I picked up a Netgear WNR834B two months ago, and it’s been doing pretty well replacing my Linksys WRT54G v4. It runs DD-WRT and I have it set up to broadcast two wireless networks: my secure network with WPA2-AES, and a less secure, isolated network with WEP encryption that lets my mobile/embedded devices that may not be able to handle the AES encryption (Palm TX, Zune, HTC Excalibur, Nintendo DSi) onto the internet.

The signal wasn’t that fantastic at the other end of my apartment, though. Lots of people on the DD-WRT forums were getting a lot better results with modding the antennas on the router, so I did too. After finding compatible antennas on eBay, all I had to do was open up the router, enlarge the holes in the grate at the top to fit an RP-SMA connector through (easy task with the Dremel), plug in the pigtails to the board, and screw on the new antennas.

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I finally decided to replace my aging Samsung 205BW. Given my growing interest in photography and video editing since I purchased the 205BW almost five years ago, I decided to get a professional monitor, one with an IPS panel and 1920×1200 resolution. The two big contenders for me were the HP ZR24w and the Dell U2410.

Over on [H]ard|Forum a lot of the people who picked up the U2410 had tinting issues and/or did not like the aggressive anti-glare coating on the monitor. But looking at the wide gamut (The Dell has 100% Adobe RGB coverage and 100% sRGB as well, while the ZR24W only has 100% sRGB coverage) and the assorted inputs, I felt like I should take my chances once the price dropped to $450.

It arrived the Monday after I ordered it, and I was really impressed! The colors are impressive, with excellent color reproduction in both the sRGB and Adobe RGB colorspaces. I really enjoy the flexibility I now have, not only with color, but also with inputs. I can finally hook up my Wii again! This thing has 2 DVI inputs, 1 VGA input, 1 composite video input, 1 YPrPb component input, and HDMI and DisplayPort inputs. It also sports 4 USB ports and an SD card reader. It’s really a dream to work on. And Planet Earth and Life never looked so good at 1080p! As for the anti-glare coating, I am used to the aggressive anti-glare coating on my Thinkpad X200 Tablet, so it was not a very big deal.

Photos and more after the jump! (continue reading…)