By Evan Ackerman
I absolutely adore the plug-n-playability of USB devices, but they can be a pain to share around the house or office, if for no other reason than the maximum USB cable length is 5 meters without a hub. That’s why we’re enjoying the fact that Icron has developed a USB interface that works over the existing powerlines in your home; just plug your USB device into a hub, plug the hub into the wall anywhere in your house, and then plug your computer into a dongle that also plugs into the wall and voila: you’ve got USB. It’s completely transparent and no additional drivers need to be installed. The only downsides are the transfer speed, which is under 200mbps, and the fact that it’s not available yet (it’ll debut at the Computex Show in Taipei this week). If you absolutely can’t wait, Icron also offers ethernet, fiber optic, and wireless USB extenders.
[ Ircon USB Products ] VIA [ eHomeUpgrade ]