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Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Read for Wireless Enthusiasts
Review: Despite the dubiously provocative title, this book in essence, is a practical guide to the wireless frontier of telecommunications. The term `hacking' is often perceived as a negative act, while the term `hacker' in the computer tech realm is heeded as a compliment--tinctured with hues of creativity and technical prowess (to infiltrate network systems). The term `hack' in this book, refers to something entirely different. It's defined as a "quick-n-dirty" means of getting to the core of a technological problem; or a resourceful and unconventional way of accomplishing a task.
This book offers a panoramic view of the wireless landscape in practical and easily digestible terms. The background and evolution of wireless technology is brought into focus, with wide-lens coverage on existing wireless standards that define the Wi-Fi revolution today--the 802.11b and 802.11g protocols, their antecedents, as well as latter counterparts that have yet to pervade the mainstream. The characteristics of each protocol (frequency bands on which it operates, data speed capacity, etc.) along with their real-world applications, virtues and limitations, provide the reader greater understanding. These inherent strengths and weaknesses, when framed into context, empowers the consumer to make an informed decision on a wireless format best suited to his needs. A panoply of wireless devices and concepts (e.g. Bluetooth technology, mobile phone carrier networks, etc.) are also highlighted. And wireless-oriented acronyms (e.g. TDMA, CDMA, GSM, etc.) that obscure the telecommunications domain are effectively elucidated.
Each chapter stands on its own--laid out with a specific subject matter--so that page-by-page reading is not necessary for comprehension. Chapter 5 ("Do-It-Yourself Antennas") presents tried-and-true, home-spun devices for extending wireless network range, while Chapter 7 deals with wireless security--offering tips for recognizing network holes and providing suggestions on securing a network.
While valuable troubleshooting tips are plentiful, much of this book is dedicated to specific wireless schemes (or "hacks") for achieving optimal wireless network efficiency. Leaving no computer user behind, each "hack" is delineated in various Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. And each hack is rated in terms of difficulty: beginner, moderate and expert. An expert-level hack might be entitled, "Photo Blog Automatically with the Nokia 3650", which instructs users on photo publishing from the road, without having to log on to a computer.
Practical and sometimes unconventional tools are provided for implementing and enabling wireless technology in a home environment and elsewhere. One segment provides beginner-level, step-by-step instructions on how to turn your laptop into a spectrum analyzer (without installing any additional software) for the purpose of locating all wireless networks within range.
In its entirety, this book is concisely laid out for ease of comprehension. The technologies that have come to define the wireless revolution are illuminated and relative strengths and weaknesses of various network standards are highlighted. Resources for optimizing networking hardware are provided--from extending range and intensifying data throughput, to managing and exploiting valuable wireless resources--in creative and non-traditional ways. Riveting in content, it brings into focus the intensely dynamic pace of wireless evolution, while effectively familiarizing the reader with the infinite bounties of telecomm's wireless dimension.
Rating:
Summary: For the tinkerer in you
Review: An interesting amalgam of software and hardware tips. The author clearly loves to tinker, as seen by his description of how he and friends put together a waveguide antenna built around a Pringles can. Perusing the book seems to give some of the flavour of the Homebrew Computer Club in San Francisco during the 1970s, when the PC revolution was gestating.To some (many?) of you, the do-it-yourself ethos of this book may be its greatest allure. Flickenger reinforces this with many examples of analysis programs contributed by enthusiasts, often with source code available for your modification. If indeed you seem attracted, do not tarry. Flickenger may not explicitly state this anywhere in the book, but it really describes a field and hobby that will rapidly make much of the book obsolete. Chances are, in a few years hardware will be standardised by a few major manufacturers, and most operating systems will have all the necessary wireless software. So if you want some fun, perhaps now is the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Should be renamed "Wireless LAN Hacks"
Review: I was handed this book by my husband who told me prior to my starting a new contract for a GPRS development position: "You must read every page of this book before you start your job." Well, that would have been close to true if indeed I was working in the 802.11x world, and not the cellular world. As it is I found about 3 pages extremely useful, maybe 15% interesting reading, the rest not relevant to my work. Might be a good book for an IT type or a "tinkerer" type of individual. A good book to borrow nonetheless, but probably not to pay for unless you're in one of those two categories or wanna-be in those.
