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Domain: belkin.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to belkin.com.
Comments · 263
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Re:Why spend the extra money
This is not some dinky portable iRock-type thing, running on AAA batteries, with just enough juice to get from your mp3 player on the front passenger seat to the car stereo that is only a few feet away. This is the sort of thing that gyms use to let you listen to BET on your headphones without everyone else on their treadmills having to get jiggy with you. This is the kind of things new subdivisions set up in the model home so that you can listen in your car when you drive by.These are more powerful, less subject to interference, have a Phase Loop Lock (PLL) circuit that keeps the signal solid. After that, the antenna you choose becomes the biggest issue. Use a yard-sale cast-off PC, throw your favorite light distro on it and stick it in the attic, with the transmitter hanging off of it.
For controls, use a web interface to your media player software, and you can hit it from any PC on your network. You can run streams, local MP3 or OGG files, internet radio, XM satellite radio, whatever. Put the smarts in the flexible, inexpensive, commodity hardware and hide it away.
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Ob. Links
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Ob. Links
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Re:This Is For
Count me in.... although I have grown to like the TuneDoc from Belkin that I use in my 2004 MINI using the aux input in the glove box.
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It's really not that much better than my solution.
...which was to get a car stereo with an auxiliary jack, and simply plug in and put the iPod in a nice holder.
Integrated controls are nice and all, but my solution was less than $200, and will work with any car with a single-DIN stereo.
My real question is why it's harder and harder to find stereos with front-panel auxiliary plugs these days. Aiwa offers them in cheap-ass stereos, and JVC in a couple models, but that's it. It could be a much cheaper solution for the masses. -
Re:Flash Memory
Your wife should consider getting an iPod and either this or this. The first thing lets you hook your digital camera directly to the iPod and store your photos on it (since iPod works as a portable hard drive). The second one is a CompactFlash card reader that does the same thing.
2GB cards aren't cheap and $500 for a 40GB iPod plus one of these addons would make a lot of sense. I use the card reader one when I travel so that I don't have to lug my laptop with me. -
Re:Flash Memory
Your wife should consider getting an iPod and either this or this. The first thing lets you hook your digital camera directly to the iPod and store your photos on it (since iPod works as a portable hard drive). The second one is a CompactFlash card reader that does the same thing.
2GB cards aren't cheap and $500 for a 40GB iPod plus one of these addons would make a lot of sense. I use the card reader one when I travel so that I don't have to lug my laptop with me. -
Re:Flash Memory
My wife is a freelance photographer. On any given shoot, She'll go through at least 5 GB of pitcures and this is just for shots of homes that people are looking to sell.
In order to resolve this lack of space problem, she carries her laptop with her so she can clear the cards by dropping the pics on the laptop.
She should get the 40 GB iPod and one of the Belkin accessories that allow you to transfer photos to an iPod without a computer. There's a media reader and one that connects through USB.
This combination would be much less bulky and awkward than having to lug around a laptop and overall it will save you money that you would normally spend on a ton of flash cards. Not to mention that juggling a laptop and a camera is just asking for something to fall and get damaged. Another benefit is that you can keep 5 MB or so of music on the iPod to use it as a music player and still have plenty of room for photos. -
Re:Flash Memory
My wife is a freelance photographer. On any given shoot, She'll go through at least 5 GB of pitcures and this is just for shots of homes that people are looking to sell.
In order to resolve this lack of space problem, she carries her laptop with her so she can clear the cards by dropping the pics on the laptop.
She should get the 40 GB iPod and one of the Belkin accessories that allow you to transfer photos to an iPod without a computer. There's a media reader and one that connects through USB.
This combination would be much less bulky and awkward than having to lug around a laptop and overall it will save you money that you would normally spend on a ton of flash cards. Not to mention that juggling a laptop and a camera is just asking for something to fall and get damaged. Another benefit is that you can keep 5 MB or so of music on the iPod to use it as a music player and still have plenty of room for photos. -
Ugh.
Much better idea: plug this into the iPod you already have. You get between 15 and 40 GB of storage for $110.
