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I want one of these: Hands-On With The MiFi Personal Hotspot
The MiFi is a little box, small enough to fit into a jeans pocket, and it has one function: to pluck the internet from the air using a cellular radio and share it with up to five other devices via WiFi. It is essentially a wireless router with 3G inside, and it has been getting rave reviews.
I have been testing one for the last two weeks, and it turns out to be as great as everyone says, although there are a few problems which are not the fault of the MiFi itself.
Setup is easy, and if you buy it ready-configured from your cell provider it should just be a matter of switching the thing on. There are also optional installations to use the box as a tethered USB modem, and while this means the battery will not drain, it also deactivates Wi-Fi so you can only use it with one computer. With Wi-Fi on, setup is just the same as any other router — just type 192.168.1.1 into your browser.
The battery is supposed to last four hours when in active use, but in practice I never drained it, using both a netbook and an iPod Touch. The MiFi is pre-set to switch off after five minutes without use, and although you can change this, the default setting works fine. Couple this with a fast startup time (30 seconds from switch on to gaining a 3G signal) and the emergency possibility of a USB hookup and battery life is no problem.
Until you experience a bubble of Wi-Fi that surrounds you wherever you go, you won’t know how handy it can be. Sure, having an iPhone is useful, but being able to hop onto the net anywhere using any Wi-Fi-equipped device you like is pretty addictive. You can use it on trains, in cars, or even — as I did — on a bike. Along with my iPod I used Google Maps to navigate my way around the countryside.
I can get into facebook, but it's telling me that I need cookies enabled (which I have), and it won't let me get to older posts.
Something happened with their cookie process; delete you Facebook cookies and log back in. All will be well. (I just did this after about 30 seconds frantic clicking; I'm in a healthcare-issue DISCUSSION, and it's INTERESTING, and I don't want to miss anything...or let trolls shout us down.)
I can get in now. Didn't need to delete any cookies either. I was afriad that my employer had blocked FB, but all is good (for today).
I can get in. I had to delete my Facebook cookies first.
Didn't need to delete any cookies either.
So not everyone needs to toss their cookies to reconnect with their friends.
So not everyone needs to toss their cookies to reconnect with their friends.
It helps sometimes though.
A minor rant. Why the fuck won't people who set up security systems understand basic human behavior. My Mom's bank has set up a new security protocol. You must have three of those stupid back up questions and answer set up, and you have to answer them randomly. So my Mom has the the three question and the answers to them on a postit note attached to her monitor. And I know the security people probably think of this as stupid user behavior. But really it is stupid security system designer behavior. No one is going to fucking remember three questions for your system plus a pin number and password, plus similar requirements for all their other things. A sophisticated user may use something like password vault, but I guarantee you that writing down the pain in the ass hurdles you have to jump over to get to their bank account is what the vast majority of their customers will do.
Oh, I know, TB. At my law firm I had 5 different passwords, and they were all the same. The IT guy said "oh, that's not safe" I said "I'm not going to remember five passwords. Either they are all the same, or I write them down. You tell me which is less secure" In an office, writing stuff down is much less secure.
