Macs, iOS devices to do Wireless Presentations?

For people having their heads spinning over the title and sub-title of this story, let's begin right with the basics. AirPlay is a simplified jargon for the technology that allows transmitting audio-visual content from a Mac or an iOS device (like the iPhone or iPad) to the Apple TV. Apple TV is a small box that connects to a television via HDMI and streams content over the Internet or stored locally using Wi-fi. 

Now, Keynote is an application and part of the iWork suite for creating presentations on a Mac (and even the iPad) - like Microsoft PowerPoint that most of you would know. Now, while their creative application suite called iLife was updated to the latest 2011 version, the iWork isn't yet updated from version 2009. And the reason for them to delay this update? Because they're trying to get AirPlay to work with Keynote.  

Softpedia reported about a person who mailed Steve Jobs if AirPlay would allow streaming wireless presentations via an iOS device or a Mac, and got back an "It is all coming soon" answer. So, is this news any worthy to jump off your chair? If you own or plan to own an Apple TV, then maybe. With it and the new Keynote 11 software, you would be able to wirelessly project your presentations to an LCD TV. You could do it on a projector as well; provided that it has an HDMI port or you have an HDMI-to-VGA converter ready (since Apple TV only has the HDMI out port).  

While this may be good news, we hope this feature will also come to Keynote on the iPad soon. I'm sure many corporate folk using an iPad would want to show off their hand-made slides with the freedom of walking around the boardroom.

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Zyxel Releases Wireless N Access Point

Taiwan based Zyxel Communications has introduced WAP 3205 wireless N compatible access point. The 802.11n standard offers enhanced speeds of 300 Mbps and enhanced range over the existing B & G standards. This makes it ideal for those seeking to stream high bandwidth HD video content over the network. Besides its primary function as an access point, it can be deployed for multiple roles like universal repeater, WLAN bridge, WDS repeater and as a Wi-Fi client.

Other features include a one touch WPS button for easy wireless security setup, mac address filtering and support for WEP, WPA and the latest WPA2 encryption standards. It also allows flexible network infrastructure setup with multiple SSID support, using which WAP 3205 can allow different groups of users to access different networks at the same time. It is available now for Rs. 6,771. Here's a full list of specifications:

• 802.11n enabled with data transfer rate of up to 300 Mbps
• Backward compatibility with the 802.11b/g standard
• Easy to extend the wireless network coverage with repeater modes
• Multiple SSID for separating access privileges
• WPS button for quick and easy wireless security setup
• Secure wireless communications with wep/wpa/wpa2
• Wi-Fi protected set up increase the flexibility and efficiency of the network infrastructure

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