Unplugging USB - A new way to handle your electronic devices
(Page 2 of 4 )
The major role of wireless USB is to eliminate the need for USB cords. Moving these devices to different hosts will become a lot easier. Take a digital camera, for example. After returning from your vacation, you set your camera on the table. From there, you can run to the printer and hit print, and the pictures will start printing, or you can connect to your PC and share them with friends via email. If you feel like viewing them, you can connect it to your TV, and give a presentation of your trip, all without the need for multiple cables, or any cables for that matter.
Another key point for WUSB devices will be the ability to be shared by different devices without the need for networks. If you need to share a printer between multiple computers, you would normally need to network the computers, and share the printer between them. With Wireless USB, you can have two separate connections to the printer, one to each computer. Transferring even gigabytes of data will be a snap with external hard drives. In effect, these will become very bulky floppies, with more than a hundred times the storage.
Consumers will be introduced to a new way of watching TV. You will be able to wirelessly stream the DVD video from the DVD player to multiple TVs and the audio to your sound system. Camcorders, personal video recorders, set-top boxes and digital cameras could also interact with the TV wirelessly. Don’t like what the other person is watching on TV? No problem, you can feed the signal to more than one TV. HDTV signal can hog as much as 24 Mbps; the goal for wireless USB is to keep the same speed as USB 2.0 (480 Mbps), so streaming multiple High Definition signals will still allow head room for future technologies.
Wireless USB will allow you to use devices in more ways than you could use their wired counterparts. Many devices will serve a dual purpose. A device will be able to be the host, or receive data, as well as send data. For example, a wireless USB MP3 player could receive songs from the computer, and wirelessly send them to the home stereo system.
Personal digital assistants (PDA) will take on a new role. They will become truly wireless. A PDA will be able to connect with just about everything in your digital house. Syncing with PCs will become a snap. Wireless printing, and sending and receiving audio or video through the air will become the norm. Need to input a vast amount of information? Grab your wireless USB keyboard and mouse, point it in the direction of the PDA, and start typing.
Next: What it won't do >>
More Peripherals Articles
More By jkabaseball
/ 7 
