Fonera 2.0g next to an iPod touch 1st generation, a Sony Ericsson W910i, a Microsoft Arc mouse and a (standard size) 2 pencil.

Yes, believe it or not, this little stylish box will actually take the load off your computer. Whether YouTube, Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, BitTorrent, RapidShare, or Megaupload is your favourite web 2.0 app, the Fonera 2.0g will take care of upload and download, without keeping your computer turned on.

For example, connect an external USB 2.0 hard drive to the port on the back, select the torrent you’d like to download and leave it do its job. By the time you get back from work or school, the file would have been already downloaded and waiting for you. You can connect to the the router’s file server wirelessly from any Windows, Mac or Linux machine and even stream video files. The second Ethernet port allows you to connect any computers without WiFi to the Fonera (if you have more than one, you can use a cheap switch to interface).

The NAS (Network Attached Storage) functionality can be accessed by either a local FTP, a Samba share or  web interface, which goes to show how versatile this device is.

The way the router is built allows for its functionality to be extended by using small plugins, much like the ones you use in Firefox. Fonera 2.0g comes pre-loaded with a bunch of these, including one for wireless printing support, live webcam streaming, music streaming, and backup – like Apple’s Time Capsule. Adding more is very simple, by simply clicking to the + sign next to the description. The router also supports VPN, QoS and can be used in conjunction with 3G/UMTS modems.

For example, let’s say you’re at a conference or party and want to share some WiFi? An AC plug, a Fonera, your standard USB mobile modem and ta-dah: internet connectivity for the whole floor. This feature also works for people who use the internet for just email and browsing, allowing them to ditch their home wired connection and use the modem with the Fonera to provide wireless internet to the whole house. Don’t forget though, that many of these mobile modems have bandwidth caps.

The back of the Fonera 2.0g: Two Ethernet ports and one USB. You can have more ports by using connecting an Ethernet switch and/or an USB hub.

You’d expect such a feature rich device to have a gloriously complicated interface. Well, it’s beautifully simple and logically constructed. You can check out a live demo of the Fonera Web User Interface over at FON. The router itself has a simple and inconspicuous design with a white shiny finish that resembles the polycarbonate MacBook. LEDs on the front will point out the status of the power, local connectivity and internet.

For the specification oriented folks, here are the numbers:

• 93.5 mm x 25.5 mm x 110 mm (excluding antenna)
• 1 USB 2.0 port that can be expanded by using a hub (preferably self-powered).
• External detachable antenna (1,5dBi)
• Encryption methods supported: WEP 64bit/128 bit, WPA, WPA2, WPA mixed with cyphers: TKIP, AES, Mixed.
• 2 SSIDs, one public (for sharing with the Fonero cummunity) and one private, for your personal use. You can disable the public signal, but you will lose you Fonero status and won’t be able to use free wifi at any Fon hotspot worldwide.
• Range 20-70 meters depending on your surroundings.

Another nice feature of the Fonera 2.0g is that you can easily replace the MAC of the router, directly from the Web UI. This is useful because some ISPs tend to lock the account to a single computer, to limit the use of WiFi unsecured networks, that tend to rack up bandwidth from all neighbours in a 50 meter radius. The firewall is another treat, with settings for enabling and disabling FTP, Samba, port forwarding, UPnP, WAN-LAN access and so on.

For the less tech-savvy, the wiki page provides walkthroughs and information an all of the features in plain english.

The Fonera 2.0g is without a doubt the swiss knife of routers and gets you free WiFi access around the world from the Fonero community. The only thing better is its bigger brother, the Fonera 2.0N, which shares the same features and adds the faster 802.11N wireless chipset. I have one, and I love it.

Thanks to Inouk from FON who kindly provided this review unit for testing.

Founded in early 2007, Wixi has continually added more functionality, and at this point is an quite amazing service. While being more Gamma than Beta, Wixi appears to be a feature complete service – allowing you to easily upload, manage, view and share media. I didn’t encounter any issues while using the service – no errors or freezes – and enjoyed reasonable fast uploads (200-300KB/s). I didn’t expect that a service using a mix of JavaScript and Flash will behave so consistent and snappy.

