Yearly Archives: 2008

Gmail introduced SMS Chat

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One of the most wanted Gmail feature is here. You can now SMS your friend right from your Gmail Account. Though this service is already available in Yahoo! Messenger, i was highly needed in in Gmail or Google Talk.

You have to turn on the SMS Chat first. To do that, click on Settings, and go to the Labs tab. Scroll down until you see “Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat” and select Enable and Save Changes and then go to your Gmail account and click on the search bar. You can now enter the Mobile Number of your friend and start chatting. The recipient will receive the chat as a SMS in their mobile and can reply to that message to start chatting.


Unlike Yahoo!, where this facility available for lots of countries, Google has limited it only for US. That means, the recipients number has to be a US mobile number.

So, if you like to send free SMS from your computer, use Yahoo Messanger.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Microsoft Sidewinder X6

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One might assume that there are only one or two big names that are making great gaming keyboards and Microsoft doesn’t want to be left behind. After reviving the Sidewinder brand, they have released the all new X6 keyboard.

The X6 is really a huge keyboard, and it has plenty of keys as well, up to 30 programmable keys. The quality could be better, but the design is not shabby. The first things you notice other than the dials is the red back light. The first dial is there to allow you to change the brightness of the lights, and the other one is for the volume control.

The keyboard has a matte plastic finish, except for the areas around the keys. The keys themselves don’t go deep into the keyboard, but aren’t too shallow like a laptop keyboard either. One of the unique features is the detachable numerical pad which can be attached either on right or left of the keyboard with the help of a magnetic strip on the side.

Microsoft Sidewinder X6

Microsoft Sidewinder X6

Using the keyboard is very confusing in the beginning, and it takes a while if you are upgrading from a standard keyboard. Once you do get used to it, however, it becomes a great stable keyboard to use. There are six macro keys on one side of the keyboard with a toggle to use three different settings for those keys. The numerical pad keys are also part of the macro keys.

There are a few other things missing in the X6. The right Windows key is missing and the size of some of the keys like the right [Shift] key are longer than usual. The drivers will let you customize it farther.

Overall, this is a very good keyboard for gaming use. Although $99, may seem like a lot of money for a keyboard, with the number of features it has, it’s definitely worth it. Besides, this is far from the most expensive keyboard around.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Belkin Wireless G Router

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Belkin’s new router is rather compact and is excellent for cramped tables. The router can also be hung up in a wall if required. The design is pretty and the build quality isn’t too bad either.

It comes with four ports for clients and one for an Internet Connection – standard for a home router. The user interface is boring, and and way too bare for most people’s liking. The design doesn’t make it very easy to use either. It has all the features expected, including the ones for security. WEP, WPA and WPA2 are all supported, but the interface is painfully slow.

Belkin Wireless G Router

Belkin Wireless G Router

Routing, as expected, is possible too, and a unique feature is the list of application and games along with the list of ports used by them. This means you can just choose from a list and add to the port forwarding list. Filter can be set up to block access during specified hours or days. support for DynDNS and DtDNS is also available, which allows the router to automatically update your WAN IP using free DNS services. This allows easy access to your computer or router from other locations. This feature is increasingly popular on routers these days though.

The Belkin Wireless G Router performs well with wired connections, but not so well wirelessly. A gigabyte of data took around two minutes and four seconds to download accross wires, but the same data took close to seven minutes thirty seconds over the air. Uploading files took a little longer, but we didn’t have any latency issues. The router doesn’t support 802.11n, for those who might want it.

Updating of the firmware can be done using the web interface itself. With everything considred, we can not highly recommend this product because of it’s price.

At $50, it isn’t overly expensive, but for a little more you can get much better products with the same (or more) features and a much better interface.

However, if space constrains are your biggest concern, and you want something really small to hang on the wall or keep on your table, the Belkin Wireless G Router might just be what you are looking for.

Specifications:
Four 10/100 Base-T LAN Ports
One WAN Port
IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g

Popularity: 15% [?]