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Re:Logitech's 'Black Hole Of Mousepaddery'
This might work for you. They have a male version as well. Or you could add a USB interface card, depending on the OS. That's what I did. USB cards are pretty cheap.
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Re:Better focus or Mac to be axed?
The FM transmitters to suck, its like listening to the music with ear plugs. The best thing to do know is get a head unit with an aux input and run RCA cables to the iPod. I did this with my Sony unit, ran an RCA to 1/8 mini cord to my Belkin Mobile Power Cord and I get great sound from it. Also, which is quite nice, when you unplug it from the dock conector, it automaticly pauses. And since the mini plug is plugged in the charger, it's only one thing to connect. You could also try to make your own center console like this guy did.
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Re:Dr. Bott
I guess you mean this one. Right now I'm sharing a 19" Planar LCD (1280x1024) with my Powerbook and PC using a cheap Compucable VGA & USB KVM. Its cheap in both senses of the word, but it works OK. But I'd prefer to use DVI. There don't seem to be any for less than the Belkin one I'd like to find one for less than $100, cables included, because the only difference for me would be a slight increase in clarity and less fuss, and no having to push the "adjust" button on the monitor when I switch between the two computers because the video is blurry or off center. This monitor also has both DVI and VGA, and you can switch between them, but it takes at least 3 button presses (depending on the mode you are in no less!), and of course that means that one computer is DVI and one is VGA. I've been searching for months for a KVM that'll meet my needs and wallet. Help?
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Belkin Battery Pack
I'm still waiting for plans for a homemade Belkin battery pack.
The difference?
The belkin packs, as you may have noticed, use only 4x1.5V. They don't charge the iPod battery, they power the iPod, getting 15-20 more hours of playtime, a better solution to me. This is probably done by jumping a pin in the proprietary dock connector of the iPod.
If someone could figure out which pin to jump or otherwise how to make this, it would be a wonderful solution. -
Belkin Backup BatteryIf you can afford an ipod, I am sure you can afford one of these (if you really want longer battery life):
LotD
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How about instead of voiding the warranty....
...by dissecting your iPod, why not buy this ?
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Uh, about that...
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Re:Where are the KVMs?
Belkin makes a model, but it ain't cheap. MSRP is $325, and it comes with no cables. The cables are $80 each. So if you want to connect 4 PC's, that's a whopping $645.
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Re:Nice...
>in which case their actions are little more than "oh well, you caught us - can't blame us for trying!"
heh...sort of like these bastards -
Re:Patented
The Belkin ones have them...
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Nostromo by Belkin
I have 2 USB Belkin Nostromos... They've been configured for MAME, ZSNES, Visual Boy Advance, and a bunch of others with no problems.
Half the trick I found was with the emulator configuration. Get your controllers working well, then configure the emulators around them. These controllers work natively under XP, and have excellent drivers for 2K. I don't know about *nix support. -
Re:Batteries
Owning an iPod player comes with a $50 per year maintenance cost of replacing the lithium polymer battery,
AppleCare for iPod costs $59 for 2 years of coverage, or (rounding up) $30 a year, which covers the battery and just about everything else. Beyond that, Apple will replace the battery for $99, but you can get replacements for $49 elsewhere (if following self-installation instructions doesn't scare you... and this is Slashdot...) and aside from certain highly-publicized gripers, most folks I'm aware of think the batteries last at least a couple years.while the other players take a slight form-factor hit in exchange for the convenience of replacing rechargeable AA-size or AAA-size NiMH cells.
Oh, and the Dell digital jukebox and Samsung/Napster player (the two that are most clearly aimed at competing with the iPod) use... Lithium-Ion Polymer batteries.
Oh, and of course Belkin offers a little external pack that sticks onto an iPod and holds 4 AA batteries... but that's a form-factor hit.
In addition, the threat of planned obsolescence should Apple discontinue the iTunes Music Store's compatibility with older iPod hardware.
Buh? Forgetting that iPods play MP3's just fine, and always have? Not sure what your point is here. -
Re:Um. What?!
