My Dad recently asked me about the best way to reconnect his Windows laptop to his wireless network router after the Internet Connection stopped responding. He had been fumbling around and had tried changing various hardware and software settings, including hitting the reset button on his router (don’t do this, it will reset the device to its factory default settings). Although he eventually got his wireless internet connection working again, he really wasn’t sure why it had dropped out in the first place, never mind how he fixed it.

Most likely he had a temporary glitch in the wireless connection and it eventually started working again on its own. Sometimes that happens, but usually not. I get so frustrated with wireless connectivity that I leave my laptop plugged into the router with an Ethernet cable most of the time. My wife complains about losing connections on her laptop almost daily.

Problems are often caused by cordless phones and other wireless devices operating on the same frequency as the router. If you have a 2.4 ghz phone, that could easily be the cause. Even if you don’t have a cordless phone, one of your neighbors might, and that could be enough to occasionally interfere with your wireless connection. Note that if your wireless phone is 2.4 ghz then you might consider replacing it with a DECT phone. They operate on an otherwise unused bit of wireless spectrum and should not interfere at all…

When you lose your wireless connection (and you will), try the following steps (in order):

1. Check to see if the wireless connection is disabled using a hardware on/off button. Most modern laptops have these, and they are usually just above the keyboard, but it may be different depending on your hardware.
2. Right click on the network icon in the Windows system tray. Choose “Diagnose and Repair”. Let it do its thing. Most of the time this will solve the problem.
3. Check to see if you have internet connectivity on another computer or wireless device. If you do, try plugging your computer into the router or directly to the modem. If either of these connections work, reboot your computer and test the wireless connection again.
4. Unplug the Router and the Cable or DSL Modem. Wait about 15 seconds and plug the cable modem back in. Wait another 15 seconds and plug the router back in. Wait another 30-60 seconds and check your laptop to see if the connection is fixed. You may need to try to “Diagnose and Repair” the problem again.
5. Contact your Cable or DSL Internet Service Provider to see if there are any problems with your service area.
6. Start “Windows Update” and check to see if there are any driver updates for your computer. Sometimes these are “Optional” updates that may not automatically install; they might help though so in my opinion they are usually worth installing.

If none of the above steps work then it is likely that your problems are much more serious than usual. You may have a faulty router or modem, or a bad network card in your computer. Try rebooting all of the devices again, including the router and the modem. Try testing with another computer or device, such as a friends iPod Touch or laptop. Try contacting your Cable or DSL Internet Service Provider again.

If you go through all of these steps, you should be able to get your wireless connection working again. If nothing works then you may need to get an expert in to help. Good luck!

(Huge apologies to David Duchemin for the title of this post. You should go see him if you want to learn about Vision instead of gadgets…)

I had planned to publish my own photography and gadget gift buying guide (some might simply call it my wish list!) this year, but I’ve seen plenty of other great lists already. So I decided that what we really need is one simple place to go to get a list of lots of other great lists. Maybe next week I’ll even write up a list of lists of great lists. But for now, one big list will have to do!

So here, it is: a Gift Buying Guide Roundup for photographers and technophiles:

(This list is still getting updated Regularly, jump down to the end for the latest goodies!)

• I have to start with a plug for my own photography. Check out my online portfolio from some beautiful landscape and nature imagery from the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Prairies. Prints, products, and more!
• Right after my portfolio, Scott Kelby’s Annual Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide is always the first place to stop. For 2009 he broke this down into Part 1 and Part 2
• Terry White’s Annual Holiday Gift Guide is also a must read every year.
• See Photography Bay for their Best Digital Cameras & Holiday Shopping Guide
• Digital Photo Buzz brings us a really great list of essential photography gear and books in their First Annual Holiday Gift Guide
• John Batdorff compiled a nice list of gadgets and books for “self-proclaimed photo-geeks”
• Scott Bourne brings us his Holiday Photography Book Buyer’s Guide
• Gizmodo has an interesting Gadget Gift Guide based on user submissions. Looks like it’s continually being updated, so you could even go there to add your own ideas!
• CrunchGear has a list of gadgets to buy for the “Technologically Impaired“
• While not strictly for the holidays, B&H has a really useful Point-and-Shoot Buyer’s Guide
• While I’m at it I might as well point you to my own list of recommended Photography Books for Beginners and another one list of books about Nature and Wildlife Photography
• Outdoor Photographer has a Holiday Buyer’s Guide
• Heninger Fotographik added a great gift guide today for anyone from the art lover to the Photographer to the backpacker.
• Scott Bourne pulled together “The Photographer’s Dream Holiday Gift Guide” full of very high end gift ideas.
• Jeff Revell put together a nice list of things that he wants. I think most other photographers would also love these things!
• Syl Arena just put out a great list of “Cameras For Kids, Tweens, Teens, & Young Adults“. This is not specifically a gift guide, but cameras make great holiday presents!
• Photography Bay has added a new list called “9 Photography Gifts on the Cheap“. This just might be the best list for this holiday season if you’re looking for something to buy your photography friends!
• Just off the press: the Photo.net Holiday Gift Guide. The photo.net members and editors compiled the best things from their wishlists for the 2009 Holidays.
• For those of you that don’t like to spend a lot of money on your photography and lighting trinkets, check out the “DIY Photography Holiday Gift Guide“
• The Master of Vision himself suggests that since most of us really don’t need any of that shiny crap anyway, we should all buy Goats instead. He’s probably right.

