wifi

From Operator No. 9’s “That decorating touch” (Interactive Week: 24 April 2000): 100:

Dan Sweeney, general manager of Intel’s Home Networking division, says that when the company showed consumer focus groups the AnyPoint Wireless home networking system …, people became very confused, because there wasn’t a visible antenna. The desktop version of the wireless adapter — about the size of a deck of cards — has an antenna hidden inside it. ‘They looked at it and said, “That’s not a radio!”‘ Sweeney says. So Intel’s industrial designers added a tiny little plastic tip on top of the unit that is supposed to resemble an antenna. It actually looks — and I’m sure this was not intended by the designers — kind of like the type of hat klansmen or maybe religious leaders — bishops? vicars? — wear. Then again, maybe I just need to get out more often.