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Media centre PC‘s and standalone PC‘s to serve music are all well and good. Unfortunately, their use generally depends on a bit of technical know-how and a fair bit of fiddling with extra kit. It’s just never a seamless experience. With a wireless network already blanketing 90% of the house, I decided to try out a gadget that I’ve been eyeing for some time: a Squeezebox. Now owned by Logitech and probably one of the few worthy Sonos competitors, I favour the Squeezebox primarily for its Logitech branding and a more reasonable price point.

Availability of the Squeezebox products is somewhat limited – with little to choose from, I selected the Squeezebox Boom.

In simple terms, the Boom is an attractive, black box featuring speakers on either end and a control panel midsection. In contrast to the Squeezebox Radio, there is no colour screen – no album art can be displayed. Whilst that initially may seem like a disadvantage, the Boom‘s green, text-only display is very functional. There’s no need to view album art the size of a matchbox from 10m away – it’s the sound that matters.

The box contains the Squeezebox Boom, a remote control with a battery included, power adapter and 3.5mm connector cable. If you have any thoughts of taking the Boom with you, a handy protective pouch is provided, though the unit is on the heavy side and you’ll need to remember the power adapter. Without a network and Internet connection, the Squeezebox is of little use. In this mode, it functions as an amplifier for a music source connected by the 3.5mm cable. When connected to a wired or wireless network, however, the functionality of this music device comes to the fore.

It starts with the setup, which is seamless and absolutely first-rate. Prior to starting up the device, I downloaded and installed the SqueezeCenter software on the iMac. This service collates music from iTunes and interacts with Logitech‘s SqueezeNetwork. Signing up is free – I entered my user name and password into the SqueezeCenter, then allowed the service to run through my 300GB iTunes music library. SqueezeCenter also runs on Linux and Windows and is able to serve music files from a variety of sources.

The Boom will live in the kitchen. There’s no wired network connection there, so I decided to try out the wireless connection. After plugging the unit into the power adapter, I watched the Squeezebox Boom go through its setup routine. It’s all automated and the process of entering values using only the dial or remote control unit a no-brainer. By way of DHCP, the unit obtains an IP address. The only other requirement is to enter the IP address of the iMac serving the music and running the SqueezeCenter. A reboot after updating its firmware meant the Boom was ready for service in an area with a wireless signal strength of less than 30%.

First off, I selected an MP3 from the iTunes library. Good sound quality and immediate response. The same when selecting a playlist. The Boom provides a number of onboard features, the creation of ad-hoc playlists being one. Searching for artists and titles is intuitive and easy: scroll through possible entries and enter text one letter at a time by turning the dial or the buttons on the remote. One feature I miss is the ability to play Audible books. That playlist doesn’t show up on the player. I guess issues with the DRM preclude this, but it would be a great addition to the Squeezebox. What amazed me most was the instant access and clear reproduction of Internet radio stations. A host of presets featuring radio stations across the world is provided, selectable from the menu. In all cases, I experienced no lag and no buffering – all radio stations played clearly and without a hitch.

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iBurst has been my only reasonably-priced option for access to the Internet from home. I’ve been a customer for some time and have, until recently, been happy with the levels of service provided. But my patience is starting to wear a bit thin.

A few months ago, internal system changes at first resulted in my daily usage reports not being sent on a regular basis. Not too huge a problem, until a change to the company’s billing system created a discrepancy in the actual amount of bandwidth consumed versus the reported amount used. Some interaction with the call centre resolved that. Usage reports came back up, only to falter a short time later. A promise of free bandwidth to make up for the inconvenience could not be held by the customer call centre. No problem: just provide the paid service.

But the biggest annoyance that I’ve been trying to deal with in the past month is the inability of the self-service login to function. At first, its failure was explained away as a result of an upgrade to the site certificate. That should take a few minutes. I gave the service more than 24 hours. More than two weeks later, I still cannot login.

I consider the invitation to call a human being to boost my bandwidth ridiculous and of no use whatsoever: like I explained in my Screamer rant, I am unwilling to telephone someone to interact with a company that bills itself as an Internet service provider. If that procedure involved a fast interaction, I might even consider talking to a human being. But to have to provide personal details each time I want to spend ZAR 50 on a bandwidth booster is just not worth the effort.

Hoping to get more information and assistance, I tried iBurst‘s once-responsive Twitter account. No help there. And to think that a the Talk to us feature on the dysfunctional website would actually elicit some kind of response is a pipe dream. Like all other interaction features of this nature, messages seem to end up directly in the trash can. Talk to the hand would be a more appropriate heading for this service.

