I’ve decided to buy one of these. It’s an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station. I got thinking the other day when I was looking at the portable hard drive to use as a Time Machine, that an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station would be a good idea to get.

I don’t really want to take all of the external hard drives that I have with me to Bolton when I move in a month or so, so I decided that a Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station would be a good idea. It can be used as the broadband hub in the house, and in addition to that, I can connect a USB hub to it and then share my external hard drives through it and the printer. This means that I’ll be able to access my drives and printer wirelessly when I’m in the house.

Another major advantage is that I’ll be able to access these drives and printer over the Internet (you need a MobileMe account to do this) so my information will be available to me wherever I am. Investing in an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station is a good idea for anyone who’s thinking of doing the same thing.

As I said, it’s a great solution for me because when I’m home I’ll be able to have access to the drives physically (although wirelessly) and when I’m away I’ll have access to the files.

PriceGrabber, as always have found the best prices for the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station so that you don’t have to. Pick yours up today.

There’s a lot of buzz on the internet and technology bogs about the new Amazon Kimble 2 wireless reader at the moment and I can see why. The Kimble 2 is smaller and lighter than its predecessor.

So why would people want to buy an Amazon Kimble device? Well, in my opinion, it’s a really good gadget and needs to be given time to grow and mature. Some people that I have spoken to think that the idea of the Kimble is “lame”, Now, I find that kind of comment a bit harsh seeing as the person saying it has never used a Kimble device.

To be honest, I haven’t used one either but I can see the potential in owning such a gadget. Being able to access up to 250,000 books whilst on the move is a really exciting idea to me. The books can be downloaded in about 60 seconds too.

The Amazon Kimble 2 could also see you buying your daily newspaper through it. This is something that has really excited me. New newspapers could become available to people; newspapers who are struggling at the moment to get themselves off the ground could cut out traditional printing costs and go completely digital. This is the way forward for a lot of papers. I know that it is a long way off before everyone has a Kimble, or a device similar to a Kimble, but the potential is there.

We will have to wait and see if the Amazon Kimble 2 will really take off won’t we. I really hope it does because I simply love the device and can’t wait to get my hands on one, certainly something to keep your eye on for a future purchase.

Now this is one cool gadget that I would love to own. The Polaroid PoGo Instant Photo Printer is one of those devices that you really need if you take a lot of pictures with your mobile phone and digital camera.

The PoGo Instant Photo Printer lets you transmit your pictures from your mobile phone over Bluetooth to the device, or via a USB cable from your PictBridge friendly digital camera. There’s no need to carry anything else with you. This is a dream for someone like me who already has pockets full of gadgets.

The images that the PoGo Instant Photo Printer produces are 2″ x 3″ and are printed on sticky backed photo paper in less than 60 seconds. And unlike the Polaroid cameras of days gone by, you don’t have to shake the picture to see the result. The PoGo Instant Photo Printer uses a special heat activated Zink paper to produce its images, so you don’t have to worry about costly ink cartridges.

The PoGo Instant Photo Printer is powered by a rechargeable battery or directly from a power socket with the supplied adapter and can hold 10 sheets of photo paper at a time. Measuring just 12cm x 7.2cm the PoGo Instant Photo Printer is small enough to fit in your pocket.

Ok, it isn’t going to produce 6″ x 4″ prints that you can share in bulk, but it’s definitely worth getting if you want to have a fun night out with your mates and maybe see the results of your snaps instantly. This is exactly why I would buy one. At just under £100 the PoGo Instant Photo Printer is a technological marvel that is at the forefront of photo printing.

I recently bought a Sweex Wireless Broadband Router for a friend who wanted to go wireless. They’d been using a wired network, but decided it would be a good time to get themselves in to the 21st century. There was also the fact that they’d bought a laptop and had an iPod touch, both of which have wireless capabilities.

The reason I decided on the Sweex Wireless Broadband Router was simple; price. For under £20 you get a whole lot of router. Some of the specs are:

• Supports: IEEE 803.3 and IEEE 803.3u
• Supports: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
• Maximum wireless data transfer speed: 54Mbps
• Supports: DHCP (dynamic IP), PPTP, Static IP, PPPoE, L2TP
• 1 x WAN, 4 x LAN RJ-45 UTP ports
• Supports: WEP/WPA./WPA2/802.1X data encryption
• Built-in Firewall and Port Forwarding
• Removable reverse SMA Antenna 5 dBi
• 2 to 3 x Extended Range
• Supports: VPN pass through
• Web-based configuration

All of which make the Sweex Wireless Broadband Router ideal for a first time entrant into the wireless world. As always, there are other routers available, but as I said, you won’t get a much better entry level router for this price. All they wanted the router for was to connect wirelessly and easily to the internet, nothing fancy. The Sweex Wireless Broadband Router does the job perfectly for them.

When I first read about this over at Engadget, I did more than get a little excited. I mean, a light bulb and speaker in one unit… it’s just too good to be true. And that’s where my bubble was burst because it is, in fact, too good to be true. The Soundbulb is just an idea at the moment, but it seems quite feasible that it could be a gadget of the future.

