Tag Archives: dongle

Altair Semiconductor Powers 4G and LTE

February 4, 2012ces, Interview, Nokia, smartphone, Special Media, tablet, USB, wireless3G, 4G, Altair, ces, dongle, LTE, MiFi, smartphone, Tablet, USB, wireless, wireless broadbandAndrew

The Altair Semiconductor Company specialises in 4G and LTE wireless chipsets for the mobile telecoms industry. Andy and Courtney chat to the CEO of Altair to find out more more about the transition to the latest wireless standards.

4G, LTE and mobile broadband were all key technologies at CES this year, with products incorporating 4G announced from Motorola, Samsung, Nokia and LG, to name but a few. When compared to the relatively slow penetration of 3G, 4G uptake is happening much faster and it’s even surprising the industry. Verizon is expected to have most of the USA covered by the end of 2012. China and India are not far behind with major deployments.

Tablets and smartphones are driving the market but Altair’s chipsets are included in 4G dongles, MiFi-type units and wireless broadband routers.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

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Boxee Adding Digital Television Signal via Dongle

November 16, 2011Gadgets, Informationantenna, avner ronen, Boxee, cable, cutting the cable, dongle, flat screen, live tv, over the air, superbowl, television, USB, world seriesJ Powers

If you run your Boxee through a computer monitor rather than a flat screen TV, or just don’t want to flip to the terrestrial line, well fret no more. Boxee has launched Live TV – a USB dongle that will connect to your cable or antenna so you can watch television straight from the box!

The Live TV stick is an HD antenna that provides Boxee Box owners with local channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CW and any other over-the-air channel you might get. The Live TV will be available in January 2012 for $49.

“Last year, 89 of the top 100 shows were on broadcast networks – they remain the most popular channels on cable.” says Boxee CEO Avner Ronen on the Boxee blog. ” The Superbowl, the World Series, the Oscars, the Grammys, presidential debates and addresses, the Olympics… they’re all on broadcast. Yes, there are hundreds of cable channels, but make a list of the stuff you actually watch. You will probably find that most are on broadcast and the rest are available on Vudu/Netflix/Network sites.”

For $49, you get the dongle. I would guess there is no need for a remote, like a regular TV to PC dongle, because it could be controlled via the Boxee software.

Keep in mind, any over-the-air channel might not be in full HD. Primary HD channels could be in 1080p, 1080i, 720p or less. If a channel has a 2nd and 3rd sub-channel (ex: Channel 3.1 is the primary, Channel 3.2 and 3.3 are sub-channels), those would most likely run at 480i. If the Primary channel wants to run 1080p, it would have to turn off the sub-channels to do so.

Also keep in mind about the signals of over-the-air TV. The farther away from the antenna you are, the better chance of channel breakage you could get.

If you can get past that, this might be a great way to connect the TV to your… well, TV. Of course, if you haven’t cut the cable yet, you can also connect your cable to this and funnel those channels through your Boxee.

iTwin – Reinventing Mac, PC USB Drive as Cloud Device

September 19, 2011Gadgetscloud, dongle, itwin, os x, pair, USB, wifi, WindowsJ Powers

I have looked at this interesting product called the iTwin for a few weeks now. It’s a dongle for your computer that pairs two machines together – no matter where they are located. As long as they are on unrestricted WiFi, they can talk to each other.

Using military-grade encryption, the iTwin is pretty easy to use. Plug in one USB dongle into one computer, the other USB dongle into another computer. Connect up to an internet connection, then pair up the machines. When paired, you can pass information between the two. There is no storage limits (besides what the computers can hold).

The system comes with a “Remote Disable Code”, which you get via email. If your machine gets stolen, then initiate the code and your iTwin is disabled.

The main advantage to using the iTwin is you can have a machine with little or no data on it. Your other computer could become a cloud source only you can access. If you have PC or Mac, you can use this system.

“We are excited to be able to offer iTwin to both OS X and Windows customers,” says Lux Anantharaman, co-founder and CEO of iTwin. “We are confident that Mac users will be satisfied with the features iTwin offers, and which both consumers and small businesses have come to enjoy. Now both Macs and PCs will have full, cross-platform capabilities with this revolutionary device that is perfect for their sensitive file sharing needs.”

The iTwin is available for $99 on their store or through Amazon.