Photos: Wireless USB devices

The first products supporting a wireless version of the USB communication technology are beginning to hit the market. Belkin, Alereon and others are releasing products that could help encourage more companies to follow suit. Wireless USB has competition with Bluetooth, is slower than wired USB and requires users to learn how to approve connections between devices. But fans predict that it will arrive in coming months in printers, hard drives, cameras and PCs, eventually matching the ubiquity of wired USB.

Belkin's Wireless USB hub is a two-part product. First, a dongle with an antenna endows an ordinary PC with Wireless USB abilities, so it can communicate with the hub and other devices. Second is a hub with four regular wired USB ports. A Wireless USB-enabled PC--or some future PC with Wireless USB built in--can communicate with the hub and whatever devices are connected to it.