We’ve come along way since 2000. Just think, the only way most people could get online was by hooking up their computers to a phone line or an Ethernet cable. It might surprise you to know then, that the first portable computers were released way back before we learned to unshackle ourselves from all of those annoying cables. The first laptops were released in the 1980s and one of the first was Apple’s Macintosh Portable, weighing in at a lap crushing 7kg. It’s is safe to say we’ve come along way since that inauspicious beginning.

Although Wi-Fi has been around since 1985, it is was only in the 2000s that it became increasingly popular. Today, Wi-Fi is an integral part of our lives, and is often the first thing that we ask for when checking-in at a hotel, or going for a coffee. I’ve even heard children as young as six or seven demanding a Wi-Fi connection whilst at a hotel!

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Restaurants, malls, trains, hotels: it can feel as though Wi-Fi is everywhere these days. Until you’re traveling, when you can still spend an age trying to find a network, only to find it’s password-protected or the local winner of Slowest Wi-Fi 2015.

WiMAN is a free Wi-Fi manager for Android and iOS which can display a map of all your local Wi-Fi networks, along with estimates of distance (x minutes by foot/ car), and flagging them as "verified" (another wiMAN user has connected), "authentication provided" (another user has connected but you need a user name/ password) or "not verified" (no-one has connected yet).

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At the 2015 RSA Conference, security researchers from Skycure showcased a new iOS 8 vulnerability which, if properly exploited, can send iPhones and iPads connected to a malicious hotspot into a reboot loop. The vulnerability affects both the operating system as well as apps which use SSL to communicate.

All that an attacker has to do to exploit the vulnerability is to set up a router in a "specific configuration", and allow anyone to connect (basically make it an open hotspot). The iOS 8 devices that connect will be affected, without the attacker having to have access to them.

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Much as Apple would like you to think otherwise, Apple Watch is yet to blow other wearables out of the water. Smartwatches are still something of an emerging technology, but Google has managed to carve out yet another niche for itself with Android Wear. Today the company unleashes an update that aims to make Android-powered watches easier to use.

The first major addition is support for always-on apps. Most Android Wear watches included support for displaying the time round the clock (sorry!) but this feature has now been expanded to other apps. If you're using your watch to get directions or follow a shopping list, you can opt to keep the relevant app active at all times. The update has more to offer too.

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For many of us, connecting to the Internet is life. While technically not as important as drinking water or breathing oxygen, being connected can feel that way sometimes. It is for this reason that I am often perplexed that people choose to skimp on their router. Look, I like a good deal just as much as the next guy, but why wouldn't you go for the best you can get when it comes to something you do every day, such as connect the Internet? Is it really worth saving $20 if your connection is constantly dropping?

For the past year or so, I have been enjoying Apple's Airport Extreme router, and for the most part, it has been a success. Unfortunately, it has some negatives. Lately, the 5GHz band has become flaky, causing me to disconnect and reconnect; a pain in the butt to the say the least. The biggest deal-breaker? It requires an Apple device or Windows computer to manage. Unlike most routers that can be accessed though a web browser, Apple requires a special program. As a Linux user, this meant not having the ability to change router settings without booting into Windows or grabbing my iPad. To solve this dilemma, I swapped it for the 802.11AC Netgear AC2350 Nighthawk X4 Smart WiFi Router. Did it outperform Apple's Airport Extreme?

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My home broadband connection is a speedy (up to) 152Mbps, and when I’m downloading on a PC connected to the router, I get impressive speeds. But because the router is in the basement (where my home office is), accessing the internet in other rooms via Wi-Fi is often flaky and unreliable. At times I can’t connect at all.

I’ve boosted the connection with multiple TP-Link 300Mbps Universal Wi-Fi Range Extenders and while that’s helped, the truth is the end result is still far from great. ASUS’s RP-AC52, an 802.11ac concurrent dual-band wireless range extender, looks to be a suitable solution to my woes -- but is it?

