Hasta La Gadget!

Pogoplug may have been the first to make this type of contraption popular, but now it’s time for the no-names to sneak in and offer up comparable devices for a bit less cheddar. Sharkoon has evidently taken a break from punching out SATA HDD Docks in order to develop its USB LANPort, which effectively puts any piece of USB storage (flash drive, external hard drive, etc.) on one’s local network — though it seems this is mainly for making multiple drives available to a variety of machines via customized permissions. The USB LANPort 100 converts a single drive into a device that can be streamed from locally, while the USB LANPort 400 handles up to four USB devices. Unfortunately it looks as if these weren’t designed to link USB drives to the internet at large, but we’re sure the hacker in you could figure it out. Both boxes support automatic and manual IP address contacts, and they’re both available now across the pond for €22.99 ($34) / €36.99 ($56) in order of mention. As for a US release? Your guess is as good as ours.

Sharkoon USB LANPort gets your isolated USB drives on your local network originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My iPhone 3GS, in downtown Chicago, as I wrote this post.

Verizon certainly seems to be getting under AT&T’s skin with its ads focused on comparing 3G coverage — not only is Ma Bell suing over ’em, it’s now issuing PR to clarify what it sees as the inaccuracies of the entire campaign. If you’ll recall, AT&T thinks Verizon’s 1:1 comparison of 3G coverage maps makes it look like AT&T doesn’t have any coverage at all across most of the country — which means that our nation’s largest wireless carrier is now in the sad position of pimping its gigantic EDGE network in response. Let’s all gloss over the absolutely huge difference in 3G versus EDGE together, shall we?

With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE.

Right, right — the only difference. That must be why Apple named it the iPhone EDGE Slightly Faster.

Now, AT&T has a valid point when it says that its 3G map covers 75 percent of the nation’s population, and that Verizon’s conflation of total 3G coverage with actual network quality is slightly misleading. But you know what? We watch our iPhones drop from 3G to EDGE and even to GPRS all day long in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and that has nothing to do with the damn map, and everything to do with AT&T’s actual network quality. Let’s put it this way: Verizon’s ad campaign would be totally ineffective if it didn’t ring so true, and the best way for AT&T to counter these ads is to build a rock-solid network, not filing lawsuits and issuing press releases bragging about freaking EDGE. We all clear on this? Good.

Filed under: Cellphones

AT&T responds to Verizon’s 3G ad campaign — by bragging about EDGE originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s one thing AT&T’s network could use, it’s more network. Particularly in major cities (we’re looking at you and your dastardly street parking situation, San Francisco), AT&T’s 3G network is perpetually overwhelmed, oftentimes forcing users to switch to EDGE just to tweet about how awful the coverage is. Thankfully, the operator is making good on its earlier promise to roll out HSPA 7.2Mbps to select cities, with Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami now destined to get lit this year. Potentially more interesting, however, is the deployment of “additional backhaul capacity to cell sites,” which will also support LTE when the time comes. All told, around 2,000 new cell sites should be added before the year’s end, and at least a half dozen 7.2Mbps-capable smartphones should be in AT&T’s portfolio by the same deadline. Feel free to express your joy in comments below — that is, if you can get comments to load on your existing 3G connection.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

AT&T slinging HSPA 7.2 to six cities this year, adding backhaul capacity too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s been talk the last couple days about the fact that there really isn’t anywhere in the States to take advantage of the blazing 7.2Mbps downlink connection supported by the iPhone 3GS — except for one great hope, one diamond in the rough that could become a shining destination for 3GS owners the world over. That destination would be Chicago, where AT&T fired up 7.2Mbps trials late last year, and the hope was that they might be letting lay folk (like us) in on the action in time for the 3GS release. Well, we’ve been running side-by-side tests today, and the short answer is that we’re clearly not accessing 7.2 — granted, the 3GS is getting marginally faster speeds both up and down, but we figure this can easily be attributed to the new model’s faster processor because a doubling of the downlink pipe simply doesn’t account for a 100kbps bump in speed (latency was all over the map on both phones, for the record). If you’re holding out on upgrading from a 3G to a 3GS, go ahead and crack a smile — because for now, anyway, this is one spec bump that means precisely zilch in the real world.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

iPhone 3GS data isn’t really faster than the 3G’s in Chicago originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it’s been a long time coming, and it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point, but Atlanta-based Cox Communications, the third largest cable provider in the United States, has announced plans to launch its own cellular network. We heard essentially the same news back in October of last year, but the company’s reaffirming its commitment to do so by the end of 2009, almost certainly using its portion of the winnings from the 700MHz auction (estimated to be worth around $304 million dollars). Details such as pricing are still a mystery, but Cox’s VP of its wireless division, Stephen Bye, said that the network will allow them to offer a bundled television, broadband and wireless service, that it hopes to focus on the burgeoning mobile video market, and that it may launch an app store in order to compete with “what’s already out there.” We wish them luck.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones

Cox Communications set to launch a cellular network originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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