There will not be  a show February 1, 2009.  The next show will be February 8, 2009.

ReadyNAS (By Netgear)

• Gives you Central storage for your entire home network.  
• Have all the members of your family store their files
• Stream your Music/Videos/Pictures to your home theater systems.

Features

• CIFS: Common Internet File System.  Mostly used by Windows operating systems.  MAC OS X also supports this protocol,  but may be called SMB.
• NFS: Network File System.  Widely used in Unix or Linux environments.  MAX OS X also supports NFS.
• AFP: Apple Filing Protocol.  Popular in MAC environments.  AFP provides better support for a larger range of characters in filenames and is preferred where this is important.
• FTP: File Transfer Protocol. Used for basic file upload and downloads.  
• HTTP/S (HyperText Transfer Protocol):  Used by web browsers. You will be able to access shares that were created on the ReadyNAS

Streaming Services:

• SqueezeCenter: Enables streaming of music to SqueezeBox  digital music Players
• Itunes Streaming Server.  Enables ITunes client to stream media from the ReadyNAS
• UPnP AV: Enables playback of videos, music and pictures from UPnP AV network players
• Home Media Streaming Server: Enables playback of videos, music and picture from Network DVD and media players.

Installed Addons

• BitTorrent: Enables peer-to-peer file sharing and allows the ReadyNAS to queue file downloads.
• ReadyNAS Photos:  Allows sharing of photos from the ReadyNAS to your family and friends on the internet.  

Volumes:

• RAID: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
• X-Raid is Expandable RAID.
• Add disks as you need them and the ReadyNAS will expand the volume and keep it redundant.

Backup

• Allows you to back the readyNAS to a remote machine or backup a remote machine to the readynas.
• Support RSYNC, Windows, FTP, and many others.

PrintServer:

• Connect a USB printer

How do I use the ReadyNAS

• I have changed the my documents folder for each users in my house to point to the ReadyNAS.  So no matter which computer someone logs in to, they always get their correct documents folder.
• I also use the Readynas to backup all my websites and databases for those sites.
• All user data on the Readynas gets pushed to a computer that is running Mozy offsite backup software.  This allows me to backup everyones data with only purchasing one accoutn for $4.95/month from Mozy.com.
• Itunes:  My wife uses Itunes with her IPOD, all her music is on the readynas but can be streamed to Itunes software so that she can manage her music.
• I plan on getting a TVIXBOX media player and have it stream from the readynas.

Windows 7 Public Beta

• Looks solid
• Dumbed down with not much you can do without downloading Windows Live Esentials.
  • No email programs, no movie maker and no photo prgram.
• Visually looks the same except the task bar.
• Start Menu looks and acts the same as vista
• Show desktop button is to the right of the clock and is not obvious
• Quicklaunch replaced by the ability to pin applications to the TASK BAR
• User Account Control  (UAC) changed
  • You can now change the way UAC works with differnt levels of alerts
    • Always notify me
    • Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (DEFAULT)
    • Don’t notify me hwne Imake changes to windows settings
    • Programs try to install software or make changes to my computer or when I make changes to windows settings.
•  
• Action Center: Shows up as a little Flag with a red a white X on the task bar.
  • Similar to the Security Alerts, but allows you to take action on isssues like Virus or spyware protection.
  • Restore your computer to an earlier time.  (System Restore)
• Credentials manager – Like RoboForm