networking

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on networking:

Belkin’s Wemo smart-home brand taps the brakes on Matter standard

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Wemo products like this dimmer switch work with HomeKit over Thread, but forget about Matter certification for now.
Wemo products like this dimmer switch work with HomeKit over Thread, but forget about Matter certification for now.
Photo: Belkin/Wemo

Belkin’s smart-home accessories brand, Wemo, is “backing away from Matter and dimming our dreams of a smart home utopia.” That’s according to a report published Wednesday.

At a time when companies are rushing to ready products for the new smart-home networking standard, which is meant to let different brands work together, Wemo’s hesitation is a surprise.

Its products work only with HomeKit. Now it looks like that won’t change anytime soon.

With 190 products certified, Matter smart-home standard looks ahead

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About 190 products are certified for the Matter standard (or soon will be after testing).
About 190 products are certified for the Matter standard (or soon will be after testing).
Photo: CSA

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) showcased companies and products using the newly available Matter home-automation standard at a launch event in Amsterdam Thursday.

The group, which includes Apple, Google and many other companies, emphasized the standard’s building momentum and drew a rough road map of what’s to come.

Boost your home Wi-Fi with this inexpensive amplifier

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Browse and game freely with this WiFi booster.
Browse the web without delays thanks to this Wi-Fi booster and range extender.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It sucks when your internet connection stalls out in the middle of an important task, but you don’t need to suffer with spotty Wi-Fi. This Wi-Fi Booster Repeater Signal Amplifier helps you browse the web and enjoy any form of online entertainment without interruption.

With more and more folks relying on their home internet for work, streaming, education and gaming, a strong and reliable Wi-Fi connection is more important than ever.

Connect devices to the internet with a simple tap [Deals]

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Wifi Porter- NFC-Enabled Device
This Wi-Fi puck connects visitors to the internet with a single tap or scan of their iOS or Android device.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Whether at home or the workplace, connecting a bunch of people to your network can prove annoying. There’s no reason to go hoarse from repeating the password over and over, though. Instead, you can get this wooden puck to make getting online as easy as can be.

How to browse all your Mac’s folders from the iPad’s Files app

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The days when a MacBook was vastly better than an iPad are over.
Browse your Mac’s files from your iPad.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Have you ever sat on the couch, or out on the porch with your iPad, and realized that the file you need is on your Mac? And only on your Mac — not in Dropbox or iCloud Drive or some other easy-to-reach storage? You have to get up, walk to the Mac, and then work out how to get that file onto your iPad.

It doesn’t have to be this way. With one app, you can put all of your Mac’s (or PC’s) folders and files right there inside the iPad’s Files app, ready to browse. Let’s do it.

Google’s mesh router might fix your Wi-Fi problems

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eero
Google Wifi will be a lot like Eero.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Your home’s Wi-Fi could soon be powered by Google, according to a new report that claims the search engine giant plans to get into the router business next month.

Instead of competing head-on with Apple’s AirPort Express, the new Google router will supposedly bring a slew of smart features to the home, allowing users to pair two or more routers together to fix your home’s shoddy Wi-Fi coverage.

Apple to pay ISPs for direct iPhone connection

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iTunes is down!. Photo:
iTunes is down!. Photo:

Apple wants to deliver content directly to your iPhone, iPad or Mac and according to a report, it’s ramping up development of its own Content Delivery Network (CDN) to take make it happen.

Dan Rayburn at Streaming Media reports that Apple’s CDN plans are ramping up as the company has begun negotiations with the US’s largest ISPs to secure paid interconnection deals that would let Cupertino beam updates directly to your iPhone more efficiently than the third-party providers it currently uses.

Add Network Locations And Switch Among Them In The Apple Menu [OS X Tips]

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Location Location Location

Network locations are extremely useful if you use your Mac across a variety of networking environments, like a Proxy-laden school building, a super secured enterprise site, or a special set up at home. Each environment could take a ton of extra time setting up the details if you only had one networking setup system.

Luckily, Mac has always had this idea of Locations, a way of setting and saving all the little networking details for each location you use your Mac in. Did you know, however, that you can switch between network locations in the Apple menu? I didn’t, so I figured I’d share what I found out.

Apple Responds To Request To Make Apple TV, Bonjour Work Better For Higher Education

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A5X inside, but nothing else new.
A5X inside, but nothing else new.

A coalition of higher education IT folks petitioned Apple last August to make Bonjour, AirPlay, and AirPrint work better on large campus networks. The petition currently has 750 signatures, which may have helped Apple take notice.

This week, the Cupertino-based tech company responded to the petition by proposing a new industry standard that will fix issues with its “zero-configuration” networking technology–Bonjour–to let it scale better and be more secure across larger networks. At an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting in Atlanta, Apple and other vendors, including IBM, claimed support for the creation of a new working group to improve the current networking protocols, of which Bonjour is one.

Tiny Dongle Turns Hotel Ethernet Into Hotel Wi-Fi

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You're in a hotel room, and you want to hook up to the in-room Wi-Fi. And guess what? It sucks, just like at every other hotel you ever stayed at. So Instead you dig out your MacBook and hook it up to the hotel's Ethernet cable, and use internet sharing to generate your own wireless network.

Wait… The newest MacBooks Air don't have Ethernet ports. But don't worry: you can pick up the $60 mySpot from Kanex, a little dongle which takes an Ethernet connector and turns its sweet network payload into a wireless cloud, ready for all your iDevices and your non-Ethernet MacBook Air.

How Do I Install Samba Into Mac OS X Lion? [Ask MacRx]

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Mac-SMB-Networking.jpg

Apple made a number of changes to internal components in OS X Lion, including not installing Java by default and changing it’s SMB (Samba) Windows networking code. These changes have broken some previously working setups but fortunately there are workarounds:

I recently upgraded to OSX Lion, little did I know that samba was removed. Now I cant get on to my DNS 323 and my laptop is piling up with junk. I’ve seen on the net that there are way to install samba but all of them are out of my expertise. Can you help me and put it plain english steps?

Alon

Belkin N750 N+ Router is the Supreme Burrito, and Then Some [Review]

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belkin-n750-cover

Review by Kelly Keltner

I have a love/hate relationship with routers. I love what they do and the freedom they give me; hate that they never quite live up to my expectations. I’ve been through numerous routers over the years and have yet to find one that truly impressed me. However, Belkin’s N750 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router ($130) might be the first that I’ve had a good overall experience with right out of the box.