[Ti] Wi-Fi technology

[NaegeleWDC at aol.com]

Thanks to Mike Bigley's comments, as well as those of Pat Hurley and Benn.  Mike stated, in response to my comments about Friday's WSJ article, and my questions:

>[From the Wall Street Journal:]"Apple Computer Inc. made one of the earliest bets on consumer adoption of the technology, equipping their laptops with Wi-Fi technology in 1999."
>
>Is it on our Ti's, and if so how do we use it?

"That would be the Airport card; some Ti's had it pre-installed, but 
all have a port for it; cards are about $100. There are third party 
PCMCIA cards as well, but may require drivers.

"Checking your system profiler should reveal if you have a card 
pre-installed. If so, then you need a wireless router or another 
Airport enabled computer to make it work. Or you can check out 
something like this: http://www.warchalking.org/

"DISCLAIMER: there is considerable debate about the ethics and 
legality of using someone's wireless network without their 
permission, as well as letting others use your wireless connection."

I have an Airport base station, and use it exclusively to connect my Ti 800, and love it.  However, when the WSJ talks about "Wi-Fi technology," they are presumably talking about much more than that.  As I understand it, for example, they are talking about "wireless access to the Internet . . . , at blazing speeds," anywhere and at any time.  In other words, we would not be limited to our own Apple Airport base stations. 

As the site to which Mike referred says, we can access the Internet anywhere our Ti's with Airport "sense" nearby wireless access, right?  Is any one of you using this now?  If so, is Airport all you need to connect?    

Tim Naegele

www.naegele.com

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