NETGEAR HR314


We have not reviewed this product but here is CNET's buying advice on Routers. This content was chosen based on the features included with this model of router.

Wireless gateway router

Wireless routers are essential for any home network that will combine wireless and wired network connections. Assuming that you have broadband service that provides an appropriate broadband modem (DSL or cable), this device can act as a gateway router that will connect your entire household to the internet. It handles requests from one machine in the Local Area Network (LAN - your house) to another and to the internet, and keeps track of which computer asked for what. The modem plugs into the router in a specially-marked port, and then the local computers either physically connect to it or connect to the wireless network which it also handles. It is recommended that desktop systems be connected by physical Ethernet cables, as they are more reliable, while laptops can use the wireless network from anywhere in the house.

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Acer Aspire One 531h-1766 (3G)



Whether or not you choose to take this path, subsidized Netbooks are everywhere. For those who choose to use a 3G data plan, going subsidized offers a little bit of upfront savings.

AT&T has announced updates to its Netbook offerings for the holidays, and the Samsung Go and Acer Aspire One have joined its subsidized offerings. The Samsung Go, with its eye-catching textured color and smooth bubbly look, is certainly a change of pace from most Netbook designs. Both come with Windows 7 Starter installed and sell for $199 with a 2-year data plan.

Is the Samsung Go more appealing to you than a $299 Nokia Booklet 3G?

As for the Acer Aspire One, it wasn't that expensive a Netbook to begin with at $299. Does $100 savings and a 3G antenna/Windows 7 Starter seem worth it?

Read our reviews of the Samsung Go and Acer Aspire One AOD250.

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Netgear WNDR3700 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (Premium Edition)



The new Netgear WNDR3700 RangeMax is a great upgrade from the Netgear WNDR3300. It now supports true dual bands, offering simultaneous Wireless-N performance in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands. The router also offers a decent network storage feature when coupled with a USB external hard drive. It includes a traffic meter feature, which is the first to be seen in wireless routers that we've reviewed. Like other high-end wireless routers, the WNDR3700 supports Gigabit Ethernet and guest networking, which means that you can create separate wireless networks for security purposes.

On the downside, its network storage performance is slow compared with other routers with the same feature, such as the Linksys WRT610N, or the Apple Time Capsule. Its 5Ghz band's range is shorter than what we expected.

Nonetheless, at around $160, the WNDR3700 is a good choice considering everything that it has to offer. If you just want a simple Wireless-N network and don't care much about dual bands or network storage, we'd recommend the D-link DIR 165 or the Netgear WNR2000; each is available for less than $100.

Design and setup
The Netgear WNDR3700 RangeMax router is one of the sleekest routers in Netgear's RangeMax family, with a shiny black chassis, which also happens to be a fingerprint magnet. The router is designed to work in both horizontal and vertical positions. For the latter, it comes with a detachable base. It's also wall-mountable.

The router boasts an array of color-changing LED lights on its front that reflect the status of the Internet connection, the wireless network, and of the ports on the back. There are four LAN ports and one WAN port, and all are Gigabit. There's also a USB port on the back that can be used with an external hard drive to turn the router into a network-attached storage (NAS) device.

Like all RangeMax routers, the WNDR3700 has an internal antenna design, making it more compact and tidy than routers with external antennas; however, this is one of the largest RangeMax routers, about double the size of the WNR2000.

The router comes with a setup application that includes detailed step-by-step instructions. The instructions are so clear, in fact, that we think few would have a problem getting the router up and running. We were able to do so within 5 minutes, including the time getting the router out of the box.

Features
The WNDR3700 is Netgear's first true dual-band router we've reviewed. It's capable of simultaneously broadcasting Wireless-N signals in both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies. The 2.4Ghz is the popular wireless band shared with other home devices such as cordless phones and Bluetooth headsets. The 5Ghz band is somewhat more exclusive and therefore should offer better performance. By being a dual-band router, the WNDR3700 supports virtually all existing network clients.

