Video Streaming Need To Know: Part 2 – The Real World
In the final Part 2 of this tutorial, Tim Higgins finds truth and lies about wireless streaming.
Smart Home
Slim Devices and Infrant Make Expensive Music Together
Slim Devices has bundled its Squeezebox and Infrant's ReadyNAS NV to go after Sonos in the high-end, whole-house audio market. Jim Buzbee looks at the odds of their success.
Hauppauge’s Media MVP: An Oldie but Goodie?
Jim Buzbee found that this media adapter covers the basics, but lacks UPnP AV and wide format support.
Video Streaming Need To Know: Part 1- Encoding, Bit Rates and Errors
Consumer networking vendors are constantly pitching us to stream video wirelessly around our homes. In Part 1 of this tutorial, Tim Higgins looks at what it takes to mess up networked video.
D-Link DSM-520: Flexible digital media player with HDMI
Jim Buzbee finds a lot to like in D-Link's HD digital media player, despite reoccurring hassles with MP3 files that have album art.
The ZonePlayer 80: A lower-priced option for Sonos fans
Sonos takes a great product and makes it more affordable. Reviewer Jim Buzbee has finally found a wireless audio player that he will be sorry to part with.
Two New Twists on Skype Phone Gear
These two products take very different approaches to enhancing Skype phoning. Ed Tittel and Justin Korelc put the Iogear USB VoIP Skype Calling Kit and TRENDnet ClearSky Bluetooth VoIP Kit through their paces
Buffalo’s LinkTheater mini: Too Little, Too Late
A $100 networked media adapter handling music, photos and video sure got our attention. But Jim Buzbee found that Buffalo made too many compromises to get under that magic hundred dollar mark.
AOL TotalTalk VoIP Service
After a false start, AOL rebranded and relaunched its VoIP service late last year, in the process making it available to not only AOL customers. Jim Buzbee checked it out and found a few rough edges...
Crowning the King of Free Talk – Skype vs. Gizmo
Is there really room for more than one Skype? That's the question faced by Michael Robertson's Gizmo Project. Derek Boiko-Weyrauch put both to the test but found that Skype won't be relinquishing its lead position anytime soon.
How To: Building an Embedded Asterisk PBX
The Asterisk open source Voice over IP (VoIP) PBX is usually set up on a standalone PC. But Michael Graves shows how the combination of a special Asterisk distribution and a single board computer can provide a compact, quiet and low-power alternative.
Quickview: Actiontec VoSKY Chatterbox
Actiontec's VoSKY Chatterbox is supposed to let you conduct Skype chats without being tethered to your computer via a headset. But Tim Higgins found that he'd rather wait for version 2 of this little speakerphone.