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Review: Apple Airport Extreme Base Station wireless router

I finally got a chance to review Apple's first true dual-band Wireless-N router, the new Airport Extreme Base Station.

The new router, like the previous model, makes a great home router for novice and especially Mac users. It incorporates MobileMe for remote access and administration, offers fast wireless speeds, and has a very good range.

Savvy and Windows users, however, will find a lot of networking features missing, including the very popular Wi-Fi Protected Setup, the capability to filter Web sites, and access to manage the router's setting via a Web browser.

The Airport Extreme Base Station's … Read more

Apple's networking products get dual-band with Guest Zone

Updated at 10:05 a.m. on Wednesday: Apple confirmed that the new devices are true dual-band, meaning both bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and both networks (primary and Guest) offer 802.11n.

Without much ado, Apple has just rather silently upgraded its networking products, including the Time Capsule and the Airport Extreme, with two significant features: dual-band wireless-N and guest networking.

At its Web site, Apple states that its new simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi allows for maximum range and compatibility, as the AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule work simultaneously on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

However, … Read more

How it's built: Armored vehicles

Texas Custom Armoring issued a promotional video on how it bulletproofs vehicles for customers around the world. TCA does brisk business with more than 30 countries and countless heads of states, routinely armoring vehicles for the world's elite in war-torn countries. The cost for armoring a vehicle ranges from approximately $80k to the-sky's-the-limit, depending on vehicle size and features. Its customizations can include attack deterance (think: electric shock door handles) to offensive equipment, such as hidden ballistic steel bumpers.

Oregon Scientific ATC3K Extreme goes snowboarding

Like sliding down snowy slopes while standing on thin planks of wood? How about throwing yourself out of planes, or shouting "gnarly!" at the top of your voice? If so, you might want to check out the Oregon Scientific ATC3K Extreme hands-free camcorder--the successor to the ATC2K.

It's probably the toughest camera we've ever tested. Last weekend we took it to the Italian Alps for a hardcore snowboarding expedition, where over the course of our five-day adventure, it really proved its sturdiness.

It's waterproof to 10 feet so we never had to worry about it … Read more

SanDisk cranks up solid-state drive speed

LOS ANGELES--Technology introduced at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference by SanDisk could boost solid-state drive performance in Windows Vista by 100 times.

The largest supplier of flash memory cards unveiled an advanced flash file system for solid-state drives that "has the potential" to accelerate random write speeds by up to 100 times over existing systems.

Despite being generally faster than hard-disk drives (particularly at reading data), solid-state drives fall short of hard disks when they randomly write data. Random writes are generally considered to be the Achilles heel of solid-state drives.

To maximize random write performance, SanDisk developed … Read more

Zazzle now lets you create custom skateboards

On-demand retail site Zazzle launched on Wednesday its Custom Skate Shop, selling both pre-designed and custom skateboards.

It's the most "niche" product that the company has offered so far--Zazzle got its start selling t-shirts, posters, mouse pads, and the like.

It's the latest move that Zazzle has made to draw in the action sports community, which has strong ties to underground art and design as well as customization--and the need for gear. The company recently launched a division called Artsprojekt in collaboration with artist and former pro skateboarder Andy Howell. It's an outlet for edgy … Read more

Anti-signal phone case is cheap, if unnecessary

I've never understood why a cell phone signal-blocking handset case is needed when all one has to do is simply switch off the darn phone. But if you really must have one, just to show your geek mates you've something they don't (for good reason), check out this $6.38 option. It's available at the irresistible DealExtreme--an online retailer that BoingBoing accurately sums up as a seller of "cheap Chinese crap you were never sure you needed"--with free worldwide shipping thrown in.

However, the "leather" in the casing looks dodgy at … Read more