Another holiday shopping season is officially underway. Ten years ago, we might have been happy to receive a dialup modem to surf the Internet. Here's a tip: Strongly consider NOT buying anyone a dialup modem for the holidays this year. On the other hand, wireless gadgets like routers, wireless gaming adapters and Wi-Fi cameras are both practical and cool. Does your shopping list include any of these wireless gadgets?
→ See also - 2009 Holiday Gift Guide for Wireless and Home Computer Networking
→ See also - Free Wi-Fi (Not Quite) Everywhere for the Holidays

On June 25th, 2008, somebody visited a political news portal called Indymedia.us and got the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Who was this person and what did they do, or say? No one who knows for certain has come forward. Only this month have some details of the DOJ legal action been widely revealed by bloggers including one at CBS News. Read more...

Someone on our message board runs a consulting firm and is currently trying to set up an FTP server to share large files with their clients. FTP solves this problem nicely, although setting up a public FTP server should be done with care to avoid potential security issues. Another of our members recommends using SFTP for security in this case. Unfortunately, the server doesn't seem to be allowing any connections, even without SFTP. What's this all about? Follow the discussion below.
→ Discuss - Sharing Large Files via FTP
→ See also - Free FTP Server Software for Windows

Would you like to have your weight and body fat percentage automatically posted on the Internet? If so, a French company called Withings has just the product for you. Their product is the "World's First WiFi Enabled Body Scale." Currently selling for roughly USD $159 online, this scale connects to a wireless home network and manage an online database of users' body weights and related body mass statistics over time. No joke.

As an added, er, incentive, the product supports an interface that also enable automatic posting of your weigh-ins to Twitter. It takes the concept of "peer pressure" to a whole new level.

→ More - A Scale That Tweets (caloriecount.about.com)

Withings WiFi Scale - Photo: www.withings.com