Alot of these items are just plain tonge-in-cheek - possibly the funniest is the "Pringles Can Waveguide" yagi antenna, but means you still have to wade through drivel like, "You probably won't find a 6" piece of all-thread; buy the standard size (1-2 feet) and a 10-pack of washers and nuts while you're at it." I mean, it's all sort of wanky - the book is an extended exercise in this kind of thing, with a humous bent.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book of wireless tips
Review: I'll have to disagree a bit with reviewer Pablo D. The book is broad and shallow, but I think it appeals to more than just the raw beginner. I found a number of tricks (hard to call them "hacks") in the book that have been useful. While many of the topics covered are simply product reviews, that information is helpful to wireless users, too. Here's the table of contents of the book, which spells out all 100 "hacks":
Chapter 1. The Standards
1. 802.11: The Mother of All IEEE Wireless Ethernet
2. 802.11a: The Betamax of the 802.11 Family
3. 802.11b: The De Facto Standard
4. 802.11g: Like 802.11b, only Faster
5. 802.16: Long Distance Wireless Infrastructure
6. Bluetooth: Cable Replacement for Devices
7. 900 MHz: Low Speed, Better Coverage
8. CDPD, 1xRTT, and GPRS: Cellular Data Networks
9. FRS and GMRS: Super Walkie-Talkies
10. 802.1x: Port Security for Network Communications
11. HPNA and Powerline Ethernet
12. BSS Versus IBSS Chapter 2. Bluetooth and Mobile Data
13. Remote Control OS X with a Sony Ericsson Phone
14. SMS with a Real Keyboard
15. Photo Blog Automatically with the Nokia 3650
16. Using Bluetooth with Linux
17. Bluetooth to GPRS in Linux
18. Bluetooth File Transfers in Linux
19. Controlling XMMS with Bluetooth Chapter 3. Network Monitoring
20. Find All Available Wireless Networks
21. Network Discovery Using NetStumbler
22. Network Detection on Mac OS X
23. Detecting Networks Using Handheld PCs
24. Passive Scanning with KisMAC
25. Establishing Connectivity
26. Quickly Poll Wireless Clients with ping
27. Finding Radio Manufacturers by MAC Address
28. Rendezvous Service Advertisements in Linux
29. Advertising Arbitrary Rendezvous Services in OS X
30. "Brought to you by" Rendezvous Ad Redirector
31. Detecting Networks with Kismet
32. Running Kismet on Mac OS X
33. Link Monitoring in Linux with Wavemon
34. Historical Link State Monitoring
35. EtherPEG and DriftNet
36. Estimating Network Performance
37. Watching Traffic with tcpdump
38. Visual Traffic Analysis with Ethereal
39. Tracking 802.11 Frames in Ethereal
40. Interrogating the Network with nmap
41. Network Monitoring with ngrep
42. Running ntop for Real-Time Network Stats Chapter 4. Hardware Hacks
43. Add-on Laptop Antennas
44. Increasing the Range of a Titanium PowerBook
45. WET11 Upgrades
46. AirPort Linux
47. Java Configurator for AirPort APs
48. Apple Software Base Station
49. Adding an Antenna to the AirPort
50. The NoCat Night Light
51. Do-It-Yourself Access Point Hardware
52. Compact Flash Hard Drive
53. Pebble
54. Tunneling: IPIP Encapsulation
55. Tunneling: GRE Encapsulation
56. Running Your Own Top-Level Domain
57. Getting Started with Host AP
58. Make Host AP a Layer 2 Bridge
59. Bridging with a Firewall
60. MAC Filtering with Host AP
61. Hermes AP
62. Microwave Cabling Guide
63. Microwave Connector Reference
64. Antenna Guide
65. Client Capability Reference Chart
66. Pigtails
67. 802.11 Hardware Suppliers
68. Home-Brew Power over Ethernet
69. Cheap but Effective Roof Mounts Chapter 5. Do-It-Yourself Antennas
70. Deep Dish Cylindrical Parabolic Reflector
71. "Spider" Omni
72. Pringles Can Waveguide
73. Pirouette Can Waveguide
74. Primestar Dish with Waveguide Feed
75. BiQuad Feed for Primestar Dish
76. Cut Cable Omni Antenna
77. Slotted Waveguides
78. The Passive Repeater
79. Determining Antenna Gain Chapter 6. Long Distance Links
80. Establishing Line of Sight
81. Calculating the Link Budget
82. Aligning Antennas at Long Distances
83. Slow Down to Speed Up
84. Taking Advantage of Antenna Polarization
85. Map the Wireless Landscape with NoCat Maps Chapter 7. Wireless Security
86. Making the Best of WEP
87. Dispel the Myth of Wireless Security
88. Cracking WEP with AirSnort: The Easy Way
