14 DAY TRIAL // For some reason or other, wireless products seem to get introduced in groups, making it seem as though IT players talk amongst themselves and plan their announcements accordingly.
Whether this is true or not, there is no doubt that we've already seen the 802.11ac access point from Huawei and the EnGenius Wi-Fi outdoor bridge.
D-Link has also launched a Wi-Fi signal extender, and some other small things have cropped up as well.
Now we are seeing what the fuss is about the REX-WIFISD1 from RatocSystems, a Japanese peripheral company.
The name doesn't really say much, so we are left with the product description posted on Hermitage Akihabara website.
Not exactly the easiest of tasks or, some might say, the most pleasant, but Google Translate is just enough to help make sense of things.
The REX-WIFISD1, as it turns out, it a memory card reader that can connect to PCs via Wi-Fi wireless frequencies.
The concept is similar to the one used by wireless hard disk drives or optical drives, or media players for that matter.
The SDIO slot on the Ratoc card reader can read SD, SDHC and SDXC cards, both micro/mini and standard-sized.
The 802.11 b/g/n WLAN technology can transmit data for up to 9 hours on a single charge of the 3,000 mAh battery.
The best thing is that, since the contents are broadcasted over the 802.11 b/g/n WLAN spectrum, all devices connected to the network can access the data.
The price of the Ratoc REX-WIFISD1 will vary from store to store. People thinking they might like it should know that the item weighs 120 grams (0.26 pounds) and measures 79 x 118 x 14 mm / 3.11 x 4.64 x 0.55 inches.
As a bonus, the Japanese peripheral company added a USB 2.0 port to the card reader, giving it storage hub traits. One might wonder why USB 3.0 isn't used, and the answer is simple: there would be no point, as the Wi-Fi could never match up to the 5 Gbps of the SuperSpeed interface.