Umbrella name for Apple’s implementation of 802.11 wireless ethernet standards. Applies to both the hardware that they make and the computer-side software that enables it.

Definitions:

• Apple Airport — 802.11b, debuted with the original Apple iMac oh these many years ago.
• Apple Airport Base Station — UFO-looking contraption that is Apple’s 802.11b wireless base station. I have a graphite one of these with a modem in my vintage computer collection.
• Apple Airport Extreme — Apple’s candidate for dumbest product name. Evar. 802.11g.
• Apple Airport Extreme Base Station — umm, just what it sounds like, but there are a few versions of this, including one that is rated for air-handling spaces and uses Power Over Ethernet to get its juice.
• Apple Airport Express — an “Extreme” base station (that is, 802.11g) that includes an interesting 3.5mm headphone jack for getting audio signals from iTunes. That technology is unimaginatively called “AirTunes.” I keep one of these in my laptop bag. It is very handy for both getting tunes pumped into the basement, and as a portable base station where ever I go.

Draft-n Models

• In January 2007, Airport Extreme base stations were updated to handle 802.11n. A USB port on the device can also share disks (called an “Airport Disk”). Though using the external drive as a Time Machine destination was initially listed as a feature of the Leopard update, Apple pulled the bullet point, and the disk cannot be used for that purpose without a bit of hacking. The look was also refreshed; instead of the UFO-ish looking contraption, the device now looks like a half-height Apple TV. The refresh also includes an additional two (for a total of three) LAN ports.
• At Macworld in January 2008, Apple introduced the Time Capsule, a combination 802.11n-capable Airport Extreme base station with an internal hard drive for sharing and for Time Machine, Mac OS X Leopard’s automatic file backup facility. The Time Capsule is available in 500GB and 1TB versions.
• On 17 March 2008, Apple updated the Airport Express to handle 802.11n.