Look away, pretty netbook lady. Observe the world around you. I have a feeling that once you do, you may wonder how you ever let your life become about smart tweed jackets, tightly-pulled hairstyles, and monthly mobile data plans for the netbook that seems permanently attached to your delicate hand.

Take a step back from it all, pretty netbook lady. You don’t need to completely give up your corporate lifestyle, but it’s time for you to LIVE! damn it. LIVE! And in order for you to be able to immerse yourself back into the corporate world from time to time, Verizon now offers pre-paid wireless data plans for casual use.

Available in daily, weekly, and monthly increments, the plans aren’t cheap by any means. You’ll get 75MB for $15 (daily), $30 for 250MB (weekly), or 500MB for $50 (monthly) and Verizon will begin rolling out the service on November 15th, packaged with a USB modem for $130. You can afford it, pretty netbook lady. You can afford it.

Full press release:

Reliability Meets Flexibility With Prepaid Plans for Verizon Wireless’ Mobile Broadband Service

Customers Can Choose From Daily, Weekly or Monthly High-Speed Internet

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ – Verizon Wireless today announced three new Mobile Broadband plans that will be added to the company’s Prepaid portfolio. Customers will be able to get speed when they need it on the Verizon Wireless 3G network with pay-as-you-go plans for daily, weekly or monthly access. The new Prepaid options are ideal for those who need access for occasional or seasonal use whether on vacation, enjoying a weekend getaway or for students away at school. Verizon Wireless gives customers the following service options:

• Daily – $15 for 75 MB
• Weekly – $30 for 250 MB
• Monthly – $50 for 500 MB

Prepaid Mobile Broadband will be sold in a convenient grab-and-go package with the Verizon Wireless USB760 modem for $129.99. The USB760 comes with a high-performance internal antenna, removable memory of up to 8 GB and support for Windows® 2000, XP, Vista and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or 10.5 (Leopard) or Linux. Prepaid Mobile Broadband will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning Nov. 15 and at select national retailers beginning Nov. 20.

So by mostly wireless, I mean that you still need to provide power. The subwoofer and speakers will need to be plugged in to work, just not into your computer. You will need to stick a dongle into your USB port however. This sounds ideal for a laptop user or college student, since you can bring your computer back to the speakers and not have to worry about the cables.

The Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 wireless speakers sell for $199, and are only available from the Klipsch website, and only in the U.S.

[via Dvice]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the Amazon Kindle the first device to launch with built-in wireless (that is, cellular data) access? You know, you pay for the device, and then you don’t have to pay monthly wireless access because it’s already included in the cost of the device? It’s pretty neat, I think I can say without too much grief, and is a model that’s been copied by other e-book readers. Now it looks like Nintendo is considering such a model for future versions of the Nintendo DS (and not necessarily the XL, mind you). Exciting!

So Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, said at a recent briefing that he’s “interested” in the business model (wireless access that’s built into the cost of the device) because it’s new, and, well, it could help expand the popularity of DSi Ware. Right now, to access DSi Ware you need to be connected to Wi-Fi, which sorta limits its availability. What if you’re sitting on a park bench on a warm spring day and want to download Something? You can’t!

You can imagine other scenarios, I’m sure.

Iwata did express concern that Nintendo would have to be careful with such a model because Nintendo is, in his words, an “amusement company.” It’s not Apple in the sense that it can’t charge $LOTS for its products.

Such a move would also give this theoretical new DS an edge over the PSP Go, which you’ll recall only ships with 802.11b access. That’s a bad move on Sony’s part, yes.

Keep in mind that Iwata could have just been thinking out loud, and that none of this will ever see the light of day. So there’s that.

via Gamasutra

The Rocketfish system is made up of a wireless amplified audio receiver, a wireless sender/receiver, a wireless outdoor speaker, and a wireless HD audio starter kit, which contains a sender and a receiver unit. With the appropriate component purchases, you can send up to five different sources to up to nine receivers throughout your home.

Rocketfish is expected to be available this month, however at this time the area of Best Buy with pricing information is not yet active.

Best Buy isn’t the first company to jump on the wireless audio bandwagon this year, and most likely won’t be the last as the holiday season approaches.

