This freaking ROCKS!

[galactica]

Too bad i just bought my router. but what a great idea!!!!!!!!

Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house. Share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without inconvenient and obtrusive cables. Create an instant wireless network on the go. Extend the range of your current wireless network. How many devices do you need to do all this? Just one.

more at http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

[andyp1]

I saw a test in a magazine in the UK for a similar unit for a PC where you plug it into the mains , but was dissapointed at the tranfer rate they got , it was marginally faster than a wireless network but way slower than a wired network.
Can't remember the figures exactly but it was something like
Wireless network 10mbps
The plug in router topped out about 14mbps
Wired network 100mbps

If it can do 54mbps it would be great , it would be nice to see an independant test result.

[guns1inger]

This is wireless. It doesn't use the mains to transfer data, simply for power.

[offline]

Not new for the PC. Been around in one guise or another since
the early 80ies. I think the idea was 1st tested in Germany in the
70ies. I tested one in 92 for lantastic networks. Like Bubble Memory, it is too expensive to produce high quality high speed models.

[flaninacupboard]

he's just excited because it's the closest thing he'll get to an upgrade for his computer anytime in the next eight years

[Capmaster]

I saw a test in a magazine in the UK for a similar unit for a PC where you plug it into the mains , but was dissapointed at the tranfer rate they got , it was marginally faster than a wireless network but way slower than a wired network.
Can't remember the figures exactly but it was something like
Wireless network 10mbps
The plug in router topped out about 14mbps
Wired network 100mbps

If it can do 54mbps it would be great , it would be nice to see an independant test result.

Sounds like 802.11b and not 802.11g for the wireless mode. I would wait for the faster model which you know they're working on

[pyrohydra]

The local power utility here is offering internet access through devices such as these...up to 3 mbps, I think. Not available where I live just yet...

http://www.cinergy.com/News/default_corporate_news.asp?news_id=420

edit: oops...I saw that pic and figured I was looking at an electrical network node (for running network protocols such as tcp/ip over power lines). My bad.

[ViRaL1]

That seems like a great plan. But we don't have electricity out where I am. I'm still waiting for broadband over sand. Considering the nature of silicon, you'd think it would be farther along by now.