVD player, but allows your TV to
play media files you have shared on your wireless network. If
you use an operating system like Windows Media Center Edition or
similar, it’s easy to watch videos from your computer on your TV
– you even get a remote control. On top of that, you can record
shows from your TV, TiVo-style, and then share these recordings
over your wireless network.

You want things you digitally record on one TV to be viewable on
all your TVs? Now they can be. Simply get two wireless-enabled
digital recorders and they’ll form a network all on their own –
simple as anything.

About the author:

Original Source: Articles-Galore.com

Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of CyberTech SoftShop

Suppliers of the DeadEasy
Ebook Maker and Publishing Wizard.