Netgear WNR3500L Wireless-N Router Review
Recently, I traveled through the intertubes on over to my favorite online electronic reseller newegg. While I was there I noticed that they had the Netgear WNR3500L on sale so I did some research. I read some decent reviews that spoke to the routers hardware. A few things that stood out for me..
- Four gigabit ports (upgrade over my old 100MB)
- USB port for network sharing (no more leaving a PC on just to share files)
- Wireless-N with up to 300 Mb/s
- Double Firewall
- Support for guest wireless
- WPA/WPA2 supported
- 3 internal antennas
- Total throughput monitoring and logging
All these features made me a bit envious. My old router was an old school wireless g that lacked most of those features. While all these things sounded great, the icing on the cake was the WNR3500L's support of a Linux kernel. Given the fact that it runs on an open-source platform that means a few things. Each component that the router runs is developed by different partner companies (usually making them better) and the router supports DD-WRT, Tomato, OpenWRT, and other linux based open source firmware. Given the full feature set that the router ships with, and the fact that different components are developed by specialized companies, I don't think I'll ever have need to flash the firmware to DD-WRT or anything similar. However, if I wanted to... I could!
Another great thing about the fact that this router is open sourced is that it is backed by a user community. My Open Router has plenty of how-to guides and feed back from other users of the router. If the router interests you, you can check out Netgear's product page here.
IT employees via mail!
Have you ever wondered where the slightly out of the ordinary IT guys at your work come from? There are many rumors circulating that IT employees are created in underground test facilities ran by the American government. However, this is not true! All IT employees are ordered and shipped directly from technology vendors such as Dell and HP. The older model IT guys are shipped from IBM. Today we received our newest addition from Hewlett Packard. Seen below as my colleague is unpacking the new Scottamulator V3000!
Specs
- Dual-core human brain processor
- 205 lb.
- 5'8"
- periwinkle yellow display screen
- speaks english
Words can not describe our excitement here in the office! It's like Christmas morning!
Blackberry Bold 9000
"Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?"
-Clifford Stoll
This quote rings true when it comes to myself and technology. Ever since I got my hands on my first computer I've been addicted. Now I have a slimmed down version of a computer attached to my hip. Crackberries are called that for a reason, they are extremely addictive. One word can sum up this post, the Blackberry Bold is awesome. I've only had it for a few weeks but I'm already realizing how many doors having one of these things opens. Not only can I make and receive calls / texts; but I can receive/send email from multiple accounts, send pictures/videos/voice via the Internet, check the weather, check Facebook, get directions from my current location, and browse the internet anywhere that I have service. This has kept me in touch with my friends to a level that I didn't think was possible. On top of all that functionality it is wrapped in a great GUI that is very aesthetically appealing. I should add that I am only at the beginning when it comes to unlocking the potential of the bold. There are still a lot of great applications that I haven't got to toy around with yet. If you don't have a smart phone yet, I recommend that you get one. Think about a Blackberry! =D
The Good
- Email access on the go
- Apps such as weatherbug and facebook are great
- Snap a picture, and upload it to the web on the spot
- Works great as a normal phone as well
- Browsing the internet can kill downtime when on the go
- Uploading media from a PC to the blackberry is fairly painless, as well as software upgrades
- Calendar events from facebook, or a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) sync to your phone well
The Bad
- Browsing can be painfully slow at times, most apps overcome the lack of speed
- The battery life is great, but when you use it a lot (which you will) it can drain quickly
- Charging from USB on a PC is similar to snails running a marathon
- It doesn't do the dishes for me
New PC Build!
Hurray! I broke down and ordered the rest of the parts for my new pc. I'll cut to the chase. Below is a listing of some of the hardware, followed by a few pictures.
Biostar Mobo TA790GX 128M
AMD Phenom II X4 920 Processor
4GB Corsair DDR2-1066mhz ram
500GB Seagate HD
Nvidia 8800 GT Graphics Card
Thermaltake M9 case
Shot from the side
The mesh on the front is nice
Ah! Close up!
Oh, and one of the first programs to get installed...
