Gearhead

By Mark Gibbs

How big boys boost cellular signals

11/13/08

Gibbs takes a look at a serious solution to his lousy cellular reception, a cellular signal repeater, and is more than impressed, he’s ecstatic!

The Wolverine Internet radio is almost good

11/05/08

There are thousands of Internet radio stations out there and the Wolverine World Radio can get you hooked up. Even so, you might be pretty disappointed.

Reader feedback: DPC follow-up, cell-phone reception

10/30/08

A reader explains how he diagnosed a problem similarly mysterious to the high DPC issue that drove Gibbs crazy some time ago, and following the last two weeks of columns on cellular reception readers recommend a cell service quality site.

Is your cell number why your signal stinks?

10/22/08

Following last week's column on Mark Gibbs' need for a high-gain antenna to improve his recently diminished cellular service signal quality, readers let him know they feel his pain and one of them has an interesting idea.

Improving cell phone reception

10/15/08

Gibbs is not happy with the cell phone signal at his office so he tried a signal boosting antenna and, by golly, he's happier!

Backup DVDs that find your photos

10/08/08

Verbatim has a neat idea: Backup software embedded into recordable DVDs. Gibbs likes the concept but thinks it could do with a little polishing. Oh, and he revisits his old DPC problem. Yet again.

A better portable video tool

10/01/08

Gibbs looks at the Kodak Zi6, a direct competitor to the Flip Mino video camera he reviewed a few weeks ago, and discusses improving Windows audio.

More Chrome details, Less Firefox housekeeping

09/25/08

Following last week's discussion of Google's Chrome browser Gibbs discusses what makes Chrome special and then discusses a user's observation that Firefox 3 is up to something...but what?

Google's Chrome: Ohhh! Shiny!

09/17/08

Google's Chrome browser isn't ready for prime time but it sure is shiny and interesting.

Desktop virtualization for the enterprise

09/11/08

RingCube's MojoPac as morphed into a enterprise oriented desktop virtualization solution. Here's the world's first review.

Chrome and Firefox and add-ons, oh my ...

09/03/08

The occasion of the launch of Google's Chrome browser has Gibbs getting over-excited about browsers, add-on and standards.

Reader feedback and Linux distros

08/27/08

Some great user feedback on the SliTaz Linux distro.

Jott outta beta, and SliTaz is the boss

08/20/08

The Jott service that Gibbs reviewed a few weeks ago has come out of beta, and a reader points out a really cool Linux distro.

Network diagnostics, monitoring and building flash

08/13/08

A question about MAC-only device monitoring, a diagnostic suite, a server monitoring tool and a simple Flash creation utility.

What readers sync

08/06/08

Gearhead readers responded big time to the recent column on file synchronization. Gibbs discusses rsync and its flavors, Foldershare, and suggests an answers to a question.

Video for memory, a book for faults

07/30/08

A tiny video camera for a remarkably low price and a book on a novel software testing technique called "fuzzing."

Something to sync about

07/22/08

Gibbs takes a look at a cross-platform file synchronization system and then thinks about extending the idea.

Groundwork Monitor: serious network management

07/16/08

Nagios is a powerful, free, open source network management system, and when it's wrapped up in a virtual appliance it has to be one of the easiest ways to evaluate a serious network management solution

Nagios, lots of network management for nothing

07/08/08

Reader feedback revealed that the Nagios network monitoring and management system is available in a virtual appliance that means that Gibbs just had to take it out for a spin.

An IMAP book and measuring power use

06/30/08

A book on high performance IMAP servers and how much power does dimming a laptop screen save?

WhatsUp Gold: A solid new version with minor flaws

06/25/08

WhatsUp Gold from Ipswitch is a highly capable and cost effective network management solution that could replace far more expensive enterprise management suites for less than the cost of their annual maintenance. A few minor flaws mar an otherwise excellent product.

Reader feedback, erasing stress, and WhatsUp Gold

06/18/08

Gibbs responds to a reader's letter to the Gearhead column on Jott, Twitter, RSS feeds and Goosh; de-stresses with Stress Eraser; and starts reviewing WhatsUp Gold, a network management tool from Ipswitch.

Jawbone revisited and down the Google Docs rat hole

06/11/08

The Aliph Jawbone 2 is even better than the original, and Gibbs solves a data entry problem using Google Documents - it was a quick and dirty solution but it works.

Jott, Twitter, RSS feeds and Goosh

06/04/08

Jott, a speech-to-text service sets appointments, keeps lists and now reads RSS feeds such as Twitter's. And then there's Goosh, a command line for Google. How cool is that!

Photos, networking and tweets

05/28/08

A bit of a potpourri this week: A revised Eye-Fi product line, image manipulation applications, Twitter update, and Friend Feed, which could replace Twitter

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