Cisco-Linksys WRT160N-RM Refurbished Wireless-N Router

Great Router... with DD-WRT installed

I was looking for a Wireless-N router (the newest form of wireless connectivity) as most of my computers and consoles (Xbox 360 has a new wireless dongle) now have Wireless N technology. This was cheap and had fairly decent reviews so I decided to take a chance. The item arrived fairly quick and in great (I'd say practically brand new) condition and was easy to install. However after only a few hours of use I noticed several problems with this unit. Most of the problems seemed to be with my Macbook Pro; it wasn't getting a full signal speeds were slow and whenever I opened iChat the router would instantly restart itself. After going through the hassle of purchasing and installing it I decided to try something else before sending it back: I installed DD-WRT open source firmware on the router and haven't looked back since.



I have never used open source firmware before but I had read up about it before purchasing a router again. Even though the DD-WRT website listed this as not compatible I purchased this anyway in hopes that eventually it would be released. DD-WRT for this router (version 3) wasn't supported until literally 2 weeks ago and I was lucky enough to find a release of it on the DD-WRT support forums (easily found by doing a quick search on Google for "DD-WRT WRT160Nv3"). After downloading the mini pack and the standard pack (listed as WRT160Nv3 in the file name) I loaded the router access page (192.168.1.1) and did a web firmware update thru my FireFox browser first starting with the mini pack and once that is finished then with the standard firmware for this router.



It was as easy as that and took literally 4 minutes to upgrade it. Now this router has been perfect. It hasn't been restarted once since it was updated with DD-WRT the speed is fantastic and overall I am extremely happy to have upgraded with the new firmware. The DD-WRT firmware also has some great features like bandwidth monitoring signal adjustment and strength meter great security features and tons more that the standard Linksys firmware doesn't include. **Please note: there is a slight chance DD-WRT could brick (aka destroy) your router though it doesn't appear to happen very often. Please make sure you read the DD-WRT website and support thread on this router thoroughly before upgrading it. With that said it was the easiest and least painful upgrade I have ever done and now this router works great.



EDIT: Please read comments section for more information and direct links.More detail ...

Samsung WIS09ABGN LinkStick Wireless LAN Adapter

Samsung Wireless LAN Adaptor for Blu-Ray Player

I have the Samsung LN52A-650 LCD TV and the BD-P1600 Blu-Ray player. I have wireless internet access in my house. Initially I had a real problem getting the BR player to connect to the internet. It would find my SSID but would not connect. When I set the configuration to manual and input all the requested information it failed the Ping test. After hours of troubleshooting I found a piece of information on the web telling me that the SSID cannot have characters or spaces in the ID. I had spaces in the SSID name so once I fixed that it connected without a problem. I didn't need to buy a new wireless router. That seemed to be the leading fix for this problem for others on the web. However I didn't want to go through the hassle of re-configuring a new wireless router nor did I wanted to spend the money on one. In the end I didn't have to.More detail ...

Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra Mini Hub F5U407

Simple small inexpensive

Another great product from Belkin. I have used it when traveling with my laptop to hook up extra equipment. I have used it at home with my desktop for some added USB-2 level ports. It is great as it is very small and can fit in a shirt pocket backpack shoulder bag or purse. It provides you with 4 ports high speed transfer rates and it is plug and play so NO SOFTWARE required which is always a good thing. If you need more ports for any USB device this would be a great one if you require more ports you have several good choices right here on Amazon.More detail ...

Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux)

Solid and Reliable

This wireless router besides supporting Linux firmware is a tested and true wireless router with 802.11 b and g support. It supports WPA WPA2 and the older WEP encryption schemes. In addition it has a built-in firewall MAC address filtering and supports access policies (such as "don't allow FTP connections to this computer on Sundays").



When I installed this wireless router setup was very straightforward (I did not use the Setup Wizard because it didn't work for me). I changed the IP address range (because the DSL modem uses the 192.168.1 address space) set the administrator password chose a name for the Wireless network enabled WPA2 encryption and picked a passphrase.



After that I connected my laptop to the router right away and received an excellent signal and throughput of 100 KB/sec (for comparison my DSL connection maintains a throughput of 300 KB/sec when I connect straight to the DSL modem).



I've been using the router for several months now and have not had any dropped connections (my older Netgear router dropped connections fairly frequently and did not support the newer WPA encryption scheme) and have consistent throughput. The router has been running constantly for these past few months.



For the real tech-heads this router has customized Linux firmware available from third parties. I haven't tried this firmware since the base Linksys firmware more than meets my needs.



Finally good security practices are to: Change the administrator password disable Universal Plug and Play disable Remote administrative access use a unique name for the access point and if the network is only for a small number of personal devices (i.e. a laptop you own) enable MAC address filtering. A MAC address uniquely identifies a network card so this only allows certain computers to access the network.

More detail ...

Steve Madden Women's Caryssa Platform PumpBlush5.5 M US

great pumps

i got these in both the blue and the black suede and i love them both! These heels are five inches but the platform is at least an inch so they feel like four inch heels. Granted that might still be a bit much for the uninitiated but i'd recommend looking more closely at the platform itself: There is a definate thinning of the platform towards the toes while the platform is thicker towards the rear of the ball of your foot. This helps your feet to sort of "roll along" as you walk along and imho it is a very big improvement in design.



So you can always get a gel insert to make these even more comfy but you might find they're o.k. without it. i usually do use a gel insert just because i like things to be as comfy as possible.



Anyway these pumps are very sophisticated and sexi and they look fabulous with so much. i love the rounded toe and both my black pair and my blue pair are great to wear with jeans. My black pair looks great with both blue denim and black leather miniskirts and the list goes on.



These are great shoes i find them to be a great addition to my wardrobe.More detail ...