Gadling gear review – hField Technologies Wi-Fire high-gain USB adapter

by Scott Carmichael on

Don’t let the complicated sounding title fool you – this is by no means an overly technical article, in fact – I’ll keep things as simple as possible. The hField Technologies Wi-Fire high-gain USB adapter is not much more than a USB Wireless network adapter. However, unlike most wireless adapters on the market, the Wi-Fire puts some special focus on providing a better signal and extended range.

Now, any of you that have spent any time in a hotel, will know that wireless Internet access can be a major pain in the backside. Even in upscale hotels, getting online can be a massive frustration.

In smaller hotel chains, Internet access is often provided through just one or two access points for the entire building, and if you find yourself in a corner room, it may be impossible to grab a reliable signal. Then there are hotels that do have a decent signal, but for some reason, your laptop can’t hold on to the signal for any length of time. This obviously makes getting any work done in your room nearly impossible.

I’ve become so disappointed with hotel Wi-Fi, that I carry my own wireless broadband adapter, and will often just use that instead of the slow and unreliable hotel offering.
As I mentioned – the Wi-Fire adapter is designed to increase your chance at getting a better signal. It accomplishes this in three ways:

  • Better Wi-Fi chipset and software than most laptops (uses its own connection manager)
  • Directional antenna and ability to be extended away from your computer
  • Larger antenna surface than most laptop computers

The adapter itself is not much of a looker – in fact, it is downright ugly. In plain gray with a wobbly rotating base made of plastic and rubber, it doesn’t give the appearance of a well designed wireless adapter. Thankfully what matters most is what’s inside the device.

The rubber feet can fold flat, allowing you to place the Wi-Fire on a table or other flat surface, or folded down to cling on to the screen of your laptop. The grip isn’t too strong, so don’t expect to move your laptop around much and have the adapter hang on.

The connector on the Wi-Fire is miniUSB, which means you can use the included cable, or provide your own one if you need something longer.

My first, and most obvious test, is using the Wi-Fire in a hotel with what I can only describe as “crap Wi-Fi”. This property had a horrible signal, a dreadful 256kbps speed limit and was obviously trying to cover an entire 40 room floor with just one access point. Using the Wi-Fi adapter in my laptop, it took me 10 minutes just to get past the login screen. Connections would constantly stall or simply drop.

On the left, my laptop with integrated Wi-Fi, on the right, the Wi-Fire. Now – I’ll admit that a little signal bar doesn’t really mean much, but the connection on the Wi-Fire was far more reliable, and the signal never dropped during my 10MB download test. Speeds between the two were similar. The laptop stayed in the same place, and I used the Wi-Fire on top of the screen, so I did not physically move closer to the access point.

The Wi-Fire connection manager is simple to use, and in many cases, much easier than the standard Windows Wi-Fi management screens. It shows a clear overview of available networks, their signal strength and quality (in %, rather than silly bars) and it shows whether they have security enabled.

Conclusion

Our friends over at Engadget also took the Wi-Fire for a spin, and they came to the same conclusion I reached – the Wi-Fire works. After using it in four different hotels in the past weeks, I can really conclude that this adapter picks up a more reliable signal, and can help prevent dropped connections.

I can’t say I’m a big fan of the plastic/rubber mount, but it gets the job done, in a future version, I really think that a smarter design of the mount would make a great product even better – but as I said earlier, it really is what is inside the device that counts the most.

You’ll find the Wi-Fire adapter over at hField Technologies, where it retails for just $59.00. At that price, it is close to being a no-brainer for people regularly confronted with bad hotel and airport Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fire retailer page also lists vendors that carry it in-store as well as several international retailers.

Greyhound taking passengers to the future

by Mike Barish on

When you think of modern travel, you probably don’t spend much time considering buses. However, Greyhound, the largest bus service in the United States, is trying to change that with new buses that may just make ground transportation enjoyable (and modern).

This past April, Greyhound introduced 102 new buses to east coast routes servicing cities such as New York, Montreal, Washington, Boston and Toronto. Equipped with free wi-fi, two AC power outlets at every seat and three-point seatbelts, the new buses are poised to change Greyhound’s image and move bus travel closer to the forefront of people’s minds. In addition to those new features, the buses have fewer seats to allow for more legroom.

According to Greyhound, they launched in the Northeast because it’s their busiest region. Eventually, though, their entire fleet will be replaced by the new buses. And all these upgrades have been made with no adjustment to ticket prices.

Will these enhancements alter people’s perceptions of bus travel? Greyhound is banking on it. Gadling’s own Jamie Rhein already thinks that Greyhound is a worthy option for travelers, so new buses could only sweeten the deal.

I have a few international trips on the horizon, but when the time comes for me to turn my attention back to domestic travel, I would definitely give Greyhound a try. If my long legs and internet addiction are accommodated, I have to consider it worthwhile!

Day in the Cloud goes live at 30,000 feet

by Mike Barish on

Earlier in the month, we told you about Virgin America and Google’s Day in the Cloud Event. And yesterday, I let you know that I would be on board one of the competing flights to take part in the event at 30,000 feet. And that’s exactly where I was this morning as I answered trivia questions, solved puzzles and joined thousands of people on Virgin America flights and on the ground competing to win tons of great prizes. I even tweeted for Gadling during the flight. So, what happens when technology, puzzles and flying intersect? Organized chaos and lots of fun.

I was on flight 921 from LAX to SFO. A competing flight from SFO to LAX was attempting to beat the best score on our flight. But there was one glitch: there were log-in issues when it came time to connect to the gogo in-flight wifi. It seems that there may have been problems with the company that handles the billing for the internet service. So, when a plane-load of people attempted to log into the system simultaneously, a Day in the Cloud became, temporarily, a day at the “still loading” screen.

