The Web Revolution 2.0 part II

(Click on the links to get farther explainations of the word)

• Web on-the-go

Ok, everyone agrees that the internet changes our lives dramaticaly. However, those conveninces are restricted to the time you're in front of a computer, which is ony when you're at home, school or office, right? Think again. Enter the next best thing: Mobile internet clients. The web changed our lives in doors, next, it's going to effect every part of your life.

Actually, it's not such a new concept. The amazing people at Palm(the company that brought us the kind of PDA that we're most familar with) already did a web-connected wireless PDA(the Palm VII) in the mid 90's. However, the Palm connected to a propriatory network with limited content instead of the World Wide Web; connection is also limited to select US cities. Another flunk was the WAP protocol that's added on to the GSM phone system, which was slow, expensive and also not compatable with the popular WWW. Mean while the PHS and PDC (which was what iMode first run on)phone systems in Japan, while also only had access to a propriatory network with limited content became a hit in Japan due to fast speeds, cheaper rates and a special life style of the Japanese. And that past had lead to the recent sucess of 3G phone services there.

But what's really important is not just mobile content, but also, the network that we are all familer with, which is compatabilities with open standards such as the WWW, HTML webpages and email. The first sucessful tecchnology that I know of is WIFI(IEEE 802.11, also known as WLAN), which was first supported by Apple by the name "Airport" in it's notebooks. Then Palm came out with the Tungsten C handheld, and Sony with it's Clie NX70v which supports a WIFI card. But those were far before their time, at a time when there weren't much WIFI hotspots(access points that send/recieve signals to/from a gadget' radio and provide web access) around. But the number of hotspots gradually grew, first in offices and schools. And then about 2 years ago, Intel started to promote notebook processor and WIFI radio packages under the Centrino brand, and promoted the set up of public hotspots, which really jump started the WIFI standard. Now all major corporate offices and universities have WIFI access, and many big cities have them, too. It is also said that you can get a free access anywhere in New York.

But some people don't like to be restraned to hotspots. Here's where data access over cell networks comes in. GPRS and PHS systems had provided this for years, where your phone acts as your modem, which connects to your laptop or palmtop. But GPRS is slow and expensive while PHS is restricted to cities and are only used in Japan and regions near by such as Taiwan. Now 3G systems are suposed to do this fast and cheep, but we'll see. I've heard that some data technology called EVDO works well in the US with smartphones(PDA phones), but never seen it in person.

Anyway, with WIFI and 3G, you can easily see how a mobile network can spread and change all parts of our life, where ever you go(almost). You can do most of the work, like viewing sites, sending documents, Email and IM, all on the go with handheld devices that are connected to the net. But actually, we PDA loving geeks are already doing that.

(This article was written on a Sony Clie PDA)