Have Laptop Will Travel

Alltel unveils WiFi service

With WiFi proving to be a wonderful business investment for many companies, business entities all over the world are more than happy to provide WiFi service to a very receptive market.

Alltel Wireless, just last week, launched its own WiFi service that caters to customers in North and South America. The new WiFi service will be powered by Boingo Wireless.

The Arkansas based company now ooffers WiFi and EVDO Wireless Internet package that offers both unlimited WiFi access from any of its hotspot. The price starts at just $9.99 a month, which is on top of the customer’s wireless internet plan. There is also a prepaid service in the form of prepaid WiFi cards that are available in Alltel Wireless stores. The values available is $19.99 a week or $9.99 a day.

Alltel officials said the new product offering is in line with its goal to provide customers various ways of connecting to the internet. The decision of Alltel to come out with a WiFi product came just a few weeks from Nokia’s own announcement that it will be offering a new phone that has built in WiFi capabilities. The Nokia 6301 will use UMA technology that will give users the ability to use either a GSM network or a wireless LAN.

The Samsung Q1 Ultra

Samsung recently released a revamped version of its Q1 ultraportable computer. This iteration did not sit well with consumers mainly because of its high selling price and the lack of a keyboard. The failure of this initial stab at the ultraportable market was such a dud that some manufacturers even looked at it as a sign that there is no business to be had in this sector and decided to just walk away from servicing this segment.

But Samsung has been steadfast in their commitment and they have now released the Q1 Ultra — which is a vast improvement over the previous model. It sports an 800 mhz Intel processor, Windows Vista, and connectivity to cellular networks. It also has a webcam. All these features have been squeezed into a form factor that only weighs 1.5 pounds. Of course, Samsung addressed the biggest gripe about the Q1 by adding a keyboard to the Ultra. Oh, and there is also the standard bluetooth and WiFi connectivity as well as a nifty 1.3 megapixel camera at the back.

Overall, the Q1 Ultra is a great device to own if you are the type who loves to surf and type out small emails to friends or even make mobile phone calls. It basically serves as specific set of functions — and it does them well. It will not, however, replace your notebook computer in terms of features and usability.

American Airlines to test inflight broadband internet access in 2008

Laptops can be such an addictive machine. I remember when I had my first laptop — I just had to bring it with me wherever I went. Lugging around my computer made me feel so much more productive because I can squeeze in more work. Entertaining myself when I’m bored was also answered by having my laptop with me. With the advent of WiFi, bringing a laptop became so much more fun. You can now chat with friends, surf your favorite sites or even play online. Unfortunately, there are some areas where you can only wish that you can use the internet with your laptop. Long airplane trips are one of those situations where having an internet access would have made a great difference. Fortunately, American Airlines sees the world the same way I do.

The airline company has recently announced that it will begin tests for the deployment of inflight broadband internet access by 2008. The tests will initially be conducted on American Airlines’ transcontinental routes. The service is going to be fee based and will also block video conferencing and VOIP services so that these internet tasks will not disrupt ground to air communications. Also, this particular service will only be available in US flights because of the nature of the technology being used.

5 Tips To Improve The Battery Life of Your Laptop

If you’re always on the road with your laptop, you know the problem : after only some months the battery life has tremendously reduced. My last laptop, a Sony Vaio, had after 2 years around 30 minutes of battery life left over. And that was without pushing the engine.
When I bought my new laptop, I made sure to go for a bigger 9 cell battery, but still there are some things to take care of to enjoy your laptop as a real portable device as long as possible.
My 5tips to make your battery last longer.

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Social WiFi, A New Kind of Network

Ever since the first days of wireless networking, mobile computing, sharing someone’s wireless internet connection has been popular. Wardriving has been a popular sport and I know many IT freaks who have their wireless connection activated where ever they go, trying to capture a signal.

In our days, most networks still are unsecured and open to anyone who wants to connect.
But with the rise in social networks we also see a new kind of networking : social wireless networking. People who knowingly share their wireless internet access with other users, members of communities.
What networks are there. What communities to join as laptop user and do they really help?

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