Internet radio. I’m not joking. Pop along to your local electrical store, start browsing the Roberts wifi radios and just wait to see how men will flock to you. That was certainly my experience this weekend.
Shop no 1. An American gentleman struck up conversation and proceeded to follow me around the display. I learned that he was suffering from a chest infection, had just had his 60th birthday, had lost 12 stone last year, suffers from diabetes, and likes to pick up pairs of gifts in January for his children’s stockings – presumably next Christmas. I couldn’t help wondering how come his presumably well-grown kids are still getting stockings but I guess that’s a cultural difference. In the midst of gleaning all this information, I managed to figure out that my preferred model was the Roberts 83i but, sadly, it wasn’t in stock so I bade farewell to the American and proceeded with some haste to Shop no 2.
Shop no 2 didn’t stock the Roberts models but had a Pure Evolve and a Logitech Squeezebox. As I fiddled about with the Pure Evolve, gentleman no 2 approached. That Evolve is over-priced he told me, you can get it for nearly 100 euro cheaper online. But the Logitech, he says, is better value and he’s a huge fan having bought one a couple of weeks ago. Clearly, he loves it so much he’s now lurking in the shop offering unsolicited advice to single women such as myself. Still, it was an interesing and persuasive conversation as a result of which I took a much closer look at the Logitech and found I preferred it to the Roberts 83i. Sadly, the Logitech wasn’t in stock either.
Shop No 3. This time, I was fully expecting another approach and, sure enough, within 2 minutes of arriving at the wifi radio display I was joined by gentleman no 3 – a Roberts fan well versed in current discounts. He pointed out that the 83i has a woofer at the back. (I wouldn’t actually know what that is but clearly it’s something to be desired) and that it has two speakers at the front making for better sound. He also says it looks more solid and classier – which is funny, cos the guy in shop no 2 didn’t think it was particularly classy at all. In fact, gentleman no 2 thought the Roberts and the Pure Evolve were both a bit ugly. Gentleman no 3 was interrupted by a sales assistant. I hesitated – not wishing to reject outright the Roberts in front of such an admirer yet knowing my heart is set on the Logitech Squeezebox. Feigning an interest in toasters, I lured the salesman away before quietly asking about the Logitech. You’ve guessed it, of course, it’s out of stock.
Clearly, I’m late to the wifi radio party and it’s no suprise they’re sold out everywhere if my experience is anything to go by. I’ve decided I wont’ be buying a wifi radio at all but I will continue to shop for one every weekend. It seems it’s the new way to attract men.
Using Meteor Broadband to Go Hotspot for Wireless Internet access on iPhone, iPad and Laptop
If, like me, you bought the basic iPad model without 3G then you can connect to the Internet via wifi at home or while staying in hotels but not while out on the road. The iPad doesn’t have a USB port which means you can’t use a mobile broadband stick if you need Internet access while you are out an about. You can, however, purchase a mobile Internet hotspot device (similar to mifi) which, once you have done the initial set up on a PC or laptop, will allow you to connect your iPad and other devices to the Internet via a wireless connection that you carry around with you. Here is how I did it.
I recently bought a pay-as-you-go Meteor Broadband to Go Hotspot. This device provides a wifi hotspot that allows up to five devices (eg laptop, iPhone, iPad) to connect wirelessly to the Internet. I chose it because it does not require a USB connection which makes it suitable for use with the non-3g iPad model (although you do need to connect it to a laptop or computer via USB for the initial set up).
I chose Meteor because my iPhone is with O2 and I have 3G Internet access that is usually pretty good. However, in some parts of the country, the coverage falls off so I thought having the hotspot access on a different network would improve my chances of decent coverage when I am away from home. That is why I also opted for a Pay-as-You-Go option since I will only need to fall back on the hotspot occasionally.
In the Meteor broadband to go hotspot box were:
- the Huawei E5 wireless terminal with
- a Sim card, Pin, PUK,
- a USB connection cable
- a quick start guide for the Huawei E5 (which in my opinion has a poor layout and is difficult to follow)
The iPad / iPhone doesn’t have a USB port so you will need to connect to your laptop or computer in order to install the device and set it up for use. Once it has been set up, and you have purchased credit, you can then access a wifi network on the iPad/iPhone using the ‘Settings’ option to select the network just as you would to connect to any other wireless network in a hotel, coffee shop, etc.
The installation instructions in the box are not as good as they might be but, that said, I managed to set up the hotspot successfully on my Sony Vaio laptop running Windows Vista Home Premium. The process went something like this:
 Meteor Broadband to Go Hotspot
- Turn on the hotspot using the on/off switch on the right hand side of the device.
- Connect the device to the USB port on your laptop or computer.
- A dialog box pops up and takes you through the install process.
- When the software has installed, go to Start – Control Panel – Network and Internet – Network and Sharing Centre – Manage Wireless Networks . Add the new network. You will be prompted for a password which for the Meteor hotspot is the wifi key printed on a label on the back of the device.
- If you have got a network icon on your toolbar, the new network should not be visible there. You can right click to connect or you can connect to the new network from the Network and Sharing Centre (Connect to a Network)
- Once you are connected, you need to go to the IP address which is listed in the Huawei E5 quickstart guide included in the Meteor Broadband to Go hotspot box. It seems you can only navigate to this address when the hotspot is switched on and connected to your laptop/computer. A default password is provided in the booklet and you are advised to change this. This IP address is where you can change settings (the main thing seems to be to make sure that the status is ‘connected’ and it is also where you go to ‘top up’ your credit.
The hotspot gives you about four hours of wifi before you need to re-charge it. It charges via the USB cable that comes in the box and up to now I have charged it by connecting to the laptop. I haven’t yet tried connecting the cable to the iPhone charger, but I am hopeful it might work and would certainly be more convenient when travelling.Over the Christmas holiday period we had 3 iPhones, an iPad and an iPod Touch connected to the wifi network. The closer you were to the Huawei device, the better it worked. Coverage was not great in our particular part of the country so we had a 2G rather than a 3G connection but we did have Internet access. In areas with 3G the speed is much, much better. All in all, I think this is a useful device and definitely worth looking at if a the mobile broadband USB stick is not an option for you.
The village newsagent
Twenty years ago this was a sleepy village. Shops closed at 5.30 and took a half day on Wednesdays. There was a hotel, a coffee shop with homemade cakes, a bank, a pub, and the village newsagent – an elderly gentleman who stocked the local and national papers as well as more exotic titles like the Times of London, the Wall Street Journal and El Pais. A few years ago, the newsagent retired. I hope he made a pretty penny from the shop – I still see him sometimes taking the sea air at a leisurely pace. It took some time to get over the loss of the shop. I switched allegiance once or twice, reluctant to buy newspapers from the supermarket because a dedicated newsagent lends colour to the community and I am a strong believer in supporting independent outlets.
Hello iPad, Bye Bye Newsagent
But the iPad presents a dilemma since the wonders of the international press are now just a swipe away. So, today, I succumbed to temptation and an online subscription to timesonline.co.uk. I love the interactive features, the quality of the photos, the ease of reading and, significantly, not having to throw out heaps of newsprint at the end of the day. But the pleasure is tinged with sadness. Digital may or may not spell the end of print but it does make it less likely that independent newsagents will survive. I like to think the man who retired anticipated the trend and has done well from it but I still miss buying a mountain of papers from him on a Sunday morning.
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