Bad service. An unresponsive company. Time to check out whether I have an alternative provider I can take my business to. iBurst seems to have lost the plot…

Sometimes honesty is the best policy:

An error has occurred

Sorry, this site is not available to render the service you requested. A bug in the system has caused an error to occur.

Honesty may not be the best way out when you’re dealing with a product that is IT-based.

Thankfully, the activation and recharging of a Mascom data-enabled SIM worked without too much of a hitch. Better than paying the hotel about BWP 50 for one hour’s use of their crappy wireless network. The MiFi is doing quite nicely…

By providing your logon credentials to this version of the ABSA banking site you’re likely to reduce your banking charges quite significantly. Once the scum behind the email address onirekedouglasdale@webmail.co.za gets hold of your logon details, there’ll be little in the way of cash left in your account to charge banking fees on…

Documenting these scams is a bit boring, since they all rely on the same mechanisms: an end-user’s blind trust in technology, the promise of quick and easy transactions and an ability to dupe many people by showing them something that looks just like the real thing. I add this one here simply because it adds another twist to the usual provide your password routine. Played through, the spoof site indicates that an RVN (one-time password) has been sent to the user and that that message may, or may not, arrive due to an apparent system congestion.

The obvious play is that the RVN is never sent, requiring the user to click on a link to the actual ABSA site to retrieve a valid RVN.

I assume onirekedouglasdale@webmail.co.za next sends an email to the user requesting confirmation of the true RVN. Since an RVN is valid for a reasonable time period and because the user has already been duped once into providing personal data, it’s no stretch to believe that the RVN may well be sent to the scammer.

Like most modern scamming methods, the fake website looks like the real thing. A few things to notice: the address indicated in the browser is http://207.204.1.180/log/, not https://ib.absa.co.za/ib/ib.jsp. The image for some embedded content in the logon button indicates that something is amiss.

The message at the bottom right indicates system downtime scheduled for November 2009, most likely the time the real ABSA site was initially scraped and deployed for the fakery.

The site is not yet marked as a scam in Firefox, but has been reported to ABSA. Regardless of whether or not this site is blocked, continued vigilance is an absolute key in online system use. The sophistication of such enterprises is on the increase. Take care, check at least twice before entering anything into any website and as always, contact the organization if you have any doubts.

One way of verifying the veracity of the site is to initially enter incorrect logon credentials on purpose. Since a fake website can’t tell you whether or not your user name and password isn’t valid, the lack of an error message is one indication that may be used as a protective measure.

The iPad is still some way away, but that hasn’t made me worry any less about the micro SIM card the device is purported to require to access a GSM network. Whilst I may initially decide to go ahead and purchase WLAN only model, the real deal is obviously a device that can reach the Interwebs via 3G or HSDPA. Micro SIM cards are not yet readily available and may not be available for some time in certain parts of the world. Some informal digging has resulted in me deciding that the micro SIM can easily created by cutting a current mini SIM down to size.

Based on information found on the ETSI site and Wikipedia, it seems that the only difference between the two SIM cards is the actual size of the cutout. The contact area is apparently identical.

The Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil provides an interesting paper that compares the different form factors.

PDF link here.

That would mean a simple bit of cutting on an existing mini SIM card would suffice to enable the iPad to go online. I wouldn’t suggest anyone try that with their one and only SIM card required for use in another device. But prepaid cards can be had for about ZAR 0.50, which is cheap enough to allow for a bit of trial and error. I’ll definitely give this a go, but that’ll only be possible in another 90 days or so. Or is that already 88

Whether this is due to the Seacom cable having been connected or simply increased competition is pretty irrelevant. iBurst has migrated my 5GB service to one capped to 8GB. Best of all, the monthly price remains the same and the purchase of additional data bundles will be slightly cheaper. From the press release, it looks like the per GB cost could be as low as ZAR 39.

Though it’s not been in effect on my account, stepping over the boundaries of ones allocated data bundle will no longer incur a per MB charge and no throttling of data will take place.

Though I’d still rather have a piece of wire to connect me to an exchange, until the time that that becomes a reality, I’m bound to wireless Internet access. The lower cost and higher cap will certainly be welcome.

I join a long list of Twitter users whose accounts have been compromised. In the past few hours, I have seemingly been recommending a source of cool ringtones to all and sundry.

Pardon the intrusion…my password has been set to a more secure one and I trust that’ll be the end of that.