[via Ecoustics]

The unit is physically indistinguishable from the rest of Bose’s stereos. CD player, AM/FM, alarm clock. But the magic happens in the provided USB key. Plug into your computer running Windows XP, Vista, or Mac OS 10.4, and you should be able to hear beautiful music coming from your Bose unit up to 60 feet away.

At the end of story, it’s pretty much just a Bluetooth-capable Bose Stereo. So don’t get too excited. But if you have $599.90, why the frak not?

The “Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router” from ThinkGeek.com is being pitched as the “world’s smallest” and, at 2.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches long by 0.75 inches thick, that may very well be true.

According to the product description:

“It has a reset button, power port, one 10/100Mbps Wide Area Network Ethernet port, and an LED display that communicates power and link status. The router features convenient Access Point and Access Point Client modes. The latest in wireless encryption protects valuable data, while advanced Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology delivers high speed wireless connectivity and broad coverage that minimizes dead spots.”

Looks like it might be worth a closer gander for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road.

Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router [ThinkGeek.com]

Bluetooth audio really seems to be coming into it’s own lately, and these items are no exception. TENQA has announced three new items today, a portable stereo speaker, a larger, non-portable bluetooth speaker set, and a set of bluetooth headphones.

From the press release:

Phoenix, AZ – (September 29, 2009) – TENQA’s ® proud to announce its line of stereo Bluetooth speakers and Bluetooth headphones. TENQA’s Bluetooth wireless technology equipped products receive continuous streaming audio with digital sound quality from various music sources such as your cell phone, Blackberry®, iPod® touch, iPhone™, computer, and any other device equipped with stereo Bluetooth A2DP capabilities for streaming wireless stereo audio.

The line includes the portable SP-99 stereo Bluetooth speaker system with music and volume controls right on the wireless speaker and a range of 33 feet. The TENQA HP-109 is a set of stereo Bluetooth headphones with a behind the head design that will stay in place during activity like running or exercise. The wireless headphones also have a mic for answering calls hands-free style. The SP-109 is a stylish, slim wireless speaker that is designed to sit on a shelf or desk and play music from up to 33 feet from the wireless phone.

TENQA: HP-109 Stereo Bluetooth Headphones
Remove the wires between you and your music at home or on the go.

• Connects wirelessly to cell phone, iPhone, iPod Touch, Computer, or Bluetooth mp3 player
• Hands free calling, music stops when receiving a call, you talk through internal mic, music
resumes upon call completion
• Stereo Bluetooth Class 2 technology transmits audio up to 33 feet away from your audio device
• Internal rechargeable Li-ion Battery. Up to 15 hours listening, 160 hours standby time.
• Bluetooth Support Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, and HFP

Price: $59.99

TENQA: SP-99 Portable Stereo Bluetooth Speaker
Portable Stereo Bluetooth speaker that allows you to listen to your music without wires at home or on the go.

• Lightweight, compact portable stereo Bluetooth speaker you can take anywhere.
• Connects wirelessly to cell phone, iPhone, iPod Touch, Computer, or Bluetooth mp3 player
• Stereo Bluetooth Class 2 technology transmits audio up to 33 feet away from your audio device
• Integrated music controls allow you to change music track and volume directly from your headphones without wires
• Pair with any device using stereo Bluetooth A2DP technology. “Line-in” jack to connect directly to any music source

Price: $79.99

TENQA: SP-109 Stereo Bluetooth Speaker
Sleek stereo Bluetooth speaker that allows you to listen to your music without wires.

• Connects wirelessly to cell phone, iPhone, iPod Touch, Computer, or Bluetooth mp3 player
• Ultras slim and compact desktop design you can put anywhere
• Stereo Bluetooth Class 2 technology transmits audio up to 33 feet away from your audio device
• Pair with any device using stereo Bluetooth A2DP technology. “Line-in” jack to connect directly to any music source

Price: $89.99

All of the TENQA products are currently available at Amazon.com

The new wireless dock replaces the traditional alternative that required people to buy one specific to their hardware, or to connect via a USB port or a connection typically in the bottom of the notebook or laptop computer. The “Dynadock U” will be available mid-September (so anytime now) from your favorite vendor or directly from Toshiba for $299.99.

From the press release:

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the availability of its universal dynadock™ wireless U USB docking station. Toshiba’s next generation of its dynadock™ U, a top selling universal docking station on the Internet, features wireless USB technology that eliminates the need for a cable between the docking station and laptop.

