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Book VI Chapter 1Choosing Your Frequency Table 1-2: Pros and Cons of Cordless Frequency Bands 900 MHz Cheap, won’t interfere with Wi-Fi Usually little or no security, limited range2.4 GH

Book VI Chapter 1

Choosing Your Frequency

Table 1-2: Pros and Cons of Cordless Frequency Bands

900 MHz Cheap, won’t interfere with

Wi-Fi Usually little or no security, limited range2.4 GHz Price is right, more secure

than 900 MHz secure Possible conflicts with Wi-Fi5.8 GHz Clear, likely more secure More expensive

You have an array of choices when purchasing a cordless phone The

impor-tant option is the frequency band on which the phones operates Cordless

phones are available in 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz models Generally, as

the frequency goes higher, so does the maximum distance you can take the

handset from the base station, and the clarity gets better Watch out,

how-ever, for interference from other sources of radio waves, physical structures

like walls, and the weather

Here are what the three frequency bands offer

900 MHz

You can buy one of these phones pretty cheaply, but many manufacturers

are phasing them out, favoring instead the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz models If

you’re on a budget, you can buy one of these analog models for less than

you paid for this book — but I wouldn’t recommend it (the phone, not the

book)

Why? The prices of 2.4 GHz phones are very reasonable and cover a larger

area with less likelihood of interference Also, higher frequency phones offer

more conversation security: It’s fairly simple to listen in to a 900 MHz analog

signal with the right equipment

2.4 GHz

Quality and price meet here This is the sweet spot for cordless phones;

most of them made today operate in this frequency range They offer more

clarity and range than you get with a 900 MHz phone

Given the number of 2.4 GHz models, you can find them in a wide variety

of configurations, choosing the features you want and not paying for ones

you don’t need You can buy 2.4 GHz phones in analog and digital models

These phones are also available in multiple-handset models, which let you

340 Featuring Cordless Phones

add more handsets as you need them Some models let you have as many

as eight — seemingly enough for every room of your house While the tional phones need a nearby AC outlet, they don’t each need a phone jack.You can find 2.4GHz phones in a huge variety of configurations with any number of features Some contain digital answering machines Some allow you to add up to eight handsets to the same base Extra handsets usually come with a charging dock for which you need an AC connection, but you only need a phone jack for the base station itself

addi-Unfortunately, phones that operate in the 2.4 GHz range can interfere with some Wi-Fi wireless networks (802.11b and 802.11g, but not 802.11a or 802.11n)

5.8 GHz

These phones have an exceptionally notable advantage over the other two kinds of phones: The 5.8 GHz band is less populated, but that’s changing quickly Along with an increase in clarity and distance, cordless phones using this frequency are the perfect fit for a home that has a Wi-Fi network and other interference on the 2.4 GHz band

The 5.8 GHz phones tend to be feature-packed affairs that get expensive quickly, although with the frequency growing in popularity it’s only a matter

of time before cheaper 5.8 GHz phones emerge

Featuring Cordless Phones

If the confusion over frequencies isn’t bad enough, you have to decide between a myriad of features when shopping for a cordless phone From caller ID displays to multiple-handset models, you have much to discover before plopping down your greenbacks

You find some of the features on cordless phones:

✦ Caller ID If you subscribe to caller ID service through your local phone

company, this feature is a must If the phone’s not enabled for caller ID, subscribing doesn’t make any difference When you get an incoming call, the caller’s phone number and possibly the name (if you pay for this ser-vice) appears on the handset’s display

✦ Call waiting ID Call waiting ID is a cool feature While you’re on the

phone with someone else, you can see who is trying to reach you by glancing at the display on your phone If you want to take the new call, you flash over to the other line When you’re done, if the first caller is still waiting, you can flash back to him or her

Contents

Chapter 1: Choosing and Using

Cordless Phones 335

Cutting the Cords 335

Featuring Cordless Phones 340

Avoiding Interference 341

Book VI Chapter 1

✦ Digital answering machine I thought everyone who needs to record

calls signed up for voicemail through their phone company I guess not

Long gone are the days of cassette tapes; the answering machines built into these phones are digital, which have far less recording capacity

One benefit is that long-winded callers have fewer seconds to leave their messages, sparing you some rambling Sometimes you can even set the length of messages your answering machine will take before cutting off the caller

