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.