Wi-Fi Toys: 15 Cool Wireless Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc
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F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page i Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: Wi-Fi Toys 15 Cool Wireless Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment Mike Outmesguine F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page ii Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: Wi-Fi Toys: 15 Cool Wireless Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada eISBN: 0-7645-7683-6 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-44355, E-mail: [email protected]. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 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F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page iii Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: Credits Senior Acquisitions Editor Vice President and Executive Group Sharon Cox Publisher Richard Swadley Executive Editor Chris Webb Vice President and Executive Publisher Bob Ipsen Development Editors Scott Amerman Vice President and Publisher Brian MacDonald Joseph B. Wikert Production Editor Executive Editorial Director Gabrielle Nabi Mary Bednarek Copy Editor Project Coordinator TechBooks Erin Smith Editorial Manager Proofreading and Indexing Kathryn A. Malm TechBooks Production Services F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page iv Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page v Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: For Angie, the first love of my life, Michael (Baby 2000), and Julia (Baby XP), the other loves of my life. And for my parents Simon and Jan, who encouraged me to put my toys back together after taking them apart, and to my sisters Diana and Jennifer, who encouraged me to stop taking their toys apart and make my own. F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page vi Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page vii Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: Acknowledgments First and foremost, I wish to thank my wife for her endless patience while writing this book and for her ceaseless trust in me as a husband and provider. Without her encouragement and devotion, I would be lucky to have a job sitting in a cube farm complaining about printer errors like “PC Load Letter.” I’d like to thank my offspring, Michael, who was the perfect kid during Daddy’s long days and nights away writing. And thank you to our newest bundle, Julia, for being a peaceful baby whose only gripe was “feed me!” And thanks to my family, Nana and Papa, Aunties Lori, Alysia, Diana and Jennifer, Granddude, and the Grandmas Great and Small for letting us stop by unexpectedly. And thanks to our friends from the Lang Ranch Mom’s Club for being there for my family when we needed you. I’d also like to thank my cousin Creighton and pals Brett, Sam, and Sean for helping get me out of a tight spot here and there. The contributors of this book get special appreciation for helping to put out a great product in a timely manner. They individually pushed the envelope on the projects outlined here and their efforts made this book into more than the sum of its parts. I’m very grateful for the help and encouragement from my editors: Scott Amerman, who kept me on my toes, Chris Webb, who believed in the book in the first place, Brian MacDonald, who helped make the book a delight to read, and everyone else at Wiley Publishing who helped make this book a reality. Thanks, everybody. I hope we can still be friends! Special thanks to the members of the user group community in Southern California: SOCALWUG, OCCALWUG, SBWUG, and SDWUG; and the communities of BAWUG, Netstumbler.com, Nocat, NZWireless, Seattle Wireless, and SoCalFreeNet. These loose-knit groups of like-minded individuals are shaping the future world of wireless. Their feedback, suggestions, and onsite help made many of the projects in this book possible. And thanks to you, dear reader. By picking up this book, you have delved into that interesting world of wireless and Wi-Fi Toys! F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page viii Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: About the Author Mike Outmesguine is president and founder of TransStellar, Inc., a successful technology ser- vices company with an emphasis on wireless mobility and energy information systems. As president, Mike has directed TransStellar, online at www.transstellar.com, through his vision of “wireless anywhere” to become a leader in the emerging wireless mobility market while adopting many of these techniques for the energy information market. Mike is the co-founder of the Southern California Wireless Users Group (SOCALWUG), a nonprofit user community with a focus on introducing wireless technology to the end-user and business community. The SOCALWUG has been holding monthly meetings for over two years and archives all of the past meetings online in streaming media format. Thousands of wireless enthusiasts from around the world look forward to the monthly meetings and videos hosted on the Web at www.socalwug.org. Mike served in the U.S. Air Force as an electronic countermeasures specialist on B-52 aircraft and in the California Air National Guard in support of C-130 aircraft. Mike served for over 10 years and is a veteran of the Gulf War. Additionally, Mike has been featured in several speaking engagements, newspaper, and online resources commenting on wireless technology, wireless security, and the impact on businesses and government using these technologies. Mike is FCC-licensed under the call sign KG6NHH. His passion for technology goes back as far as he can remember. His first personal computer was a Sinclair ZX-81. (As a video-game addict, he couldn’t afford the coveted Apple ][e that had just been released!) Since those early years, Mike has spent countless hours immersed in the technology fields of computers, electronics, networking, the Internet, and most recently, mobile and wireless. Mike enjoys long wardrives on the beach. Mike Outmesguine can be reached at: TransStellar, Inc. P.O. Box 1111 Agoura Hills, CA 91301 USA Tel: 818-889-9445 Fax: 818-337-7420 E-mail: [email protected] F-First.qxd 7/2/04 12:03 PM Page ix Quark03 Quark03:BOOKS:WY016:WY016:0764558943:pdf: Contributors James Burgess—James is a student at the University of Southern California who has been conducting research in wireless communications since the late 90s. He is the co-founder of Flexilis, a disruptive technologies research and development firm, where he is currently explor- ing new wireless implementations and protocols. He takes particular interest in open source wireless developments, contributing much of his findings to the community. In his free time he writes for DailyWireless.com, a wireless industry news site.