Powerline Adapters

Power-line adapters are devices that turn a home's electrical wiring into network cables for a computer network. They come in handy when you need to bring the Internet connection to a far corner in the basement where Wi-Fi signals can't reach. A power-line connection is generally also more reliable than a wireless connection. With speeds up to 500Mbps, it's also faster.

To me it's a good choice to get connection reliability over the WiFi but not have the hassles to install the Ethernet cables.

Reference here provides a few good choices on powerline adapters.

Live on YouTube - by Xperia

This is an app to stream your live video from your smartphone to YouTube. However, it supports only some Sony Xperia mobile phones. There are other choices if you use other smartphone.

More info: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonymobile.camera.addon.livefromsonyxperia

8GRAM

 

 

8GRAM is an app for streaming live video of your phone camera to YouTube Live. It has some extra features in its app menu.

Live in Five

This is an app that can capture live video and stream to YouTube Live. It's a popular type of app in the recent year.

This one is from a TV turner, set top box and streaming server company, AVerMedia.

A Cheap IP Camera- XiaoYi

Courtesy of http://www.mi.com/xiaoyi/

Specification:

• Resolution: 720P
• Angle of view: 111 degree
• 4X digital zoom
• Two-way audio

Price? Only RMB 750 (~USD $24.0)

More information: http://www.mi.com/xiaoyi/

Panasonic Nubo wants to kill Dropcam with 4G

Courtesy of http://nubocam.com/pre-order-3/

Panasonic claimed this is the world's first 4G monitoring camera.

Courtesy of http://nubocam.com/#introducing-nubo

 

Honeywld TV Box embedded with 720P Lens

A new TV box is embedded with 720P lens to serve as an IP camera and allows more applications.

Over The Top (OTT)

OTT Service Diagram (Courtesy of  http://ottsource.com/ott-blog/)

OTT = Over-the-Top，是一種支持跨越 Internet 應用的網路服務，不同於過去一些應用服務受到運營商的控制。例如 :

• 以往的電話、簡訊必須經過電信公司提供，現在則有 OTT 方式的Skype、QQ、Line、WeChat 等。
• 以往的電視必須由無線、有線電視業者提供，或者 MOD 也必須經過電信公司，現在則有 OTT 方式的 Netflix、PPTV、PPS等。

Comparison between OTT and IPTV

Which will dominate the market seems still controversial. Let's take a look at their comparisons first.

【Idea】A Reverse Way of Using Bluetooth Finder

In the post about Chipolo and SickNFind, we talked about a Bluetooth finder that is used with smart phone to help find an item or remind you when your pet or kid is leaving you.

However, a reverse way of using it may be more valuable.

StickNFind: Bluetooth Powered Ultra Small Location Stickers

StickNFind is a ultra small sticker with Bluetooth that you can stick on any device, person or animal, and find them with your Smart Phone (Apple iOS & Android).

Let's watch the video for the scenarios they came up with.

Chipolo: Bluetooth Item Finder

Chipolo is a Bluetooth enabled item finder and thermometer for your iPhone or Android that helps you locate your belongings.

Here is a video that shows many different scenarios.

2014 State of the Smart Home

On May 14, 2014, new research from connected home technology company iControl Networks demonstrates the importance of security to smart home adoption, with more than two-thirds of consumers (67%) ranking personal and family security as the number one reason for using a smart home system, and 100% of consumers responding that security (to a certain degree) is a must-have in a home automation system.

Giroptic 360cam: 360 Degree WiFi Camera

The 360cam delivers easy real time streaming video over WiFi, recorded video, and still photos in the palm of your hand.

Bublcam: 360 Degree WiFi Camera

The bublcam is a 360º camera and software technology that shares everything around you through spherical photos and videos.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)



Source

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a standardized networking protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks for dynamically distributing network configuration parameters, such as IP addresses for interfaces and services. With DHCP, computers request IP addresses and networking parameters automatically from a DHCP server, reducing the need for a network administrator or a user to configure these settings manually.

FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name)

 

Source

FQDN (fully qualified domain name) is an unambiguous domain name that specifies the exact location of a computer within the domain's hierarchy.

The complete domain name for a specific computer, or host, on the Internet. The FQDN consists of two parts: the host name and the domain name. An example is mycomputer.mydomain.com.

A URL that consists of a host and domain name, including top-level domain. For example, www.symantec.com is a fully qualified domain name. www is the host, symantec is the second-level domain, and .com is the top-level domain. An FQDN always starts with a host name and continues to the top-level domain name, so www.sesa.symantec.com is also an FQDN.

Ref. Symantec

Power over Ethernet (PoE)

Source

Power over Ethernet or PoE describes any of several standardized or ad-hoc systems which pass electrical power along with data on Ethernet cabling. This allows a single cable to provide both data connection and electrical power to devices such as wireless access points or IP cameras. Unlike standards such as Universal Serial Bus which also power devices over the data cables, PoE allows long cable lengths. Power may be carried on the same conductors as the data, or it may be carried on dedicated conductors in the same cable.

Since only two of the four pairs are needed for 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX, power may be transmitted on the unused conductors of a cable (see figure above).

Ref. Wikipedia

Port Forwarding

Source

Port forwarding allows remote computers (for example, computers on the Internet) to connect to a specific computer or service within a private local-area network (LAN).

CDN (Content Delivery Network)

(Left) Traditional scheme of distribution. (Right) CDN scheme of distribution.

Also known as Content Distribution Network. CDN is a large distributed system of servers deployed in multiple data centers across the Internet. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance.

Ref. Wikipedia.