Car pooling with your co-workers? Road-tripping with geeks? Do you need to check on your fantasy teams while in the parking lot? Do you own an Avalanche, Equinox, Express, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe or Traverse? Chevrolet now offers an add-on that’ll turn your car into a Wi-fi hotspot with the Autonet Mobile WiFi In-Car Router. It’s basically a 3G-to-WiFi router that connects to 3G mobile networks that’ll allow you to spread some internet love in the car and 150 feet around it. The router will set you back $499 and Autonet’s mobile service costs $29 per month, but buyers who pick it up before the end of the year for a limited offer that brings the price down to $199 (thanks to a sale price of $399 plus a $200 mail-in rebate).
Network solutions provider Edimax has just announced the 3G-6210n, a wireless 3G router that bears the distinction of being the world’s first to run on battery power. The compact device allows users to share a 3G/ 3.5G broadband connection between multiple devices via an 802.11 b/g/n Wi-fi connection.
Gaming accessory provider Mad Catz has introduced a wireless gaming adapter for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles that lets the consoles connect to the net via a wireless 802.11n connection. Compatible with standard routers and access points, the adapter is easily configured through a PC, after which it’s ready to be used on a console. It’s not really a new technology, and it’s in no way groundbreaking, but it’s at least cheaper compared to Microsoft’s Xbox adapter (the PS3 compatibility makes it more flexible too).
LaCie has just announced a new network-attached storage-slash-media server device called the Network Space 2. Designed by Neil Poulton, the Network Space 2 features up to 1TB capacity, a gigabit Ethernet port for connecting it into the home network, a USB connection for adding external storage devices, and a widget-based interface for easy operation.
Memory-maker Patriot Memory has just unveiled a simple NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that can make any USB 2.0 flash drive into an instant NAS resource called the GearBox. It’s basically a tiny device that includes two USB 2.0 connections for plugging in a pair of flash drives straight into a network–ready for centralized file sharing and media streaming.
Available in black or white colors, it also comes with features such as FTP, Print Server and UPnP support to give the GearBox the functionality of larger NAS devices but at the fraction of the size and cost.
