Don't you just love connecting computers to the Internet? Making sure the phone wire is long enough, trying to run it along by the wall so that no one will trip on it, disentangling it from all the other wires at the back - super.

Then there's the added fun that comes when you'd like to have more than one computer connected to the Internet, but would like to use the same connection. You have to call technical support for that, which means you'll wait on hold for 15 days listening to a recorded message, then spend four hours answering trick questions from an imbecile: "Is the computer plugged in, sir?"

But now you can say goodbye forever to tangled-wire-no-connect misery, with the Apple AirPort. It sits beside the phone socket, and uses radio waves to connect any Apple computer for 150 feet - at 11 megabits per second. It can hook 10 computers to the same Internet connection; it allows adults to swap important, executive-type files without using floppies; kids can play games with each other on different machines. It doesn't need line-of-sight, so the 150 feet can be across a street or two rooms away.

The Apple AirPort base station, £289 (€367), plus the cards for each computer, £99 will be available soon from Apple dealers.

Gizmo suggestions welcome: smaccarthaigh@irish-times.ie