“We designed the dynadock wireless U for universal appeal allowing all laptops to take advantage of its wireless features,” said Michael Cassidy, director, accessory marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. “It’s a matter of convenience and consumers can connect peripheral devices quickly and conveniently through an automatic wireless connection between laptops and accessories.”

Additional key product features include:

* Dynamic PC System: The dynadock wireless U acts as a conduit for add-on peripherals like external speakers, keyboard & mouse, monitor, router and other accessories to easily link with the laptop.
* Automatic Connectivity: The dynadock wireless U can be set up to automatically connect to the laptop when within range.
* Data Protection: One touch undock button ensures all peripherals shut down properly when undocking.
* Enhanced Productivity: Six USB 2.0 ports including two front Sleep-and-Charge USB ports that supply power to cell phones, MP3 players and other devices even if your PC is off.
* Multimedia: Integrated Digital Audio card adds high quality 7.1 surround sound.
* High Resolution: HD Digital Video card for connecting to an extra VGA or DVI monitor with up to 1680 x 1050 resolution.
* Dedicated Video Support: Dedicated wireless radio for enhanced video performance.

* Bi-directional Audio Support: Bi-directional ISOCH support for Audio, webcams, microphones and USB speakers.

* Easy Software Installation: Toshiba dynadock Utility software for all video and audio drivers customize the dynadock experience.

Or, be like me, and forget trying to encrypt your transmission method, and rely instead on strong encryption at the protocol level. All of the wireless networks I’ve set up at home have been wide open. If you’re not using SSL or TLS for your traffic anyway, you’re doing something wrong. Besides, I hate having to key in security details when I visit friends’ “protected” wireless networks.

Via Yahoo News.

Wireless Japan is currentlying going in Tokyo and KDDI is showing off some impressive wares. The most notable being a Wi-Fi enabled 802.11b/g microSD card. KDDI says that it will boost Wi-Fi performance when mounted to a mobile phone. No word on when these will hit the market.

via Tech-On

If you have a swimming pool then you, my friend, need this little waterproof floating wireless speaker that looks like the thing that pops up out of the muck in the trash compactor in Star Wars. This one doesn’t have a cool robotic eye, though, just “Rich sounding bass. Crisp treble. And no wires.”

While I can almost guarantee that, being a wireless speaker, it does NOT have rich sounding bass, it would be a nice technological accoutrement to have bobbing around in the water during your next swanky pool party.

Your guests will look on in amazement as the same stale Clear Channel-sponsored Top 40 rotation that’s been playing for what seems like eternity seeps out of the speaker, each song sounding exactly like the one before it — a group of guys yelling “Ayyy!” during the chorus of every song and Lady Gaga’s Pokerface playing every hour, on the hour.

But I digress. The “poolPOD Wireless Floating Waterproof Speaker” is on sale at Newegg for $65. It comes with a 900MHz base station, audio cable, and AC adapter.

CABLES UNLIMITED SPK-POOL 900Mhz Wireless Floating Waterproof Speaker [Newegg]

Do you see that USB port right there? You know, the one on the back of my D-Link DIR-825 802.11n router? Well apparently Mac users can now use that port to share things like USB thumb drives, printers, etc, using D-Link’s SharePort software. (Windows users have been able to do this for some time.) Well, theoretically Mac users can now use SharePort, seeing as though the installer refuses to work on my pre-unibody MacBook. Why would it be easy, right?

In a perfect world, a world where installers actually work, this would be quite useful. There’s only one printer in the house, some HP all-in-one model, so it’d be quite useful to plug it into the D-Link and be able to access it from all the computers in the house.

And yes, I understand wireless printer sharing isn’t exactly new, but just think of it as a bonus for shelling out ~$150 for a router.

There are quite a few mini PC mouses coming out of Japan, but now Tokyo-based TEC is saying their Lingo, a wireless device, is the smallest of them all [JP]. The Lingo weighs only 23g and is sized at 27.5 × 60 × 19mm so the claim doesn’t sound too outrageous.

The 800dpi/2.4Ghz Lingo works within a range of usage of about 10m (battery life: about 15 hours). It goes on sale in Japan next month in black and white and costs $50.

