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SMC uses chips from Broadcom in most of its devices. Broadcom powers AirPort Extreme, too. So this USB 2.0 802.11g adapter would seemingly allow a newer Mac to use its USB 2.0 port to power a 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11g) connection without using an internal card. Anyone willing to try and see if the AirPort 3.3 drivers support it over USB?
A colleague just pointed me to AirPort Monitor Utility, which allows you to pull statistics and other information from snow (but not graphite), and Extreme base stations. For instance, you can see how many users (and their MAC addresses) are connected to your base station.
It requires Mac OS X 10.3, and the best results are obtained from Extreme units which have more support for SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) statistics and reporting. The snow unit can't report on DHCP and wireless connections. The cost is $10 after a 30-day trial period. An improved 1.1 version is expected soon, according to email from the developer.
If you haven't seen MacWireless.com's site lately (or ever), take a look if you're in the market for any Mac-based and Mac-supported Wi-Fi products. The company started wih a modest set of 802.11b products almost two years ago, and has expanded into offering antennas, 802.11g (AirPort Extreme compatible), outdoor systems, and even the WiJector, a combination Wi-Fi hub and VGA adapter that lets you remotely display to a video projector from a Macintosh.
I've just released a new book, Take Control of Sharing Files in Panther, a 96-page, $10 electronic title published by the fine folks at TidBITS. The book is about networking, and I do have issues that will be of interest to wireless and wired networking users alike, especially on the security front. You can read more about the book via that link.