Comments on: CNET’s guide to wireless products

By: lionel

lionel — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:59:04 +0000

I dunno… cables laying about everywhere always makes me feel … high-tech. But then again, that’s why my desk area is overflowing with clutter.

By: Erin Doland

Erin Doland — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:44:59 +0000

@JohnnyRocket — More people in a year are injured tripping over a power cord in their homes than get cancer from a wireless printer. Most information for wireless devices in your home is transmitted through radio waves (which occur naturally regardless of if there is information on that frequency) and infrared light (which again is a naturally occurring light wave). The remote key for your car and your garage door opener are wireless devices and operate using radio or infrared waves. Your neighbor’s invisible dog fence … yep, same thing. The electromagnetic field I believe you’re referencing is more significant at a power source (outlet/power cord) than in a device. Additionally, your computer, the one you’re reading this comment on right now, emits a more significant electromagnetic field than your wireless garage door opener. Feel welcome to fear wireless devices, but the reality is that they’re unavoidable.

By: JohnnyRocket

JohnnyRocket — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:07:18 +0000

@Erin Doland

Just because we are helplessly surrounded by radio waves doesn’t mean we need to have more transmitters surrounding us in our home.

For those familiar with the inverse-square law of electromagnetic waves, it makes sense that a transmitting device close to us (in our homes) could be a legitimate cause for concern than a distant cell tower and TV station.

A cell phone propped up against your skull for hours a day is nothing to make light of, despite having radio stations sending out waves for decades, due to the inverse-square law.

By: Envark

Envark — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:40:04 +0000

@ShopLittleGifts

They do make retractable Ethernet cables.

By: ShopLittleGifts

ShopLittleGifts — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:42:29 +0000

Oh interesting – I just looked at the cable clutter category – lots of great ideas!! I love all the tools that help to hide the wires. I wish they made more retractable wires. I have a retractable wired mouse – I wish they made retractable ethernet cables as well.

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:10:55 +0000

I am waiting desperately for the day that all power tools are cordless! My husband and I have been doing some home improvement projects lately, and as the circular saws and drills and other things pile up on the floor and start to tangle together, the garage becomes an obstacle course.

By: Erin Doland

Erin Doland — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:16:26 +0000

@Suzyn — Wireless gadgetry works similar to a radio. A computer puts out a signal and the product receives that signal. You are surrounded by these invisible waves pretty much every hour of every day. You can’t avoid them.

By: Suzyn

Suzyn — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:01:00 +0000

With the news that’s coming out about the connections between cell phones and health problems, I’m not sure I want a house full of wireless gadgetry!