Congratulations to a team from M.I.T. for winning the DARPA Network Challenge. The team located 10 red balloons planted in public locations across the United States in under nine hours by recruiting volunteers and paying rewards for tips. You can still check out the M.I.T. Red Balloon Challenge Team recruiting page to see some details of their approach.

The U.S. Department of Defense recently held this contest to celebrate their groundbreaking work on one of the first large scale computer networks, ARPANet, 40 years ago.

→ See also - National Balloon Hunt Mobilizes GPS Users (gps.about.com)

Are you knowledgeable in home automation and looking for an opportunity to write about it? Home automation is one of the subtopics here at About.com that is currently open to contributing writers, affiliated with this Wireless/Networking portion of this site. We're looking for someone who understands and is able to describe the various technologies and products of home automation to the average reader. If you're interested in working with me in this area, check out the application details below.
→ More - Apply to Be a Contributing Writer (beaguide.about.com)

PC Magazine released its listing this week of The Top 40 Free Apps for iPhone. One of the many useful apps on PCMag's list is the JiWire Free Wi-Fi Finder for locating nearby wireless hotspots. A few others mentioned provide VoIP, instant messaging or similar network and communication services.

Is JiWire's app really the single best free iPhone app for computer networking and communications out there? What about others that may charge for downloading? If you have a favorite iPhone app that helps you network, tell us about it.

→ Poll - Do You Use Wi-Fi On Your Cell Phone?

Apple iPhone - Photo: Andreas Rentz / Getty Images

Another common error you may see when working with a Microsoft Windows based virtual private network is VPN error 619 - "A connection to the remote computer could not be established." (With some older VPN servers, the error message says "The port was disconnected.") Like VPN error 800, error 619 can happen either when trying to establish a new connection to a VPN server or when suddenly disconnected. If you encounter it, check the following:

• If two or more VPN clients are installed on the computer, ensure only one is running to avoid conflicts. Check both for running applications and also for Windows services.
• Firewalls and antivirus programs may be running that block access to the VPN ports. Temporarily disable these to troubleshoot.
• Try other standard repairs and troubleshooting steps - reboot the client computer, delete and re-install the VPN client configuration settings, and find others who have working setups to compare for network configuration differences

Have you seen and/or resolved any VPN error 619 problems?