People living outside Japan should try and ask the Japan Trend Shop, Gizmine or Geek Stuff 4 U to get one for them.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to talk to my best friend through a tin can attached to a string…

According to the class-action lawsuit:

Although the customer service summary informed plaintiff and other consumers that their first bill might be higher than expected because of a $36 activation fee, one month’s service billed in advance, and prorated charges and fees for the month when the customer signed up, neither plaintiff nor other consumers were informed, nor could they have reasonably discerned from the paper work that wireless Internet usage exceeding 5GB per month would result in astronomical charges running into the thousands of dollars.

So yes, she blew way past her 5GB-per-month limit – around 10GB over. But is $500 per gigabyte in overage charges fair here? Five gigabytes for $60 per month, then one extra gigabyte costs $500? Come on. Sure, AT&T and all the other wireless companies can charge whatever they want for overages but don’t they have a responsibility to clearly state how much such overages cost? Instead, we’re greeted with tricky math.

When are we going to get rid of this $0.00048/KB nonsense? How’s your average consumer supposed to know how to convert kilobytes to gigabytes? Is the RadioShack employee expected to explain how and why AT&T gives you five large gigabyte-units of data per month but then starts charging you in fractions of a penny for every one millionth of one gigabyte you go over? That’s like a gas station saying fuel costs $0.00048 per eye dropper of gas even though your tank is measured in gallons. How many eye droppers in a gallon? Who knows?

Look how stupid this sounds:

Salesperson: Yes, ma’am, you get five gigabytes of data per month which, at 1,048,576 kilobytes per gigabyte, equals a grand total of 5,242,880 kilobytes for you to use. Now, if you go over your 5,242,880 kilobyte allotment, you’ll have to pay an amount that doesn’t even tangibly exist in hard currency — $0.00048 – for each kilobyte you go over.

Customer: What makes up one kilobyte?

Salesperson: Well, nothing any more. That measurement hasn’t really been used for anything in years. So you’d never really go over by one kilobyte. It’s much more likely that you’d go over by hundreds or thousands of kilobytes at the very least. Just going to Google is around 50 kilobytes, which would cost you about two and a half cents.

Customer: So they give me five gigabytes for $60 per month, which is $12 per gigabyte. What happens if I go one gigabyte over?

Salesperson: That extra gigabyte costs about $503.

So I’m guessing that’s where this “astronomical charges running into the thousands of dollars” argument is coming from. Should she have read the fine print? Absolutely. Should the salesperson have explained to her that going one gigabyte over would cost her more than eight times her monthly bill? Probably, but there’s a chance that a) the salesperson didn’t do the math to figure out that it costs $503 to go over by a gigabyte or b) the salespeople are instructed to sell stuff, not break down overage charges for everyone. It may very well have been a combination of the two.

The bigger question: Is it fair for wireless companies to charge $60 per month for a five-unit set of something and then hide unbelievable overage charges disguised as fractions of a penny behind a veil of tiny units a millionth of the size of the units they’re selling in the first place?

Seems kinda shitty. Why not just use this chart instead?

After all, voice plans are made up of minutes and it’s clearly stated that for each MINUTE you go over, you have to pay a set amount, say 45 cents. Not that you have to pay $0.0000075 for every millisecond you use after your initial minutes are up. That’d be crazy.

To be fair, AT&T’s data connection software tells you how many kilobytes you’re using and you can set yourself up for alerts when you get close to your limit. But again, the whole kilobyte model makes for a fuzzy-at-best case of how much real data you’re actually using. And you certainly don’t see a clear monetary tally anywhere in the connection software. I’m pretty sure that if most people saw how much it cost them every time they checked their e-mail or, even worse, streamed a YouTube video after they’d blown through their 5GB limit, they’d shut the computer off and lock it in a safe place until the end of the month.

The suit against AT&T and RadioShack is a class-action suit that “accuses AT&T Mobility and RadioShack of common law fraud and violation of state consumer protection acts in connection with allegedly false, misleading and inaccurate advertising of the netbook DataConnect plan,” according to RCRWireless.com. The plaintiff, Billie Parks, is seeking recovery of the charges she had to pay, a cancellation of her contract, damages due to the affect of the charges on her credit score, an injunction against any additional charges, and court costs.