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Nowadays, many people use smartphones as their main camera. This is smart, because your phone is always with you. Something important may happen when you least expect it, and a fancy standalone camera at your house will be of no use. Still, I see value in having a standalone unit, as they often take superior pictures and videos thanks to better sensors and larger lenses. Not to mention, many new smartphones do not have expandable memory, while most standalone cameras do.

Today, Samsung announces a downright sexy camera called the NX500. Not only does it feature 28 mega pixels, but it does 4K video too. In other words, this is a great solution for things like vlogging, YouTube and most importantly, family moments.

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Sometimes a product comes along, that makes so much sense, that you wonder how no one thought of it before. For example, the Snuggie. I mean come on, a blanket with sleeves? Genius! Let us not forget about the George Foreman Grill; that thing makes some damn tasty turkey burgers.

From a technology perspective, however, Intel has a new product for education that is so damn awesome, I'm not sure why it never existed before. The company's Education Content Access Point will provide content to devices even when there is little to no Internet access or electricity. Sounds awesome right? Yep. Best of all? It is powered by Linux!

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NirSoft has announced the release of WirelessConnectionInfo, a free tool which displays detailed stats on the active Wi-Fi connection under Windows Vista and later.

The WirelessConnectionInfo report displays 90 items, including network SSID, PHY Type (802.11n, say), signal quality, security algorithm, channel and more.

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The Marriott chain of hotels has backtracked on its plans to block guests' Wi-Fi hotspots. The group had previously indicated a desire to make use of blocking equipment with a view to increasing security. But the likes of Google and Microsoft saw this as undue interference and decided to fight the plans.

Marriott International went as far as applying to the FCC for permission to use signal blocking equipment, but it has now done a complete 180 and announced that no Wi-Fi blocks will be put in place.

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If you’d like to share files between devices then you could connect them to the same network, but this can be tricky to set up, especially with devices of different types.

Lenovo’s SHAREit is a simpler solution which enables PCs, iOS, Android and Windows Phone users to share files locally over Wi-Fi, no network hassles involved at all.

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Hotels are keen to extract money from guests, and in a bid to try to force them into paying for internet access, the industry is trying to gain permission to block personal Wi-Fi hotspots. Microsoft and Google are usually rivals, but the two companies are putting up a united front to fight these plans.

The American Hospitality & Lodging Association and Marriott International has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to use network management hardware that could prevent guests from creating and sharing their own private hotspots. The argument against this is that hotels are essentially requesting permission to block access to unlicensed parts of the wireless spectrum.

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People that know me, know that I am socially awkward. I am useless at a party, and overall, face-to-face human interaction just escapes me. Suffice to say, computers give me an outlet -- I am rather suave on IRC, you see. As a result, I don't have many friends, but regarding the ones I do have, I refuse to give them my Wi-Fi password. These aren't new friends either; I have known some more than 20 years. Quite frankly, I share the password with the family members in my home under protest.

While not everyone is as odd as me, I know I am not alone. Surely there are other nerds that view friends and family with access to the network as weak-links in the security chain. In other words, I don't want some malware-infested machine touching my precious home network. Apparently, Google knows of my woes, as today, the search-giant announces guest mode for Chromecast.

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Outdated analog TV frequencies should be used to create new space for "super Wi-Fi" that would boost the world’s economy and take the strain off overloaded mobile networks even though worries persist over how workable they are.

Scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology [KIT] are calling for governments to hand over the unused frequencies so that a widespread free Wi-Fi network can be created.

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Enterprises continue to struggle with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) as employees continue to demand the freedom that comes with mobility in accordance with new trends. Security has long been discussed as the primary challenge when it comes to BYOD. Yet, other reasons such as network access is fast becoming a key concern for IT departments but also the key frustration for employees.

When it comes to connectivity, employee expectation is that it just works and as such this expectation must not be overlooked when implementing a BYOD roll-out.

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