Home Hub 2 One Month On

Well, I have had the new Home Hub for around a month now and can give a more considered opinion.

One major plus is the ‘Powersave’ function which powers down the hub at a specific time. This means that the hub can be automatically powered down between, say, 1 and 6 am. This seems to work fine judging by my semi-nocturnal elder daughter who complained about the internet disappearing at 1am on her recent visit!

I also like the new display which is both subtle and informative and I appreciate the increase  in the network points on the back of the hub to four.

I have, however, noticed an increase in the number of times that wireless connections from my internet radio (Logik IR100) seem to fail and also occasional failures from our other computers. I’m pretty sure that this is down to the Hub and wonder whether there is a Network Address problem.

I’ll keep checking on this.

BT Homehub 2

I got the new BT Homehub this afternoon. Tim (the postie) had tried to deliver it last week when I was on Iona.

Changing from one to the other was really straightforward: unplug the leads from the existing Homehub, switch over power supplies and plug the leads into the new Homehub. Then all that is needed is to replace the default passwords on the Homehub and get the 2 Radios and three PC's to connect to the new Homehub via the new passwords. Job done.

I also registered the new BT Hub Phone 2.0 and my old Hub Phone with the Homehub. So now I have two phones to use on the Broadband Talk 'line'.

One of the advantages of the Homehub 2, is that it has four ethernet connections. This gives me the opportunity to connect the new(ish) PC in the sitting room via ethernet, rather than via wireless as it is at the moment. This should increase the connection speeds to my NAS device, which would be useful.

So far, and it is very early days, I'm pretty impressed. It is good when things just work!

Saving Money

I have just managed to improve my broadband equipment and save over £25 a month without changing provider or any other hassle.

I phoned my broadband provider (BT) and said I was thinking of leaving as I had been getting some very good offers from other providers. I explained that I currently have a BT line (but route my calls through Sky Talk) and BT Total Broadband - the 'unlimited' option. What I wanted was to have my current 'unlimited' broadband and also an inclusive phone package. If BT could get my what I wanted I would leave Sky Talk and route my calls through BT's inclusive package.

BT offered me the 'unlimited' broadband for around £10 less a month then I am currently paying and also offered me an upgraded Home Hub and a new hub phone. I already have one hub phone and a second one would be useful. The lower price would be for a year.

Whilst the BT inclusive phone package (£4.95 pm.) doesn't include international numbers, as Sky Talk does, it includes calls to 0870 & 0845 numbers. In reality I make many more of these non-geographic calls than international ones and I can route any international calls via 1899 from 1p a minute. Even with an allowance for non-included calls the joint saving is around £30 per month. Not bad for a couple of phone calls.

Of course I now need to get on with actually earning some money, perhaps I'll just have a cup of tea first...

Rather spookily just as I typed the last dot we had a power cut - so no tea or work was possible!

A Digital Camera & Built In Projector

Nikon's S1000PJ is the first camera which offers a built-in projector. A video is available at: http://stuff.tv/Video/Nikon-S1000PJ-projector-cam/Vidcasts/

Now at first this sounds pretty cool and being able to project your photos on any flat surface does sound attractive. However there are a couple of problems.

The first is the brightness, or more accurately the lack of brightness, of the in-built projector. At just 10 lumens the projector's images will only be seen in pitch darkness. For comparison a 'standard' budget projector will have a minimum brightness of 1600 lumens.

The second is the price which, when it is released in September, will be just under £400. Will that many people be willing to pay this amount for a fun, but limited, gadget? There is no doubt that being able to take and project photos and videos on a night out would be fun but £400 is a lot to pay for that fun.

Of course if other manufacturers follow Nikon's lead, it is most likely that the brightness will increase and the price will fall. Then it may well be the case that the camera/projector will be a common sight in pubs and clubs.

Meanwhile what is an intriguing thought is of an iPhone with a built-in projector. Then not just photos but all the stored video and any suitable Apps would be able to be projected. Now that really would be tempting!

New Nokia Netbook

Nokia have announced their entry into the Netbook market. What makes their announcement interesting is not so much that the new Booklet 3G is at the 'luxury' end of the Netbook market with an aluminium chassis, a HD display and HDMI but that the built-in 3G/HSPA will offer a real alternative to having to have both a smartphone & netbook. In effect the Booklet 3G could mean that the move to more powerful smartphones could be slowed.

Of course like everything it will depend on the price. If the Booklet 3G does offer 12 hour battery life and is available at a competitive price with an inclusive data plan it would prove very attractive.

First Post

Welcome, this is the first post on our new blog. We are currently working on a new website for a self-catering property in Tobermory and also a website and flyer for an author. As soon as they are live we'll post a link here.