Belkin Launches New Line of Smart Routers

Belkin will be launching a new line of routers that aim to make home networking simple. The Surf, Share, Play, and Play Max routers will let you  play your music, games, and HD videos as well as share photos and print wirelessly from anywhere in your home. Even the most geeky among us has to see the power in these new devices.

When I worked tech support for high-speed Internet, the router was almost always the problem. The consumer never wanted to believe it, but it was. You hook your router up to your cable/DSL and you expect it to just work, but about 90% of the calls I got from people with Internet problems involved a simple reset of the router (no, not the modem). I always thought this was ridiculous. Why can’t the router tell it’s been knocked offline and reset itself?

With this new line of routers from Belkin, they can do just that. Belkin has made these routers apps-capable and provided a base set of applications that make your life much easier. Simply pick the model you need based on the applications it includes. Here is the breakdown of apps:

• Self Healing: Automatically detects and resolves network problems and runs routine maintenance scans to give you the clearest wireless channel. Available on Surf, Share, Play, and Play Max.
• Memory Safe: Automatically backs up precious photos and important files to your external hard drive. Available on Share, Play, and Play Max.
• Print Genie: Print wirelessly from any computer on the network from anywhere in your home. Available on Share, Play, and Play Max.
• Music Mover: Play MP3s from your music library on your home stereo wirelessly. Connect your external hard drive on which you store your music to the router—and move music from your computer to your stereo through devices like Xbox 360® and PlayStation® 3. Available on Play and Play Max.
• Music Labeler: Automatically identifies and labels your track with the correct title, artist, and genre. Available on Play and Play Max.
• Daily DJ: Get daily personalized playlists from your music library based on your mood. Available on Play and Play Max.
• Torrent Genie: Downloads large media files like movies, music, and games, even when your computer isn’t on. Available on Play Max.
• Bit Boost™: Prioritizes traffic on your network for video, gaming, and VoIP, letting you easily select your most important data streams for seamless network traffic. Available on Play Max.

It seems like Belkin really thought things over in introducing these capabilities. Most of these apps cover capabilities that you would usually have to consult the nearest “computer guy” about.

My favorite is probably the Self Healing app, simply because you’re dead in the water if you can’t access the Internet. Print Genie will also save you a lot of headache if you’ve ever tried to set up a networked printer. Music Labeler is pretty amazing to me as I never thought of putting the router in charge of organizing my music collection. I also find the Torrent Genie feature interesting because most companies won’t touch a torrent with a 10-foot pole.

Expect to see these routers popping up some time in April. From the tech elite to your dear grandma, this line of routers could save us all a lot of headache, free up some time to actually be productive, and keep us off the phone with our ISP.

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
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