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  • Microsoft Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Driver Bad for Windows 7’s Health

    win7wifidriver

    I installed the optional Atheros WiFi chipset update provided by Microsoft for Windows 7 Beta on my Asus Eee PC 1000HA netbook this morning. Unfortunately, after the installation and reboot, I was able to see but NOT connect to my wireless network. So, I used Windows 7’s System Restore to get me back to the pre-update state and was able to get online.

    =======================
    Microsoft driver update for Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter
    Download size: 1.3 MB

    You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.
    Update type: Optional

    This driver was provided by Microsoft for support of Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter

    More information:
    http://winqual.microsoft.com/support/?driverid=3846

    Help and Support:
    http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub

  • AT&T Upgrading Its Wireless Network to 7.2Mbps; But Will It Be Noticeable?

    Telephony Online notes…

    AT&T doubling 3G capacity

    This won’t mean anything to those of us with current generation devices that do not support HSPA+ (evolved HSPA) though. And, even if your does, my observation is that browser rendering speed on many (most?) mobile devices aren’t fast enough to take advantage of the existing HSPA bandwidth.

  • Podcast 23: Hotspot Shield – Free Ad-supported VPN – A Conversation with AnchorFree’s CEO

    I spoke with AnchorFree CEO and Co-Founder David Gorodyansky about the firm’s free ad-support Virtual Private Network (service)…

    Hotspot Shield

    Clients software for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X are provided free to use with their VPN service. The service also works with an iPhone without requiring any software installation. The iPhone’s native VPN can be configured to work with the service.

    I was very skeptical of the service before speaking with David. But, I developed a level of comfort after speaking with him and am running their software and using their service on my Asus Eee PC 1000HA netbook running Windows 7 Beta.

    I’ll provide more details about some of the things I learned about the service over on my MobileContentToday blog on Monday morning.

  • Looptastic Producer ($4.99) for iPhone (video demo)

  • iPod vs. Zune? If You Have a Teenager, Don’t Bother to Ask – 100% Want an iPod

    zune1_nano1_nano4
    1st generation Zune (left), 1st generation iPod nano (middle), 4th generation iPod nano (right)

    If you have a teenager, don’t bother to ask if he or she would prefer an iPod or a Zune. According to CNET’s summary of a Piper Jaffray survey…

    Teen survey makes Microsoft’s Zune seem futile

    The percentage of teens who want a zune as of the most recent survey is 100%. This is all the more surprising since their Fall 2008 survey showed that 15% planned to buy a Zune while 79% wanted an iPod (3% were looking at Sony’s offering).

    I know I performed this survey on a very very small scale (my teenager) a few years ago (when she wasn’t a teenager to be honest). I asked her if she would like a Zune I had received as a gift since it can playback video and has an FM radio. She was using a 1st generation iPod nano at the time which did not have either feature. She looked at the Zune and said she would rather keep using her 1st generation nano. I later bought her an iPod touch. But, she preferred the nano even then, BTW. Last year, I replaced her 1st generation nano with a 4th generation model. She’s very happy with that now (still doesn’t use the iPod touch much).

  • Podcast 22: Oceanit Laboratories iPhone App Development Journey

    Oceanit Laboratories is a Honolulu=based science and engineering firm whose projects have names like Underground Storage Tank Removal, Fugitive Dust Monitoring and Hurricane Tower Desalination System. So, how did they end up creating a free iPhone entertainment app named…

    iFu Kung Fu (iTunes App Store)

    The story is the focus of this podcast. It may be instructive to potential iPhone app developers as well firms not currently involved in iPhone app development who may want to test the waters.

    You can find more information about the app itself at…

    iFu Kung Fu product information page

    …and don’t forget to read its disclaimer…

    iFu Kung Fu disclaimer: This app is not useful for anything. It’s not fit for any purpose other than entertainment and for your amusement. We not liable if you smack into someone or something or drop your iPhone so don’t blame us

    Note: I asked Oceanit’s David Takeyama and Todd Blume to participate in a podcast recording experiment. I asked both of them to speak with me on Skype using the new iPhone Skype app. While the audio quality is less than ideal, I think I learned a lot about what to ask people who call using Skype for iPhone in the future. I discuss these lessons learned in a future blog item.

    – You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
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    – You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.