I can’t even believe what a geek I am today. I’m so excited about a new bit of gear I’ve got in here. And no it’s not an iPhone. I know everyone else is lining up for the new iPhone and getting their geek street cred by wearing a phone they can’t even get service for. (Don’t even get me started there.) Not me. I’m excited about something so geeky I’m embarrassed to admit it. And I write this blog. Okay, here goes: It’s the Network USB Hub ($99.99) from Belkin. I told you this was embarrassing.
This little gizmo is a 4-inch-by-4-inch box you plug into your router. (See it sitting under the drawing of the router in this picture?) Then you plug USB things into it. That’s all. But it’s way cool. Everything you plug into it becomes available to all the computers on your Wi-Fi network.
My husband and I run a business here in our house and frequently want to share files when we collaborate on projects. So I plugged an external hard drive into the Network USB HUB and—right after we both installed the software—we could both access the files on that drive. Same with the printer. My kids have a computer in the family room but we don’t have a printer there and don’t have space for one. So I plugged my printer/scanner into the Network USB HUB and now they can print and scan using my all-in-one. And I can print, scan, and access files on that external hard drive from my sweet new shiny red laptop even when I’m out on the porch or up in my bedroom. I’ve tried a lot of other print-server devices and this one simply worked. Instantly. Even the scanner worked without any hassles.
Now I’m hunting around for more stuff I can add to my network. Maybe a music player? Camera?
Okay. I’ll stop now.