Gadgets
How To: Install a 3G USB modem on EeePC
I’ve spent the last 3 days hacking around on my Asus EeePC 701 trying to find information on how to install my USB 3G modem, Vodafone 3G to be precise, on it. I was directed to a number of different websites prompting me to download a load of different drivers and all sorts of other stuff the the EeePC.
As it turns out it is really simple, and takes about a minute.
Here’s how (it’d be useful for you to turn on your Asus EeePC now);
- On the ‘Internet’ tab open up the ‘Network’ icon, this will take you to Network Connections
- Click on ‘Create’ to start a new connection
- Select the type of connection, for the 3G USB modem select GSM / 3G (UMTS) / HSDPA, click ‘Next’
- Select Hardware, huawei E-220 /dev/ttyUSB0 and plug the modem into the first (closest to front) USB slot and click ‘Next’
- Network Registration, click on ‘Search’ to find the modem and 3G service. Once you get the list select your provider by clicking on their name and click ‘Next’
- Login Data, select the operator location you’re in, ie. Australia - Vodafone, then click ‘Next’
- Name your connection, ie. Vodafone 3G, and click ‘Next’
- You can now choose for this connection to start at system start, and also when you finish the wizard. It’s up to you but I prefer to start mine manually. Click ‘Finish’ and you’re done
In your Network Connections list you should now have your new 3G USB Modem connection, right click on it and select Connect and after a short period of connection time you will have yourself a 3G USB Modem connection. Go browse the internet, download some emails, chat, etc.
Hopefully your install goes as smoothly as mine did.
iPhone, 72 hours later
I’m not sure whether I have the time or inclination to write a big review of the iPhone, it’s pretty much the most awesome piece of technology that I’ve ever used. I had a few problems initially getting the email sync setup, mostly it was problems that I caused myself, but apart from that the iPhone has been rock solid.
A Couple of Thoughts
I love the camera, it’s way better than I was expecting considering all the groans of ‘wah it’s only 2mp’. I’ve taken a bunch of photos on it, and via the email published them to my flickr stream, and have actually been reasonably impressed at the quality in both daylight and low-light situations.
If you don’t know already I love location based social networking, ie. Brightkite, Twitter, and Flickr, and the iPhone allows me to login to all these, post photos, messages, etc. it’s all so easy with the address book and email integration. There’s even a couple of Apps in the iTunes Apps store that allow you to directly logon to these networks and converse.
SMS, Phone, Mail, Contacts, all work brilliantly and having them all seamlessly integrated makes calling, txt, emailing, etc. all so simple to do.
The various other features like Calendar, Apps, iTunes, iPod, Weather, etc. all work as you would expect. Maps is something I haven’t spent much time using, though I did have a quick play with it and it seemed to be ok though I would hardly recommend using it as a GPS as it lacks turn-by-turn instruction.
Recommendation
Buy one, buy one as soon as you can. Before you plug it into your Mac or PC, make sure you clean up all your Contacts, Calendars, and if possible convert your POP3 email to IMAP, once all that is done you’re ready to rock and should not experience any dramas.
Here’s a couple of photos that I shot with my iPhone so you can see what the quality is like, I’m pretty happy with them and think they are more than fine for blog usage and alike.
Vodafone officially the first to sell the iPhone in Australia
Well here’s something interesting, Vodafone just sent me through the following email and as I’m someone who pre-registered with them I can be amongst the first to own an iPhone 3G world wide! Small catch, I most likely wont get it for a few days because of delivery times, oh and their pricing model also sucks.
Vodafone pricing now in, and it’s bad news
Vodafone Australia just let loose their iPhone pricing, it’s not great at all. Kind of suprised considering their data plans for their mobile broadband are the best in Australia.
It seems to me that they are clearly treating this as a mobile phone and not a mobile internet device at all.
Screencaps from Vodafone Online Store
Vodafone announces release details, still no pricing
I just received this press release from Vodafone which gives some very brief details about their iPhone launch plans for tomorrow morning. At this point in time they still haven’t publicly released their pricing and confirmed that you will actually be able to pickup an iPhone outside of the below locations.
Hopefully they aren’t making the same mistake as Telstra.
Vodafone Australia is set to be one of the first mobile phone retailers in the world to stock and sell the iPhone 3G.
Tomorrow morning, select Vodafone stores across the country will be opening their store doors early giving eager customers their first opportunity to get their hands on the new iPhone 3G.
Entertainment and breakfast will be provided for all people in attendance.
Celebrity MCs and local DJs will be present at each event.
Launch locations:
Sydney – 333 George Street store
Melbourne – Chapel St store
Adelaide – Rundle Street Mall
Perth – Hay Street
Brisbane – Queen Street Mall
Telstra hates on Newcastle, loves Dubbo?
The iPhone ‘fuckups’ continue. This time it’s Telstra who have decided to pretty well not sell the iPhone. ZDNet reported late this afternoon that Telstra will only be selling the iPhone in 15 stores Australia wide. This is a bigger WTF than Vodafone’s lack of pricing.
The nation’s biggest telco Telstra today said it would sell Apple’s 3G iPhone in just 15 stores nationwide from Friday morning, including only one store in Sydney.
And now for the important information, where you can actually buy the iPhone if you dare choose Telstra.
Telstra will also sell the iPhone from some 15 stores nationwide, in the following areas:
- George St Mall, Sydney, NSW
- Bourke St Mall, Melbourne, VIC
- Canberra Centre in Bunda St, Canberra, ACT
- Macquarie St in Dubbo, NSW
- Casuarina Shopping Centre, NT
- Todd Mall in Alice Springs, NT
- Queen St Mall in Brisbane, QLD
- Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore, QLD
- Marion shopping centre in Oaklands, SA
- Bathurst St in Hobart, TAS
- Moorabool St in Geelong, VIC
- Chadstone shopping centre, Dandenong, VIC
- Westfield Doncaster in Doncaster, VIC
- Hannan St in Kalgoorlie, WA
- Morley Galleria in Collier Road, Morley, WA
Sorry Newcastle, you can only choose between Optus and Vodafone. And considering Vodafone still has no pricing it’s a pretty tough and uniformed decision ahead.
Cannon PC EX series
I saw this popup on Engadget earlier today and figured it was worth a re-post as it’s pretty damn cool looking and even though it does run Vista, and you all know how much I’m hating on Vista, I’d kind of like it at my house now.
For those of you who are a bit ‘non-tech’ like my old man, essentially this guy will replace your dvd player, your hard drive recorder, and it’ll even manage all your media, ie. mp3, video, etc. plus I think you can even load it up like a normal PC, get yourself a wireless keyboard and mouse and you’ve got a pretty awesome computer on top of a pretty solid home media system.
The price however is a little scary! RRP of around $5900 USD, so expect it to cost 10k by the time it lands in Australia. For that price I can buy stick an Apple TV in every room in my house along with a Drobo to handle the extra storage.
Anyway, if I didn’t scare you off with the price check out the full specs on Cannon’s website.