✦ Multiple handsets You can do several things with these phones:

separate phone jacks

✦ Two-line phones These models can handle multiple phone lines If you

have a second line in your home, consider this feature My household uses a two-line phone — one for business and faxing and the other for personal calls

✦ Speakerphone This feature is always handy, especially when stuck on

hold with a credit card company or other sadistic entity You can push the appropriate button and leave the handset in its cradle, using the speakerphone located in the base station Better still are handsets with speakerphone built-in; you can carry them around and have speaker-phone conversations while you do other stuff

Avoiding Interference

As I mentioned earlier, if you have a Wi-Fi network in your house, I don’t

recommend the purchase of a 2.4 GHz cordless phone If your household is

constantly using a baby monitor, that could be a problem, too Even

micro-wave ovens, which operate on the same frequency, can create problems

Never situate the base of your phone near a microwave, because if

some-body decides to heat up last night’s dinner while you’re on the phone, you’ll

experience loud and annoying interference

If your analog phone has interference, you hear it as static and hisses A

digital phone will probably fade in and out or have a shorter range, or even

cough up sounds like buzzing or beeping (but not technically static)

342 Avoiding Interference

The best way to eliminate or reduce these kinds of interference problems

is to move the phone’s base station around the house, seeing if a different location makes any difference If you already have a Wi-Fi network and pur-chased a 2.4 GHz phone without reading my wise admonitions beforehand, you still have hope Just turn off the network when you’re using the phone and vice versa (as annoying as that can be) However, you may find the two coexist peacefully

Chapter 2: Picking Peripherals

In This Chapter

✓ Cleaning off your desk

✓ Choosing wireless peripherals

You may be focusing on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks and forgetting

some of the more “peripheral” uses of wireless technology In this ter, namely, I’m literally referring to peripherals — for your computers

chap-A peripheral is really anything that’s not an internal, integral part of your desktop or laptop computer Examples include keyboards, mice, trackballs, external hard drives, speakers, and game controllers (It also includes print-ers, but they’re covered in Book III, Chapter 4.) While these all once were tethered to your PC via wires, more and more of them are sold in cordless versions In this chapter I highlight a few of the cordless peripherals you can buy

Unplugging Your Desktop

Logitech, one of the largest manufacturers of cordless mice and keyboards, has shipped literally tens of millions of cordless peripherals worldwide, including keyboards, mice, and trackballs

You may see peripherals called cordless or wireless I guess I like less because this book isn’t called Cordless All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies It’s a good thing, too, as I picture a cordless phone disguised as a Dummies book I’d love the look — I’ll gladly take a black-and-yellow phone any day — but holding a book to my head for an hour could be tiring

wire-Of course, some cordless peripherals still come with cords The base stations usually plug into a USB port (found on the back or front of your computer) on your computer and then sit somewhere on your desk — but probably out of the way and out of sight Others simply require USB dongles

to communicate with your computer — no wires at all

344 Using a Cordless Mouse

One of the annoying things about corded, or wired, peripherals is when you attempt to move a mouse but the cord is hung up on something else on your desk As you pull the mouse toward you to move the cursor down, the mouse stops, the cursor stops, but your eyes (and sometimes your hand) keep going This little disruption can totally throw off your suspension of disbelief if it happens when you’re in the middle of a game

Switch to a cordless mouse, and you’ll never experience that particular problem again Of course, cordless mice have their own issues, but I’ll get to them a bit later

Using a Cordless Mouse

Microsoft and Logitech are two of the largest makers of cordless mice Various other companies manufacture similar cordless peripherals, includ-ing game controllers, which are described later in this chapter

Bluetooth peripherals work similarly to the cordless mice and keyboards I mention in this chapter A Bluetooth base station can simultaneously inter-act with several devices, including appropriately equipped cell phones and handheld computers I discuss mice and keyboards that use Bluetooth wire-less technology in Book VI, Chapter 5