Eventually, most of the issues were worked out. They even found the bandwidth for Good Day LA to broadcast live on the flight. Reporter Suzanne Marques covered the event and you may even spot me when you watch her segment (Hint: I’m wearing a Gadling t-shirt).

Google created the game and put together a tough contest. I was seated next to professional puzzle designer and competitor Wei-Hwa Huang, who was invited to take the challenge. He seemed to have a much easier time solving the puzzles and finding the answers in Google Apps than I did. His mental gymnastics and fast fingers resulted in the highest score of anyone on the two competing flights, which meant that everyone on Flight 921 walked away with prizes.

What can we learn from the Day in the Cloud? Well, in-flight wifi is here to stay, but, there are still some kinks to work out. For one, gogo sets the pricing for the airlines but they are considering lowering the costs to entice more users. Right now, many people find it too expensive. Also, the 3G network, while reliable, is still glitchy at times, especially if there is a rush of people logging in. However, I was impressed with the overall speed and reliability of the system once things settled down a bit and I’d defiitely utilize the service in the future.

The Day in the Cloud contest is running all day today, so you can still compete at home, in the office or on a Virgin America flight. Remember, though, that when the captain puts on the Fasten Seatbelt sign, that you need to return to your seat, buckle up and put your thinking cap on. My bad jokes, like wifi on Virgin America flights today, are free.

Gadling Gear Review – T-Mobile Blackberry Curve 8900

by Scott Carmichael on

Last year, I wrote about the T-Mobile Blackberry Curve, and described why I was convinced that it was the best phone for International travelers.

Its combination of T-Mobile WiFi calling and smartphone features made it an absolute winner, and it was one of the 25 products featured in our “best travel products of 2008“.

As with all mobile phones, technology does not stand still, and T-Mobile recently released the newest version of this Blackberry – the Curve 8900.

The 8900 takes the best parts of the older Curve, and adds a 3.2 megapixel camera with Auto-focus and LED flash, a MicroUSB port (instead of MiniUSB), GPS, a higher resolution screen and an improved keyboard. Still inside the device is the fantastic WiFi calling feature and all the other goodies offered by the Blackberry operating system. The device also underwent a little cosmetic surgery, and is in my opinion the best looking Blackberry to date.
As a reminder – the T-Mobile Hotspot@home service allows you to use a WiFi network as an alternative way of getting on the T-Mobile network.

When you are outside their cellular coverage area, you simply get yourself on Wi-Fi, and you can make and receive calls, send and receive text/picture messages and use the web/email portion of the phone. Of course, none of this is particularly impressive if you are just sitting in Peoria without coverage, but being able to turn on Wi-Fi in your Tokyo hotel and make free phone calls without any trouble is in my opinion the best feature on any phone available at the moment.

Yes – many phones have VOIP built in (the iPhone has Skype for example), but the seamless integration on the Curve is just amazing. You make and receive calls using your own phone number, and you don’t have to screw around with any additional software.

Battery life is quite simply astounding – and is one of the few phones that actually gets close to its promised standby and talk times (5.5 hours talk time and 15 days standby). Even with over 400 emails a day, I could still get away with just one charge a week.

The Blackberry Curve 8900 is not perfect though – the device still uses the old(er) EDGE data system instead of 3G, so when you are using the cellular network, you’ll feel the pain of slow transfers.

Also, the Blackberry OS feels a tad cumbersome when compared to the iPhone or the T-Mobile G1 running Android. Simple things often take more button presses than they should.

Still, despite those minor issues, the Curve 8900 is quite simply amazing, and for anyone leaving the country a lot, a real lifesaver. To make the device even better, T-Mobile is the only operator in the country that offers an unlimited email add-on package. For just $19.95 (in addition to the normal plan costs), you get unlimited email in any country that offers T-Mobile roaming service. AT&T will charge you $60 for just 50MB of international data, and that plan only applies to a select number of countries.

One quick word of warning though – the unlimited email plan really only applies to email, in the past they would permit any data, but recently they made changes that started billing customers for web or other data used abroad.

One final major improvement I need to mention is the new Blackberry App World. This iPhone like “app store” is fantastic, and finally puts an end to the hassle that was always involved with getting applications on the device. The App World is free, and is currently filled with loads of cool applications, including Slacker for the Blackberry.

The Blackberry Curve 8900 is available from T-Mobile for $149 (after a $100 mail in rebate), or from Amazon.com (a T-Mobile dealer) for free (after a $100 mail in rebate). These prices require a new service plan. The price without a new plan is $500.

Eye-Fi wireless memory card adds support for Youtube video uploads

by Scott Carmichael on

To me, the best travel gadgets are those that continue to get better, the longer you use them. The Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card is such a device.

Eye-Fi was recently featured as one of our top 25 travel technology products of 2008 thanks to its ability to upload photos directly from your camera to a large number of photo hosting sites (or your home PC), any time you are in range of a wireless network. In 2008 Eye-Fi added options for wireless hotspot access (through the Wayport network), as well as photo Geotagging.

The newest feature for 2009 enables the card to directly upload video clips from your camera to Youtube.

No word yet on when the new feature will actually be available, but Eye-Fi VP of business development Ziv Gillat let us know that the card would even support uploads of HD video like that made with the new Nikon D90 (and the Kodak Zi6 we recently reviewed).

Being able to shoot some video on your next vacation, and have the clips appear automatically on Youtube without any interaction is a brilliant solution, and a fantastic addition to the card. Just remember to swap out the Eye-Fi card for a normal card if you plan to shoot some steamy video in the boudoir…