In the late 1980s, there was no way to connect computers together without plugging in a cable. In 1988, Victor Hayes at tech company NCR started work on a standard for wireless data to take advantage of the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz radio bands that had been deregulated by the US government. Hayes and others set up a committee at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 1997, they reached agreement on the 802.11b protocol, and the first big computer maker to take it up was Apple, which branded it 'AirPort'. Steve Jobs wowed an audience in 1999 by passing an iBook laptop (pictured) through a hula hoop while it stayed online. Magic!
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