Logitech introduced the first radio-frequency

(RF) cordless mouse in 1991 and the first

cord-less keyboard-and-mouse combination in 1998

Logitech cites a study showing that eight out

of ten U.S consumers know about cordless

peripherals

It’s a sizeable market, with Logitech ing that retail sales of cordless mice and key-boards total $230 million a year That’s a growth rate of nearly 50 percent It seems I’m not the only one cutting the cords and opting for a wireless desk

estimat-Seems logical

Book VI Chapter 2

A dedicated gaming mouse, the SideWinder X8 Mouse is equipped with a

2.4GHz connection, a tilt scroll wheel, 12 buttons (7 of which are

program-mable), and something called Play and Charge That’s a charging cable

that allows you to continue playing even if the built-in battery dies during a

gaming session

The grooviest thing about this mouse is that the thumb buttons,

tradition-ally placed horizonttradition-ally along the left side of the mouse, are, in this mouse’s

case, vertically placed for easier access With programmable mice, gamers

can program stuff they’d normally have to do with the keyboard to mouse

buttons This includes in-game actions like jumping, changing movement

speeds (walk/run), ducking, and so on

Wireless Laser Mouse 8000

This killer mouse goes beyond optical tracking Like most high-end, modern

mice, it doesn’t use a ball or a visible LED for movement; it uses a laser

This makes for much more precise tracking over just about any kind of

sur-face you can imagine The Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 also includes 2.5 GHz

Bluetooth technology, a rechargeable battery, and more

Logitech mouse

Logitech also has a wide range of wireless mice You can order them online

at www.logitech.com

This itty-bitty, portable mouse is the exact mouse I use with my notebook

computer It’s small, yet features big technology It’s a laser mouse, it comes

with a USB receiver the size of a nickel (literally), it’s oddly palm-friendly for

its size, and it runs on two AAA batteries

I just leave the little receiver plugged into my notebook’s USB port all the

time When the computer goes to sleep, I just wiggle the mouse and it wakes

right up The mouse has two main buttons, two buttons nestled to the left

of the standard left mouse button, and a scroll wheel with tilt sensors (See

Figure 2-1.)

It really has just about everything a full-sized mouse might feature, but it’s

pocket-sized and easy to bring around the house, or even anywhere to which

I may travel, and to use with my Wi-Fi enabled notebook for computing all

over the place

346 Using a Cordless Mouse

Trackballs are good for precision work (graphical work) and certain games However, if you don’t know if you need one, you probably don’t Logitech has two wireless trackballs One is the Cordless TrackMan Optical and the other is the Cordless TrackMan Wheel The TrackMan Optical is the fancier

of the two and costs about $10 on the street The TrackMan Wheel has a street price of about $50 Both models have lots of buttons The TrackMan Wheel has its ball on the left side instead of on top You use your thumb to operate the ball, rather than your fingers

Finding the Home Row: Keyboards

You also can find keyboards that are wireless Want to know more? Read on!

Microsoft wireless keyboards

Microsoft sells wireless keyboards and mice as a set It offers about a dozen sets, some of which are Bluetooth enabled The sets have different features, depending on the price tags They range all over the place, from basic sets

to elite sets

Book VI Chapter 2

Using a Cordless Mouse

Some of the keyboard sets come in ergonomic models, which I can’t stand If

you don’t know what ergonomic means, you probably have seen one of the

keyboards, anyway: The keys are split into two groups, positioned at angles

that more closely mimic the normal angles of your wrists They cut down on

injuries to your wrist but also typing precision Bury me with my Logitech

Wave keyboard (below)

Logitech wireless keyboards

Logitech also has a range of cordless keyboards and keyboard/mouse sets

The standout is called the Cordless Desktop Wave (See Figure 2-2) The

Wave keyboard comes in a corded version; the Wave desktop has the same

keyboard in a cordless form and a mouse to go with it I prefer a different

mouse, so I use the Wave keyboard without the mouse that came with it

348 Book VI: Other Networking Technologies

Contents

Chapter 2: Picking Peripherals

343

Using a Cordless Mouse 344

Book VII

Wireless Home Technology

Contents at a Glance

Chapter 1: Entertaining Yourself Wirelessly 351

Entertaining the Wireless Way 351

Chapter 2: Streaming Digital Music in Your Home .357

Serving Up Your Digital Music 357

Using the Sonos Music System 365

A Word on Audio Quality 368

Chapter 3: Networking Your Television: From PC to HDTV .369

Understanding PC Video Formats 369

Using a PC to Maximize Your Viewing Experience 370

Media Center Extenders 373

Game Consoles as Digital Media Adapters 381

Chapter 4: Listening to Music and Audio from the Web 383

Finding Content 383

Watching on Your PC 384

Watching Internet TV in Your Living Room: PlayOn 388

Radio Internet: Web Radio in the Living Room 390

Chapter 5: Exploring Digital TV and Satellite Radio 393

Making HDTV Choices 393

Understanding All Those Terms 394

Shopping for an HDTV 400

Understanding Content Sources 401

Heavenly Radio 405

Chapter 6: Exploring the Kindle 407

Understanding eBooks 407

Reading on the Kindle 2 408

Reading Blogs, Newspapers, and Magazines 412

Reading eBooks for Free! 414

Converting PDF Files for the Kindle 414

Contents Wireless Home

Chapter 1: Entertaining Yourself Wirelessly

In This Chapter:

✓ Starting out with digital music

✓ Deciding between wireless and wired

✓ Finding out about digital media adapter basics

✓ Using other gadgets

Your network is set up and ready to go You’re surfing the net wirelessly from your laptop Maybe you’ve got music streaming from your desk-top PC to your laptop

One problem: the home theater is in your family room You have content on your PC that you’d love to see on the big screen TV, but getting said content from one to the other seems like a major chore

The real chore is not streaming the video or music to your home theater Once you have your network set up to talk to your entertainment system, streaming is easy What’s hard, then?: asking the right questions

In the next few chapters, I take a look at specific devices and show you how

to set them up and connect to your wireless network Think of these as examples; you may choose different gear, but the principles of installation and setup are the same

In this chapter, I cover some basic knowledge, so you can understand exactly what I’m trying to do

Entertaining the Wireless Way

The goal for a wireless entertainment experience falls somewhere between listening to audio on your $20 computer speakers and having a full-featured home media PC running a special version of Windows XP connected to your entertainment system With the former, you get poor sound but few setup hassles With the latter, you must invest much more money — at least

352 Entertaining the Wireless Way

around $1,000 — to get a computer that directly feeds music, photos, and videos into your home entertainment center (In fact, the home media PC becomes part of your home entertainment center.)

Instead, you want to take the content that already lives on your PC and deliver it to that home entertainment center Most of the products I discuss are a compromise between those two extremes You get the advantages of

a dedicated device that does a few things very well with minimal hassle and that costs less than a full-fledged Media Center PC Figure 1-1 shows a typical media player configuration on a wireless network

Connections to PC from routermay be wired or wireless.Connection to Digital MediaAdapter from the routermay also be wired or wireless.Laptop

Wireless router

Starting out with digital music

You choose your media adapter based on the type of content you want to play If most of your music is bought or ripped from CDs using iTunes, you want a player capable of playing back music encoded with Apple’s AAC format If your music is in Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, make sure that your player can handle WMA playback

Book VII Chapter 1

Entertaining the Wireless Way

Note that all digital media players understand MP3, which is perhaps the

most common format for storing digital music

There are wrinkles and variations to even the most common formats For

example, WMA can rip music from CDs losslessly Apple’s iTunes also has a

lossless ripping format available Most music compression schemes throw

away some data — usually not data that affects the actual sound However,

audio purists prefer formats that keep all the data These lossless formats

include Apple Lossless, WMA Pro Lossless, and FLAC (free lossless audio

codec) Even players capable of playing WMA sometimes can’t play back

music files encoded in WMA Lossless format, so be aware of your digital

music players’ limitations

Another potential sore spot is digital rights management, or DRM DRM is

a way of preventing unauthorized copies of digital content Until recently,

all music bought from the iTunes store was protected with a DRM scheme

called FairPlay Most digital media players that can play back AAC-encoded

music can’t play back music protected with FairPlay DRM

CDs are easy: There’s really only one type of

audio CD, known as Red Book Audio CD, which

is the actual color of the cover defining the CD

audio standard You buy a CD, and you can

pretty much pop it into any CD player and feel

confident that it will play

The world of digital music is less well defined

When you rip a CD onto your computer, it may

be stored an one of a number of different

com-peting formats Apple’s iTunes, for example,

uses AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) as its

normal format Windows Media Player and

Microsoft’s Zune software encode music in

WMA (Windows Media Audio)

The reason for competing formats is so that the companies can protect the music from unau-thorized copying — this is also called DRM (digital rights management)

The closest thing to a universal standard for compressed music files is MP3 MP3 is MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 and was developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group, a standards organization that has developed a number of audio and video standards over the years

So if you want to buy hardware to play back the music you’ve stored on your PC, you’ll need to understand what format is being used

A word on formats