Hands-On Review--Mac OS X Unwired

byTom Negrino and Dori Smith (O'Reilly 2004). Wireless internet computing is on an exponential growth curve and we became part of the bleeding edge with Apple's first AirPort Base Station and cards and have not looked back. Since then wireless computing has expanded both in speed and form and has involved other devices like cell phones. WiFi's speed has gone from 11 mbps to 54 mbps while WiFi hot spots have sprung up all over. In addition, Bluetooth-enabled cell phones allow wireless dialup and GPRS connections. PCMCIA cards allow wireless connections for PowerBooks without needing cell phones and several companies are beginning to offer broadband internet using cell phones or PCMCIA cards.

Has all this new wireless internet technology and associated alphabet soup gotten you confused? Well, Mac OS X Unwired by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith published by O'Reilly for $24.95 is a terrific book on the subject. Mac OS X Unwired has eight chapters plus an appendix on RF and infrared, glossary and index in 207 pages plus a table of contents and a preface in an additional 14 pages.

The chapters cover an overview to wireless computing, WiFi in the home and office and on the road, WiFi security, Bluetooth, cell phones/PCMCIA cards and Rendezvous. Negrino and Smith cover the topics well but at a level for us non-geeks. (Actually, all Mac people seem like computer geeks to most people.) In other words, most of us will find the book very useful. We especially found the chapter on cell phone technology to be informative and useful in sorting out the pros and cons of the various current and emerging technologies. The chapter on Rendezvous gave us a clear understand of what it is and how to use it as currently deployed in Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).

We think that most people will find Mac OS X Unwired to be extremely useful to understanding and using the wireless computing technology that is exploding around us. The book is well-written for the rest of us.

[Update 8a EST] SpeedStart 0.1 Fixes Slow Mac OS X 10.3.2 Startup according to the author. It is a small AppleScript available for download via MacUpdate.com that implements Apple's solution, copying a system file to a second location, without using the Terminal application.