Quote:Google says it has a solution to the glitchy home Wi-Fi that often stops working when you try to stream a movie or upload photos – a smarter, prettier router.

The OnHub router, unveiled by Google today, resembles a jumbo-sized drinking cup with a ring of light around the top. It's a significant departure from the box-with-blinking-lights-and-antenna look of traditional routers, but not that different from some newer D-Link routers that are also cylindrical and come in different colours - for many of the same reasons.

It's designed to improve the range and reliability of home Wi-Fi networks while becoming part of your living room décor.

The goal is to encourage people to put it on a bookshelf to maximize the range of the Wi-Fi signals, instead of hiding the device on the floor behind the TV, as the company says most people do now. It's a cylinder so people won't impair the signal by tipping it on its side or stack other objects on top of it.

"We didn't just make it beautiful because we wanted it to be pretty," said Google product manager Trond Wuellner via video conference from Mountain View, Calif., at a media preview in Toronto. "We designed it that way so it actually has a chance to operate at its best."

The device also optimizes your home Wi-Fi by automatically choosing the channel or frequency with the fastest connection, given nearby signals.

It allows you to set up and manage your network remotely via an Android or iPhone app. The software lets you see what devices are connected and how much bandwidth they are using – intended to be an improvement over the enigmatic blinking lights that most routers use to communicate.

Unlike most routers, Google says OnHub will be able to receive over-the-air software updates – both to add new features and to easily patch security vulnerabilities.

Quote:The software was largely built in Canada, said Paul Leventis, a Google Canada engineer who worked on the project. "Anything the user touches has been done in Waterloo."

(08-18-2015, 10:56 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Will it send data on your Internet usage to Google?  It's made by TP-Link, whose networking gear is usually significantly less expensive than companies like Linksys, ASUS and D-Link.  

Incidentally, D-Link also makes cylinder-shaped routers.  And Linksys has a mobile app for configuring things, including setting device priority.  I'm not seeing the revolutionary new technology here, sorry.

(08-18-2015, 10:56 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Will it send data on your Internet usage to Google?

Quote:It's made by TP-Link, whose networking gear is usually significantly less expensive than companies like Linksys, ASUS and D-Link.

Quote:Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received a tour of Google's new Canadian headquarters Thursday in Kitchener, Ont., and praised the region as an "extraordinary hub" for innovation "at the cutting edge of the global economy."

Speaking at a news conference, the prime minister stressed the need for "good, innovative jobs" and praised the region for becoming a hub for companies such as Google and BlackBerry.

Trudeau, who referred to himself a "geek prime minister" that was "half-way decent as a [C++ according to CBC Radio] coder," said there is "just so much to see" at the high-tech 185,000-square-foot space...

Quote:Google unveiled the stunning new headquarters for its Canadian development team on Thursday with a high-profile boost from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"What's happening here really, really matters, not just to the region, but to the country and the world," Trudeau said in the company's new offices in the Breithaupt Block in Kitchener's downtown. "And it's an incredible pleasure to be here today."...

The official opening of the Internet juggernaut's headquarters is a milestone in the economic transition of downtown Kitchener — from a bustling manufacturing centre, to a gritty core with empty factories and finally, into a technology hot spot.

"It speaks to what is going on in the community," Regional Chair Ken Seiling said in an interview.

"It also speaks to the vision of the people who are working to develop this community," he said. "It is a community that keeps reinventing itself."

Quote:The 350 software and hardware engineers in Google's office in the Breithaupt Block work on a long list of products that underscore how much the technology giant has changed since it started out as a search engine 18 years ago.

The Kitchener office is the centre of the company's research and development efforts in Canada, and teams here do leading edge work on products used by billions of people around the world.

The products developed here, or largely developed here include Gmail, Chrome, Inbox, the OnHub Wi-Fi Router, Google Ads and Google Fibre, and high performance tablets and laptops like Google Flip and the Pixel...