Novatel is looking to release a new gadget that maysolve one of the biggest headache for mobile computing fanatics: Where to find a WiFi hotspot.

Releasing sometime during the first half of 2009, the MiFi is essentially a 3G modem that will bring in the cellular network signal, convert it, and release it back in to the general vicinity as a WiFi signal.  Imagine being on a train, bus or other form of mass transit, and you will be able to get our your laptop or iPod Touch and get right to work.

While the device has no official price yet, they are saying “under $200″, you will of course need to pay some sort of monthly fee for a data plan.  While these vary wildly in price from carrier to carrier, this could easily become an essential piece of equipment for any one that works outside of their office more then they do in it.  No mare hunting for a coffee shop, now you can work on the go, where and when you want.

What is “Smart Lighting”, and why might it be the future of wireless communications?

Boston University’s College of Engineering is working on a way to replace your normal “dumb lights” with “smart lights” that would be capable of transmitting data.  The bulbs would flicker at a rate imperceptible to the human eye and would initially be able to transmit data around 1 to 10 mbps (mega-bits per second), not blistering fast, but it shows promise.

This whole technology would be based on light transmitting the data, and that is where this whole concept gets interesting.  As we mentioned in 2.4 GHz vs 5.8 GHz Cordless Phones, the radio bands are filling up with devices, especially the 2.4 GHzband, and this would free up things considerably.  The problem is, the majority of devices currently run on the 802.11g Wi-Fi standard which transmits at 54 mbps.  The Smart Lighting would be considerably slower when it is first released, but that is sure to change with time.

The most exciting part is that it should remove some of the problems inherent with traditional Wi-Fi inside of buildings where it has trouble passing through walls and over distance. Essentially this set up would make sure that is light is shining on a device, you are receiving a broadband signal.  While I’m not sure how the lights connect to the central router, but depending on how it would do so, every light in an office would become a transmitter, making the entire building into a connected hotspot.

No word on how long, if ever, before this technology comes out, but it is a very promising concept.

We’ve discussed Wi-Fi before, and we’ve discussed routers, and though we told you to lock down your router so people couldn’t use your connection, there are times when sharing your connection can be a good thing.

A company named Fon has come up with a system where you purchase a router from them for $53, a reasonable price for a Wi-Fi router, the encourages you to let others share in your connection.  While this may seem like a scary concept security wise, the device is built to handle this by offering two channels of connectivity.

The private channel, the one you will use, is secured by you entering the router’s serial number as the password, so it is fairly unlikely that anyone will hack it.  The second channel is a public one that is unable to access any traffic on the private channel.

The public channel can be used in two different ways, either from people willing to pay to use your connection, if you so choose to do that, or by other people who own a Fon router.  That’s one of the side benefits of owning one of these is that it gives you the right to use other Fon routers anywhere in the world, which can be located by using this handy Google Maps mashup.  So if you’re traveling any where in the world, you can have free access to the Internet.

It is certainly not a perfect system, but if you are in the market to add Wi-Fi to your home or office, this is a handy way to do it with a lot of potential side benefits.

Wi-Fi is another one of those terms that people toss around without much thought to if people know what it is, or what it does.  Essentially it is just the common name for the way computers and other devices converse with one another in a wireless manner, or connect with the Internet.

While Wi-Fi is the common term, what you are actually using is variations of the modulation for wireless communications using the 802.11 standard.  This technology has now been included in items such as computers, handheld video games, game consoles, PDAs, phones, media players and more, all of them with the intention of letting you get on to the Internet from more convenient locations, and without the restriction of wires.

Thus far the technology has had three official iterations released to the public:

802.11a – Released in 1999, running in the 5 GHz range, this standard didn’t run long due to the lousy ranges the devices got.

802.11b – Also released in 1999, this version ran in the 2.4 GHz range, and traded speed for distance.  Due to the range, this was the first standard to catch on with the public.

802.11g – Still in the 2.4 GHz range, this version came out in 2003 and really helped the concept take off with the public.

802.11n – While 802.11n devices have been released, these are not yet a finalized standard.  Once done, this will be the fastest yet, with the same approximate range as b and g.

