Asus’ new Wi-Fi router looks like a Dyson bladeless fan

 

Asus, purveyor of the world’s finest arachnid overlord wireless router designs, has gone back to the drawing board and come up with a new look that’s much friendlier to humans. The antenna-less Asus Blue Cave offers "smooth Wi-Fi [and] smart protection," which in geekier terms means support for AC2600-class dual-band operation, powered by Intel’s latest Wi-Fi chipset, and Trend Micro protection for "every connected smart device on the network, including IoT devices." But really and truly, we’re all here for that "unique and attractive central aperture that is bathed in gentle blue light."

While most other home Wi-Fi routers have started supporting mesh networking, this new Asus model is content to only offer a mobile app with granular user controls to pad out its "smart functionality" credentials. IFTTT support is a nice extra, though.

Like James Dyson’s bladeless fans, Sonos’s Sub subwoofer, and Paris’ architectural centerpiece called La Grande Arche de la Défense, the Asus Blue Cave has a hole in the middle. And like each of those things, it looks weird and quirky and cool because of that hole. I’m unwilling to call it either an aperture or a cave, but I’m willing to be intrigued — which is apparently a sentiment shared by journalists at Asus’ Computex event today, where my colleague Sam Byford reports they flocked to photograph and record this peculiar little box of Wi-Fi. Engadget suggests that the price for the Asus Blue Cave will be around $180, but in classic Asus fashion, there’s no word yet on when it’ll be available.

The article was published on : theverge