Once set up, however, the OfficeJet zoomed along. In contrast to the Linksys print server, the OfficeJet J4680 printed the same file in 37 seconds and scanned the document in 47 seconds, making it a wireless speed demon. For my money, I'd opt for the printer with wireless built in because I hate to wait.

VoIP phone: Wi-Fi calls for less

Panasonic KX-WP1050 Wi-Fi phone for Skype By combining Skype's inexpensive Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone service with Panasonic's wireless KX-WP1050 phone, calling anywhere in the world just got a lot cheaper.

Everything you'll need comes with the KX-WP1050, including the 3-oz. handset, access point (the handset has to use its own) and cables. Setting it all up took me about 10 minutes. Although I was able to quickly type the network connection information with my computer's keyboard, I had lots of trouble entering my Skype username and password with the handset's awkward alphanumeric keypad.

Happily, you only need to do this once. After that, calls connect as fast as with a cell phone, are about as reliable and sound surprisingly good. The phone's 60-ft. range is a bit skimpy and the phone can use only an 802.11b/g network, but the handset's battery was good for four hours 30 minutes of talk time; it's recharged with a mini-USB cable from the access point.

At $400 MSRP (you can probably find it for $300 if you shop around), the KX-WP1050 is expensive. On the other hand, once you've got it, the costs are low: Skype charges $3 a month for unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada, and you'll need to rent a local phone number for $6 a month. All told, that's about one-third the price of Vonage and other VoIP phone services, proving that talk really is cheap.

Wi-Fi Web radio: Tune in the world

Grace Digital ITC-IR1000B Web radio The ITC-IR1000B Web radio from Grace Digital not only lets you listen to Internet radio shows from anywhere in your Wi-Fi zone, but it can also tap into RSS feeds, podcasts and music on your PC. At $200, it's a bargain.

Housed in a sophisticated black case, it's slightly smaller than Sangean's more expensive WFR-20, yet has scrolling and volume knobs, along with five presets for favorite stations. The blue LCD screen shows the time, the site it's connected to and the audio stream's data rate.

Setup took me about 5 minutes, of which about half was spent entering the network's encryption key with the scroll knob and screen. The radio has an antenna that swivels to get the best connection on 802.11 b/g networks; its range is 95 feet.