Short answers, pulled from the story.
Australia, the United States, and the Netherlands all claim a role in inventing Wi-Fi, and no global consensus exists. NCR Corporation and AT&T developed the 802.11 precursor WaveLAN in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, in 1991. The CSIRO in Australia led by John O'Sullivan lodged a Wi-Fi patent in 1992 and was awarded $200 million in a 2009 patent settlement with 14 technology companies, followed by a further $220 million in 2012.
Wi-Fi does not stand for anything. The name was coined by the brand-consulting firm Interbrand, commercially used as early as August 1999, and chosen partly because it sounds like Hi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Alliance briefly used the slogan "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity" after the brand launched, which gave rise to the myth that Wi-Fi is short for Wireless Fidelity, but this is not accurate.
The Apple iBook laptop was the first mass consumer product to offer Wi-Fi connectivity, launched in 1999. Apple marketed the feature under the name AirPort. The collaboration included engineers Vic Hayes, Bruce Tuch, Cees Links, and Rich McGinn, among others from Lucent.
More than 3.05 billion Wi-Fi-enabled devices are shipped globally each year. The Wi-Fi Alliance, which holds the Wi-Fi trademark, consisted of more than 800 member companies from around the world.
Some versions of Wi-Fi, running on suitable hardware at close range, can achieve speeds of 23 Gbit/s. Indoor range for a typical access point is about 20 metres, while some access points claim up to 150 metres outdoors. Using non-standard equipment, a distance record of 382 km was set in June 2007 by Ermanno Pietrosemoli and EsLaRed of Venezuela between two mountain tops.
The World Health Organization states that no health effects are expected from exposure to RF fields from wireless networks. The UK Health Protection Agency reported in 2007 that a year of Wi-Fi exposure results in the same amount of radiation as a 20-minute mobile phone call. A review of studies involving 725 people who claimed electromagnetic hypersensitivity found that the condition appears unrelated to the presence of an electromagnetic field.