Wi-Fi reaches out to gadgets

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Suited executives, grungy teens and even some savvy grannies are already using Wi-Fi to wirelessly link their laptops to the Internet. It may not be long before the short-range high-speed technology is just as popular for those looking to connect music players, phones, cameras, game consoles and more.

Wi-Fi's expansion beyond its role linking computers to the Internet should be good news for consumers -- making a host of electronics devices easier to use and more useful.

For example, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, a longtime provider of Wi-Fi Web links for laptops, has expanded its service to let customers who have weak cell phone coverage at home automatically transfer calls to their home Wi-Fi network.

Squeezebox, a Wi-Fi device made by Logitech, has been winning fans among music lovers who use it to transmit Internet radio stations and personal digital music collections to various locations around the house.

Another gadget, the Eye-Fi card, was designed to make sharing photographs from digital cameras less of a chore by automatically moving photos to computers or online albums.

"Products involved in media transfer from point A to point B without using a wire are becoming very popular," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. "We're moving past the early adopters into mainstream consumers."

London-based architect Alistair Twiname was so enthusiastic about the Squeezebox that he posted a step-by-step chronicle of his installation of the device in his bathroom at www.chasingparkedcars.com/bathroom.

"I had a dream... a dream about music... music and soap," Twiname wrote in his Web entry. "Some people suggested extension cables and mini boom boxes, shower radios... running lengths of cable... these all had various disadvantages."  Continued...