I would certainly buy these if they were available; I mean, think of the possibilities. It’s like killing two birds with one stone isn’t it, a speaker and light in one unit.

So how do they work? Well, they would have a small wireless receiver module in them that would allow them to receive music that was streamed from a transmitter or even a computer.

I do like that fact that they are “normal” looking bulbs though because this means you wouldn’t have to change your current light fittings. A concern that I have is with them being energy efficient, but I’ve read that they’ll be using LEDs.

As I said, these are only theoretical at the moment so for now, you’ll have to kit out your home with energy efficient light bulbs, which in itself is a good thing not only for you, but the environment too. As always PriceGrabber has some great prices available for energy efficient light bulbs.

I blogged about the Brother DCP-6690CW printer a while back and mentioned that I was going to still use my current printer (which is an Epson Stylus Photo R220) because it had CD/DVD printing facilities. I got to thinking about making it wireless also because I’ve developed a dislike for unnecessary cables going in to my laptop.

After a bit of looking and talking to people I’ve decided that an AirPort Express from Apple would suit my needs quite well. The AirPort Express is a gadget that lets you create a wireless network for your home, or even extend your current wireless network. But it’s more than that. With the AirPort Express you can connect it to your HiFi and play your iTunes library through your stereo. The ability to connect a USB printer to the AirPort Express is also an option. This is why it appeals to me so much.

I’m always looking for ways to simplify things around the house, and having an AirPort Express would definitely reduce the number of cables running around the place. Ever since I got my laptop last month I’ve become aware of just how many cables I used to have. The back of the PC is still like cable junction, but I’m reducing it drastically. When I get an iMac it’ll get reduced even further.

The AirPort Express is available through PriceGrabber from £56 which is great value considering what it can do. I can feel my credit card twitching in my pocket as I type this.

When you plop your iPod down into your iPod Dock it shouldn’t be restricted to the one little confined space should it? It should be allowed to breathe and spill sounds into all corners of the home. Well the extremely stylish Evolve Wireless Music System from Griffin does exactly that with absolutely no trailing wires or anything else for you to trip over and break your neck. How you say? Because its two independent speakers are completely wireless so you can put them into whatever room tickles your fancy. I can already hear you thinking “Karaoke time in the shower!”

Yes it is as simple as sitting the Dock down somewhere out of the road, connecting your iPod to it, popping down your speakers wherever you see fit (anywhere within 150ft) and pressing play. Each speaker contains a rechargeable battery pack which will deliver up to 10 hours of music between charges and to charge you simply sit each speaker down on their charging station part of the dock and they will charge automatically, no wires, no plugs, natter!

It doesn’t all end with the music however. This great piece of tech also has an A/V socket so you can connect it to your TV and watch all your iPod videos on your 50″ flatscreen and of course you have wireless speakers so you can create your own surround sound. How sweet is that!

I’m finally back home. 3 week tour of Asia, Australia and Indonesia is over. Jetlag is kicking in, which is why I type this, bleary eyed at just before 4am on Tuesday morning. During my trip I used countless wireless hotspots to not only keep up to date with a spot of blogging, but also to update my Flickr photos and Kyte area. It struck me though as I wondered through various hotels and hotspots that perhaps wireless hotspots will soon have had their day. Why do I say this? Well two reasons really.

Firstly there are a few things wrong with the wireless hotspot solution as it is today. My main gripe is the cost. Even in this country I find myself paying over the odds for a network connection. I currently have two subscriptions, which cover 100% of the places I want to visit in the UK, BT Openzone and  Boingo Wireless. Unfortunately though at the moment their subscription plans do not allow you to carry un-used wireless minutes over to the next month, which means that if I have a month where I’m going to be staying local I wouldn’t really need my monthly allocation. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to carry, even a portion of this, over to the next month. I gave both BT Openzone and Boingo a call on this matter, and it would seem they have no plans to introduce this.  So I end up paying by this for the minute which can work out quite expensive, especially if you are roaming away from the UK. If I were to buy an Apple iPhone I’d get access to the Cloud Wireless network hotspots in the UK, free of charge, but I find where I really need wireless access, in Airports, The Cloud is not available. Quite often when you go into a hotspot in the UK, and don’t have access to a subscription, you will be charged by the Hour, which quite often you don’t actually need. And just like a subscription based contract, quite often any un-used minutes from this hour are not usable at a later date.

My other reason for thinking that Wireless Hotspots will soon have had their day is upcoming new technology. I am of course talking about WiMax which at the moment can achieve speeds of around 10Mbps (it is hoped in the future to offer speeds up to 100Mbps). I hear the latest model of the Asus EEE PC will have WiMax, and I can see other consumer devices starting to offer alternative connectivity options in the not too distant future. I would also point to the fact that quite often when I’m stomping around I don’t have a full laptop with me, rather my n95 (perhaps soon to be an iPhone) At present I find 3G connectivity more than enough at present for the type of access I need while on the road, meaning access to a wireless hotspot is often not needed. This is especially true as I have an unlimited data plan, which means I have no issue with how much data I’m downloading over a 3G connection, which of course has it’s normal price plan based upon a per MB download.