We now rely on wi-fi for all manner of technologies. Other than connecting to the Internet, it’s possible to use wi-fi to turn your smartphone into a TV remote control. You can dispatch documents to your home or office printer from any computer, tablet or smartphone. You can stream movies to any television in the house or apartment, using a home media server (whether you utilise Windows Media Centre, XBMC, or just a basic approach like Google Media Server Widget for Windows, the possibilities are virtually endless, and it is possible to use any number of operating systems, or applications). You can also sync your music or photo files with your smartphone, without the need for a USB connection.
Then there is the possibility of streaming audio to speakers elsewhere in the building (use a device like Apple’s AirPort Express router for this task), or wirelessly transferring digital photographs with the Eye-Fi wireless SD card or similar adapter. That’s right – it is now feasible that you can scrap your traditional SD cards. There’s an easier way!
You need a reliable connection, though, if you’re planning to perform feats like this on your home network – and that’s where the new Netspot software comes into play. On November 14th 2012 NetSpot 2.0 was updated to 2.0.274. Version 2.0 and later releases all feature informative map indicators, revealing scanning status; enhanced exports of images into PDF format to include technical data from the analysis. The PDFs also indicate sampling points and the scanning path displayed or hidden, just like in the app itself. These additions will make your job much easier as you try to keep on tabs on your environment and work out how to ensure best use of wi-fi in the premises.
The Data Display means you can linger over any spot on your map and the software will update displayed parameters in real-time. Thankfully, you no longer have to click to view values under your cursor. In addition, AP Detection brings enhanced predictive automatic detection of AP locations, and there are more effective algorithms for passive scanning and standard visualisations in the later releases also. It’s now possible to rename projects, zones and snapshots and reformed keyboard commands: The last sample can be discarded by pressing CMD+Z.
Drag-N-Drop also allows users’ NetSpot project files to be pulled up by drag-n-dropping them on the app or its dock icon. Hibernation is now built into the programme; furthermore, the quantity of Aps has been adjusted. As users move their cursor over a place on the map in the Quantity of APs visualisation, the corresponding colours or shading are highlighted on the scale underneath.
High profile corporate users of Netspot include IBM, Aerohive Networks, Atlassian and Zoho. It’s free to download NetSpot. It runs on any MacBook with a standard 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network adapter (AirPort compatible). It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or newer.
Download the latest version of NetSpot App from here.
