wireless access point

A: You´ve probably heard of the Wi-Fi antennas made from old Pringles cans, but those are tricky to build and often require special connectors and soldering. A much easier option is a parabolic reflector antenna. You can whip one together using an old shoe box, tape and some aluminum foil in about 30 minutes, and it will double or triple the range (in a single direction) of just about any wireless access point with an external stick antenna.

Dept.: You Built What?!

Investigator: Paul Wallich

Hardware: Wireless hub humidor

Time: 30?35 hours

Downside: Cigars fry



Jeffrey Stephenson's polished wood and chrome humidor sits gracefully in his living room, holding four dozen cigars, all dried to a crisp. That's because under the smokes lie a DSL modem; firewall and cache with 20GB of disk space; and a wireless hub streaming bits to and from every computer in his house.