Respect Thy Neighbor’s…. WiFi
Hey! Did you know that when two wireless routers operate on the same channel they throw interference at each other? Which in turn degrades the quality of both WiFi networks? Also, did you know that most manufacturers ship with their own default channel? So if both you and your neighbor have a Linksys, Netgear, etc. router then you are likely interfering with each other. There's a simple resolution to this problem. Find out what channels the WiFi networks in your area are using, then change yours to a channel that is not being used.
For part one you can use this tool, it runs in a browser via Java and will help you diagnose your WiFi situation. In order to change your router's channel you will have to log into it's administration console, find wireless settings, and change to an unused channel. Typically your routers access can be found by going to http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1 . However, if that doesn't do the trick you can always consult your routers manual.
Enjoi less WiFi interference and better WiFi reception!
HostsMan
Ok, for this post we will have to go over a little bit of background information. HostsMan is a program that helps you easily edit your hosts file. So, what is a hosts file? A hosts file is something that windows uses to quickly resolve url's to their respective ip addresses. For example, when you type www.google.com in your web-browser that is converted to an ip. The computer then uses that ip to navigate off to google's servers. Ok... so that's what a hosts file is. Now what the hells is HostsMan?
HostsMan allows you to edit this host file and block certain hosts if they aren't wanted. For example, you could add known porn web-sites to your block lists. Also, you can use HostsMan to sync with host files online. I didn't do any manual editing of my hosts file, but I did chose to sync with some that HostsMan. As a result a lot of ads, and pop-up windows pop us as "page cannot be displayed". So I don't have to view annoying ads before they are automatically blocked by HostsMan. HostsMan also includes a "server" component to their software that is supposed to improve web browsing performance. I am not sure how that part works, I don't use it myself.
If you want to take it for a spin, head here.
Slacker Radio
Hm, over the past 5 years or so I've felt my life slowly drifting more and more towards the never ending spiral that is the internet. There was a time when I went to Blockbuster and rented a movie to watch, now I just hit up Hulu or one of it's competitors. There was a time when I played console games by myself! Now I log into Steam and connect with people from accross the world. At one point in my life, I packed all my school books into a heavy ass backpack and rode a big yellow twinky to school. Now I log into my colleges online portal and do all of my work that way. I even used to tap into the good old FM radio waves to listen to some staticy music. How archaic. Ok today's post is about an awesome online radio station called Slacker Radio. Go here, wait for the java app to load, pick a genre, and enjoy the tunes. It's a simple concept really. If you're feeling very spunky you can even create a custom station with bands selected by you. It's a great alternative to Pandora.com and I've found the music to be better in general. So, go now, and feast yourselves on some music!