[RCRWireless.com via Consumerist]

Bethesda, Maryland-based Iridium said that some of its wireless clients may experience outages but the company plans to have systems working normally by today and plans to launch a backup satellite in less than a month. Iridium states that the collision was an “extremely unusual, very low-probability event.”

The Russian military satellite was launched back in 1993 and apparently malfunctioned within two years. NASA’s planned launch of Space Shuttle Discovery at the end of the month will not likely be affected by the crash and the International Space Station is out of harm’s way but is capable “of doing a debris-avoidance maneuver if necessary,” according to NASA.

[via BBC News]

Sleek and Simple to Use, Garmin® FR60 Fitness Watch Gets You Connected On the Road, In the Gym

OLATHE, Kan. –(Business Wire)– Jan 30, 2009 Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced its newest fitness watch that sets the standard for wireless connectivity, the FR60. The latest breakthrough in Garmin’s expansive outdoor recreation and fitness line, the stylish and intuitive FR60 was announced in conjunction with the 2009 ISPO Winter trade show in Munich.

“Indoors or out, it’s easier than ever to set fitness goals and track your progress with the fashionable yet affordable FR60,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “While you exercise, the easy-to-use FR60 accurately tracks your time, calories burned, heart rate and other data from linked fitness equipment. Once you’re done and within range of your computer, that information is wirelessly transferred and stored for later analysis.”

The central element of the user-friendly FR60 system is an advanced fitness watch which interfaces wirelessly with other ANT+™ compatible fitness devices such as a heart rate monitor, a foot pod that monitors speed and distance or third-party fitness equipment at the gym or at home. Available in men’s and women’s versions, the FR60 comes with a wireless USB ANT™ Stick that plugs into the user’s PC or Mac and automatically downloads workout data stored on the watch to a personal computer. No cables are necessary as the FR60 quickly synchronizes with the computer once it is in close proximity. The workouts themselves are made easier with the FR60 as its robust heart rate monitor and slimmed-down foot pod transmit data wirelessly and activate automatically upon movement, removing the need to turn the lightweight accessories on and off. Available in three colors – red, lilac and black – the streamlined FR60 comes packaged with a heart rate monitor, and the foot pod is available in select FR60 bundles.

With this affordable yet sophisticated fitness watch, Garmin broadens its appeal to the millions of consumers who want to burn calories and track workouts in a cost-effective manner. While the FR60 processes much of the same data as its GPS-enabled predecessors, those functions are packaged in a very compact device the size of a typical fitness watch. The FR60 can track and record up to 15 hours and 100 laps of detailed exercise data. And because the FR60 records its data from the heart rate monitor, foot pod and ANT+ compatible fitness equipment, users can exercise indoors.

Triathletes will embrace the versatility of the swim-friendly FR60 as it helps them train and race indoors or outdoors, on the bike, in the water or on the trails. The featherweight foot pod enables the FR60 to track and record speed, distance, calories burned, steps and cadence without excess burden. Cycling enthusiasts will enjoy the versatile options of adding a bike speed and cadence sensor and a handy bike mount. Adding to the wide range of uses and wireless connectivity, FR60 users in the United States will be able to link effortlessly to their ANT+ compatible fitness equipment such as treadmills, spin bikes, elliptical trainers and more. More information about these ANT+ compatible products will be announced in March at the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) international convention and trade show in San Francisco.

When used with Garmin Connect™ — Garmin’s online training site — the FR60’s benefits continue long after the workout. By pairing the FR60 with Garmin Connect, users can automatically log their workouts, track their totals, share workouts with coaches, friends and family and participate in an online fitness community with similar interests.

The wireless features of the FR60 are enabled by ANT+ personal area network technology. ANT+ is a leading wireless interface protocol enabling ultra low power applications like fitness monitors. ANT+ offers all the benefits of digital wireless communications with much lower power consumption than other wireless protocols. The men’s version of the FR60 weighs just 44 grams, the women’s model weighs 41 grams, and each has a user-replaceable battery with a one-year life.

