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Google To Introduce Google Wifi, Google Home and 4K Chromecast Ultra Devices On October 4th (androidpolice.com)
Android Police has learned of a new Google device that will launch alongside the Google Pixel smartphones, Google Home, and 4K 'Chromecast Ultra' dongle on October 4th. Called Google Wifi, the Wi-Fi router will cost $129 and contain several "smart" features. Android Police reports: [The] source additionally claims that Google will advertise the router as having "smart" features -- probably similar to OnHub in some respects -- and that Google will claim it provides enhanced range over typical Wi-Fi routers (a claim we see basically every router make, to be fair). But the one thing that will make it an insta-buy for many over OnHub? Our source claims multiple Google Wifi access points (two or more) can be linked together to create one large wireless network. We don't have any details on how this works, unfortunately. But one source claims that Google Wifi device will essentially be like a little white Amazon Echo Dot. So, relatively small and inconspicuous. In a separate report, Android Police details Google's upcoming smart speaker called Google Home, along with their upcoming 4K 'Chromecast Ultra' devices. Specifically, they will be priced at $129 and $69 respectively: Google Home was announced at Google I/O in May. Our sources also confirmed that the personalized base covers Google showed at I/O will be a feature of the final device. $129 also undercuts Amazon's Echo by a full $40, and though matches the price of the portable Amazon Tap, it's clear Google has Amazon's flagship smart home product in its sights with Home. Chromecast Ultra, which we are now all but certain is the name of Google's upcoming 4K version of Chromecast, will come in at $69 retail. As for what it brings beyond 4K, one of our sources claims that HDR is indeed on the list of bullet points.
... since they'll use it to spy on me, they should pay me instead.
I apologize for the lack of a signature.
Actually, YES, surprisingly. It is still the quickest and easiest way to report and get fixed bugs for countless open-source projects. Said projects have GitHub, JIRA, and other systems in place, but it is usually still significantly faster to just hop onto the dev channel for the project, ping a key developer directly, and get things resolved right on the spot.
Most likely pre-configured for 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4, so most likely at a bare minimum, yes for DNS.
Yes, this is exactly how WiFi was designed to work. In big cities, the noise floor is so high that frequently, you need one access point per room or two. So, the ability for a client to roam seamlessly is pretty important.
And generally things worked fine that way, back in the day when you could buy WiFi "access points" instead of WiFi "routers". These days, the router function usually gets into the way, though. For many consumer models, you are supposed to be able to selectively disable routing; but in my experience this never works properly. It might seem to work for a day, but then all of a sudden connections keep dropping and become unresponsive. It's just a mode that isn't tested much. And consumer WiFi devices tend to be poorly tested to begin with. Manufacturers care more about rolling out the next cool thing, rather than debugging and fine-tuning existing hardware.
The solution, of course, is to refrain from buying consumer-grade hardware. Instead, you should get semi-professional hardware. I have had amazingly great luck with Ubiquiti's Unifi series of access points. They are not even more expensive than normal consumer-grade hardware. But they simply just work. Put a couple of their access points across the house, and never worry about poor WiFi performance. You can walk all over the house, and you'll never lose connectivity.
The downside is that you'll need a router to plug all these devices into. And ideally, this router should be POE enabled (although, you could use the included POE injectors).
But if you ever wondered how large office buildings make sure their WiFi works correctly, or why some hotels have working WiFi and others never seem to manage; well, now you know. If you spot Unifi access points in the hallways, chances are that WiFi is going to work correctly.
run OpenWRT?