What Is a BlackBerry -- Wondered what a BlackBerry really does, and whether you should have one? Dave Mabe looks at six reasons why the BlackBerry is a true productivity tool, from its push email capabilities to its corporate customer features, and more. Dave is author of the upcoming BlackBerry Hacks.
What Is a Smartphone -- A single device that can act as mobile phone and PDA is much better than having to carry multiple devices, hence the emergence of the smartphone. Michael Yuan discusses the evolution of the device and then details key features to look for when you're buying a smartphone. For developers, he describes the programming languages and APIs you can use to develop smartphone apps. Michael is the author of Nokia Smartphone Hacks.
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Go Wireless --
In this excerpt, David A. Karp shows you how to set up a simple
wireless network, connect that network to the internet, connect your
wireless devices to other people's wireless networks, and prevent
others from sneaking on to your network. All without wires, and the
most amazing thing is that it actually works. David is the author of Windows XP
Annoyances for Geeks, 2nd Edition.
Federated Network Authentication
-- How can academic network administrators cope with the
"roaming scholar" problem--that is, users having to use several guest
provisioning processes to roam across wireless networks on a campus?
This challenge applies outside the university setting too. Matthew Gast
shows you how federated network authentication can make roaming easier
for users and admins alike. Matthew is the author of 802.11 Wireless
Networks: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition.
Fix Hot Spot Annoyances--Using a Wi-Fi hot spot is a great way to stay connected when you're away from home or the office, but beware: you may be vulnerable to snoopers, email glitches, and a flaky connection. Preston Gralla offers insight and fixes for all of these hot spot woes. Preston is the author of Internet Annoyances.
Mac OS X for the Traveler -- When you're on the road with your iBook or PowerBook, you may find yourself asking, Should I carry my installation CDs with me? How can I back up data if I don't have an external hard drive? What power adapter am I supposed to take to the other side of the globe? This Mac DevCenter article tells you how to prepare for your trip. And be sure to carry a copy of your guide-on-the-go, Mac OS X Unwired.
Transferring Files to Your Pocket PC Using
Infrared -- It may be old tech, but using infrared
is still a handy way to sync up your PC and Pocket PC on the road. See
how it's done in this tutorial from Wei-Meng Lee, author of O'Reilly's
Windows XP
Unwired.
Microsoft Smartphone Tips and Tricks -- Ultimately, smartphones are only as smart as the
applications that run on them. Wei-Meng Lee begins a new series that explores what's possible, and what's practical, with these powerful mobile devices. Wei-Meng is the author of
Windows XP Unwired.
Wireless Security and the Open1X Project
-- Open1X is an open source project focusing on network
security. The wireless adoption of this technology is referred to as
802.1X. Matthew Gast went to the University of Utah to talk about it
with Chris Hessing and Terry Simmons, who are intent on bringing
standards-based wireless security to Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows
clients. Matthew is the author of 802.11 Wireless
Networks: The Definitive Guide.
Safari Gets Bigger and Better -- There are now more than 2,000 books from the industry's leading technical publishers available on Safari Bookshelf. As the library grows, so does its functionality: searches are powerfully precise and as broad or specific as you wish; and now, with a Safari Max subscription, you can download chapters to read offline. Safari will help you save time, reduce errors, keep current, and save more money than ever with up to 35% off print copies of your favorite books. If you haven't
yet gone on Safari, try a free trial subscription.
Listening to Bluetooth (Or at Least Trying to) -- If it's important to you to pace while you talk, you owe it to yourself to get a Bluetooth headset to use with iChat AV. If you don't have audio input to your Mac but you do have Bluetooth, this article by Dori Smith shows you what works, what almost works, and what to look out for. Dori is the coauthor of Mac OS X Unwired.
A Guide That Takes the Sci-Fi Out Of Wi-Fi -- Ed Stephenson writes about the partnership between O'Reilly, Borders, and T-Mobile that resulted in the creation of a free 70-page book, The Guide to Getting Unwired at Borders. With content drawn from
several of O'Reilly's popular wireless books, this Wi-Fi pocket guide helps make T-Mobile HotSpots
more accessible to customers trying to use Border's in-store wireless network. For a complete list of O'Reilly's wireless books, visit wireless.oreilly.com.