News flash - Wireless USB is coming!

[yoda313]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6530234.html?tag=links;blog

Isn't that incredible! That sounds great. That would really cut down on cables getting in the way.

My only question is though how can a WUSB device run off the power of the pc if its wireless? Would that mean it would have to be powered seperately? It can't receive the power remotely can it???

[ROF]

I'd imagine it has to be plugged in. Most high powered devices on current USB need to be plugged in anyways. This is great news. I wonder if Firewire will be next?

[yoda313]

I wonder if Firewire will be next?

Isn't the data rate of firewire not too much higher than usb2? If its not that much higher I can't imagine it wouldn't take that long to implement it.

[Supreme2k]

Hellooooo tumors!

[yoda313]

Hellooooo tumors!

To quote Schwarzenneger - "IT'S NOT A TUMOR"!

[canadateck]

I thought they already had somthing like this? I seen somthing at staples that claims to use USB Wireless. (For Printers)

[rallynavvie]

It's nice that we have enough free system resources for all these new security protocols. I'd imagine W-USB wouldn't run very well on a P3 or older, especially with many devices.

I'd rather leave some things wired. I have to change batteries in my mouse and that's about enough. Still use a wired keyboard (though a BT one may be in my future) and certainly don't want people scamming data of a W-USB memory stick as I'm sitting near them, or accessing other things.

But then if you're a good little boy and use TPM on your new system you'll never have to worry about any security gaps!

[festmaster]

My gut feeling is that this is going to live up to the promise that Blue Tooth never achieved. The USB working group seems to have the ability to correct their stumbles. USB 1.1 was never popular outside of joystick, mice and keyboards but once they introduced USB 2.0 everything just worked and worked fast. Though USB to go is not very popular yet, there are very few stories of it's failures. I am betting USB wireless is going to work, too.

[Doramius]

IMO - WUSB should do really well. I don't see too many stumbling blocks for it, if any. The advantage is having the printer on the other side of the room without having to asthetically wire it around the back of yuor desk and along the baseboard of your wall (or worse yet, wall fish or open up a wall to put physical wiring in for it.) Blue tooth is a great technology and has some strength, but I think it will get split off for things like portable phones, music players and other items of the like. I think WUSB will stem closer to data transfer for PC accessories & peripherals.

And I'm pretty sure it won't remove the standard USB ports from PCs either. Kind of like installing a 3 1/2 floppy into a PC today. How often do you use it? Myself, almost never, but there are a very few times when it has come to the rescue so though I won't buy a new one, I won't get rid of my old FDDs, and I'll most likely install it in any new PCs I get.

[Epicurus8a]

This is great news!

[oldandinthe way]

I have joined the great unwashed, and after 35 yeaars of having my hands in the bowels of computers, I am loath to open the box. Having another half a dozen ac adaptors lying around will be a step backward, expanding my system with a pile of wireless boxes suits me just fine.

For higher powered devices I have an externall HDD box with a neat trick. Two USB cables for one device to take power from two ports

[INFRATOM]

Wireless is slow for certain programs but its ok for web browsing thats why it became popular, now that is faster is better . They should have done this wireless for the printers from the very beginning because it is such a hastle to place a printer close to the computer. One thing I didn't like from the article was the limit of 10 foot range, if you have a big office it may not work right or at home even. In fact almost every computer has a wireless adaptor or get one for $15 it would be worth while addition to printers. It must have like a router setup so others can't print to it. They sell printer wireless printer adaptors but I haven't tried it.

[Doramius]

The WUSB seems to work on progressive loss, similar to how doppler works. You're not moving around like a cell phone, but the futher away you are, the longer it is for the information to reach. When you stretch the bandwidth, you lose the speed, but the functionality will still be there.

So the 10' range is where it will work at top performance. At 30' it will work only slightly slower, but no data loss. I'm guessing from the common frequency bands they are running this on, you could probably go 60' in the same room. If you go into another room, you might limight the connectivity depending on what the wall is made of. (IE: metal pipes and ductwork might cause impedence or loss of signal.

[yoda313]

I'm sure you could get WUSB repeaters just like wifi repeaters and extend the range indefinetely.