STATE OF THE ART; Not Born To Be Wired

WHEN Apple introduced the iBook several months ago as the portable version of its popular iMac desktop computer, one of its more intriguing features was a built-in radio antenna that in theory enabled the iBook to connect to the Internet and share files with other Macintosh computers without wires.

But like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, which scans radio emissions coming from deep space for patterns that might indicate alien intelligence, and perhaps even explain the Pokemon phenomenon, the antenna in my iBook picked up only static.

Apple finally released the missing components last week to allow the iBook to communicate with other silicon-based life forms: the $299 AirPort base station and the $99 AirPort wireless networking card. They were well worth the wait. The AirPort wireless networking system is confirmation that there is intelligent life in the computer industry.

The AirPort networking technology enables two or more AirPort-equipped computers to share files and Internet connections via radio waves at distances of up to 150 feet, even through walls and ceilings, at speeds of up to 11 megabits per second. That is faster and easier than any wire-based networking scheme I've tried at home, including prototypes of a 10 mbps system, the Home Phoneline Networking Association Version 2.0 kit for PC's.

Two Macs, each with an AirPort card, can swap files and share system resources and can be used for multiplayer games. With the base station, up to 10 (or maybe more) Macs equipped with AirPort can share a high-speed Internet connection.

That is so important, and it has such potential to change the way we use computers and information appliances around the house, that I'm compelled to repeat it in a different way: I'm sitting outside the house on the deck, with an iBook on my lap, enjoying a glorious autumn day, reading the current e-news, checking e-mail, doing a little bit of holiday e-shopping and writing this column. There are no wires, cables or extension cords in sight. As the stars come out, I simply stroll back into the house and continue working from the sofa in the living room.

Now I know how my dog must feel. I'm not supposed to be on the sofa, at least not with a computer. Computers have been banned from the living room, mainly for aesthetic reasons. But with no wires and power cords, and an easily carried iBook, no one will know.

Along with the health and happiness of my family, a championship for the Yankees and my digital subscriber line high-speed Internet service, AirPort is at the top of my list of things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

The iBook itself is a bit of a puzzle, however. How odd it is to finally receive intelligent radio transmissions from Out There, only to discover that they emanate from a device that vaguely resembles an orange or blue toilet seat.

Technically, the iBook is a clamshell design of translucent, ice-colored plastic with rubberized hot tangerine or cool blueberry accents. Apple designed it for students and for consumers buying their first portable PC's.

The iBook has many clever features, including an extraordinary six-hour battery, a powerful PowerPC G3 microprocessor, a rugged case with a flip-up handle, a plush, full-size keyboard with comfortable wrist wrests, and the AirPort radio antenna embedded in the translucent plastic surrounding a big, bright, colorful display screen. At $1,599, the price measures up admirably against other laptops in its class.

It also has some turkey features, however, including a base configuration that offers just 32 megabytes of RAM and a 3.2-gigabyte hard disk. Apple says the iBook weighs 6.6 pounds, which may be true on Mars. Here on Earth, my scale said it was 8 pounds.

The stingy helping of RAM means that only one or two application programs can be active at once and that the processor will be hobbled by frequent hard disk access. But Apple wanted to keep the iBook's price down, and it chose to spend its money on things that cannot be upgraded easily, like the Thin Film Transistor screen, the keyboard and the AirPort system.

Because of the AirPort system, I have been carrying the hefty iBook everywhere I go in the house. Upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen, in the living room, on the deck, in the garage -- everywhere I went, the iBook stayed in touch with its D.S.L.-connected base station or, in computer-to-computer mode, to another AirPort-equipped iMac in my office.

AirPort is based on a new wireless networking protocol called I.E.E.E. 802.11, which has been adopted widely within the computer industry. This week, in fact, Dell introduced a line of 802.11 wireless networking products for its corporate computers. Apple, however, is the first to bring 802.11 to the consumer world, at down-to-earth prices.

In theory, Windows-based machines that adhere to the 802.11 standard will eventually be able to network wirelessly with Macs. For now, however, AirPort wireless home networking is a luxury for Mac owners only, and then only for Macs that have antennas and can accept the AirPort wireless networking card. Those include all of the iBooks, all of the newest iMacs (but not the original ones) and all of the desktop G4 Macintoshes except the bottom-end 350-megahertz model.

Apple says current PowerBook portables, the larger and more powerful siblings of the iBooks, and older G3 Macintoshes can be added to an Airport network with an optional WaveLAN network card from Lucent, which co-developed the AirPort system with Apple. The cards cost $179 or $199, depending on features (www.wavelan.com). Lucent says the cards can also add Windows-based PC's to an AirPort network, but I did not test that claim.

Older Macs, including the recent G3 blue-and-white desktops, are essentially out of luck. They can be hard-wired, via Ethernet cable, to an AirPort base station.

The AirPort base station resembles a silver flying saucer from a 1950's science fiction movie. It is stylish enough to leave on the desktop. The base station contains both a 56K modem and a 10BaseT Ethernet port for connection to a high-speed local area network, D.S.L. or cable modem. The real value of the base station is in sharing a fast Internet connection.

Cable and D.S.L. connections are always on, so connections from a remote AirPort-equipped computer are instant. If the Internet connection is by dial-up modem, connecting from a remote computer works just as it does from a wired computer. Clicking on the browser or e-mail software tells the base station to dial into the Internet service provider.

AirPort works only with I.S.P.'s that adhere to common Internet protocols, which includes just about all of them except America Online. So if you connect to the Internet through AOL's dial-up system, you will need another I.S.P. for the AirPort Internet connection. Once connected to the Internet through AirPort, it is easy to log onto AOL and use all its resources, including e-mail.

Wireless networking is going to be profoundly important, and I hope other PC makers follow Apple's bold lead in making 802.11 connections a standard feature. Another wireless standard called Bluetooth will show up in products next year to allow small appliances, phones, computer peripherals and consumer electronics devices to communicate automatically. We will soon be bombarding the universe with more radio and infrared emissions than ever before.

It seems appropriate, then, that another profound application making its debut this year involves radio waves arriving from the other direction.

More than 1.4 million Internet-connected personal computer owners in 224 countries have teamed up to donate their otherwise unused computing cycles to help create the world's largest ad hoc supercomputer. The common goal is to help the SETI@home Project at the University of California at Berkeley search for extraterrestrial intelligence (www .setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu). Since the project began in May, these PC's have collectively contributed 120,000 years' worth of computing time to analyze radio emissions from outer space, said Dan Werthimer, the project's chief scientist.

They have not bagged any aliens yet, Dr. Werthimer noted.