I think this is a very cool idea.
I think the USB over IP method could be used for a lot of different cool things. I'm hoping that a USB DVB-T adapter could be used for example (provided the bandwidth over wifi is sufficient ).

I intend to start my experimenting on my desktop PC.
Some links with how-to's:
http://howtoforge.com/how-to-set-up-...h-debian-lenny
http://howtoforge.com/how-to-modify-...over-ip-server

I also came across some ready to go images for the linksys NSLU2 device. That could be an easy and cheap solution to start experimenting with embedded USB over IP server solutions:
http://usb-server.com/nslu2.html
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowT...sbIpOnTheNSLU2
http://sourceforge.net/projects/usbi.../topic/1786127

I don't have a NSLU2 yet, so maybe other people could give their view about if that is a could way to start.