Anywhere Computing with Laptops: Making Mobile Easier [Paperback]

Harold Davis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789733277 | ISBN-13: 978-0789733276 | Publication Date: September 10, 2005 | Edition: 1

You bought your Centrino laptop computer because of its ease-of-use and portability. But are you using your laptop to its maximum potential? Anywhere Computing with Laptops: Making Mobile Easier will show you what to expect when buying and configuring your laptop and how to use built-in features such as digital cameras and Internet telephones. When you're on the road, there are hotspots that will allow you to connect to multiple national networks for access to data and the Internet. This book will show you how to find these hotspots, as well as how to install and configure a wireless network for your home or office. Use your laptop the way it was intended — from anywhere!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harold Davis is a strategic technology consultant, hands-on programmer and the author of many well-known books. He has been a popular speaker at trade shows and conventions, giving presentations on topics ranging from wireless networking through digital photography and programming methodologies. As a technology consultant, he has served many Fortune 500 companies.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to lounge on a beach chair at a fancy resort and surf the Internet? Connect and get your email in a coffee shop such as Starbucks, or one inside a Borders bookstore? Get your email while waiting at an airport? Put together some computers in your home so that they can share files or access to the Internet without drilling holes or snaking snarled wires from one computer to another? Do your work using your laptop from your garden patio?

With your laptop that uses Intel Centrino mobile technology and a public hotspot that uses the wireless networking technology known as Wi-Fi, you can do all these things, and more.

This book shows you how.

I don't assume that you know anything about Wi-Fi, or about any of the related topics, such as how to set up a network of computers. You'll find everything you need to take your wireless computer on the road, and to set up a wireless network, right here between these pages. You'll also learn how to get the most out of your Centrino laptop and wireless technology in general.

So step right up and get ready to enter a wonderful new world without wires!

In this book, I hope you'll find inspiration as well as practical information. I believe that Wi-Fi wireless networking is a technology that has the power to have a huge and positive impact. You can harness that power simply with your Centrino laptop.

This is wonderful material, and it's a lot of fun! So what are you waiting for? It's time to Wi-Fi with your Centrino laptop!

How This Book Is Organized

Anywhere Computing with Laptops: Making Mobile Easier is organized into five main parts, as follows:

• Part I, "Mobile Computing Quick Start," is a general introduction to the Intel Centrino mobile technology platform, wireless networking, Wi-Fi technology, and using Wi-Fi. If you want to know how to get your Centrino laptop up and running quickly with wireless technology, this part will get you there without delay.

• Part II, "Getting the Most from Your Mobile Computer," tells you how to use software that is fun (and in some cases, very useful) to get more out of your laptop that uses Intel Centrino mobile technology. In this part, you'll learn how to become more productive with your Centrino laptop, take pictures with your laptop (if it is equipped with a camera) and transmit them over wireless, use your laptop as a telephone (with the right equipment), stream audio and video files over your wireless connection, play games, and more.

• Part III, "Mobile Computing on the Road," shows you how to use your Centrino laptop on the road, explains the best road warrior tools to bring, teaches you how to find the best places to connect, and gives you tips on making the best deal with Wi-Fi service providers.

• Part IV, "Your Own Wireless Network," explains everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask about successfully setting up and managing a wireless network in your home or small office.

• Part V, "Securing Your Computer and Network," explains how to safely and securely deploy Wi-Fi on the road and at home.

Besides the 18 chapters in 5 parts in this book, I've also provided several appendixes that I think you'll find helpful:

• Appendix A, "Wireless Standards," provides more details about the ins and outs of the 802.11 wireless standards.

• Appendix B, "Where the Hotspots Are," shows you how to find public Wi-Fi hotspots and provides specific information (which is hard to find in one place) about Wi-Fi locations such as airports, hotels, and retail stores. If you travel with your Centrino laptop, you might find that this appendix alone is worth the price of the book!

• Appendix C, "Intel Centrino Mobile Technology Platform," provides in-depth information about the components that make up Intel Centrino mobile technology—used in the bulk of laptops purchased today.

• Appendix D is a glossary. Anywhere Computing with Laptops: Making Mobile Easier lies at the intersection of a number of technologies—wireless broadcasting, networking, and personal computing. Each of these fields in its own right is replete with acronyms, jargon, and technical terminology. The glossary provided in Appendix D will help you hack your way through this morass of incomprehensible techno-babble and be your helpful companion through a benighted sea of obscurity.

Taken together, the 18 chapters and 4 appendixes in Anywhere Computing with Laptops: Making Mobile Easier provide all the information you need to successfully and happily use your Centrino laptop for mobile computing. In other words, this book is out to make mobile work for you.

Conventions Used in This Book

Although it is my hope that you can figure out everything in this book on your own without requiring an instruction manual, it makes sense to mention a couple of points about how information is presented in this book.

Web Addresses

There are tons of Web addresses in this book, mostly because these are places you can go for further information on a variety of related topics. Web addresses are denoted using a special font. For example,

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com

You'll find a complete electronic version of the book in PDF format on the CD-ROM included with this book. Each of the web addresses is clickable within the PDF file, allowing you to instantly access each website, provided your computer is connected to the Internet.

