I've been happy with my wifi router for the most part, but its signal isn't that strong at the furthest part of the apartment from where it sits. I've sometimes thought about buying boosters or antennae or some other gadget to try to improve the situation.
Turns out there was a cheaper solution, which I read in this article by Paul Boutin. (Registration required.) Just crinkle some aluminum foil on one side of the box, and radio waves will bounce from the router in the opposite direction.
So now my device looks like the sort of router the Joads would have used, but the signal is, indeed, stronger. That's a good reminder that there are limits to virtuality: all our means of storing, communicating and processing data rest, inescapably, on physical laws and physical constraints.
