Remember the internet of the 90s? When browsing online meant being stuck at your desk with your whiz-bang 56k modem. It was an era without smartphones, without tablets – some might say, without freedom.

Luckily the clever folks in our labs came up with the underlying technology behind a little something called WiFi using the same mathematics that astronomers initially applied to piece together the waves from black holes (for more on the WiFI story click on our handy infographic on the right).

While WiFi has given us the freedom to work wirelessly in our homes, offices and out-and-about, it has also inspired a few other – err, interesting – innovations. Here’s a few that even we didn’t see coming:

1. No more queuing for beer at the footy – thanks to a digital upgrade at Adelaide Oval, sports fans won’t even have to get out of their seats to order a drink. Or hot chips.
2. Keeping Rover happy – this WiFi enabled system is a fully autonomous robotic dog sitter complete with video conferencing capabilities, remote tug-o-war, ball fetch mechanism, and treat dispenser.
3. The humble bathroom scale has taken a leap forward – why waste energy (and calories) having to get up to manually record your weight when your wireless bathroom scale can do it for you?
4. Did someone say bionic butler? For a couple of hundred thou’, this guy will get you a drink and even flip your pancakes.
5. Yep, it’s a WiFi rabbit. We’re sure he’s useful in some way. We just can’t figure out what it is yet.

Find out more about how we invented and patented wireless LAN technology on our website.