Ghacks, LifeHacker, CHIP, and CNN Chile coverage
We just wanted to keep our regular readers up to date on Who's On My Wifi being shown in the media in January. This is the most consistent media coverage we've had to date, and we thought you'd like to see that other people are starting to hear about the product you've been helping us build over the years.
We were recently shown in a story on Ghacks:
http://www.ghacks.net/2014/01/14/whos-wifi-notifies-freeloaders/
And a story on LifeHacker:
http://lifehacker.com/who-is-on-my-wi-fi-shows-you-who-else-is-using-your-net-1504773036
Covered on CNN Chile:
http://www.cnnchile.com/noticia/2014/01/22/estan-usando-tu-wi-fi-sin-permisor
And covered in CHIP Magazine Germany. Called CHIP de:
http://www.chip.de/downloads/Who-Is-On-My-Wifi_66610419.html
As well as covered in several online Spanish and Hungarian tech review sites.
THANK YOU:
It's been a long road for us, and we're very appreciative of the recent media coverage and of the customers and supporters who have been rooting for us and promoting us since the beginning. Also, thank you to the online and offline media for covering our software and service.
We'll continue to improve and enhance the software, website, apps, router plugins, etc. as we try to help people solve this problem of really knowing for sure, Who's On My WiFi.
Who Is On My Wifi Windows version 3.0.2
Version 3.0.2 of Who Is On My Wifi Windows was released this afternoon.
This release fixed bugs related to Error messages relating to devices with blank MAC Addresses and errors related to trying to save changes during a Scan.
This was considered a bug fix release, and does not contain new features or functionality.
BUG FIXES:
Error related to blank MAC Addresses
There used to be an option in version 2.0 called "Add Secondary Ping Scan" that we removed from version 3.0. However, under certain conditions, if a 2.0 user had upgraded to version 3.0 with this option checked, they would see a device that was detected with a blank MAC Address. This device was not an intruder, but the result of this bug. We have now fixed this bug in 3.0, and it will no longer show a device with a blank MAC Address.
Error related to saving changes during a Scan
Under certain conditions, when making changes to the device list during a Scan, an error message would pop up saying something about concurrency. This bug has now been fixed, and we are also disallowing Saves during a Scan. This might be slightly less convenient, but it is more stable to just wait until the most recent Scan is completed before saving changes to the device list.
OpenWRT Router Plugin 1.0.1
Version 1.0.1 of Who Is On My Wifi OpenWRT Router Plugin was released this afternoon.
This release fixed bugs related to performance and optimization.
BUG FIXES:
Decrease memory usage on less powerful routers
We detected an increase in memory usage on smaller routers with lower ram. We changed this to decrease the amount of total memory in use and remove unused components from memory.
Added changes to better handle network glitches and blocking
This newer version does a better job of detecting network issues like dropped network connections and responding to them accordingly. It also does a better job of communicating with our servers to let it know how many devices it can effectively block and give more information.
Android version 1.0.2 release
We released version 1.0.2 of our Android edition this afternoon.
This was considered a bug fix release. No new features.
BUG FIXES:
Fixed Software crashing on Android 3.2 Tablets
We had a pretty major bug in Android 3.2 tablets where really as soon as someone was starting the app and trying to Scan, it would crash with an error message. This was a major enough error that we decided to go ahead and immediately put out this release. Who's On My Wifi Android should now be working on Android 3.2 tablets.
Who's On My Wifi Router Plugins Update
Hi everyone,
We've been talking about the Who's On My Wifi Router Plugins for a few months now, and just wanted to update you on the progress we've been making.
The Who's On My Wifi Router Plugins are small Who's On My Wifi agents that can be installed directly on the router to connect to Who's On My Wifi Online. Because they're Who's On My Wifi agents, this means they are constantly scanning the network and looking for intruders. And because they connect to Who's On My Wifi Online, you can easily see point in time who was on your network, receive alerts when an intruder shows up, and very easily manage which devices should be allowed on your network through the website.
WHY BUILD A ROUTER PLUGIN EDITION OF WHO'S ON MY WIFI
We constantly listen to customer feedback and make changes to our program accordingly.
