June 08
Yesterday I was invited to attend a Linksys Home Connected Event. Gadget fiends come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and interests and to be honest when it comes to Wi-Fi, Routers and Gateways, I have a tendency to glaze over. I just don't understand it, the boxes you have to put around your house or the codes you have to punch in just right to get everything to work are like a foreign lingo that I'm not too keen to have to figure out on my lonesome. It's not my area of gadget paradise. Until now.
With the promise of gaining an understanding, I accepted the Linksys invitation gladly and herein met Lela. What a beauty! Lela is so talented that I wanted to take her home on the spot. So savvy about my computer system that she could sit there, classically understated in her dark good looks and tell me from a distance if programs or persons unknown were trying to infiltrate my Wi-Fi system; if my printer stopped working she would let me know in an instant where the fault lay. If in a rare moment she couldn't figure out the problem she knew in a heartbeat who to contact and remote assistance could be instantly brought in. Lela exuded power, efficiency, good looks and filled me with confidence.
Lela is probably the secret in the home Wi-Fi World that everyone should know about. She was named after Linksys EasyLink Advisor and she's one smart useful computer program. Better yet, she's so user friendly that I'm considering making her my new gadget best friend. Her looks both online and real time, I'll explain in a moment.
However, let's start at the beginning. Linksys organised a survey, conducted by YouGov that showed 54% of UK women who have broadband internet at home have a wireless network. Not only did women connect their PC / Laptops to this Wireless network but a percentage had also added gaming systems, printers etc. Yep, I'm right there. So good, so far.
The next one is so me it's almost embarrassing. 47% of the women surveyed admitted that technical knowledge was holding them back from making best use of the Wi-Fi facility they had; 20% worried about cost and 21% worried about the time it would take to set everything up just so. Uh-huh. They read my mind. How about yours?
So Linksys offer up a solution and this is where Lela comes into play. Firstly you buy a Router (this is about as technical as we're going to get) - preferably the very sexy WRT54G2 (see image below). This is going to cost you in the region of £39.99.
With the Router comes Lela. No more techno talk or password nightmare. Lela scans your entire network for any issues, trouble shoots, resolves conflicts and that's not really even the tip of the iceberg! See below the image of Lela on screen.
To be able to come home, turn on my system, settle down to work or play and know that my Wi-Fi system around the entire house is safe, organised, clear, constantly monitored and updated is ... a relief in the face of a whole lot of technical stuff I don't even intend to spend time trying to understand!
So, it's always the question at the end of the day - would I buy the WRT54G2 and Lela for £39.99 RRP? Based on what I saw yesterday, my answer would be a resounding yes. However a personal demo is one thing. A real trial when left completely to ones own devices (excuse the pun) is another matter. Nina and I have both requested to do just that - trial Lela.
Rather than say "Watch this space" in the interim, I would like to direct you to another young lady - this one of a more biological design. Lady Geek herself was at the Linksys event yesterday too. She runs a rather interesting blog for all us gadget sorts and you might just want to pop over and have a look... http://ladygeek.org.uk/
The WRT54G2 (and Lela) will be available towards the end of June from authorised distributors, retailers and e-tailors. Talking of e-things, my e-thanks to both Paul McInTosh, Head of Consumer Business UK and Ireland, Linksys and Eskild Hansen, Senior Manager of Design & Experience, Linksys European Design Centre who both did as the event promised - helped me gain an understanding.