Where do my devices live?

When I turn on my MacBook Air occasionally it comes up with the message that it's IP address is being used by another device or something to that effect.  Thought I could check the IP address for all the devices around here and see if there is a conflict.

 It was necessary to look up the IP Address for all my mobile devices, computers and gadgets, as well as the ones my husband has.  Now, that is a lot of IP Addresses.

How to Find IP Address for future reference 

To find the IP address for your computer, select System Preferences, Network.  Select the Wi-Fi Connected on the left hand side and you should see the IP address listed in the first section under the words Status: Connected.

To find the IP address for your mobile devices, select the Settings icon and then click the blue arrow next to the Network name the device is connected to and you will see the IP address listed under DHCP tab.

To find the IP Address for the Airport Express and Airport Extreme devices, run Airport Utility from your computer and then on the left hand side, select or highlight each of the devices one at a time and then on the right hand side you will see the name of the device, the IP Address, version and Airport ID.
 

For most users that is probably the extent of their devices.  But we have others around here including our Disklavier Piano which connects to iPhone/iPad apps, our computers and to its own remote device.  We also have some cameras that we have been testing.

To find the IP Address for the piano, run DKVBrowser and the IP address will appear on the opening screen as you connect.  If you are already connected and running the piano, you can find the IP address under  the DKVBrowser menu> Preferences.

 To find the IP Address of the IZON cameras, click on the blue arrow next to the camera icon in the camera screen, which will bring up the IZON Settings page for that camera, scroll to the bottom of the screen to the Advanced Section and click the arrow next to the Configuration Data.  The IP address for that device (icon camera) will be listed next to IP address.

Tweet

Just returned from a great trip to Europe visiting Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France.  The weather started out rainy in Germany and The Netherlands, but eventually the sun did come out and the temperatures during the entire trip were pleasant and tolerable for summertime.

I used the iPad 2 to keep track of all my documents, itineraries, maps, phone numbers and travel plans.  I also had my iPhone along, but found the handy iPad screen to be easier to see and zoom in on the various city maps.  I kept my iPhone in airplane mode and used only with wifi connections to avoid any large data download fees that would be associated with 3Gs network mode.  I felt confident that if needed for that emergency call, that it could be retrieved from my pocket and used.  My son also reminded me that I could always use a hotel or restaurant to call a cab when needed.

My husband had purchased the maps for Europe for his handheld GPS unit.  On the occasions when I didn't go along with him and my daughter, they managed to get lost.  Once he forgot to turn off the GPS unit while they were out exploring Amsterdam's many museums. They walked in the wrong direction when leaving the museum only to realize that my daughter had dropped her paper map somewhere along the walk, and he had no power left to consult his GPS.  When I was along, I was able to wake up my iPad, run GoodReader app where I had conveniently downloaded the city maps in pdf form for offline viewing.  We were always able to find our way.

I find that the best way to travel is to pre-plan by finding city maps, travel ideas and such from the internet sites and uploading these to Google Docs.  I am then able to download these to my devices as needed for the cities that we visit using wifi or pre-load all of them prior to leaving the US.   I also kept my other itineraries for accommodations and travel loaded for easy access.  All the important confirmation numbers an such were very easy to access online or offline from my iPad or iPhone.   If you have the mobile me email account, you can also email any pdf files to yourself before you leave and have access to those documents offline as well from your iPhone or iPad.   I would have liked to use my iPhone with some of the travel apps I had downloaded while out and about, but didn't want to take a chance on incurring large fees on my phone bill, so I studied suggestions while using wifi in advance of the days outings.

We all downloaded an mp3 guide to the Louvre Museum and tried using our headsets to listen to the tour while exploring the museum.  The Louvre is a great museum to see and we saw Mona and Venus, the two attractions that draw the most crowds.  Everyone was crowded around the Mona Lisa trying to take an iPhone photo alongside.  The number of iPhones I saw on this trip was astounding.

Here is a photo, my granddaughter took while in The Louvre Museum with my iPhone - she called it - "Baby World."

And of course, on the ten hour flight from the US to Europe and back, the granddaughters were easily entertained with Talking Tom, coloring apps and some favorite games.  They also texted messages from the ship to their family while using wifi and the TextFree app.  The ship we were on had excellent wifi coverage, so we were always connected via iPad, iPhones and MacBook Airs.  

As I sit here today, I am longing for the new iOS 5 that will allow me more features for my future travels.  I am envisioning that life abroad can be entirely possible if I am able to stay connected to family, friends and the internet.  

Tweet

Trying out the TwitPic Widget

Tweet