I’ll continue to update this list as I see more seasonal buying guides for Christmas and the Holidays. Keep checking back for more ideas about what to buy for yourself and your friends over the next couple of months, and feel free to send me links to your favorite buying guide as well.

Don’t forget that at this time of year it’s perfectly normal to lust after new gadgets, books, and other gear, and it’s OK!! You can confess all your sins, beg forgiveness, and do your daily penance after the holidays are over. A dozen refrains of the Photographian Chant (“Gear is Good, Vision is Better“) for two weeks should suffice.

I have several old laptop hard drives that I use in cheap USB drive enclosures for backing up or sharing data. These things are great and then generally just work, even though you can buy them for as little as $3.82 from Amazon!

I recently plugged one of these drives into a new computer and, although the drive initially worked, it randomly disconnected after only a few minutes of use. I was only able to get it working again by unplugging it and plugging it back in. Once again it disconnected a few minutes later. This cycle continued as I tried to troubleshoot the problem by changing power settings, switching USB cables, switching USB ports, and testing the connection of the drive in the enclosure. Nothing I changed made a difference and the random disconnections continued every few minutes.

It finally occurred to me to try reinstalling the device driver for the HDD. So I uninstalled the driver and rebooted Windows. After starting back up Windows found the drive, installed the driver, and the problem went away.

I don’t know what caused the issue in the first place, but uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers worked perfectly. This is a good reminder that many USB device issues are driver related and can be resolved by reinstalling the drivers. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the Device Manager (click the Start Menu and type “Device Manager” in the search window)
2. Navigate the Device Manager menu to the device in question. For me this was a “Disk Drive”
3. Select your device, right click on it, and choose “Uninstall”
4. Reboot and see what happens.

Note that this issue and resolution is essentially the same for all recent versions of Windows, including XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (at least ).

Dropbox announced today that they now have a free dedicated iPhone App to allow you to access your files at Dropbox directly instead of requiring you to go through the web interface. I’ve only recently started to use Dropbox, but this is definitely one feature that will make the service a whole lot more useful for me.

Instant access to my important files from anywhere is very cool. Of course there are already several other ways to use the iPod Touch or iPhone as a filing cabinet for key documents, but none of them are very convenient to access or to update. Because of that I simply haven’t used it for that purpose. But now I will!

If you’re not familiar with Dropbox, here’s a brief introduction:

Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers.
Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.

With Dropbox, your files are always in sync.
Let’s say you’re editing a document at home. As soon as you click ‘Save’, Dropbox will sync this same file to all your other computers (and now your iPhone!) instantly and automatically. It’s as if you saved the document to all of your computers. This gives you the freedom to work on any of your computers and always have the files you need.

Dropbox lets you share files easily.
You can easily share entire folders or photo albums with Dropbox. Simply put the folders you want to share in your Dropbox, and invite people to them. You can also send people links to specific files within your Dropbox. This makes Dropbox perfect for team projects.

With Dropbox, online backup is automatic.
Every time you put a file in your Dropbox folder it is automatically backed up to our secure servers. If your computer has a melt-down your files are safe on Dropbox and can be restored at any time. Our free 2GB account is perfect for backing up your documents. We offer larger accounts (up to 100GB) for backing up your music and video collections.

Dropbox lets you go back in time to undelete or undo changes to files.
Every time you save a file in Dropbox, Dropbox syncs it to our secure servers. Dropbox keeps a history of every change made so that you can undo any mistakes and even undelete files. By default, we keep the last 30 days of undo history for all your files. We also have an unlimited undo option called “Pack-rat”.

Every Dropbox user automatically gets 2 GB of storage for free. You can pay for extra storage, but you can also earn credits to increase your free allotment by referring other new users (up to a max of 3 GB). In fact if you use the following link, you can help me increase my free space… Thanks!

https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI4MjQ1MzI5

Reactions from the mainstream media went from surprise, to shock, to outrage when Amazon recently opened up the Kindle for shipping to a large list of countries, that did not include Canada. The Kindle is a “Wireless Reading Device” (commonly known as an eBook reader) that includes free global wireless coverage and doesn’t require a computer to access new content from the Kindle Store.

I personally don’t really understand what the hype is about this class of device. I much prefer reading my books in paper form, or to have all the other features of a mini computer that are built into my iPod Touch. But there are many people out there who rave about these things, and they love the convenience of having nearly instant access to hundreds of thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs on a device with a screen that “Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight”. I’d love to give one a try, if only to see what the hype is all about.

For any of my fellow Canadians that have been waiting to get their hands on one, your time is now. For only $259 US you can order one now and have it with plenty of time to spare before Christmas!

The Kindle Store: More Than 360,000 Books
At Amazon, we’ve always been obsessed with having every book ever printed, and we know that even the best book reader is useless without the books you want to read. We are fortunate that we have tens of millions of book customers at Amazon, and as a result, we know the books customers want to read and we prioritize getting those titles. Today, the Kindle Store has more than 360,000 books available, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Our vision for Kindle is to have every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds.