Read the paper that puts the kabosh on WEP security (in PDF form only): this is the paper to be presented in mid-August that describes how to quickly break the WEP encryption algorithm due to weaknesses in implementation and other choices.

802.11a to be much cheaper than originally anticipated: I'll have to eat my eat. I was expecting, like many in the industry, that 802.11a equipment would have a premium attached, costing at least double today's 802.11b equipment. Chipset maker Atheros expects OEMs (the actual manufacturers) to ship product by year's end. I had thought the combination of shorter distances (because of the higher frequency) coupled with higher prices would limit utility. However, with a low enough price and a slightly higher power output, we're talking one-to-one substitution. Hopefully this won't cool off 802.11b sales in the meantime. It's also important to recall that 802.11a uses the 5 GHz U-NII band which is essentially empty at the moment - especially compared to the crowded 2.4 GHz band that "b" operates in.

Meanwhile, 802.11b prices themselves plunge at the consumer level: a colleague, wanting to set up a Wi-Fi network at home, reported that Outpost.com and other vendors are listing a variety of Linksys equipment with large price drops and manufacturer's discounts. Amazon.com is running a free shipping special on shipments of $99 or more in electronics, so try these out: their basic PC card (PCMCIA) is under $85 with rebate. The WAP11 home gateway access point, which can be used to bridge wired networks using multiples of itself, is $185 with rebate. Their more full-featured home gateway, the EtherFast, which features a built-in 4-port switched 10/100 Mbps Ethernet hub, is just $205 with rebate.

Compact Flash 802.11b radio ships from D.Link: way ahead of schedule, we have a Compact Flash format 802.11b radio that appears to support the full spec. Equipment needs to be modified to take full advantage of this development. For instance, wouldn't you like a digital camera that could transmit photos (in real time or stored) via 802.11b back to a base station?