The FR60 is the latest breakthrough from Garmin, which has spent 20 years using technology and innovation to enhance users’ lives, making Garmin a household name in the automotive, aviation, marine, wireless, outdoor and fitness industries. To learn more about the FR60 and Garmin’s other products and services, go to www.garmin.com and www.garmin.blogs.com.

via SlashGear

So you ask, “why hasn’t this been developed already?” Well, until now most wave absorbing materials have only been able to block frequencies up to 50Ghz, while modern wireless communication uses frequencies above 100GHz. The structure of this new material distorts the bonds between oxygen and iron, allowing for absorption for frequencies up to four times higher than before.

Sounds like some fantastic stuff. So save the trouble of turning your house into a bunker equipped with Faraday cages and just paint your walls with a fresh coat of paint.

[PCWorld via Gizmodo]

Popular Mechanics has a cool article in their January 2009 issue about a new binocular technology for the U.S. military. Called LightSpeed, these binoculars have high-power infrared LEDs that allow them to transfer data and voice at up to 1 megabit per second and 32 kilobits per second respectively. There is a receiver in the left eyepiece and a transmitter in the right, which can emit an undetectable beam up to 1.8 miles. So to transmit information to another person, you just have to look at them. Unlike similar systems that use lasers that can be harmful, this system is eye-friendly.

Now if you just combine this with a TV-B-Gone, think of all the mischief you could make (shame on you).

via Popular Mechanics

We’ve reviewed a lot of home audio solutions, and they all offer different benefits and drawbacks. The big trend is “music everywhere”, whether through powerline networking or wirelessly. Most of these products require a specific music source to feed into the system. Sonos brings something rather more complete to the goal of “music everywhere”. Read on for the complete review of the Sonos solution.

I’ve been testing the Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers combined with a Sonos ZoneBridge, and I have to say that this is an absolutely kick-ass product. The Sonos selling point is the idea of “zones” (read: rooms) each of which is capable of playing music from independent sources, all managed with a full-color handheld wireless controller. You can play the same music in every room, or give each room its own soundtrack.

Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers
The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is a complete solution for pumping music into two rooms. It includes the ZonePlayer 120 and the ZonePlayer 90, along with a Sonos Controller and a pair of bookshelf speakers. The ZonePlayer 120 provides power to the bookshelf speakers (or your own speakers), while the ZonePlayer 90 connects to your home theater or stereo equipment for output.

Both of the ZonePlayer units have RCA inputs, so you can feed it music from an existing audio source. They also both have a 2-port Ethernet switch, so you can connect one of them to a broadband router to access a variety of network-based music sources (Last.fm, Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster, or your own music collection on a Windows share). You can use the two-port switch to squeeze these devices into an already-full switch, which is a helpful addition for folks with way too many network-connected devices.

There is no interface on any of the ZonePlayers other than simple volume controls. You use the Sonos Controller to manage everything. You can also use the Desktop Controller software to manage your zones from your PC or Mac, or you can use the free iPhone application to control everything.

The Controller is a hefty handheld device. You can plug it directly into AC power to charge the battery, which takes about 2 hours, or you can use the Charging Cradle, which I strongly recommend — especially since it’s currently being included for free with any bundle purchase. It has an accelerometer inside that detects movement, so it usually comes to life as soon as you pick it up. That’s a really nice touch. If you leave it lying around it’ll eventually go into a power-saving mode, requiring you to press one of the buttons to wake it up. Wake up time take a couple of seconds, but not so long as to be really annoying. The battery life of the controller is great: I’ve left it out of the dock for about a week now, using it at least a couple times a day, and the battery has just now depleted.

Sonos ZoneBridge

The ZoneBridge provides no audio output. It has two Ethernet jacks and that’s it. You use the ZoneBridge to connect to your Ethernet network. If you don’t have an Ethernet switch, you can place the ZoneBridge between your broadband router and your PC; or you can plug it into a port on your switch. The ZoneBridge then brokers all the Internet access required by the other devices in your Sonos setup, since presumably your audio equipment isn’t likely to be located in the same room as your networking gear.

Setup
Set up is extremely easy, and the Quick Setup Guide is surprisingly helpful. You can use the supplied software to set everything up, or you can do it all directly from the Sonos Controller. I chose the latter. Plug everything in — there are no power buttons on any of the devices — and then turn on the controller. It discovers the devices nearby, and asks you to press both the mute button and the volume up button on any of them. This puts the device in “configure” mode, and then you use the Controller to give it a name. Repeat this process for each device in your Sonos network. Since the controller is wireless, you can easily walk from room to room configuring your setup in a couple of minutes.