The problem with 2.4 GHz is that this is the same bandwidth that most cordless phones, microwaves and Bluetooth operate on, so you can see signal problems with conflicting signals.  This is why you have seen a lot of cordless phones advertising they now operate in the 5.8 GHz range as it reduces the interference with your wireless Internet connections.

Amongst the biggest benefits of the technology is the number of restaurants, coffee shops, hotels and more that are offering free Wi-Fi to their customers.  While cities have attempted to offer free Wi-Fi across their entire population, unfortunately most of these initiatives end in failure, so that is why it is always handy to look for businesses offering free Wi-Fi, or some other systems we will discuss in the future.

For all of the time I have been using computers my son, Sean, has been my guiding light and my technician. He started with computers at a very young age with a Commodore 64 and has graduated to more equipment than I can understand and even writes professionally for technical blogs. We have seen the computer world evolve from dial up modems and clunky consoles to wireless connections and sleek portables like my iPod Touch.

But all of the improvements don’t mean that everything has become easier or necessarily simpler to understand for new or older users. On the contrary some improvements present a whole new set of problems.

On a recent business trip my husband, who occasionally accompanies me, met his frustration wall. He is fairly new to the world of computers and age wise he could even be considered an ‘old dog’. He checks his e-mail and plays games and that is about the extent of his day—anything more takes guidance and patience on the part of my son and myself. We almost always stay with one particular hotel chain and Wi-Fi is almost always their connection of choice. Passwords are necessary with such Wi-Fi service as generally there are clusters of hotel around offering wi-fi service and you need to connect to the right one. Sounds simple-huh? Well it is generally pretty simple but only when the hotel help at 11:00 o’clock at night give you the full password. No matter how many times he tried the ‘pass word’ wouldn’t work. Multiple calls were made to the front desk—is the modem working? Is there a problem? Is the password correct? Finally it hit the boiling point—the desk help was rude, we had to threaten to call their corporate office about the rudeness and my husband ended up yelling at me. I was all of the sudden the reason his limited grasp of the situation made the password not work. Confusion, stress and hurt feelings ensued. I finally convinced the help to call the night manager and guess what? The password wasn’t right.

This is how StarterTech was born. I do not feel it is fair to anyone –no matter what age or involvement in computers to be so frustrated that their head hurts or their blood pressure rises. I know there has to be a better way—this is a place to make that better way happen. If you are frustrated please come here—ask questions, ask for help. Believe me—we understand and if we don’t know the answer we find it for you. Welcome to the family!

I am no computer wiz. There, I have said it in public! I have to use computers in some way everyday in my work. Yes, I said computers—my laptop or my desktop are used everyday in some way. My desktop has so many programs on it that it takes forever to boot up and the same can be said for my laptop. At least I don’t have to heft the desktop so that is a plus. My laptop weighs about 6 pounds by itself not to mention everything that I need for it in my computer bag—who needs to exercise?

I have whined for a long time about the non-portability and complication factors of computing in my life and asked the air why something couldn’t be developed that would make applications like logging on for even the most simple of tasks easier. Well, it seems Mr. Apple himself, Steve Jobs, heard me and developed the iPod Touch just for me! Really it is the answer to my prayers-small, idiot proof and really cool looking! I can check my e-mail in a flash, make a hotel reservation in record time and look at new pictures of my 3 cocker spaniels while I am riding in the car. All I need for the really serious business of e-mail and web searching is a wireless connection which may be obtained in my home or office or one of the tens of thousands locations offering free wireless, such as McDonald’s, across the country.

The Touch turns on with the press of a button and presents you with a page of choices for activities that you have setup for your needs. From there it is just a tap away from what ever you have chosen to do and another tap away from going back to the beginning if you made a mistake—brilliant! Not even as big as a dollar bill in dimensions the Touch weighs only a few ounces but delivers like either of my larger pieces of equipment. I am checking my e-mail as I am writing this article—it took me about ten seconds to turn on and log into my AOL account—wow.

I know there are wonders and applications I haven’t found yet and I can’t wait to discover them. As I become more Touch savvy I will relay the applications to all of you, but in the meantime I have one more thing to say to you—RUN, don’t walk, to your nearest favorite computer shopping site and buy a Touch for yourself and then share its wonders with your family and friends. ‘Touch’ everyone—they will thank you for it.