Something like this?
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Belkin Speedpad
The Belkin Speedpad might be an option: it has a dpad built in, a scroll wheel, and several mappable keys. It is for right-handers only, though, at this time.
Specs and Information on the SpeedPad. -
Looks similar to favorite cell phone headsetI'm very picky about comfort for cell phone and computer headsets, a similar but not identical application. In my case, stealthiness was not a big deal, but comfort was. The two big issues I found were discomfort from earbuds (both conventional earbud and gel), and both leave my ears feeling very uncomfortable after even short periods of time. The more conventional headset earpads make my ears hot even at normal ambient room temps.
Here's my favorite. This style uses an "ear clip" to essentially dangle an earbud-sized earpiece in front of the ear opening. The wire runs behind the ear (as with the sony headphones mentioned above), and there's something about how the earpiece only rests on the ear that keeps any heat issues down. I like this headset enough that I got an adaptor at Radio Shack to use this headset on my computer.
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Re:Apple doesn't make batteries
While poking around looking for something else, I came across this product by Belkin:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process ?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=148969
$70 direct, less from a merchant, and even the guy who originally blew up his iPod because he doesn't understand the concept of ESD could install it.
Yes, it blows the form factor, in no small part because it's based on AA batteries. -
Belkin makes an external battery pack for 3G iPods
If you are willing to put up with the added bulk, you can add it on to your 3G iPod. The external battery pack uses 4 AA batteries.
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Re:Batteries?
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Re:Standard batteries = better
Hopefully this link will work a little better.
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Did you search the web?I was recently wondering about this myself, so I searched a bit. 3-button mice are widely available, and are still being manufactured: Or, if you don't want Belkin to get another dollar of yours due to the recent BS they pulled with their routers, there are many others: That's just what I found during 10 minutes of STFW. And I didn't take all the abuse you did by asking here
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Did you search the web?I was recently wondering about this myself, so I searched a bit. 3-button mice are widely available, and are still being manufactured: Or, if you don't want Belkin to get another dollar of yours due to the recent BS they pulled with their routers, there are many others: That's just what I found during 10 minutes of STFW. And I didn't take all the abuse you did by asking here
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Did you search the web?I was recently wondering about this myself, so I searched a bit. 3-button mice are widely available, and are still being manufactured: Or, if you don't want Belkin to get another dollar of yours due to the recent BS they pulled with their routers, there are many others: That's just what I found during 10 minutes of STFW. And I didn't take all the abuse you did by asking here
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Did you search the web?I was recently wondering about this myself, so I searched a bit. 3-button mice are widely available, and are still being manufactured: Or, if you don't want Belkin to get another dollar of yours due to the recent BS they pulled with their routers, there are many others: That's just what I found during 10 minutes of STFW. And I didn't take all the abuse you did by asking here
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Re:Well-documented over the years
Are you aware of a splitter (KVM switch, two port, preferably cheap) that uses DVI instead of VGA?
Do they exist? Yes. Can you get one cheap? Hell no!
Belkin makes a range of such devices, with USB inputs for keyboard/mouse. The 2-port model MSRP's for $245, and each of the cables (you'll need to buy two) are $80. So that's a whopping $405 + S&H for this solution. You can probably shave $100 off the top by buying from 3rd-party retailer, but that's still a lot of cash.
Please note, I have zero experience with this sort of device. In theory, it should be better than the analog solution, with no attenuation problems. -
Re:2 iPod flaws that deliver me from temptation
if you just have to use AA batteries, then might as well get one of these for the ipod. it makes it a little bulkier, but it works.
also, there's a plug-in for itunes that allows it to play ogg files. I know ogg is free and has great quality, but it's not like i pay for AAC licensing. in the consumers' eyes, AAC is also free, and it's arguably as good as or even better than ogg. -
The original snippy apology. Before the reedit ...
... of their homepage.
