AirPort Blog

I received Apple's wireless Bluetooth mouse today. I'd ordered it last week and expected it wouldn't be in til October, based on reports, but it appeared with a CD-ROM containing the updated Bluetooth software and firmware.

The Bluetooth updates should be included with the Mac OS X 10.2.8 upgrade released today as well via Software Update. (It's not yet on the Apple download site.)

Configuring the mouse was a piece of cake. We put in the batteries, installed the software and firmware updates, and then turned on the mouse. You can select the Bluetooth tab from the Keyboard & Mouse system preference, and then click Setup New Device. Choose Mouse from the kind of device, and then follow directions; it automatically configures it.

The Bluetooth tab shows the battery life left in your wireless keyboard and mouse. I'd wondered how you would otherwise know that the life was ebbing away before they went dead.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Apple told me in a briefing today a very interesting wireless fact: the new laptops introduced today include new Bluetooth firmware and software that allows these Bluetooth devices to use adaptive frequency response to avoid stepping on frequencies in use by Wi-Fi.

Although this has been legal in the United States for months following an FCC decision which allowed devices using Bluetooth-like frequency hopping patterns to hop among fewer frequencies, this is the first device I'm aware of for sale by a major manufacturer that incorporates this notion. There are some gateways and individual pieces of equipment that try, but Apple's Steve Joswiak said that the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers exchange information within the operating system.

This adaptive response is part of the IEEE 802.15.2 task group's standard, and Bluetooth will apparently include it in Bluetooth 1.2, due out later this year. Joswiak said that the driver update would work on all Apple built-in Bluetooth and all but the very first series of D-Link USB dongles. The very first dongles did not feature upgradable firmware.

Watch for a Bluetooth firmware/software download, apparently.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you want to build a network of base stations that aren't connected with wires, but use the Wireless Distribution System found first in the AirPort Extreme Base Station (AxBS), you can supplement Apple's $200 to $250 model with the Buffalo WLA-G54. Read my article on how to use it.

The Buffalo access point uses the same chips as Apple's, and in my testing appears to work compatibly with the AxBS -- but it only costs $100. You can find Buffalo equipment at many online stores.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 07:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Apple announced its new 15-inch PowerBook G4 model today, which is AirPort Extreme ready in the cheaper version and includes an Extreme card in the more expensive configuration (see specs). The 12-inch and 17-inch models were also refreshed. All the models now also include Bluetooth built-in -- no more dangly USB bits.

This leaves just the consumer iBooks as the only non-Extreme models; they're also the last remaining G3-based systems that Apple offers. The eMac, iMac, PowerBooks, and Power Mac lines are all sped up.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple announced its new iMac models this morning, and they now all feature AirPort Extreme. Until yesterday, only the revised 2003 17-inch iMac had AirPort Extreme support.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Most of the security packages that change out WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption keys are corporate/enterprise oriented packages that involve lots of components, and often use 802.1X, a standard for logging in over wireless and wired LANs. WEP keys can be cracked in somewhere between 300 and 10,000 packets, depending on many factors and who you talk to.

Saferwep is a clever Java-based alternative for Macintoshes that rotates WEP keys to improve network security by reducing the chance of a brute-force crack. It's not optimal, but it's an interesting idea.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)