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It seems to be a that every new technology means more cables fouling the space behind the computer. The average home machine now requires a magician to cut down on all that snaking stuff.

Icron has succeeded in making a cable disappear. All I can say to this Vancouver-based company is halleluiah. Anything that cuts the number of cables in a computer network is good magic.

Well, halleluiah might be overstating the case a little, but it is important when a small office or an elaborate home computer setup starts running into desk-space problems.

Icron's WiRanger Cable-Free USB 2.0 Hub is the first of a new generation of radio-based USB connection systems, and is, well, a USB hub to which you can add printers, thumb drives, speakers, MP3 players or web cameras. Its main feature is that it does so wirelessly. And it has a secondary feature worth crowing over: There's no software to install.

Icron calls its technology ExtremeUSB, the system it uses that enables USB 1.1 or 2.0 connections over any media such as wireless, cable, power line or fibre optics.

The WiRanger is actually two units, which are like twins in both appearance and name — they're called Lex (for local extender) and Rex (for remote extender). Plug Lex into a USB outlet on a computer and Rex alone elsewhere in the office or house (up to 30 metres away), and the two can chatter to each other (in geek-speak, of course; they use the 802.11g radio standard). Up to four USB devices can be plugged into Rex.

This means devices such as printers and fax machines can be placed in more convenient spots, instead of commanding desk space dictated by the restrictions of cable lengths.

Well, it's perhaps a little disingenuous to say that the WiRanger removes wires. Technically, it adds more — two more, to be precise, because both Lex and Rex need to be plugged into AC power outlets, and that means power cords. But what's gone is the USB cable that people once tripped over on their way across the room. So look at it this way: There's an extra cable over here and another one over there, but no cable in between.

And that's about as much as we can wish for until we get the hang of cold fusion and make it run our cellphones, personal digital assistants, printers and wireless hubs.

Remarkably, none of this requires any software to install or fiddle with. Which means it can be used either with a Macintosh, Linux, Unix or Windows-based machine.

Essentially, the technology in the system does all the work. As far as the computer is concerned, it looks just like any traditional USB cable.

It does, however, have a couple of drawbacks: It costs $395 (U.S.), which is pretty steep for a hub. And though it uses the same 802.11g standard that runs many home wireless systems, it won't appear as part of an existing network; moreover, only the machine to which Lex is attached can get access to the devices attached to Rex. But this is actually a good thing, because otherwise it would be open to hackers.

The protection inside must be fairly elaborate because the WiRanger is designed to meet the needs of industrial, military and medical markets as well as business and "prosumer" users. As a result, it will be important to industries such as biometrics and security providers, all of which tend to find themselves in need of secure and scattered USB devices.

The ultimate test for the WiRanger was using a scanner as part of the remote setup. Scanners have been notorious for preferring a direct cable to the host computer (though a generation of all-in-one printer-scanners has recently arrived that operate on wireless networks). But with the WiRanger, there was no problem; using whatever ruse is built into its system, the WiRanger made it believe the computer to which it was connected was, indeed, done by a wired connection.

But like any magician, the WiRanger must use some sleight-of-hand technique to steal a cable from a network without the network knowing it's just been robbed.

Another USB innovation comes from Belkin, whose Network USB Hub plays a similar game as the Icron WiRanger, but with an emphasis on sharing. It can also cut down on the number of cables snarling behind and under the desk — but in an entirely different way from the WiRanger.

Belkin's device is a shiny, sexy piano-black hub about the size of a box of bonbons destined for a less-favoured relative. It creates a virtual network of its own, connecting to the network router via an (included) Ethernet cable, and can support up to 16 USB 2.0 devices through its five USB ports.

In that way, the Belkin hub works much like any other USB hub, except that it adds an interesting control system.

Using the included software (yes, more software), it will allow any computer running that software to connect to any peripheral device plugged into the hub. It will do so, moreover, in a very formal way: If the peripheral is not connected to a specific computer, then the user can request control of the device from the computer that currently has control. But that means either you have to ask the other user for permission, or go to that other user's computer and click "Yes" to get that control.

This is more than just a security precaution; it will also stop conflicts should two users take it into their heads to use the same device at the same time. This limitation can, however, be exempted for printers; if a printer is configured internally to be shared, the Belkin hub will allow all other computers to share it.

The hub works by simulating a direct USB connection, and uses a system of caching that allows high-speed USB devices and isochronous transfers to run at their full speed. Interestingly, the software inside the box is a Linux product. Ironically, that also means the software won't run on a Linux computer; Belkin has, however, promised a Macintosh version of the software, due this month.

There is, moreover, a wireless component to this. If the hub is plugged into a router that supports a wireless network, then any computer on the network can ask for permission to connect to something attached to the hub.

To make the process easier, Belkin has also made a wireless router that recognizes the hub and makes it respond to requests from machines close enough (30 metres) to connect wirelessly to the network.

The Belkin N1 Wireless Router not only shares your broadband Internet account with all your networked computers, it works on the fastest wireless network speed available, 802.11n, which offers greater range and faster speeds (up to a theoretical 300 megabits per second) for communicating with the attached devices.

This is a multiplex router that uses a smart antenna to enable multiple receivers and transmitters to send and receive data wirelessly, for simultaneously streaming high-definition video, digital music, online games, transferring photos, shopping online, using e-mail and instant messaging, as well as handling multiple VoIP phone calls.

But 802.11n is still a technology in progress, and the Belkin N1 router will communicate with other devices, but at a slower speed. To gain full advantage of the speeds offered, you need yet another Belkin product, The N1 Wireless Notebook Card, a PCMCIA device that slips into almost all notebook computers for connecting to a wireless network.

This can get expensive — the Network USB Hub runs $129.99 (U.S.); the N1 Wireless router runs at $149.99, and the N1 Wireless Express notebook card $99.95 (a desktop version of the wireless card that goes inside the computer runs at $119.99). So unless you're moving huge files around to the hub's attached devices, it might be better to stick with the wireless system you already have.

Anyone who has been cursing the mare's nest of wires and cables won't find salvation with these products, but at least must applaud these magicians' first efforts at casting spells that will perhaps lead to a less messy future.