For all the talk of convergence in mobile devices, there's relatively little chatter about the coming together of wireless signals themselves. In other words, why should we have a separate device to interact with each type of wireless signal? And so, with that intriguing question, begins the pitch for a new device call Phi. It's a $750 antennae-laden PCIe card that slots into a desktop and gathers up wireless signals that are flying around the home -- so long as they have a frequency below 4GHz and don't involve bank-busting neutrinos. The card then allows custom apps to re-direct those transmissions as you like: potentially acting as a "base station" so you can make free calls from your cell phone, or receiving over-the-air HD transmissions which you can play on your tablet, or doing whatever else hobbyists and devs can cook up. Phi is still version 0.1 and Linux-only while the startup behind it -- Per Vices -- looks for a Kinect-style blossoming of third-party interest, but with nothing less than a deity-like command over the domestic ether on offer, how could it ever fail?

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Phi: a wireless re-routing card that puts you in control of the airwaves (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 06:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.