Hey folks, coming up with catchy titles for these blog entries isn't easy! For now let me entertain you with a tale from the department of motor vehicles!

Recently I've become acquainted with two new kinds of bridges. These bridges create a new way for electronic devices to talk to each other. The first is an ethernet bridge. What it is a little device that allows you to take your home network where the cables don't ordinarily go. The most common bridges work with a wireless router to communicate with the network. Now I know what you're asking - why get a bridge when you can add a wireless card to your computer? The bridge is for all of those devices that you can't add a card to - such as a printer or your XBox gaming system. The bridge makes the device think it's connected to the network through a cable. The one I got for the Xbox was reasonably priced and very easy to set up. If you're looking to extend your network, this might be the solution for you.

The other bridge is called "Pictbridge" and it was built into my new printer. I'll admit that I wasn't looking for this feature when I was evaluating my new printer purchase. But now that I have it, I'm hooked. What it is, is a simple and efficient way to print pictures directly from a digital camera. All Pictbridge is is a USB port on the printer with the Pictbridge logo on it. No need for built in screens or multiple card slots. Pictbridge is as easy to use as your own camera. Just plug it in, turn it on and start browsing the pictures to pick the ones you want to print. Once you've made your choice, the picture is sent to the printer and voila! You've got pictures. Pictbridge is not limited to any specific brand - my Nikon camera has no trouble communicating with the Canon printer. You just have to make sure both devices are equipped with Pictbridge when you buy them. You can rest assured that I'll be checking from now on.

That's all for now. See you next week.

Labels: Ethernet Bridge, Pictbridge, XBox 360