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Netgear ships its N900 ultimate wireless router

Netgear announced today the availability of its latest wireless router, the N900 wireless-dual band gigabit router (model WNDR4500).

This is first true dual-band router from the company, and the second submitted for a CNET review, that offers the new 450Mbps speed on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The first was the TEW-692GR from Trendnet.

While the Trendnet TEW-692GR doesn't offer much else, the N900 on the other hand is also the first of its kind to incorporate two USB ports to host USB external storage devices and printers. Physically, the N900 is one of the biggest routers … Read more

Verizon Droid Bionic arrives finally

HTC files a lawsuit against Apple with nine new patents from Google, Adobe has released its pricey photo-sharing app and service called Carousel, and Verizon finally launches the Bionic nine months after the "super-phone" made its first appearance.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Verizon Droid Bionic becomes available Sony rolls out SMP-N200 streaming box Apple working on Logic Pro X HTC sues Apple with Google patents Adobe Carousel photo sharing service Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (HD) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS HD

Sony rolls out SMP-N200 streaming box

Sony's original "Netbox," the SMP-N100, was always overshadowed by more popular competitors like the Apple TV and Roku XDS. That wasn't entirely fair, as the SMP-N100 was loaded with streaming media services (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant) and offered DLNA compatibility, the latter being a much-requested feature on the Roku.

Sony announced its latest streaming media box at CEDIA today, the SMP-N200, which adds 3D compatibility and live content streaming to the SMP-N100's already formidable features list. Additional details are scarce at the moment, so we'll have to wait to see what streaming services … Read more

Get a D-Link 802.11n router for $19.99 shipped

As I've mentioned in the past, the single best way to improve Internet performance in your home is to plug your PC directly into your router. After that, the best bang for the buck comes from ditching your old 802.11g router in favor of an 802.11n model.

And you don't need a lot of bucks to do that. Newegg has the D-Link DIR-601 802.11n wireless router for $19.99 shipped. That's after adding it to your cart and applying coupon code EMCKBGK58 at checkout.

The benefits of 802.11n are numerous and well-documented: faster throughput, better range, and stronger security options. Your mileage can and will vary depending on things like the size of your house, placement of the router, and so on. But speaking from personal experience, 802.11n blows 802.11g out of the water.… Read more

Power Fish'n hybrid reel catches fish on autopilot

Fishing is supposed to be relaxing. Kick up your feet, have a cold domestic brew, and wait for the little swimmers to nibble on the bait. This calm experience is sometimes rudely interrupted by the flurries of energy required to reel in a fish.

If you have a Power Fish'n Pro Hybrid Reel from Rock Island Equipment Company, you won't even have to set down your beer to catch a bass. It's the ultimate fishing relaxation-enhancement gadget.

The Power Fish'n Pro uses a standard Shakespeare spinning reel with a motor that activates at the push of a switch. The motor is quiet enough not to scare away your prey. You can still set it to manual mode if you want the full thrill of the hunt. It runs on four AA batteries.

This isn't a case of another gadget for lazy Americans. It's aimed at people with disabilities and senior fishers that could use a little extra assistance. … Read more

Transcribe recorded audio with Listen N Write

Students, conference attendees, lawyers, and anyone who has to transcribe recorded audio should try Listen N Write, a free tool designed specifically for transcription. It doesn't use speech recognition or automatic transcription, and Microsoft Anna doesn't speak your text files out loud. It's simply a media player bundled with a text editor, but a media player with subtle but clever differences that make it a great tool for playing back recorded lectures and speeches (for example) and writing down what you hear. To begin with, the Skip arrows move the recording forward or back just a few … Read more

The 404 885: Where we weeze the juice (podcast)

"Woot" joins "jeggings," "mankini," "noob," and 400 other new definitions in the 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary published today, but what happened to "glamazon," "hangry," and "retrosexual"?

Along with our suggestions for new slang to be added, we're also warning everyone about a privacy breach called juice-hacking and a virtual hit-man service that charges $10 an hour for DDoS attacks. And we talk about whether it's necessary to reboot or shut down your computer at night.

This, plus a handful of Calls From the Public on today's episode--enjoy!

The 404 Digest for Episode 885

'Woot' is officially a thing, according to Oxford English Dictionary. Beware of juice-hacking. Russians outsource DDoS attacks for $10 per hour. Is it necessary to restart or shutdown your laptop every night? Congratulations to Sir Ron for completing the maze we featured on yesterday's show!

Episode 885 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Pimp your PS3 controller with Avenger

The Avenger is a new snap-on accessory for Sony PlayStation 3 controllers. It features a combination of adjustable levers, a stabilizing stand, and even tension straps for users to perform faster moves without taking their fingers off the analog sticks. And it kind of makes your controller look a bit like a robot spider.

Refer to these videos on how the Avenger works (note that the demonstration is using an Xbox 360 controller). The new PS3 version will be available directly from the peripheral maker's online store in November at $48.99, but it's limited to 5,000 units for now.

Will this unique contraption make playing first-person shooter games on a console easier? I seriously doubt it, especially in terms of precision compared with a PC mouse. Still, it could address some of the quirks and steep learning curve of console controllers for FPS titles.

(Source: Crave Asia via Ubergizmo) … Read more

'Woot' is officially a thing, according to Oxford English Dictionary

August marks the 100th anniversary of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (COED), the smaller but most widely recognized derivative of the official Oxford English Dictionary, or OED. To celebrate, the lexicon published its 12th edition today that adds more than 400 new entries--many of which reflect the technological pervasiveness of modern society, like "woot," "mankini," and "jeggings."

COED Editor Angus Stevenson heads up a small team at the Oxford University Press's academic cabinet tasked with choosing the next words for inclusion, and the process involves keying popular words into a database that shows frequency of use in print and online.

Since publishing its first edition back in 1911, the COED's evolution shows the tremendous effects of social media and instant-access technology on language, creating new words but also modifying existing definitions of words like "follower."

What once meant "a person who imitates or copies" now earns a second and more widely used meaning: "someone who is tracking a particular person, group, etc., on a social networking site." Another example that's a little unsettling is the general term "friend" that loses gravity in its new form: "a contact on a social networking Web site."… Read more