You can register your setup with Sonos directly from the Controller after setup, which I found extremely handy. Once registered, the system can automatically download software updates. Sonos has put a lot of effort into making this thing “just work”, and I think they’ve succeeded admirably.

I was able to easily connect to a share on my home server. The music was indexed, and ready for me to play within a couple of minutes. All the ID3 tags on my mp3s were read, allowing me to navigate my music collection by artist, album, genre, composer, track title or folder. It also provides a search function.

I have a pretty boring collection of music, so I next added last.fm. After keying in my account name and password, I was able to play my neighborhood, or manually key in tags or artists. I’ve found myself streaming a lot of last.fm into my living room since I hooked up the Sonos.

Usage
You can group your zones together, so that they all play the same music at the exact same time. Even without setting up specific groups, you can activate “All Zones Party Mode” to play the same music through all of your Sonos gear.

Each zone can have its own queue of music, which you can control. You can add new music — single tracks, whole albums, or all the music in your catalog — to the end of an existing queue, or you can replace the current queue with your selection. You can set up and manage specific playlists within Sonos, as well as feed it playlists you might have created in .PLS, .M3U or .WPL files.

You can listen to broadcast radio, which surprised me somewhat at first. You’re certainly not going to buy this thing just to listen to your local radio station, but it’s a nice feature to have handy.

Another nice feature is the alarm mode, which lets you specify what music you want to play in which zone(s). Multi-zone alarm clocks: cool! You can wake up to one music source, and you can wake the rest of the house up with another music source. The Controller allows you to snooze for 9 minutes, just like a normal alarm clock.

As for input:

Support for compressed MP3, WMA (including purchased Windows Media downloads), AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files.

Native support for 44.1kHz sample rates. Additional support for 48kHz, 32kHz, 24kHz, 22kHz, 16kHz, 11kHz, and 8kHz sample rates.

Wireless
Each Sonos device will get an IP address in your network. They speak to one another over “SonosNet, a secure AES encrypted, peer-to-peer wireless mesh network.” For giggles, I pointed nmap at each of them. The only open port it found was 1400/tcp, which was reported as cadkey-tablet. nmap reported that they’re each running Linux 2.4.18.

Curious, I ran wireshark for awhile as I used the Sonos, to see what sort of traffic I might see. The only thing it collected was lots and lots of Spanning Tree Protocol packets, presumably for the mesh networking. I got bored after that, and went back to listening to music.

Shortcomings
In a word: price. These things are expensive. The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is $1149.00. You can shave off $150 and just get the Sonos Bundle 150 if you already have speakers to use with the ZonePlayer 120. The ZoneBridge is $99. A spare controller is $400, and the Controller dock is $40. You’re getting an awful lot of functionality for the money, but it might be too high a price for some folks to stomach.

The other notable shortcoming is that these things don’t speak iTunes. It’s not an AirPort Express, but rather a whole lot more. Still, I’m somewhat surprised that you can’t stream iTunes to the Sonos. Similarly, you can’t play Apple FairPlay songs. Nor can it play WMA Lossless files.

UPDATE: I just got a call from the folks at Sonos, and they wanted to make it clear that while the Sonos gear won’t speak the DAAP protocol used by iTunes, it will play non-DRM media in your iTunes library if you make it available via an SMB share.

A minor nuisance is the scrollwheel on the controller. It works, but it can be a bit laborious to enter text using this thing. In fact, the interface on the controller is a little awkward in general. You have the scrollwheel, shortcut buttons for “Zones” and “Music” along with a “Back” button above the wheel, and simple music controls for “back”, “play/pause” and “forward” buttons beneath the wheel. Along the left are mute and volume. Then under the screen are three context-sensitive buttons. It’s these buttons that I found annoying: you need to actually look at the screen to find out what they do, and they sometimes do what you would expect the center button on the wheel to do. It’s not a deal breaker, by any stretch, but it would be nice to see a slightly more elegant interface in such an expensive product.

The bottom line: if you can afford it, I think Sonos offers the best multi-room wireless audio solution we’ve reviewed yet. Robust support for local and Internet audio sources, an extremely functional wireless handheld controller to manage all your zones, and a plethora of extra features make this a complete package.