--SNIP--
Important message from Belkin:
Belkin is aware of some recent postings that claim that Belkin wireless routers are spamming users during the setup process and periodically thereafter. It is not now, nor has it ever been, the policy of Belkin to intentionally spam our customers or anyone else. Belkin offers a free trial of our parental control feature in our routers, and to make our customers aware of the feature itself and to give them the opportunity to take advantage of the free trial, we have tried to direct users to the information regarding the parental control features. However, since this has become a source of concern to our users, and it is Belkin policy to address the concerns of our users quickly, Belkin has decided to remove this function from the routers. Each router's firmware that incorporates parental control as an option will be changed.
Please expect more detailed information to follow early next week. Thank you.
--SNIP--
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Unemployed? Want a job?
In case you would like to apply for Mr. Deming's job, it's available. (Scroll down to "Marketing Manager"). Or, just write careers@belkin.com.
Of course, Belkin won't accept just anyone. The "right candidate" must be able to "strategize, initiate, and execute". He or she must be able to "drive revenue" and "leverage knowledge" about "end-user sell-thru strategies" and must be able to "align resources" and "translate raw content". -
Canned email reply from BelkinLike many fellow Slashdotters, I emailed several different people/departments at Belkin, expressing my disappointment with their new "feature". I received the following canned response today, from Eric Pipkin, an Account Manager at Belkin:
Rob,
The email contained a 119k pdf file attachment, which I actually found on the Belkin website by adding the filename to the end of the belkin.com URL. Here's a link to the pdf file I received: http://www.belkin.com/Belkin_parental-control.pdf
Please refer to attachment below in regards to your email.
Thnx.
It doesn't really tell us anything new, except that Belkin seems to be missing the point entirely, defending their "feature" and not mentioning anything about any upcoming firmware fixes. -
It looks like Belkin is hearing this, but if not..
It looks like Belkin is hearing this, but if not, it might help to notify some of the people they quote their rave reviews from.
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Re:It's not the only defective device they make.
The Speedpad n50 has a problem in which depressing three buttons will result in a fourth button being mysteriously depressed as well. They even have this bug documented, but seeing as how it hasn't been fixed despite their release of the n52 I have a feeling that it shall be never resolved.
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Re:It's not the only defective device they make.
The Speedpad n50 has a problem in which depressing three buttons will result in a fourth button being mysteriously depressed as well. They even have this bug documented, but seeing as how it hasn't been fixed despite their release of the n52 I have a feeling that it shall be never resolved.
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Doesn't Belkin need to disclose some sourcecode ?
I do am unlucky to own (and ignorant to buy, sigh) a Belkin wlan-accesspoint (802.11G). As these accesspoints and wireless routers all carry the same Broadcom-chip and modifications to GPL sourcecode as the Linksys 54G-variants, they should release their sourcecode just as Linksys nicely did.
Now I do believe when that is done that should solve the problem with this re-routing... -
Re:Ease of use?Hmmm...appears that they really don't want to "prominently promote" this service.
I mean...if it's such a godsend and all...if it's going to be such a killer feature...why is any mention of this so hard to find on their site?
Search for "parental" using their site search. Nothing found. Hmmm...
A quick google returned a reference to the Belkin Advantage page. Hmmm again...a flash advertisement, but no mention of ongoing charges. Except that you can pay an extra $10 for 6 months worth of "reporting"...
The most informative thing that I found (under "News") was a press release from last May.
Tried the Support search. Nothing. Nothing in any FAQs (that I could find). Nothing (that I saw, anyway) contained in the on-line (PDF) manuals. No way for me to decide (if I should be so inclined) that I *want* to buy a Belkin router, because I *want* censorware. I mean...if this is something that they wish to prominently promote...why aren't they?
From the press release: $19.99/year after the first 6 months? Hmmm...let's say your "free" 6 months are up. What do you want to bet that the only thing that your router will route "to" at that time will be a "your time is up...pay us money" site until a) you pay them money (at which time they *have* your credit card number...bwahhaahaaahhaa, now try to unsubscribe!), or b) you figure out how to disable this feature in the router. Gosh...hope you know what you're doing.
Sleaze. That's all it is. Sleaze.
