Last week, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced Wi-Fi Direct — a peer-to-peer wireless networking method that could replace what we commonly know today as Ad Hoc networking mode.

With Ad Hoc, we can usually share internet connection of one computer to other computers thru the built-in WiFi. One such example is our tutorial here — How to share 3G Internet over WiFi.

The new protocol (Wi-Fi Direct) will allow any device that implements the standard to connect directly to another device to send and receive data. It feels like the standard it gunning at Bluetooth. Imagine being able to share the internet connection of your mobile phone to all other devices via WiFi? You can also transfer files at the same time.

If Bluetooth has a normal transfer rate of about 2Mbps, WiFi Direct could reach 54Mbps or even higher. On top of that, wireless connections can go even further, in the hundreds of meters perhaps. Only drawback could be the amount of power it consumes compared to running Bluetooth.

Following a year of hype mostly centered on the fact that it’s not its predecessor (Vista), Windows 7 has finally been released to the world today, to mostly positive notices. Of course, it’s been available in various forms since about the beginning of the year, but today is the first day you can officially buy it.

I’ve been using Windows 7 for a couple of months now, and although I like a lot of its new features, it’s hardly changed my life. In fact, the overall experience for me has been almost exactly like using Vista—well, after all its compatibility issues were fixed. Depending on how you use your computer, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

So is moving to Windows 7 immediately worth the trouble—and, more importantly, your money? Here are seven reasons you may want to consider running to your nearest electronics store and slapping down your credit card right away, as well as another six reasons you should stay inside, barricade all the entrances, and hope the lunacy ends before trick-or-treaters start pounding on your doors demanding either your soul or Snickers bars.

As expected, Canon’s newest professional camera gets announced before the end of the year (and probably the last model for the year) — Canon EOS 1D Mark IV.

It comes with all the usual bells and whistles with some improved specs.

16.1 MP sensor
45-point autofocus
ISO range: 100 – 12,800
Dual Digic 4 Processors
1080p HD video recording

Estimated price is $4,999 in the US but could swell beyond Php250,000 when it becomes official here in the Philippines. Will update this post once I get official word from Canon Philippines.

drop by my column archive. There’s quite a bit of stuff there, and some of it is completely off the wall, so watch out if you decide to wade into it. I can’t be held responsible for how angry my scribblings may make you.

When I left ET, I wrote a few columns and published them on JimLynch.com. Here they are for your reading enjoyment:

5 Reasons Why World of Warcraft Doesn’t Suck

iTunes 9 Review

Blizzard’s World of Greedcraft!

Google Chrome OS: The Unnecessary Operating System

5 Reasons Why I Love Mac OS X Snow Leopard!

While there are a lot of HD media players out there, I think there’s still room for more. So when I got a review unit of the BriteView-CinemaTube HD Media Player, I thought WD TV has some pretty nifty competition up ahead.

The CinemaTube does not have an internal storage so you need to hook it up with an external HDD. While this is a cheaper configuration, you still need to buy your own HDD with an enclosure. That means you’ll also need two power cables to hook both the player and the external drive.

The media player’s enclosure is made of up of plastic. Nothing really wrong with since it feels very light but it also gives an impression of a cheap construction (even the painted logo of BriteView-CinemaTube is a little off).

It’s compatible with all hard disk format windows(NTFS), Linux (EXT2/3), and MAC (HFS). The player supports a large number of video formats — MPEG1/2/4 (M1V, M2V, M4V), MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG), AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, H.264.

CinemaTube supports multiple audio output formats, including MPEG I Layer 1,2,3(2-CH), MPEG II Layer 1,2 (Multi-Channel), LPCM, ADPCM, FLAC, AAC, WAV, WMA and OGG, RA, Dolby Digital AC3 and DTS. DTS (downmix) is supported by CinemaTube so you do not need additional DTS receivers to enjoy HD videos with DTS tracks.

Unlike the DW TV, the CinemaTube is also a torrent downloader (the built-in torrent engine does all the downloading without the need of a PC). The LAN port at the back is the primary connection to hook it up to the internet but I think you can also use a WiFi dongle on one of the USB ports to get it on wireless. The only approved and dedicated WiFi adapter is the WL-6200C which is sold separately.

At the back panel, you get a conservative number of ports — 1 HDMI, 2 SUB 2.0, Ethernet, AV and SPDIF. The UI and navigation of the CinemaTube is pretty simple, straightforward and easy to understand.

Most useful is the preview panel/screen that allows you to view a short clip of video you are browsing before playing them (no need to guess what the video file is).

Although I have not tried it, the device can also do UPnP Streaming so you can watch CNN, ESPN, CBS and Hulu via 3rd-party applications like PlayOn and TVersity.

The CinemaTube will retail for Php6,350 when it comes out in November. You can check out www.digilivingph.com for more info abut the product.