You can now get the BBC iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii games console!

Before you can start watching programmes broadcast on the BBC over the last 7 days you'll need to connect your Wii console to the Internet (see instructions below) and download the Opera web browser from the Wii Store (Which costs 500 Wii points or about 3.50 Pounds Sterling).

Before you can buy Wii points to purchase the Opera web browser you'll first need to register online at www.nintendo-europe.com and "link" your Wii console to the Nintendo account you just created online, Nintendo have a guide on how to link your Wii Shop Channel Account to your Club Nintendo Account.

Once you've linked your account to your Wii console you need to go to the Wii Shop accessed from the Wii Home Menu on the console and purchase (by using a credit or debit card to buy some Wii points) and download the "Internet Channel".

Once downloaded and installed you're ready to go!

From the Wii Home Menu select "Internet Channel" and navigate to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer, you can then use your Wii remote to zoom, pan and scroll around the web and the iPlayer.

You can read more info about the BBC iPlayer on the Wii console at BBC Internet Blog.

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To connect your Nintendo Wii console to the Internet with Wi-Fi follow these steps:

1. Go to the Wii home menu
2. Select "Wii options" on the bottom left
3. Click on "Wii settings" on the right
4. Click the right arrow
5. Select Internet
6. Click "Connection Settings"
7. Select "Connection 1"
8. Choose "Wireless Connection"
9. Select "Search for Access Point"
10. Click "Ok"
11. You should be presented with a list of local wireless routers, select your wireless router from the list
12. If your wireless router is secure, you'll be prompted to enter your Wi-Fi password
13. Click to save your connection settings
14. Click "Ok"
15. The Wii will now test your connection and then prompt you to perform a system update, click "Yes"
16. Return to the Wii menu when prompted

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have said that a Panorama television programme they aired back in May 2007 concerning the possible health effects of WiFi, or wireless internet was unfair, and that it was presented in such a way that it was deemed by some viewers as misleading and in some cases pure scaremongering.
The episode followed a call by the Health Protection Agency pressing for a formal investigation back in April 2007.

If you missed it you can watch the programme here, Wi-Fi: a warning signal. Due to the amount of complains sent in by viewers of the programme the BBC interviewed the journalist behind the controversial programme on NewsWatch below.

You may have read the scare stories about wireless networks in the press recently, and you may be wondering what you can do to avoid the potential health effects and still have a home which is fairly wire-free.
You may also have recently been given a free wireless router from your ISP.
Sky broadband, AOL broadband, BT broadband, Pipex, they nearly all bundle a wireless router in with your broadband contract these days, so what do you do?

Upgrade to a Powerline Network

Whether you believe the scare stories or not. I'll show you how you can still keep your wireless router but without the potential side-effects.

The answer? Upgrade to a Powerline network. A lesser known technology that uses your mains electrical wiring to distribute your broadband connection, which will allow you to connect a computer anywhere you have a power socket, and turn off the wireless signals so you don't have to worry about "WiFi smog".

Six Steps to Avoid Using WiFi

1. Purchase at least 2 Powerline wall-plugged adapters (Netgear, Devolo and Dlink all have Powerline products). This is enough to connect one computer to the Internet.
   
2. Plug 1 adapter into a wall socket near the wireless router, and connect your existing router to the Powerline adapter using an Ethernet patch cable.
3. Plug the other Powerline adapter into a wall socket near the computer you want to connect to the Internet and connect your computer to the second Powerline adapter using an Ethernet patch cable.
4. You should now be online!
5. Now you'll need to log-in to your wireless router console, usually via a web browser (see your router manual for details) and disable the wireless access point on the router. See the screen-shot below for a visual, obviously your router console may look completely different, but usually the instruction manuals are fairly good.
6. You can now surf the web anywhere in your home wire-free and without using WiFi!

Still confused? Check out Devolo's Powerline flash presentation, which explains all about Powerline networking simply and with animation.

For the first time in the UK two people have been cautioned by police for accessing wireless broadband connections without permission. Both cases were detected by suspicious behaviour in cars parked in the vicinity and not through electronic means.
Both people were warned for dishonestly obtaining electronic telecoms with intent to avoid payment.

Most wireless routers come without Wi-Fi encryption turned on by default, leaving unsavvy users open to this kind of abuse.
Most broadband ISP terms and conditions state that you cannot share your broadband connection with your neighbours etc, therefore all related activity on your connection is connected with you.
Due to recent laws, ISPs have to keep records of your Internet activity for a number of years. If authorised people are accessing your connection and using it for illegal practices then how would you prove your innocence?

Recently news has come out that anti-piracy companies are monitoring P2P traffic, using a modified version of Shareaza they are automatically sending your IP to your ISP demanding your details if it detects that pirated material is being downloaded. Some people have questioned whether an IP is enough evidence to connect a person with a crime, especially considering these cases of drive-by Wi-Fi hacking.

Media Extenders are particularly useful for streaming video to your TV. Here in the UK the only available Media Extenders you can purchase come in the form of an Xbox 360.

I have been using my Xbox 360 to stream movies stored on my main Media Center PC to my living room over a wireless network (802.11g).

Occasionally I get a "Network Congestion" message appear in the top-right-hand corner, which comes accompanied with a small amount of picture judder/stutter. It's still highly watchable, just a little annoying. Information is available to help you improve your wireless performance; however the crux of the issue is the wireless standards. The Xbox wireless networking adapter supports the following WLAN standards 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The 802.11n standard has not been ratified by the IEEE yet, but when it comes around it will improve the throughput of data.

The Xbox 360 wireless networking adapter doesn't support any draft version of the 802.11n standard however, so we are stuck with 802.11a,b,g, unless we run an ethernet cable from the router to the Xbox, but that kind of defeats the object, doesn't it?

Microsoft recommends the following:

• Only have 1 wireless route between your PC -> Router -> Media Extender
• Use 802.11a standard as it works at 5GHz compared to the congested 2.4GHz channel
• Use a router designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition

I fairly certain 802.11a is not legal in the UK, can anyone confirm this?