Special Elements

This book also includes a few special elements that provide additional information not in the basic text. These elements are designed to supplement the text to make your learning faster, easier, and more efficient.

---

Note - A note is designed to provide information that is generally useful but not specifically necessary for what you're doing at the moment. Some are like extended tips—interesting, but not essential.

A tip is a piece of advice—a little trick, actually—that lets you use your computer more effectively or maneuver around problems or limitations.

---

Let Me Know What You Think

I always love to hear from readers, particularly if they have nice things to say about my book! Seriously folks, I'd love to hear from you with comments, criticism, praise, and (most important) items that should be in the next edition of this book. Please write to me at [e-mail].

Although I can't promise to answer every email, I will do my best to do so.

Thanks for reading my book!

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Que; 1 edition (September 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789733277
• ISBN-13: 978-0789733276
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,070,445 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For Harold Davis, a typical day's (or night's) work might involve photographing star trails from the top of Half Dome, investigating the close-up patterns of early morning dew drops with his camera, or finding a new location for photographing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Harold Davis is an award-winning professional photographer. He is the author of more than 30 books, including Photographing Flowers: Exploring Macro Worlds with Harold Davis (Focal Press), Creative Black & White: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques (Wiley),Creative Composition: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques (Wiley), Creative Night: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques (Wiley), Creative Close-Ups: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques (Wiley), The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing (Focal Press) and Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers (O'Reilly). Harold writes the popular Photoblog 2.0, www.photoblog2.com.

Harold is a popular presenter on digital photography topics. His workshops are often sold out.

Harold is well known for his night photography and experimental ultra-long exposure techniques, use of vibrant, saturated colors in landscape compositions, and beautiful creative floral imagery. He is inspired by the flowers in his garden, hiking in the wilderness, and the work of great artists and photographers including M.C. Escher, Monet, van Gogh and Edward Weston.

Harold lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Phyllis Davis, a graphic designer and writer who frequently collaborates with Harold on book projects. They have four children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Given the right audience, it's a good book..., September 24, 2005

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anywhere Computing with Laptops: Making Mobile Easier (Paperback)

It used to be that buying a laptop meant you gave up a lot in terms of power and features. Now you don't give up much (if anything), and gain a lot in the process. If you're new to the laptop game, getting a copy of Anywhere Computing with Laptops - Making Mobile Easier by Harold Davis might help you exploit your new toy a bit more...

Contents:
Part 1 - Mobile Computing Quick Start: Understanding Intel Centrino Mobile Technology; Buying a Mobile Computer; Configuring Your Mobile Computer
Part 2 - Getting the Most From Your Mobile Computer: Software That Makes the Most of Mobile Computing; Taking Digital Pictures from Your Laptop; Using Your Mobile Computer As a Telephone; Let Your Laptop Entertain You - Streaming Media, Gaming, and More
Part 3 - Mobile Computing On The Road: Entering a World Without Wires; Finding Hotspots; Working with National Wi-Fi Networks
Part 4 - Your Own Wireless Network: Networking Without Wires; Buying a Wi-Fi Access Point or Router; Setting Up Your Access Point; Configuring Your Wi-Fi Network; Advanced Access Point Configuration; Adding Wi-Fi Antennas to Your Network
Part 5 - Securing Your Computer and Network: Protecting Your Mobile Wi-Fi Computer; Securing Your Wi-Fi Network
Part 6 - Appendixes: Wireless Standards; Where the Hotspots Are; Intel Centrino Mobile Technology Platform; Glossary; Index

Given the right audience, this book is pretty good. It caters to the person who is a first-time laptop buyer (or owner) and doesn't quite understand the things necessary to start connecting to the internet sans cat-5 cable or modem. Davis does a good job showing how a laptop with Intel Centrino technology and Windows XP can connect to hotspots and allow you to access the 'net anywhere. Some of the material (like gaming, streaming media, internet telephony) isn't solely the domain of laptops, but it's worth covering to let the newbie know that everything they do on their desktop machine can also be done on their laptop.

The only thing I found a little annoying after awhile was the constant reference to "Intel Centrino". He's making the assumption that you have Centrino technology, so information on wireless cards and such is pretty light. Since wi-fi is built-in with Centrino, there's not much need to cover wi-fi cards. From the perspective of focus, it's an OK decision to do so. But Centrino is pushed really hard, and I almost felt like the book should have been sent to me from Intel, not Que. The newbie might think that if it's not a Centrino processor, it's no good. In reality, it's all a matter of trade-offs. I just bought a new laptop, and I don't spend hours on the road or in planes. Therefore, battery life (a Centrino plus) isn't that important. CPU processor power is, so I got a Pentium 4 3.33 GHz. Reading this book, it'd almost appear that I made a mistake, when it's really just a matter of what's important to the user.

So... if you're a new laptop user or owner who is using Windows XP and a Centrino processor, this book was written for you. If you've been around laptops for awhile, you'll probably already know most of the material...