Wireless USB
MANY KNOW ABOUT the USB ports on their computers – those little rectangular holes we use when we need to connect our printers, external hard drives and mouses to our PCs.
The next step is to get rid of the wires and let the devices communicate wirelessly with our PCs.
Though the technology underlying Wireless USB already exists, products based on the technology are few and far between.
However, as the technology evolves, it should start becoming adopted more widely.
Wireless USB will enable users to connect devices to their PCs at the same speed as the current – wired – USB technology. It should be possible to take a portable media player, such as a future iPod, and allow it to synchronise with your PC without having to plug it in.
The same applies for digital cameras, which will be able to send pictures to a computer wirelessly.
That's already possible with some cameras that have built-in WiFi, but Wireless USB will run at 480Mbps while WiFi only transmits data at 54Mbps. With the size of images increasing dramatically, that extra bandwidth is vital.
The same Wireless USB technology could be used to print directly from a camera or to link a digital video camera to a TV.
This technology is already starting to appear in some notebook computers and expect it to start appearing in SA sometime this year.
Fortunately, ordinary USB will still be around for a long time, so there's no need to worry about replacing your devices yet.
Finweek
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