Look for IT over here

Google, in competition with Internet Explorer and Firefox, is set to release their own browser tomorrow - named Chrome.

The good news is that the beta release of the browser will be open source. It promises to be complete, yet simple.

Google have have released a comic book telling you about the new browser. In typical Google fashin, it is innovative and works quite well. Better than just a simple web page full of text.

One thing I have found intersting is what I’ve read about the tabbed browsing. I have found with other browsers that when you close a tab, the moemory that it uses is not reclaimed fully and there is a it of fragmentation (or bloating of memory). Chrome claims to fix this …. according to the comic book.

Let’s see how it gos.

If you have a DG834G ADSL router and wish to monitor it, there isn’t any options in the GUI interface to manage it via SNMP. Yes, you can configure it to respond to ICMP (PING) but what if you want more?

After a bit of searching around, I found instructions to do it (as shown below):

1) Access your router on 192.168.0.1/snmp.htm
2) Enable SNMP and make your community name ‘public’. Click Apply.
3) Type in the address bar: 192.168.0.1/setup.cgi?todo=debug (it will say “Debug enabled”).
4) Click Start, Run, type in ‘cmd’ to get a command prompt.
5) Type ‘telnet 192.168.0.1′ (You will see a BusyBox shell prompt).
6) type ‘iptables -D INPUT 1′ at the # prompt (this disables SNMP blocking).

That’s it, your router will now respond to SNMP requests on port 161.

Of course if your router has a different IP address simply replace 192.168.0.1 in all the steps above with whatever your router’s IP is.

Note: that if you make any changes to your firewall rules, if your router reboots or if it reconnects for any reason then the DG834 will reset the IP tables and you will need to run that command in the telnet window again. That’s all you will need to do though, the SNMP setting remains and the debug mode stays active until you physically reboot the router.

Wireless internet access is great - most of the time. It saves the need for running wires through your house, but can be a bitch to set up, and can be affected by other devices that emit radio signals.

Most new routers are expensive, high-performance affairs that use the 802.11n standard. But the ‘funky looking’ WRT54G2 sticks to the slower but still reliable 802.11g standard which enables perfectly acceptable internet access and half-decent file transfer speeds. It also costs half the price of 11n kit.

Beyond its living-room friendly design (the antennae are internal), its distinguishing feature is Linksys EasyLink Advisor, or LELA. This is a truly idiot-proof set-up. Out of the box, instructions scream “run the disc’s software first”. Simple, animated diagrams aid cabling and you’re walked through setting up a secure wireless network.

If you have a compatible “Wi-Fi Protected Setup” device, connecting involves simply pressing buttons on both devices. Those who like tinkering with advanced options have all of the usual features available via the browser-based settings.

Note: There’s no modem inside the WRT54G2 - you’ll need to connect one via an Ethernet cable.

Check it out here.

I wouldn’t normally write about stuff like this, but I grew up with Space Invaders and I think it changed the video gaming world as we know it today. Well, it actually was the very beginning.

Ahhhh the memories…..

Europe’s biggest games convention has marked the event with a homage to the alien “shoot-em-up” as well as 500 exhibitors showing how far the industry has come since then.

The classic (I would say more cult) title first hit gaming arcades in 1978, setting players the challenge of shooting a swarm of hostile extra-terrestrials descending at an ever increasing pace, before they destroyed you.

Space Invaders has been immortalised by Guinness World Records as the number one arcade game of all time.

Game developer Taito is commemorating the game’s anniversary with a worldwide Space Invaders tournament, which will conclude on August 26th.

The Space Invaders shrine can be found here, where you can play it online also.

Google today has released street view in Australia, the third country to get it.

The snapshots are taken by a fleet of cars fitted with special cameras that drive across the country, capturing images on every street corner and along every highway. Quite possibly you have seen them out on the streets. They are just a normal car with a small Google logo on the door, and a long pole with a camera mounted on the roof of the car.

The technology has so far been used to create virtual replicas of major US cities and the route of this year’s Tour De France, but Google will today unveil its most comprehensive Street View project to date – the mapping of virtually all of southeast Australia and much of the east and west coasts.

I checked out my house and it looks like the photo was taken on garbage day as there are garbage bins outside of my house.

Lastly, a bit of trivia - Google Maps was actually invented in Australia and that is why there is now more extensive coverage than in the USA.