Top 10 Cool Uses for Wi-Fi – More Than Just Internet Connection
Don’t let small thinking cut your internet life down. Think big, aim high, act bold. And see how big you can blow up the usage of your existing wi-fi connection.
I love being able to connect to the internet anywhere in my house. It gives me freedom. It’s almost as invigorating as walking on the beach with the wind blowing through my hair. But did you know that there is so much more you can do with your Wi-Fi? The list is endless, but here at Little Computer People, the IT techs in our Richmond shop want to share these top 10 favourites ways to use Wi-Fi.
10. Print From Anywhere
The IT techs from the Richmond repair office are always amazed at the number of people who still don’t realize that they only need one home printer, and that they can print from any device in the house to that single printer. Best of all you don’t need a wired connection to do it. The only thing you need is a Wi-Fi connection.
Have you ever had to fight for your turn to plug in your laptop to the shared printer? Been working on a document in one room but the printer was in another? Instead of plugging and unplugging your device and changing rooms you can instead print wirelessly from any device in your home! You can share the printer that is connected to another computer, use is as a standalone printer shared between many computers, or print from your smartphone using Dropbox or Google Docs.
Is it difficult to set up? Well, every new printer comes with
9. A Modern Remote Control
Once all the devices in your house are connected to the same Wi-Fi, you can quickly and easily connect your smartphone to the same network to control them. Just download the app for your phone (iTunes-controlling Remote for iPhone, and Gmote for Android) and you can get started. With this you´ll never need to walk to another room to adjust the volume or song selection again, everything is right there at your fingertips!
8. Internet Everywhere!
This is one of my favourite uses for my smartphone! Sometimes when I´m out at a coffee shop the Wi-Fi can be unreliable and I just need to send something quickly from my computer. Instead of searching around for another open Wi-Fi source you can just tether your device to the data plan on your smartphone. It becomes the wireless router to which you can connect all your devices. Stop wasting time and get surfing the web.
7. Forward Notifications
If you´ve got an iPhone or Android smartphone you can now receive your notifications on your PC. When I´m feeling lazy and don´t want to dig out my phone this solution is ideal, especially now that many workplaces are banning cell phones. You can send WhatsApp, text, call, and battery notifications right to your computer.
6. Share Files
While sitting next to a friend or family it can be frustrating to share each document you need by using an external USB drive. Copying, ejecting, downloading… it´s so much easier to just transfer the files over the same wireless network.
5. Stream Movies
I had a selection of DVD´s like you wouldn´t believe! But it became so hard to lug them around everytime I moved and to try and find the one I was looking for when I wanted it. You can handle this in many different ways. You can rip all the movies and begin collecting electronic copies. From here you can have a much more affordable (and transportable!) home media centre. Once this is done you can stream the movie to any Home Theater PC, Smart TV, Xbox or Playstation enabled TV in the house. Your whole family can watch something different in separate rooms.
4. Transfer Photos
Wirelessly transferring photos is faster and easier than ever. No need to worry about finding a computer that has a compatible SD card reader, or forgetting you SD card reader at home, with the purchase of a wireless SD card you never have to take it out of your camera! Connect both your computer and the SD card to the same network and it will automatically transfer photos for you… you can even upload photos automatically to your favourite app for you.
3. Stream Audio
In the summer there´s nothing better than having friends over to celebrate the great weather… but when you change locations you can´t hear the music anymore. With Wi-Fi (and a routing device like Apple´s Airport Express) you can now easily stream music to multiple speakers all around the house. It works in in many directions too… from your computer to your speaks or from your iPod/iPhone to your computer. This goes way beyond just music from iTunes. You´ll love walking from room to room never missing a beat.
2. Tell Your Phone When It´s Home
Your phone is now a superphone when it´s connected to all of your other electronic devices. All of this is going to come together when you reach your house. GPS can be used to notify your phone of it’s location. But the downside of counting of GPS is that it can be inaccurate, hard to get a lock on the satellite, and is a crazy battery drain. Instead, you can create a profile that detects once your device is connected you to home wireless network. And as an added bonus this works in the reverse too, you can use the Wi-Fi to detect when your phone is somewhere other than where it should be, a la apps like Find my iPhone.
1. Sync Everything!!
Back in the day to sync your music and photos from your devices to your PC you needed extra cables to connect everything by USB. Now Wi-Fi syncing changes all that! You can download apps like iTunes, PhotoSync, Winamp, WiFi File Explorer, and Android Manager WiFi, that allow this process to be as painless (and cable free!) as possible.
Now What?
There are so many amazing uses for Wi-Fi to connect and streamline your small business, home office, or home. Time to get started! But sometimes it can seem overwhelming when attempting to do it all solo. That´s where we at Little Computer People come in! We can walk you through every step, or even better do it for you! We can link all your devices to the same network allowing you to print, watch movies, listen to music, and share files anywhere in your home/business. Don´t hesitate to contact us about networking at either our Sydney or Richmond locations. We are here to help.