89. NoCatAuth Captive Portal
90. NoCatSplash and Cheshire
91. Squid Proxy over SSH
92. SSH SOCKS 4 Proxy
93. Forwarding Ports over SSH
94. Quick Logins with SSH Client Keys
95. "Turbo-Mode" SSH Logins
96. OpenSSH on Windows Using Cygwin
97. Location Support for Tunnels in OS X
98. Using vtun over SSH
99. Automatic vtund.conf Generator
100. Tracking Wireless Users with arpwatch Appendix: Deep Dish Parabolic Reflector Template
Rating:
Summary: Good book of wireless tips
Review: I'll have to disagree a bit with reviewer Pablo D. The book is broad and shallow, but I think it appeals to more than just the raw beginner. I found a number of tricks (hard to call them "hacks") in the book that have been useful. While many of the topics covered are simply product reviews, that information is helpful to wireless users, too. Here's the table of contents of the book, which spells out all 100 "hacks":
Chapter 1. The Standards
1. 802.11: The Mother of All IEEE Wireless Ethernet
2. 802.11a: The Betamax of the 802.11 Family
3. 802.11b: The De Facto Standard
4. 802.11g: Like 802.11b, only Faster
5. 802.16: Long Distance Wireless Infrastructure
6. Bluetooth: Cable Replacement for Devices
7. 900 MHz: Low Speed, Better Coverage
8. CDPD, 1xRTT, and GPRS: Cellular Data Networks
9. FRS and GMRS: Super Walkie-Talkies
10. 802.1x: Port Security for Network Communications
11. HPNA and Powerline Ethernet
12. BSS Versus IBSS Chapter 2. Bluetooth and Mobile Data
13. Remote Control OS X with a Sony Ericsson Phone
14. SMS with a Real Keyboard
15. Photo Blog Automatically with the Nokia 3650
16. Using Bluetooth with Linux
17. Bluetooth to GPRS in Linux
18. Bluetooth File Transfers in Linux
19. Controlling XMMS with Bluetooth Chapter 3. Network Monitoring
20. Find All Available Wireless Networks
21. Network Discovery Using NetStumbler
22. Network Detection on Mac OS X
23. Detecting Networks Using Handheld PCs
24. Passive Scanning with KisMAC
25. Establishing Connectivity
26. Quickly Poll Wireless Clients with ping
27. Finding Radio Manufacturers by MAC Address
28. Rendezvous Service Advertisements in Linux
29. Advertising Arbitrary Rendezvous Services in OS X
30. "Brought to you by" Rendezvous Ad Redirector
31. Detecting Networks with Kismet
32. Running Kismet on Mac OS X
33. Link Monitoring in Linux with Wavemon
34. Historical Link State Monitoring
35. EtherPEG and DriftNet
36. Estimating Network Performance
37. Watching Traffic with tcpdump
38. Visual Traffic Analysis with Ethereal
39. Tracking 802.11 Frames in Ethereal
40. Interrogating the Network with nmap
41. Network Monitoring with ngrep
42. Running ntop for Real-Time Network Stats Chapter 4. Hardware Hacks
43. Add-on Laptop Antennas
44. Increasing the Range of a Titanium PowerBook
45. WET11 Upgrades
46. AirPort Linux
47. Java Configurator for AirPort APs
48. Apple Software Base Station
49. Adding an Antenna to the AirPort
50. The NoCat Night Light
51. Do-It-Yourself Access Point Hardware
52. Compact Flash Hard Drive
53. Pebble
54. Tunneling: IPIP Encapsulation
55. Tunneling: GRE Encapsulation
56. Running Your Own Top-Level Domain
57. Getting Started with Host AP
58. Make Host AP a Layer 2 Bridge
59. Bridging with a Firewall
60. MAC Filtering with Host AP
61. Hermes AP
62. Microwave Cabling Guide
63. Microwave Connector Reference
64. Antenna Guide
65. Client Capability Reference Chart
66. Pigtails
67. 802.11 Hardware Suppliers
68. Home-Brew Power over Ethernet
69. Cheap but Effective Roof Mounts Chapter 5. Do-It-Yourself Antennas
70. Deep Dish Cylindrical Parabolic Reflector
71. "Spider" Omni
72. Pringles Can Waveguide
73. Pirouette Can Waveguide
74. Primestar Dish with Waveguide Feed
75. BiQuad Feed for Primestar Dish
76. Cut Cable Omni Antenna
77. Slotted Waveguides
78. The Passive Repeater
79. Determining Antenna Gain Chapter 6. Long Distance Links
80. Establishing Line of Sight
81. Calculating the Link Budget
82. Aligning Antennas at Long Distances
83. Slow Down to Speed Up
84. Taking Advantage of Antenna Polarization
85. Map the Wireless Landscape with NoCat Maps Chapter 7. Wireless Security
86. Making the Best of WEP
87. Dispel the Myth of Wireless Security
88. Cracking WEP with AirSnort: The Easy Way