Out of the box, the WNDR3700 has two wireless networks, one for each band. You can turn these networks on or off separately. Also, the router offers the option of another two guest networks--one for each band--which can also be turned on or off separately. Guest networks are useful if you want to offer free Internet access to guests while keeping them from accessing your local resourses, such as your printer or personal files; this is perfect for a cafe or restaurant. Some other high-end routers that also offer guest networking we've reviewed are the D-Link DIR 855, the D-Link DIR-825, the Linksys WRT610N, or the Apple Airport Extreme.

Also, like the WRT610N and the Airport Extreme, the WNDR3700 comes with a NAS function that requires an external USB hard drive (not included) to work. We tried it with a few external hard drives and were pleased with the results.

The router supports hard drives formatted in both NTFS and FAT32 file systems. This means you can just plug your current external hard drive with data already on it and share it with the rest of the network. The router can also power compact hard drives that are USB bus-powered.

Regarding file sharing, the WNDR3700 supports the Windows SMB protocol, which allows any computer in the network to access its storage using a network browser (such as Windows Explorer), without having any additional software installed. The router's only means of restricting access to its storage is via password. For example, you can set a password for read-only access and another for read/write access to a particular folder on the external hard drive. Once set, the restriction is applied to anyone wanting to access that folder. This is a primitive but effective way to manage network storage. Most NAS servers use more-advanced restriction protocols via user accounts. However, considering that this is primarily a router, we were happy with this level of restriction.

The WNDR3700's network storage also offers media streaming to DLNA-enabled devices, such as the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3. This feature automatically scans the attached external hard drive for digital content, making it available to devices within the network. Also, the router can automatically scan for new content when new files are added or repeatedly over a period time. We tried this out and it worked as intended.

The router's NAS feature can also handle other NAS functions such as an FTP and an HTTP server. You can also set up remote connections to access the data remotely via the Internet. To do this, however, you will need to use a dynamic DNS service, such as Dyndns.org, unless your connection to the Internet has a static IP address.

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Netgear Wireless-N Router WNR2000



The Netgear Wireless-N Router WNR2000 is a compact and simple Wireless-N router with a friendly price of just around $70. The router offers decent throughput speeds and excellent range, and it's also the first router from Netgear to come with a free, comprehensive Web-based Web-filtering tool. Missing are some extras, such as Gigabit Ethernet, USB ports, and 5Ghz band support.

If you're looking for an entry-level Wireless-N router and want control over its Internet access, this is a great router to have. If you don't care for Web filtering and want something even more affordable, we'd recommend the D-Link DIR-615 or the Linksys WRT160N.

Design and setup
The Netgear Wireless-N Router WNR2000 looks like others in Netgear's RangeMax series, with a sleek casing that's, unfortunately, a fingerprint magnet; internal antennas; and a vertical stand design. Measuring only 7 by 5.1 by 1.4 inches, however, it's about two-thirds the size of other routers, making it one of Netgear's most compact Wireless-N routers.

On the front of the router resides an array of LEDs that display the status of each port as well as the status of the Internet and wireless connections. Also on the front is the Wi-Fi Protected Setup button, which instigates a short window of time where other WPS-compliant clients can enter the network without manually entering the encryption code.

On the back of the router are four LAN ports and one WAN port, and an on/off switch. The router is designed to operate in the vertical position and comes with a little detachable stand. It's not wall-mountable, though.

We had no problem setting up the WNR2000. The router comes with a software application that walks you through the setup process, from setting up the hardware to creating the wireless network. Alternatively you can use the router's Web interface for the setup process; the interface itself has another Web-based wizard that walks you through step by step.

Features
Considering its physical size and the price point, we didn't expect a lot of features out of the WNR2000; but the router offers something most routers don't: semi-Web-based Parent Control, which Netgear offers in collaboration with OpenDNS. Overall, this offers a simple, free, and effective way to conveniently oversee the use of Internet at home.

