When Do the Wi Badgers Basketball Play Again

ten great Wi-Fi gadgets for work and play

Add together these Wi-Fi devices to your network for a new world of wireless productivity and amusement

By

Contributing Writer, Computerworld |

You've done the difficult work of optimizing your Wi-Fi network, and it reliably beams high-speed data to every nook and cranny of your abode or office. Now, it's time to have information technology to the next level past connecting more than just computers.

There'due south a whole world of gadgets out there that tin can assistance yous get work washed and entertain you -- all without wires. From wireless print servers and security cameras to Cyberspace radios and VoIP phones, the variety of Wi-Fi appliances available is phenomenal. At that place'due south even a Whirlpool refrigerator equipped with interchangeable wireless modules to serve upward recipes, digital photos and Spider web sites. (Personally, I tin't imagine stopping to check the weather when what I really want is a cold beer.)

But let's stick with more practical devices. Whatever of the 10 Wi-Fi gadgets in our list can liberate y'all from the tyranny of cables by wirelessly press, phoning, moving photos, playing music and more.

It'due south piece of cake to get started, only a give-and-take of alarm: Time and again, the hardest function of setting upward these wireless wonders was entering the Wi-Fi network's encryption codes with clunky on-screen keypads rather than a standard keyboard. All the same, it's the all-time way to cut the cord and stay continued.

Wireless printing: Two-way data street

Linksys WPSM54G print server

Linksys WPSM54G print server. Click to view larger prototype.

One of the best things a wireless network can do is impress without cables. Information technology may seem similar magic, but the latest impress servers, like Linksys' WPSM54G ($ninety), can also send scans from any recent multifunction printer (MFP) to a figurer. It all works well, but my advice is not to be in a hurry.

Later on plugging the WPSM54G into my Canon Pixma MP780 MFP, it took 5 minutes to load the software, enter the security codes via my PC's keyboard and configure the print server. Capable of linking to 802.11b/g/n networks, the server is modest (nigh five by i by 4 inches) and works with Windows 2000/XP/Vista systems, but not Macs or Linux machines. Information technology has a range of 95 anxiety and demands to exist the system'due south default printer.

Unfortunately, speed is not of the essence with the Linksys print server. It printed a 2-page color Adobe Acrobat document in i minute 51 seconds and scanned an 8-by-11-in. colour magazine embrace in 6 minutes 30 seconds, or almost one-half equally fast every bit with a USB cable.

Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet J4680 multifunction printer

HP OfficeJet J4680 MFP.

Click to view larger image.

I also tested HP'south OfficeJet J4680 ($130), an MFP with a built-in wireless print server that works with both Windows and Mac computers. The device has a range of ninety feet. After an agonizingly slow 30-minute software installation, information technology took me another couple of minutes to correctly enter the network'southward encryption code with the printer's clunky phone-like keypad. The device works with 802.11b/g networks merely.

One time prepare, however, the OfficeJet zoomed along. In contrast to the Linksys print server, the OfficeJet J4680 printed the same file in 37 seconds and scanned the document in 47 seconds, making it a wireless speed demon. For my money, I'd opt for the printer with wireless congenital in considering I hate to wait.

VoIP phone: Wi-Fi calls for less

Panasonic KX-WP1050.

Click to view larger image.

Panasonic KX-WP1050 Wi-Fi phone for Skype

By combining Skype'southward cheap Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone service with Panasonic's wireless KX-WP1050 telephone, calling anywhere in the world just got a lot cheaper.

Everything y'all'll need comes with the KX-WP1050, including the three-oz. handset, access point (the handset has to utilise its ain) and cables. Setting it all up took me near 10 minutes. Although I was able to chop-chop type the network connection information with my computer'south keyboard, I had lots of trouble entering my Skype username and countersign with the handset's awkward alphanumeric keypad.

Happily, you only need to practise this one time. After that, calls connect every bit fast as with a cell phone, are about every bit reliable and sound surprisingly practiced. The phone'southward 60-ft. range is a bit skimpy and the phone tin can use only an 802.11b/thousand network, just the handset'south bombardment was proficient for four hours 30 minutes of talk fourth dimension; it's recharged with a mini-USB cable from the access bespeak.

At $400 MSRP (you lot can probably find it for $300 if you lot shop effectually), the KX-WP1050 is expensive. On the other hand, in one case you've got information technology, the costs are depression: Skype charges $3 a month for unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada, and yous'll need to hire a local telephone number for $6 a month. All told, that's near ane-third the price of Vonage and other VoIP telephone services, proving that talk really is cheap.

svendsenthatheriams1995.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.computerworld.com/article/2530437/10-great-wi-fi-gadgets-for-work-and-play.html