Brief tip: if you need ringtones, make your own

The one aspect of the MiFi that should be improved in a future version is the fact that it is unable to display the battery state on the device itself. One is reliant on the web interface to determine roughly how much the battery has been run down. Whilst virtually every device one will be using the MiFi with will feature a web browser, additional software is always useful. Enter Mi-fi for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

The application is a free download from the iTunes App Store – yesterday, a new version was released that works with the European firmware loaded on the MiFi sold in South Africa. The previous version of the application displayed garbage on the screen and was unusable. The new version runs quite nicely, though it is basic and suited to only a single purpose.

When started, the application connects via the wireless network connection to the MiFi and reads data regarding the signal strength, battery level, data volumes and IP addresses. The data is displayed on the screen and is updated every few seconds.

If you have a MiFi and iPod Touch or iPhone, this application may be very useful to have at hand when wanting to gain a quick insight into your MiFi‘s status.

Google has quietly launched an interesting website related to all the services it provides. The Google dashboard shows a quick overview of all data associated with a Google account, all the way from GMail to the Google Calendar and including such services as Picasa. Basically, the dashboard is a springboard to all Google services you’re already using (and some you may have forgotten you signed up for). Summary information is displayed for the content those services contain and links are provided to quickly access the relevant information.

The page shows all of your data that Google is the custodian of. Scared yet? Time for a backup and a plan to fail-over to some other solutions in case Google ever goes pop, methinks…

The MiFi has been available in South Africa for some weeks. If you haven’t heard of this rather remarkable device, here’s a quick rundown: the MiFi is a credit-card sized network device. It accepts an ordinary SIM card and connects automatically to any available data network, from GPRS to HSDPA speeds to enable Internet access. But Internet access is of little use if it cannot be shared. For this reason, the MiFi creates a wireless hotspot, capable of supporting five devices simultaneously.

Devices that connect to the MiFi are able to share the Internet connection and are also able to access a shared network resource for file sharing. The file sharing resource exists in the form of a Micro SD card slot – insert a suitable Micro SD card and start transferring files. The real benefit of the MiFi is that it contains a rechargable battery. That means the device is capable of providing Internet sharing for almost four hours, though that time is heavily dependent on network conditions, file transfer activity and the number of connected systems.

The MiFi device sold locally is the model 2352. AutoPage Cellular is the distributor and sells the device as part of a contract or as an outright purchase. The approximate cost when buying the device outright is ZAR 2000.

I had an immediate disappointment when my MiFi arrived about two weeks ago: after eagerly unpacking the tiny device, I inserted a SIM card and the battery, then plugged the charger in to start the initial four hour charge. The solid, red light indicated something was amiss, but I considered leaving the device for a while in the hope that the ominous red indicator would change to some other colour. Four hours later, there was still no change. In fact, the device was unresponsive and only a removal of the battery was able to reset it. I switched it on and tried it out – all working, except that any attempt at providing power either by wall socket or USB resulted in the solid red indicator showing up, fixed only by battery removal.

I returned the device the next day and was happy to receive an immediate replacement, no questions asked.

The MiFi is a very useful device, making the portable wireless hotspot a reality. Suddenly, it becomes feasible to use an iPod Touch to place a Skype call whilst on the move, or even Internet providing access to devices in a car. The battery life may be a limiting factor. In my experience, four hours is an absolute maximum, and it’s likely that the battery won’t make it that long under most circumstances.

The single power button lights up in a different colour depending on the status of the device and the type of connection it has achieved. It’s rather colourful…

Management of all settings is provided through a web interface that can be displayed in a browser. From that interface, various settings are adjusted, including those that relate to the firewall and file sharing.

File sharing occurs via the web interface – users upload and download files from and to the Micro SD card using the routers default IP address.

If required, the access level to the files on the Micro SD card can be changed.

The MiFi is supplied with a charger and USB cable. When connected to a Mac or PC by USB, the MiFi is unable to provide a wireless hotspot – in this mode, it functions as a standard USB data modem, similar to the Huawei E220. A control panel is provided that display connection status and statistics. When connected to the wall charger, the MiFi charges and functions as a wireless hotspot as it does when it’s running on battery.

The MiFi is incredibly useful. The device is tiny and light, allowing it to easily fit in any pocket. I found the overall performance excellent using both an MTN and Vodacom SIM. Similarly, connected devices have fast access and can be managed rather easily from within the web interface of the MiFi. The ability to provide a file share is a huge advantage and increases the usefulness of the MiFi tremendously. The only downside, as with any battery-powered device, is the time the battery lasts. Thankfully, the battery is removable and it may be possible to purchase extra batteries to provide longer usage times whilst away from an AC power source.

I’d highly recommend the MiFi. If you’re currently looking to buy a standard USB data card, consider the MiFi as a slightly more expensive, yet far more flexible, alternative.