To use this, you first need to install the Netgear Live Parent Control software (which is on the included CD). This guides you through a few steps of setting up a free online account with OpenDNS and setting up the overall Web-filter level between five levels: high, moderate, low, minimum, and none, where high means most will be blocked, and none means nothing will be blocked.

From there, you no longer need the software. From anywhere in the world, you can now go to the Parental Controls Center site, log in with the account you just created, and further customize the Web-filtering feature of the router.

Also, you can define the content that each filtering level will block. For example, by default the "moderate" level doesn't include "video sharing," but you can put a check in front of this category to add it. There are about 54 categories to choose from and each of them states what content it filters.

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Model-Driven Architecture using JET2 in Rational Software Architect or Rational Software Modeler

Introduction:

Wouldn't it be nice if you were to take the initial requirements document for a project and be able to accurately estimate the design and development effort? This article tells you how to transform a Unified Modeling Language (UML) model created in IBM® Rational® Software Architect into a dynamic estimation and feedback engine. Thanks to the tremendous growth in Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and design, static nondescript images, models, and diagrams are now close to the point they can be executed. Rational Software Architect and IBM® Rational® Software Modeler are key proponents of Java Emitter Templates (JET) and UML modeling. This article attempts to go beyond the traditional code generation to more useful systems, such as estimation.

The JET projects in this article describe these tasks:

  1. Estimating at the requirements and analysis stage
  2. Comparing estimations as the model matures, at the design stage
  3. Generating feedback to the model

Models provide vivid insight into how business problems can be expressed through notational UML. A typical requirements gathering includes these components:

  • Requirements and business behaviors expressed through use cases and interactions
  • Processes and goal modeling illustrated by activity diagrams
  • Messaging expressed through structural models, such as Class and Component models

Models evolve and mature over time. A typical model that started as just requirements may also include structural classifier models that express interactions. A use case model is a perfect place to start the estimation process.

About JET

The Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF), which is an integral part of Rational Software Architect (and Rational Software Modeler, contains powerful tools for generating source code and documents. One of them is JET (Java Emitter Templates). With JET, you can use a syntax that is somewhat like JavaServer™ Pages (JSP) to write templates and run them against models.

Prerequisites

The article is intended for readers who have a reasonable working knowledge of Rational Software Architect. It is also based on the assumption that the reader understands XML, Java™ technology, and XPATH scripting syntax and semantics.


First transformation: project estimation from use cases

A portion of this article is based on the findings that Capers Jones describes in Chapter 7 of his book, Estimating Software Costs: Bringing Realism to Estimating, Second Edition (see Resources). See Chapter 7, "Manual Estimating Methods Derived from Agile Projects and New Environments." He states that a use case represents an average of roughly 35 function points, although it can vary between 15 and 75 function points. A typical application of 1500 function points (roughly 75,000 Java statements), would require about 42 use case diagrams. A single use case roughly defines the usage pattern of about 1785 Java statements.

Use case estimation was baselined in 1998-2001. Much of thought leadership came from Schneider and Winters in1998 and Alistair Cockburn in 2001 (see Resources). This article assumes that a project team that wants to estimate with use case points writes their use cases at goal levels. Each use case therefore has a goal. The goal of a user goal-level use case is analogous to a unit of business value.

Use case points are an accumulation of total numbers of actors, relationships, and other aspects of use case methodology that indicate a value for the project being estimated, thus forming the basis for the JET2 estimation engine. After the size in use case points is determined, effort and schedule algorithms can then be applied.

Complexity of actors and use cases

Each use case represents an average of 35 function points. Figure 1 shows a simple project as outlined and created in Rational Software Architect.


Figure 1. Use case example
use case diagram

You can use Table 1 to determine unadjusted weighted values of use cases and actors.

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http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/10/modeldrivenarchitectureusingjet2inrsaorrsm/index.html?S_TACT=105AGX15

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