Many of you have tested wireless networking gear that delivers over 100mbps already, but at present that speed entails a sacrifice: These superfast wireless products don’t adhere to the up-coming 802.11n standard. Although the first draft specification for that standard was approved in January 2006, this next stage in Wi-Fi’s evolution still has a long way to go. The final 11n standard won’t be approved until September 2007.

Don’t depend on vendors’ claims of firmware upgradability to the final 802.11n specification. If compatibility is a concern, stick with your 11g hardware, or cross your fingers and buy all your new gear from one manufacturer.

The wireless dog fence is a new addition to pet containment systems. It is more effective than other types of fence systems. As this type of dog fence has no wires to bury its installation procedures are simple and easy.

A wireless dog fence uses single transmitters or multiple transmitters. The first step to install a wireless dog fence is to plug in the transmitter. As these transmitters are capable of producing radio signals that can penetrate walls and other household obstacles, they can be positioned in any suitable location of your home. The dog wears a pet-collar that produces a warning beep when it comes near the boundary. The collar applies a mild electric shock if your pet still continues to cross the boundary area. The containment area is adjusted by using a small dial.

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The startech MP3 Airlink lets you send music across your home without making your floor look like a snake pit. The 2.4-GHz transmitter and receiver are two nearly identical 1- by 3.1- by 3.1-inch (HWD) plastic boxes. Each box has its own wall-wart AC power adapter, and the system comes with two sets of RCA-to-3.5mm cables and one 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable.

Overall, the AirLink’s sound quality and ease of use is impresive. It has a significantly clearer signal than Bluetooth-based products. But if you have a lot of interference in your space from other devices that use the 2.4-GHz frequency band (Bluetooth headsets, microwaves, some RF remotes), the AirLink may disappoint.

With a dead-simple setup and a price that won’t hurt your wallet, this is an excellent wireless music system. If you don’t, you’ll find this is a very useful, and affordable product.

Joining a growing number of wireless point-and-shoot cameras is the pricey Canon PowerShot SD430 Digital Elph Wireless. This 5.0-megapixel ultra-compact lets you connect wirelessly (using 802.11b) to a computer, network or printer and offers a compelling mix of cutting-edge features, ease of use, and good image quality.

Portable and pocket-friendly, the camera has a tiny 2-inch LCD screen but also includes a small glass viewfinder that can be useful in bright daylight when the LCD looks washed out. Connecting to both open and WEP-enabled infrastructure networks is a snap. The camera also supports ad-hoc connections and lets you print wirelessly using the included printer adapter.

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Nokia showed off its first handset designed to allow a handover between a cellular and Wifi network. The Nokia 6136 phone, due to ship this summer, uses Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), a specification developed by operators and handset vendors to extend phone voice and data services over different wireless services.

It means a phone using GSM cellular network can switch to Dab hander… the Trilogy TV-enabled handset Wifi when the user moves into a hotspot. Orange will be one of the first carriers to offer the handset, according to Nokia. The quad-band 6136 supports an email client, as well as support for attachments and push-to-talk capability.

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Rivalry between Wi-Fi chip providers reached new levels of confusion at 3GSM when Broadcom announced unofficially that it had the first chips to truly implement the next-generation IEEE 802.11n standard, which is still only in draft form. The announcement by chief technology officer Henry Samueli came during an impressive round of Broadcom product releases, including a new modular mobile platform called Cellairity.

Technology analysts had warned companies to be cautious of buying products claiming to be 11n before the standard is ratified. But Samueli denied Broadcom was jumping the gun. He claimed: ‘The spec is all but nailed down, and we can be 99 per cent certain our implementation is the one that the IEEE will go with, and will be what the Wifi standard for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) will become.’

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In tech products across the board, wires are being cut loose faster than The Donald can bark, “You’re fired!”

Now beleaguered cables have gotten another pink slip: the Airgo Networks True MIMO Gen3 chipset.

When the first two router/client card combinations (one from Linksys and one from Netgear) based on Airgo’s new hardware were tested, they are good impression. At short distances, both fling data through the air faster than the 100Mbps of wired Fast Ethernet!

In fact, wireless throughput remains comparable at up to 60 feet. Even at 160 feet these new products are signficantly faster than any one that use previous wireless technologies.

Airgo works its mojo primarily by turning a broadcast nemesis : multipath reflection into an ally. Signals that travel different routes interfere with each other if they arrive at one antenna that feeds into one radio and that’s the way current wireless products are set up. MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology, used by Airgo (and others, soon), collects the echoes via multiple antenna/radio combinations and uses sophisticated processing to build a stronger, faster signal.

Speed can be dangerous, though. The next wireless standard, 802.11n, hasn’t been ratified. Some of the technology in this pre-n hardware is sure to be in the products that come out after 802.11n approval, but the implemention will probably differ. The chances of pre-n products being upgradable are slim. Still, ratification may be as distant as sometime in 2007.