What’s different about this post is that although it is being composed on my laptop, the Internet connectivity is provided by my cellphone. I have to admit, the feeling of being able to surf the Internet wherever your cellphone takes you is very nice. I have actually never used my phone’s GPRS (it doesn’t support the faster EDGE) capabilities to do anything more than use Google Local on it, or periodically check my emails while on the move/highway.
The setup using my Sony Ericsson S710a software was pretty straightforward, and once I have the requisite bluetooth modem driver, I can just setup a regular dial-up connection in Windows to connect to the Internet instantaneously. Cingular’s coverage is awesome, and although there are periods when the GPRS fails, the connection is overall pretty rigid, and FAST!
I can’t wait for this technology to mature more and eventually reach critical mass. Once that happens, I could see companies like Microsoft literally making cars with operating systems being navigated through the Internet. Not just navigation, a fast pervasive Internet means a breadth of services like customized “Waypointing”, family tracking, and even sharing media with other family members on the go. I have always prophesized Microsoft manufacturing cars in some way, and a pervasive Internet could just be the driver for that initiative, especially when the car is becoming more like a general purpose customizable Dell hardware piece with lots of embedded/special purpose software that controls everything from the brakes to the cooling.
Sometimes, I feel like getting trained to be an effective visionary!
