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Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Google

Google celebrates its first year of WiFi

Google celebrates its first year of WiFiIt's been a year since the folks at Google successfully knocked off WiFi in Mountain View California. Transmitting all those great 802.11 b/g signals to the grateful residents, businesses and visitors at absolutely no charge at all. They are still trucking along on the San Francisco wireless deal with EarthLink and the city to give all residents free connections to the internet, but who knows when that will all be resolved.

Nevertheless, Google is on a mission to provide top notch WiFi networks, but what exactly does it take? Well, in Mountain View there are over 400 mesh routers that cover 12 square miles and 25,000 homes, with 15,000 unique users per month. Traffic over this free network has risen 10% every month and handles 300 gigabytes of data each day and 95% of the routers are being used every single day.

Here's to hoping that Google someday manages to blanket San Francisco, and a few other cities with WiFi.

Where would you like to see Google create their next free WiFi Network?

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Unix

Default password list

Default Password ListIt's a nightmare scenario: you desperately need to get online to check your Facebook account, but you were just given a wireless router by a friend who doesn't know the router's password. And you need to get in so you can configure it for your own use. But you don't have the documentation!

It's a truly horrifying situation which could result in psychological damage due to lack of internet access.

Well, we here at Download Squad don't want to see anyone hurt by a terrible situation like this, so we suggest you go and download the Default Password List, print it out, and put it up on your wall in a prominent position. It needs to be somewhere where you'll never forget about it. We suggest prominently displaying it on your front door, fridge, or any other very visible location.

Okay, go ahead - we'll wait.

Right, now that you're back, you're probably curious what this document is. That's only natural, and you shouldn't feel bad for your questioning feelings. We're not threatened by your curious nature.

The Default Password List is a list of all of the known default passwords for residential routers people use for internet access from home. So, simply reset your mysterious router to factory defaults, look up your router's model number, log in with the supplied credentials, and you should be back in business.

[via UneasySilence]

Filed under: Internet, Video, VoIP

Increasing your Skype quality

skypeDo you ever get bummed by what seems like a bad connection when using Skype? Maybe low volumes or other issues? Skype is a powerful VoIP tool, and if used properly, without some of the quality issues, it could replace your landline. Andy and Sean at Labrats.tv have a video cast online showing how to optimize your router to increase Skype call quality. They go over how to give your Skype PC a static IP address, setting port priorities, configuring Skype, and advanced router settings. So fire up your Skype client, and sit down in front of this 17 minute presentation that is going to get you up and running with Skype, minus the router problems in no time.

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Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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