Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

We’ve covered solar powered WiFi in other forms, but so far, none as cheap and easy as this. The Meraki outdoor WiFi repeater is designed to work with their $50 indoor repeater that we covered in May, and is able to broadcast a signal “up to 700 feet away,” although half that might be a bit more realistic if you’ve had any experience with wireless routers. The repeater is, of course, designed to withstand the fury of the elements, and comes with a special “outdoor” Ethernet cable. By itself it’s only about $100, but for an unreleased (but supposedly low) price you can add a solar panel and battery pack; there’s some included software designed to manage the repeater’s power so that it’ll have enough reserves to work at night and when it’s cloudy. Part of the attraction of the whole package is also Meraki’s software, which lets you regulate the public aspects of your network, and if you choose, start charging your neighbors when they mooch off your bandwidth.

The kit should be shipping later this summer.

[ Meraki Solar Powered Outdoor WiFi ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By David Ponce

Managing and coaching a soccer team just got a techno twist. Real Track Futbol is a turnkey solution for tracking your players on the field using GPS, as well as getting real-time readings on their physical condition. Their positions and velocities relative to one another are transmitted to a base station, their absolute paths taken on the field are recorded and the coach is able to then manage his team. It’s kind of like playing a soccer game, except the people are real: when players show signs of exhaustion, replace them. When they screw a play up, you have proof on record, so you can chew them up in the locker room.

Of course, the system could be used with pretty much any team sport, but Real Track Futbol was designed in Spain, with soccer in mind. Sure, the software was developed around the specific complexities of that particular sport, but how hard could it be to port this to good ole American Football?

Pricing and availability are not immediately clear, but their website has an English section, so browse away.

[ Real Track Futbol ] VIA [ Xataka ]

By Andrew Liszewski

With more and more cellphones gaining WiFi connectivity the era of carrying around a device just to sniff out WiFi networks is soon coming to an end. But until that time WiFi detectors will keep being released and like any electronics they’ve improved over time. The DigiWiFi includes a backlit LCD screen that provides detailed information on available WiFi networks including signal strength, SSID, encryption status (WEP and WPA) and what channel is being used (1-14).

It also includes 3 simple buttons for starting a scan or scrolling through multiple WiFi signals if available and it supports both 802.11b and 802.11g networks. It’s also promoted as being pocket-sized which is technically correct as you can see in the photo but I think it’s still a bit large given the device’s limited functionality. At least slap a key ring or something on there.

You can find the DigiWiFi at ThinkGeek for $69.99.

[ DigiWiFi ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I guess ‘cheap’ is a relative term but at $49 each these mini WiFi repeaters from Meraki are an extremely cost-effective way to expand the size of your wireless network. Each repeater is only about 4.5 by 2.5 inches in size and includes suction cups and adhesive pads for mounting (or hiding) anywhere in your home or office. But they do need a power adapter which probably limits where they can be placed.

The Mini currently supports 802.11 B & G wireless protocols and each one also includes a 10/100 auto-crossover ethernet port for connecting non-WiFi compatible hardware. (Like a network printer for example.) Another feature I particularly like is the included Dashboard online software. Not only does it allow you to manage your mesh network but you can also setup billing for other users and even plot out the location of your repeaters on Google Maps.

The Mini’s are currently available on the Meraki website for $49 each. They’re also available in sets of 3, 20 or 100 but it doesn’t look like there’s a discount for buying in bulk.

[ Meraki Mini ] VIA [ Popular Science ]

By David Ponce

There was something elegant about the recently announced Xbox 360 qwerty thumbboard. Not so with the PS3 Wireless ThumbPadâ„¢ from Madcatz. Dude, they put the friggin’ thing on top! This is presumably because it needs line of sight with the included dongle (we’re getting this from the dandy picture you see above), but how hard could it have been to make this work on RF?

Sure, it’s only $30, and you’ll be able to chat with your friends. But whatever, we’d pay $30 just to not have that monstrosity in the room with us. But, well, to each his own, right? Seems to be available now.

