belkin

Where is wireless HDMI?

HDMI has certainly had its growing pains, but the connection is finally beginning to deliver on its original promise: a single-cable solution for delivering high-bandwidth, all-digital HD video and multichannel audio. HDMI is nearly universal in the home video market, present on all current HDTVs and Blu-ray players, as well as nearly all HD-capable cable and satellite set-top boxes; DVRs; game consoles; AV receivers; upscaling DVD players and recorders; and network video streamers such as the Apple TV. In fact, you realize just how convenient HDMI is when you come across a product without it--I'm looking at you, Nintendo Wii--and then have five cables (three component video wires plus two-channel stereo) instead of one crowding the back of your home entertainment system.

But one aspect of the HDMI promise remains unfulfilled: wireless HDMI. It's an attractive idea, especially for anybody with a wall-mounted flat-panel TV or a ceiling-mounted projector: have all of your HDMI-capable gear running into an AV receiver or HDMI switcher with a wireless HDMI transmitter, and have the TV equipped with a matching receiver--thus allowing you to have all your AV sources across the room from the actual display. We've been hearing about it for years, but to date, there are few--if any--products that you can actually buy. Here's a quick update on the wireless HDMI products we've heard about to date--including when (or whether) we can expect to see them: … Read more

Belkin travel powerstrip combines surge protection, USB charging

You'd think that the design for power strips and surge protectors would be pretty much played out, but Belkin has actually done some pretty interesting things with them in recent years: clamp-on models, ones that hide all of the wall warts, and even the forthcoming Conserve, an eco-friendly model that truly shuts off connected devices at the touch of a wireless remote.

The company is taking that spirit of innovation on the road with its latest power product: the Belkin Mini Surge Protector. The travel-friendly model packs three grounded three-prong power outlets and two powered USB ports into its … Read more

Defending your router, and your identity, with a password change

Recently, in the techie Q&A column in the New York Times, someone asked about changing the password in their router. Due to space limitations, the answer by J. D. Biersdorfer was short, too short. This is what you need to know.

Every router, wired or wireless, has an internal website used to make configuration changes. Accessing this internal website requires a userid/password, something totally independent of any wireless network passwords.

A year ago, in my prior blog, I discussed why it is so important to change the default router password (see Home routers can be dangerous. VERY dangerous). … Read more

Bad luck with Belkin

I like the Belkin company. I remember when Belkin was basically nothing but a cable company, and by that, I mean a company that makes electrical and optical cables. They made good cables, and still do.

But in recent years they have expanded into a wide variety of consumer products. I've always assumed Belkin's expansion was driven, at least in part, by the success of Monster Cable, which has made a lot of money selling expensive cables that (in my opinion, at least) are not always worth the price.

I imagine Belkin's engineering-oriented management deciding that selling … Read more

Here comes the Air accessory deluge

Less than three days since the MacBook Air's debut, companies are working furiously to come out with accessories that will most certainly deluge the market in coming months. So even though Belkin's sleeves and cases aren't exactly revolutionary, they score points for being so quick out of the floodgate. In fact, Belkin's already got a whole new line on its site, with options for color, leather, neoprene, straps, and fasteners, for $40 or $50. It's unclear when they'll be ready for delivery, however. So if you want some faster--and cheaper--you can always opt for &… Read more

Designer Macworld Part 2: Belkin

Here's something blasphemous: My favorite booth at Macworld was not Apple's, but Belkin's. It knocked my socks off.

Think back a few years: Belkin was a ho-hum manufacturer of unsexy cables and nondescript PC accessories. Then came the iPod, and the company recognized a good thing when it saw one. Belkin jumped on the iPod shooting star and produced a nice line of interesting, well-conceived accessories. But essentially, the company outsourced its aesthetic to the iPod, piggybacking visually as well as functionally on that core device.

Now, Belkin is turning into a design and innovation powerhouse in … Read more

Belkin shows off it's Podcasting solution

Belkin have introduced the TuneStudio's little brother, the PodcastStudio (apparently dropping spaces is the new dropping vowels). The two channel recorder that works buy attaching your iPod features two movable built-in microphones as well as combo XLR / 1/4" inputs for other microphones and a built in speaker. It works with all the latest iPods excluding the Touch and the iPhone. It should retail for around $100 when it ships later this year.

HD Radio and a four-channel mixer for iPod recording

Several CES booths had the telltale orange and black HD Radio sign, designating that they were selling at least one device with an HD Radio receiver in it. There was also some buzz over a new feature that lets you flag a song for later purchase on iTunes (this works only on models with an iPod dock). I stopped by iBiquity's booth--they're the developers of HD Radio technology--to get an overview of all the supported devices out there, and it's a pretty impressive list, including home radios from Creative, JBL, and Sony, plus automotive radios from many … Read more

Belkin's FlyWire Wireless HDMI

I think you would all agree that there is nothing cooler than a flat screen TV hanging on your wall. I think you would also agree that there is nothing worse than a wirey mess hanging from said screen. Luckily, many companies at this years CES are showing wireless HDMI in various forms and Belkin is no exception. The FlyWire is a wireless, two piece device that connects to your HDMI devices in your AV rack and sends them to the receiver that fits neatly behind your TV. It is capable of delivering 1080p content over an undisclosed range and … Read more