89. NoCatAuth Captive Portal
90. NoCatSplash and Cheshire
91. Squid Proxy over SSH
92. SSH SOCKS 4 Proxy
93. Forwarding Ports over SSH
94. Quick Logins with SSH Client Keys
95. "Turbo-Mode" SSH Logins
96. OpenSSH on Windows Using Cygwin
97. Location Support for Tunnels in OS X
98. Using vtun over SSH
99. Automatic vtund.conf Generator
100. Tracking Wireless Users with arpwatch Appendix: Deep Dish Parabolic Reflector Template
Rating: 
Summary: All things wireless....
Review: Rob Flickenger has done it once again and this time he actually used the word "hacks" in his latest book on wireless networking, fittingly entitled, Wireless Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. The explosion and growth of wireless technology has a familiar feeling that takes one back to version 1.0 of web browsers and dialup connections that opened our eyes to a whole new world. From, imagine... I can see inline graphics, to, wow... I am streaming live content while sitting on my deck enjoying a cool one! Wireless Hacks isn't a traditional book, but as the title implies, it is composed of one hundred tips, tricks, suggestions, DIYs (do it yourself), tools or simply *hacks* regarding all things wireless. Open it up to the index and browse for something that catches your eye. This book really is not meant to be read front to back although you can if you want. I found myself using my trusty old magazine technique of folding over pages of things I wanted to try out or that were quick solutions to current problems. There are enough nuggets in this book to make it worthwhile even for wired users (check out #36 Estimating Network Performance or all of Chapter 3: Network Monitoring). Glen Flieshman mentions in the foreword that "... Rob Flickenger is an early adopter's early adopter" which sums up the value Rob brings to the table. He is a wireless pioneer paving the way to unplugging but yet staying connected and the really cool thing is that he is willing to share. To find the Table of Contents, errata, sample chapters and purchasing information for, Wireless Hacks, see [the website]
Rating:
Summary: Wireless Network Primer
Review: The best defense is a good offense and that is exactly what Flickenger brings to the market with his book. Inside you will find pretty much everything you need to know about wireless networks including how to build a pringles cantenna. If you're a wireless network admin then this book should be sitting on your shelf. Can't go wrong with it!
Rating:
Summary: For the serious wireless freak
Review: This is an amazing book about wireless. It's coverage of everything from the operating system level stuff, to drivers, to cards, to hacking cards, to building your own antenna, to doing shotgun wireless is just incredible. If you are a serious wireless junkie you will love this book. For the casual coffee shop surfer, this is probably not the right book, but you probably don't have any issues with wireless anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Very broad, very poor. Only for the very beginner
Review: This is the kind of book that will tell you that a packet-capture program is a "hack"... Spends a lot of pages describing common features or well-known programs (Kismet, NetStumbler).
The book tries to cover Windows, Linux and MacOS and achieves that in a very low degree.
Save your money, everything on this book can be found on the internet, with even a better structure than the "index style" this book has ("Hack#1", "Hack#2" and so on).
Very disappointed. Makes me wonder if other posts came from O'Reilly itself.
Rating:
Summary: Very broad, very poor. Only for the very beginner
Review: This is the kind of book that will tell you that a packet-capture program is a "hack"... Spends a lot of pages describing common features or well-known programs (Kismet, NetStumbler).
The book tries to cover Windows, Linux and MacOS and achieves that in a very low degree.
Save your money, everything on this book can be found on the internet, with even a better structure than the "index style" this book has ("Hack#1", "Hack#2" and so on).
Very disappointed. Makes me wonder if other posts came from O'Reilly itself.
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