Home Networking: A Refresher Course

If you're reading this story, chances are very good that you already have a home network. As all we all know, the times they are a-changin' constantly in the tech world, and with so many new product and services being offered, some of you may want to rebuild your home network to accommodate all that you want to do with it.

You may also have a home network but have always wondered about it's mechanics, like what goes on in the brain of that little router of yours, or how the rourter's wireless radio actually works.

Beyond the basics of letting you share high-speed Internet access with computers and devices in the house, home network allow you to control what the kids are doing on the Web, share data and multimedia files, automate backups for all of your PCs, and even use webcams to see what that new puppy is doin in the living room while you're at work. The bedroom computer upstairs can print to the color printer in the downstairs study, and the media PC in the living room can show a movie on the PC-connected TV in the basement rec room.

Adding on network oriented products and peripherals makes the setup even more useful. Network attached storage (NAS) lets you create shared folders for each family member; these folders can be accessed both from the home network or from the Internet if you're away from home. NAS devices also make effivient places to store all those backup files.

Police can hack into your PC

Police and security services have been granted new powers to hack into personal computers without a warrant, following European Union proposals aimed at extending the use of intrusive surveillance.

They allow the use of keyloggers, which can be installed in a variety of ways, to monitor keyboard use including emails, web surfing and instant messaging conversations.

Authority must still be obtained from a chief constable, but the new measures have angered opposition MP's, and civil liberty and privacy organizations are threatening a legal challenge.

"The exercise of such intrusive powers raises serious privacy issue," said Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve. "The government must explain how it would work in practice and what safeguards will be in place."

Shami Chakrabati, director of human rights group Liberty, added: "These are very intrusive power. The public will want this to be controlled by new legislation and judical authorization.

"Without those safeguards it is a devastating blow to any notion of personal privacy. This is no different from breaking down someone's door, rifling through their paperwork and seizing their computer hard drive."

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) defended the move, pointing out that it would still be governed by the Regulation of investigatory Powers Act.

According to the police, 194 police hacking operations were carried out in England, Wales and Northem Ireland over the past two years: 133 in private homes, 37 in offices and 24 i hotels.

High-def 3D TV 'not far off'

Panasionic is pushing for a standard for 1080p high-definition 3D TV to enable services to get off the ground, its chief executive Yoshi Yamada told a CES press conference. He said the company would propose a standard in Japan in the coming months for the system it debuted last year at the Cebit show in Germany.

"Panasionic does not think that 3D high definition for the home is far away at all," Mr Yamada said. "We are at the start of another phase-change that will have an impact on Panasionic's business."

The standard is needed for both consumer and broadcast devices to encode and decode images. Panasionic has been working with studios and standards groups to develop a format.

"3D in the home will never flower unless we have a national standard," Said Bob Ferry, executive vice-president of Panasionic onsumer electronics. "But we are very excited because we believe that 3D changes the world from watching TV to an immersive experience."

Elsewhere in the show Mitsubishi demonstrated a system that translates 2D games and movies into 3D and does not require the use of special glasses to view the effect. It is based on a package from Nvidia called 3D-Vision

Philips sells software called Wowvx that does the same thing and it demonstrated an entirely different 3D system at the IFA show in Berlin last year. Intead of storing different stereoscopic data for each eye, it adds depth information to 2D pixels.

Several different 3D rendering technologies are also available, so a global standard will be hard to establish.

Lenovo pulls a dual screen laptop

We've long liked the idea of a notebook with two screens that opens out like a book, though we have yet to see one gaining success in the mainstream.

Lenovo's new W700ds Thinkpad notebook has a rather different take on the two-screen idea. It has a 17in main display and a 10.6in one pulls out from the casing when required. Lenovo hopes it will appeal to people in graphics-intensive fields such as digital media creation, geophysical exploration and computer-aided design. Pricing starts at £3,459.

End of the line for adapters?

A new industry initiative could cut down our need to lug around multiple power adapters - surely the single biggest irritation in computing.

PCW has been pointing out for years that the technology exist for smart power supplies with whatever a device wants. But the idea has never gained momentum, perhaps because vendors are making too much money from existing adapters.

The new initiative, launched in Hong Kong last month, would do away with the plugs altogether and deliver power wirelessly. This is alredy done by any adapter that transfered by wireles induction between the primary and secondary windings.

In the system proposed by the new Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the primary and secondary would be separated respectively into the source and the device drawing power. There are eight companies in the WPC: National Semiconductor, Philips, Logitech, Convenient Power, Fulton Innovation and Shenzhen Sang Fei Consumer Communications.

Proprietary wireless charging devices are already available. The WPC aims to create a standard to allow any compliant device to be charged by any compliant source.

"This is a crucial moment in the development of wireless power," said Menno Treffer, senior director of standardisation at Philips and chairman of the WPC.

The standard relates only to power transmission across a short distance and is not about to do away with adapters. It will deliver only 5W, so is suitable for only low-drain devices. However, the WPC intends to move on to a higher power spec.