Although, with all of my neighbors running un-encrypted wireless access points, it could be kind of fun signing them up for parental control and turning EVERYTHING off... -
Re:Ease of use?Hmmm...appears that they really don't want to "prominently promote" this service.
I mean...if it's such a godsend and all...if it's going to be such a killer feature...why is any mention of this so hard to find on their site?
Search for "parental" using their site search. Nothing found. Hmmm...
A quick google returned a reference to the Belkin Advantage page. Hmmm again...a flash advertisement, but no mention of ongoing charges. Except that you can pay an extra $10 for 6 months worth of "reporting"...
The most informative thing that I found (under "News") was a press release from last May.
Tried the Support search. Nothing. Nothing in any FAQs (that I could find). Nothing (that I saw, anyway) contained in the on-line (PDF) manuals. No way for me to decide (if I should be so inclined) that I *want* to buy a Belkin router, because I *want* censorware. I mean...if this is something that they wish to prominently promote...why aren't they?
From the press release: $19.99/year after the first 6 months? Hmmm...let's say your "free" 6 months are up. What do you want to bet that the only thing that your router will route "to" at that time will be a "your time is up...pay us money" site until a) you pay them money (at which time they *have* your credit card number...bwahhaahaaahhaa, now try to unsubscribe!), or b) you figure out how to disable this feature in the router. Gosh...hope you know what you're doing.
Sleaze. That's all it is. Sleaze.
Although, with all of my neighbors running un-encrypted wireless access points, it could be kind of fun signing them up for parental control and turning EVERYTHING off... -
Re:Ease of use?Hmmm...appears that they really don't want to "prominently promote" this service.
I mean...if it's such a godsend and all...if it's going to be such a killer feature...why is any mention of this so hard to find on their site?
Search for "parental" using their site search. Nothing found. Hmmm...
A quick google returned a reference to the Belkin Advantage page. Hmmm again...a flash advertisement, but no mention of ongoing charges. Except that you can pay an extra $10 for 6 months worth of "reporting"...
The most informative thing that I found (under "News") was a press release from last May.
Tried the Support search. Nothing. Nothing in any FAQs (that I could find). Nothing (that I saw, anyway) contained in the on-line (PDF) manuals. No way for me to decide (if I should be so inclined) that I *want* to buy a Belkin router, because I *want* censorware. I mean...if this is something that they wish to prominently promote...why aren't they?
From the press release: $19.99/year after the first 6 months? Hmmm...let's say your "free" 6 months are up. What do you want to bet that the only thing that your router will route "to" at that time will be a "your time is up...pay us money" site until a) you pay them money (at which time they *have* your credit card number...bwahhaahaaahhaa, now try to unsubscribe!), or b) you figure out how to disable this feature in the router. Gosh...hope you know what you're doing.
Sleaze. That's all it is. Sleaze.
Although, with all of my neighbors running un-encrypted wireless access points, it could be kind of fun signing them up for parental control and turning EVERYTHING off... -
Re:Ease of use?Hmmm...appears that they really don't want to "prominently promote" this service.
I mean...if it's such a godsend and all...if it's going to be such a killer feature...why is any mention of this so hard to find on their site?
Search for "parental" using their site search. Nothing found. Hmmm...
A quick google returned a reference to the Belkin Advantage page. Hmmm again...a flash advertisement, but no mention of ongoing charges. Except that you can pay an extra $10 for 6 months worth of "reporting"...
The most informative thing that I found (under "News") was a press release from last May.
Tried the Support search. Nothing. Nothing in any FAQs (that I could find). Nothing (that I saw, anyway) contained in the on-line (PDF) manuals. No way for me to decide (if I should be so inclined) that I *want* to buy a Belkin router, because I *want* censorware. I mean...if this is something that they wish to prominently promote...why aren't they?
From the press release: $19.99/year after the first 6 months? Hmmm...let's say your "free" 6 months are up. What do you want to bet that the only thing that your router will route "to" at that time will be a "your time is up...pay us money" site until a) you pay them money (at which time they *have* your credit card number...bwahhaahaaahhaa, now try to unsubscribe!), or b) you figure out how to disable this feature in the router. Gosh...hope you know what you're doing.