[ PS3 Wireless ThumbPad ] VIA [ Xataka ]

By David Ponce

The SIGNAL Cellphone Holder is a simple device: you place your mobile in it, and when a call comes through, it blinks. Yeah, that’s it. But the point of it is that if you’re in a quiet setting, like an office, you can still know when calls come through. Just put your phone on silent and place it in there and the larger blinking holder will be easier to see than the smallish blinking a cellphone does when it rings on silent. Of course you could always put the phone on “vibrate”, but that’s not an option sometimes. Say, if you’re a lady with no pockets. Or a dude with overly tight pants…

The holder works much in the same way that blinking cellphone charms work: it picks up on the cellular radio waves. And no, it doesn’t even charge the phone, though that could make for an interesting DIY project.

It’s $21, but is out of stock at the moment.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Pryl Feber ]

By David Ponce

The musicphone market is growing, and for good reason: listening to music and making phone calls are two essential elements to life. And sure, it’s fun to carry your tunes around with you all day but there aren’t too many options to get these off your phone, and into your home sound system. Enter the Kyocera Bluetooth Music Gateway, a device the size of a deck of cards that allows any A2DP-enabled cellphone, DAP or PMP to stream their tunes right into your home speakers. It connects to your system via RCA cables, and if your mobile has AVRCP, it can also be used to control tracks and volume. Should you be a sad Bluetooth-less mobile owner, the company also sells for $35 a Bluetooth adapter that plugs right into a standard 3.5mm audio jack. No 3.5mm jack on your mobile, and no Bluetooth? Dude, you ain’t even got a real musicphone, so you’re outta luck.

Expect to see these on store shelves sometime in April, at $100 with the adapter bundled, or $80 without.

[ Product Page ] VIA [Engadget Mobile ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I consider myself pretty lucky since the downtown area of the city I live in is blanketed with free WiFi. So the days of hunting down coffee shops or stores with free wireless internet is a thing of the past for me. For those not so lucky (like you suburb dwellers) Linksys now has a Wireless-G USB adapter with a built-in WiFi finder allowing you to locate a hotspot without having to boot up your laptop.

The Wi-Fi Finder detects Wireless-G and Wireless-B networks with a simple push of a button. It displays all pertinent information such as the wireless network’s name (SSID), signal strength, the channel used, and whether wireless security is enabled or not. The information is displayed on an easy-to-read LCD display and can be set up to look for only open networks, all networks, or a specific named network. Discovered networks are listed in order of signal strength.

The adapter also uses search technology that’s smart enough to filter out 2.4GHz interference from microwaves, cordless phones or even Bluetooth devices meaning you’ll only get a list of actual Wireless-G and B networks. It’s currently available from Amazon.com for $79.04.

[ Linksys Wireless-G USB Adapter With Wi-Fi Finder ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

When it comes to universal remotes Logitech has recently made a push to become king of the consumer castle but there are other companies vying for that same title. One in particular called tvCompass is pushing the idea of a wifi capable remote that does more than just control your home theater.

The Wifi Smart Remote as they call it includes a mobile phone sized 2.2-inch QVGA LCD screen that can be used for setting up and controlling all the components in your home theater system. Nothing new there but the addition of built-in wifi means the remote can automatically retrieve the ‘device codes’ for whatever hardware you’re running online and even safely backup your remote’s settings on the company’s network servers in case they need to be retrieved later on.

The wifi and screen combination also allows content to be delivered directly to the remote itself including news, sports scores, stock info, programming guides and of course advertisements. It even has a built in speaker like the Wiimote which can be used to grab your attention or probably just annoy the heck out of you.

As far as I can tell the remote is still kind of a concept in the works (the single image of the remote is a bit plain looking) but the extra features might make paying $300-400 for a remote control actually seem worth it.

[ tvCompass WiFi Smart Remote ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]