The Mobile Learner
WIRELESS/HANDHELD
under construction
Wireless Internet service is emerging:
Cell phones and laptops are merging:
WIRED,
October 2002
Nicholas Negroponte explains why Wi-Fi "lily pads and frogs"
will transform the future of telecom
[Negroponte's
concluding paragraph:]
" The new thinking will also impact places where wireless penetration
is conspicuously low — among real water lilies and frogs, ironically,
in some of the most rural, remote parts of our world. A dirty little secret
about 802.11b is that it can cover more than 20 kilometers with suitably
directional antennas. Imagine reaching places that do not have sufficient
commercial value to justify classic infrastructure. In these cases, the
viral nature of unlicensed telecommunications becomes a major force of
human development, transforming everything from education to entertainment,
hospitals to hiring halls. And won't that make an astonishing splash.
."
Meet some Communicators:
NOKIA
PALM
Several types of transmission systems are maturing; new ones are coming online:
Fabulous Future from Universal Display