Sleaze. That's all it is. Sleaze.
Although, with all of my neighbors running un-encrypted wireless access points, it could be kind of fun signing them up for parental control and turning EVERYTHING off... -
But they are not Cisco...
and (almost) nobody is using their products:
They have nothing to lose !
If I were Belkin, I would reconfigure/update all my router/accesspoint software to do whatever they want to do with it, like redirecting every bit of IP-traffic to 67.98.73.16. It's not that anybody is going to complain: their e-mail won't work! Har har har!
By the way, if you need a new employee, I am learning fast -
But they are not Cisco...
and (almost) nobody is using their products:
They have nothing to lose !
If I were Belkin, I would reconfigure/update all my router/accesspoint software to do whatever they want to do with it, like redirecting every bit of IP-traffic to 67.98.73.16. It's not that anybody is going to complain: their e-mail won't work! Har har har!
By the way, if you need a new employee, I am learning fast -
Send a message to Belkin via sales@belkin.com
Make sure your voice is hear: Send an email to sales@belkin.com, particularly if you are a customer of theirs, or were considering purchasing some of their products. Your message would be most effective if you specify what Belkin products you have and/or what products you were considering purchasing (and, of course, that you won't be doing that
Here's the message I sent:
Date: November 7, 2003 1:43:50 PM PST
From: Charles
Subject: I can't believe you did that... did you?
To: sales@belkin.com
Hi,
I own two Belkin wireless routers (one for my parent's house, one for mine), and was considering buying a second one to improve the signal quality throughout my home. I'm also interested in some of the Belkin iPod accessories.
Today I read about how newer firmware on Belkin routers occasionally redirects web requests to a Belkin web site suggesting a subscription to a "Parental Control" service (this is detailed in , which refers to ).
These articles make it pretty clear that Belkin implemented a feature that causes their router to intentionally misdirect web traffic, for the sole purpose of advertising a Belkin service, and that user action is required to stop this obnoxious behavior. I would consider this a fundamental breach of your customers' trust. When I entrust my network communications to a vendor's product, I need to be sure that that product will transmit that communication as faithfully as it can. If the vendor intentionally causes a failure in transmission, for whatever reason, but especially for its own advertising benefit, that is a breach of trust. There a literally dozens of networking components between me and any given web site I access (my web browser, the operating system on which it runs, the computer on which that runs, the wireless card in that computer, the Belkin wireless router I use, routers at my internet service provider and between it and the web site, and all the equipment on the web site's network). Every one of these could be made to stop traffic for an advertising break, as Belkin's seems to now do, and I'm sure you'd agree that would make for a quite annoying web browsing experience. Users and networking professionals alike would surely agree that any products that did as Belkin's is reported to do would be working against the user's interests, and against the product purchaser's legitimate understanding of what the product should do (unless of course the product was clearly labeled as subsidized by advertising).
Please tell me that there is some kind of mistake and that the situation is not as I understand it to be. If there is no mistake, I can tell you with confidence that I will not buy another Belkin product until Belkin corrects the problem with this product, issues a public statement apologizing for their breach of their customer's trust, and takes appropriate action against the person or persons responsible for the mistake. Please implement these corrective measures, or let me know that they are not necessary, as soon as possible, since in the meantime I will be repeating this story of Belkin's misbehavior as an example of a company's misunderstanding of its responsibility to its customers.
Thanks for letting me know if the articles I linked to are incorrect. No further communication from Belkin is needed if they are not. I will be be watching the technical media sources for any news of changes to Belkin's product behavior and attitude towards its customers.
- Charles -
Re:Here's the angle I would take...
ericd@belkin.com enjoys his peace and quiet. ericd@belkin.com does not like unsolicited email. People should not send messages to ericd@belkin.com unless they are personally affected by the issue. Spammers should not illegally harvest the email address ericd@belkin.com.
