Network Accessories

Advantages: Lots of tools to cover a multitude of jobs.
Disadvantages: Cheap feeling screwdriver.

...Yes, im talking about the Belkin 36 piece professional Tool Kit for IT. Packaging/Casing. All 36 items are housed in a neat little zip up wallet that is the size of a child's shoe box. Its Faux leather appearance is fooling no one! Its water resistant and well made. Inside the components are all retained by elastic straps and velcro so it is a very secure and tidy way to carry your tools. Contents. Varied and comprehensive. Most jobs can be ...
...a canister of solder for the more intricate electrical repairs.To go with this is a solder "sucker" and a soldering remover. All soldering items seem of decent quality and we have used these for some cabling repairs. (and fising my Xbox 360 headset!) For cabling, there is a handy set of adjustable wire strippers as well as a pair of small wire snips. They are nice and sharp and again do a good job. The wire snips have a spring loaded middle so make ... Read review

Advantages: Good build quality, brand name
Disadvantages: A bit pricey.

...well-known for their USB products. Belkin make all sorts of cables, including a variety of ethernet network cables. This is a Cat 5 standard network cable (coloured red, but you can get it in many other colours, including black, grey, yellow, green, blue etc). One of the major problems with network cables is their tendency to snag when bent through a small radius, and because of the way the individual wires are twisted around eachother inside the ...
...claims to be snagless, and whilst I didn't kink my cable on purpose to test this claim, I managed to bend it through a tight circle without any performance problems. Looking at the performance aspects, I used the cable on a 100 Mb/s home network, where I replaced an older generic cable. There was no noticeable speed difference. The cable is well constructed, with the plugs firmly attached to the cable. Small tabs sticking up next to the release ... Read review

Advantages: Good picture and sound quality, easy to use
Disadvantages: Cheap looking

The MediaMVP from Hauppauge is an interesting example of an increasing trend in network devices. Using a customised version of Linux, it provides a quick, easy and convenient way to send sound and vision from a PC on your network to your TV and/or HiFi. What's in the box As well as the MediaMVP itself, you get the driver CD, a special SCART cable, a short LAN cable (almost certainly too short for most people), a very compact external PSU and a ...
...range of playback formats but Hauppauge do seem to be regularly improving the system and when they added DivX after I bought it I was able to add the feature via a free download from their web site. Any users or prospective buyers should visit the web site to check out the latest version as well as the extra extra tools that are available for the MediaMVP. The navigation via the onscreen display is easy enough although sometimes the remote response ... Read review

Advantages: It's got everything you need to do basic PC upgrades/ maintenance
Disadvantages: Good enough for home use, but not top quality

...included - a set of Allen keys. - a zip-up nylon case with elastic straps. I've always liked Belkin products - I don't think they're the best, but they are good enough to do the job - they always seem to strike a good balance between quality and price. ... Read review

Advantages: All your music in one place
Disadvantages: That place is a computer

...forced to admit that the Netgear music player may well be their undoing. In short, I have seen the future, and it works. At first, it sounds horribly inconvenient, as to be able to use it, you have to have a computer (a PC, not a Mac), an internet connection and an internal wireless network. You will probably also need a subscription to a web-based music service, and the computer has to be on all the time you are listening to what you have downloaded. ...
...the wireless network can be very simple, and most laptops now come with the facility built-in. You can, of course, get music files by transcribing your CD's, which you may already have done if you have an MP3 player, but then in that case you are probably downloading tracks already. Legitimate (i.e. not pirate file-sharing services) providers are becoming a lot more commonplace, and are not too expensive, especially if you don't mind being a bit ... Read review