However, there were some problems that we kept hearing that we couldn't fix without a major overhaul.
#1. Customers not having an always on Windows Desktop or Windows Server to run Who's On My Wifi
Several of our customers now exclusively use laptops or tablets and no longer have a Windows desktop or server to constantly monitor for intruders. Our router plugins are a good solution because your wireless router is always on.
#2. Blocking is OK on the Windows software, but it's not great.
The really nice thing about having a version of our software directly on the router, is that the blocking is awesome. It's finally what people expect when you block a device without any sort of 3rd party install or anything. Basically as soon as an intruder is detected and blocked, (after the online sync), the intruder immediately loses all network access, and they are unable to regain access. It's really what people expect from our Windows software, but don't always get. And no blocking limitations.
#3. People really think our software should be a router option
We hear a lot that people like our software, but it just seemed like it was something that a router should already do. There was no way to run our Windows software on a router, so we built these plugins instead.
HOW WE BUILT OUR SOFTWARE FOR THE ROUTER
For those of you who aren't familiar with the names Tomato, DD-WRT, or OpenWRT, these are Open Source Firmwares that you can run on your existing router to make them more powerful. Firmware is a combination of software, memory, and data that is basically the Operating System of a small embedded device.
The firmware listed above is incredibly powerful and has given us the ability to run a version of our software on the router. However, we've heard from early beta testers that they don't have interest in "flashing firmware" onto their router. So while we're working on these router plugins, we're also working on a solution for customers that just want to purchase a router from us instead.
We've also just recently become aware of the Smart Wifi programs available on routers like Linksys and Netgear. Smart Wifi routers are routers that basically let you add "Apps" to run on your router.
Don't think of "Apps" like video games for your router, but more like options to add to a router or smart home. Need better logging? Just download our app. Need parental control features? Just download a different app. That app didn't work well? Download a different parental control app. Need your internet access policy to also control your door swipe badges at your business? Probably an app coming soon from somebody. Very cool stuff can come from this technology and letting 3rd party developers build their own creations.
MORE TO COME
We start our final testing phase at the end of the week for the first of the plugins, and hope to release it in the next month or so.
Stay tuned because there's a lot more coming soon!
Thanks for reading!
Who Is On My Wifi Version 3.0.1
Version 3.0.1 of Who Is On My Wifi Windows was released this morning.
This release fixed bugs related to logging and error handling in both the Blocking and Online API systems.
This was considered a bug fix release, and does not contain new features or functionality.
BUG FIXES:
Added Additional Logging on Blocking System
Under certain conditions, it was possible to receive error messages when blocking a device that were constantly being displayed every second or so.
This caused an issue in that it was hard to cancel out of the error without stopping the program completely.
The new logging and error handling added to the Blocking system should help both in diagnosing any problems that customers have regarding to blocking, should help log the errors correctly to the Home Screen Block Log for later analysis, and should also help eliminate at least some of these error messages that were causing people to have to stop the program.
Added Additional Logging to the Online System
The Who's On My Wifi desktop works in conjunction with our Who's On My Wifi Online API to send data back and forth between the local network and the Online system.
There were errors being displayed under certain conditions when communicating with the API that were causing the program to either display several errors or crash. These errors should now be fixed or at the very least contained to log correctly to the Home Screen Online Log.
Android version 1.0.1 released
We released version 1.0.1 of our Android edition this afternoon.
This enhanced the scanning capabilities of our Android app in the following ways.
ENHANCEMENTS:
Added hostname to better identify devices
So, now in the Android application you can have a better idea of what device is actually sitting behind the mac address and ip address. It is not perfect, and does not completely match with our Desktop edition name lookup, but it was a good start.
Added ARP lookup by default to find devices hidden from standard lookup scans
One of the problems with most Android device scanners is that they are unable to actually send raw arp packets to devices and check their response immediately. Our app has this same problem. But, what we were able to do is at least look into the arp table after our scans and see if there were devices at least in the last few minutes that are registered there that don't show through normal scans.
A good example is Windows computer that has the Windows Firewall turned on and is listed as being on a "public" network. This type of computer or device can't be seen through a standard ping scan, but it can be found in the arp table.
So, these devices should now also be found through our Android app.
Added Secondary Ping Scan to find additional devices or additional information about a device
Users of our Desktop app should be used to this. So, instead of just your normal scan, you can optionally add a secondary ping scan to see if it can find any devices missed by our primary scan or can find additional information about a device. 98% of the time, it doesn't find anything extra and just adds network traffic, but occasionally, it will find something extra. So we added it to Android as well.
More coming soon!
Android Edition Released Today
WHO’S ON MY WIFI ANDROID ... RELEASED!
You probably could have seen this coming after the iPhone release last week.
We've just released Who's On My Wifi for Android devices.
It's very similar to the iPhone edition. It only does scanning. It doesn't currently connect to Online.
But, we heard from customers who wanted some way to detect intruders on their MiFi and other personal wireless networks on the go, so this was our solution.
Here is our listing in Google Play:
Who Is On My Wifi - Android
Just like all of our downloadable software, the app is FREE.
We hope you like it!
iPhone Edition
WHO’S ON MY WIFI APP FOR IPHONE RELEASED TODAY!
We are proud to announce, that as of day, you can install Who's On My Wifi for iPhone from the app store. The app is an easy way to see exactly which devices are using your personal wireless network.
Here is a link to our App Store listing:
Who Is On My Wifi - iPhone Listing
The iPhone app offers a limited set of features in comparison to our Windows Edition. The app does not and will not offer blocking features. It also does not connect to Who's On My Wifi Online, but it will do so in the near future.
We decided to release this app to handle the problem of detecting intruders on MiFi devices.
Just like all of our downloadable software, the app is FREE.
Take it for a spin, and let us know what you think!
Who Is On My Wifi version 3.0 is here!
Version 3.0.0 of Who Is On My Wifi was released yesterday.
This release marks a huge shift for the product and for the company.
Lets take a look at what's changed, and what's upcoming for Who's On My Wifi 3.0!
Who's On My Wifi Online Suite is now fully integrated:
Starting with version 3.0, Who's On My Wifi Online is now fully integrated into the Desktop software.
This means that instead of paying for a registration key to go beyond the 30 day trial and enable certain features, and then having to pay a separate monthly fee for Online access, we've integrated everything.
If you want the full Who's On My Wifi experience, there's now only 1 thing to buy.
Just sign up for a Who's On My Wifi Online Account, and you'll be a fully registered user of our software with the ability to use all of the cool features and tools we've built into the software and into the Online Suite.
Three means FREE:
That's right. We've gone Freemium.
For those of you who don't know about Freemium, it means that we're now offering a completely Free version of the software available to use on as many computers as you'd like. This Free version contains scanning, detection, and some basic notifications.
If you decide to upgrade the Free edition to a paid edition, you get full access to the Who's On My Wifi Online Suite. Online gives you enhanced features like blocking, e-mail notifications, remote management, historical reporting and some very cool looking charts that help you see what's going on.
And this is just the beginning.
The future is soon:
Customers often ask us what's coming next.
Well, here's a sampling of what we expect in the next 6 months.
Text messaging alerts to immediately be alerted on your phone of intruders on your network.
Wireless Router / Hardware integration so that you don't have to leave a Windows desktop or Windows server running all of the time to detect intruders, the software will just run on the Router itself.
And 1 or 2 more tricks we've got up our sleeve that will help give you, our customer, more piece of mind about who's really on your network.
Thank You:
We want to Thank all of the customers over the years who have supported us to this point.
Without your help, feedback, and support, we couldn't have made it this far.
It's our mission to spread this detection technology to everyone around the world who wants it.
It seems like such a simple problem to just know who is on your computer network at all times, and we think this solution should be available to as many people as possible.
It's our belief that this new direction will help give more people across the globe the piece of mind they deserve!
As always, if you have anything you'd like to tell us, we'd love to hear from you.
Enjoy 3.0!!