Wixi’s interface – clearly designed to appeal even the least computer-savvy users – resembles your desktop – windows, menus and, of course, a wallpaper of your choosing.

One of Wixi’s strong points is the ability to set access levels to files; private, friends or public. You wouldn’t want to share your final essay with the whole world, would you? Because you can pick individual people with which you want  to share a file or a folder, you can work together with your friends on a project, and not worry about sending each revision over email to the other participants.

Once you invited your friends to Wixi, you are automatically updated with their public activity via the Friends Activity Report. Arranged by media type, you could find pictures that your girlfriend took on the trip, or just as easily, the new school timetable posted by a colleague. Wixi has a lot of real-life uses that differentiate it from the other storage services – because of the tight integration with social aspects.

Social tools on the site allow users to interact with their friends online, across campus or across the globe, sharing a cool new song or photos of a recent vacation or family event. For those without access to their computers, Wixi offers long-distance access to media files. Registered members can also meet fellow users, browsing their Wixis, discovering new media and expanding their social circles.

Wixi also enables you to discover new content by simply browsing other people’s public ‘wixis’; if you find something you like, you can leave a message, save the file to your Wixi or request to be friends with that person.

Another interesting feature is ‘Web Channels’. Recently implemented, Web Channels lets you search, save and view content from YouTube, Daily Motion, Flickr, Hulu, CNN and MTV Music.

With offices in Paris, New York, Buenos Aires and half a million dollars in funding, Wixi has set a high goal for itself, ‘a world-class community for millions of users’. Their goal is far from unattainable if they continue adding features, maintaining the service reliable and easy to use. Wixi certainly gets my thumbs up, with the same concerns I have for any cloud storage service: privacy and data safety.

You can sign up for free at wixi.com; the free option gives you 3GB of storage and just a couple of restrictions, such as streaming files under 100MB. The premium option removes al the restrictions and gives you unlimited storage.

The first 50 readers who send an email leave a comment on the blog will get an code for the premium service; If you want to say thanks, include in your email a cool service, website or software you’ve discovered or a topic you’d like me to cover. This will help me pick future stories according to your interests.

As always, I love hearing what you think, in the comments. Have you previously used Wixi or a similar service? What could be improved?

How long did the development take?

Boxee is based on the open source XBMC project which has been in development since 2002.  Boxee specifically has been in development for a little over a year and a half.

What is the number 1 priority for Boxee at the moment?

Our current focus is on our Windows release and enabling Netflix on the AppleTV.

How do you plan on monetizing this service?

While the software is free, Boxee’s revenue sources will be:

• Revenue sharing with premium content providers like Neflix, Hulu, Amazon and others.
• Premium features (applications and plug-ins) for the platform much like iPhone applications. These applications and plug-ins will be available in an Application Directory hosted by Boxee.
• Licensing fees from hardware manufacturers (set top box manufacturers) who would like to include boxee in their platform.

How did you come up with the idea for Boxee?

The idea fom Boxee came out of the original Xbox Media Player (later renamed to XBMC).   Avner bought a $,2000 Windows Media Center PC to run digital media in his living room.

After inviting a few friends to come over and check it out, a close friend, mentioned he could have done the same thing with his Xbox using XBMC.  The idea for Boxee was born and over the next few years as they became avid XBMC users and contributors to the XBMC community.

In 2007, they decided to take the XBMC code and build a platform that included content available on the Internet as well as social networking functionality on top of XBMC’s great feature-set.

How many people work on the development team?

There are 11  Boxee employees. Avner Ronen, the CEO, and Gidon Coussin, VP of Business Development, both work in NY.  The other 9 employees are based in Israel and are focused on development.

Editor’s note: Thanks to Andrew from StageTwoConsulting for getting us in touch with Boxee.  Photo courtesy of joepitkin.