Looking at the image above, you might find yourself asking "What's that goofy-looking device tethered to that laptop?" Okay, I'll admit that thing does look a little strange. But what if I told you that it could boost your machine's ability to suck up WiFi signals by as much as 5 times--effectively increasing your WiFi range to a staggering 1000 feet? Well, you probably wouldn't find it quite so goofy, now would you? Say hello to hField's Wi-Fire signal booster. Here's how it works: the body of the unit houses a powerful directional antenna that acts as a WiFi-receiver. When you couple the Wi-Fire with the included software, your computer works overtime to sniff out and enhance those wireless Internets. It might sound too good to be true but it's not: in Macenstein's tests, the device exceeded its manufacturer's claimed 3x signal boost. Available now for OS X and Vista and soon for Linux, $80.

For more on the Wi-Fire:
- see this Gizmodo article