Boy have we come a long way since then. Now, almost everybody needs to be connected and they want to be connected almost all of the time. That’s right the Internet revolution is not just a technological revolution, but a change in attitudes, a cultural revolution.
As people in even the smallest towns and the most remote locations connect themselves to the Internet they invite a new dependency on electronic communications and digital information. They find that the world has changed into one where you must check your email more often than your answering machine, you need to visit your favorite website to get the latest information on whatever your passion, and you turn to the PC for entertainment in lieu of the chess set, the movie theater and the bat and ball.
In response to an insatiable thirst for connectivity, tech firms and communications companies have been working hand in hand in attempts to bring you the wholly grail of modern technology, constant connectivity. Now that the cellular infrastructure is in place, you can rest assured that the focus has turned from making the technology possible to making it friendly, affordable and fast.
Fast, that is a word not yet associated with mobile data communications in the USA. However, high-speed mobile access is making its way to the US by way of Asia, and Europe. High-speed mobile access will let you connect a laptop to a mobile phone and access the web at speeds in excess of the 56.6 kbps that you currently get from your home.
Affordability is issue that has been limiting the use of mobile data transfer. Currently the telephone companies are searching for a billing system for data calls. They are talking about either billing per second, as they do voice calls, or billing per megabyte of information downloaded to your mobile device. The advantage of the latter is that your device can be constantly connected to you provider and you only pay for the airtime that you use up. By being constantly connected to your provider, you’ll receive emails, new flashes and whatever else you request in real time without having to logon to check your in-box.
The most important development on the horizon of mobile connectivity will be making it friendly. Today, you need to have a decent working knowledge of your technology in order to make your phone talk to your laptop and your laptop talk to your PDA, and your PDA work with your desktop. But this is all about to change as Ericsson, the Swedish mobile telephone company, is leading the way in newer friendlier technologies. They are working on a new technology they call “Bluetooth”. Named after Harold Bluetooth, a fierce 10th century Viking from Denmark, Bluetooth allows you to connect your computer, telephone, palm top, or whatever other device you want, to each other automatically and without cables. For instance, when you want to connect your laptop to the net all you’ll have to do is have your mobile phone within range, and the Bluetooth technology will instantly and automatically connect the two devices to get you online.
The technology works by using radio transmitters to send information between various devices at high transfer speeds. Bluetooth uses advanced technologies to ensure that even in “noisy” radio environments data is error protected and encrypted, so that your data doesn’t “spill over” into someone else’s. This avoids the problem associated with portable home phones that often pick up the neighbor’s conversations.
What will this mean for the gambler? According to the eggheads at the latest mobile Internet conferences it means that everything that we promised you with WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) mobile phones will seem like a drop in the bucket compared to these second and third generation mobile devices. The problem with existing WAP telephones is that they are limited by the vary nature of the device on which the information is delivered to the user. In other words, the telephone handset, as good as it is for voice communication, is not very good for data and multimedia communication.
This is where the Bluetooth takes the phone one step further, the Bluetooth enabled phone can communicate to your Bluetooth enabled laptop or Bluetooth enabled handheld device (like a Palm Pilot). With their larger screens, better navigation tools and advanced mobile web browsers, you will gain full Internet access through these devices freeing yourself from the limitations of WAP enabled sites.
By using Bluetooth and a PDA gamblers will be able to play full versions of their online casinos from the palm of their hand, holding only the PDA, without wire connections to any other device. Keep your phone in your pocket, and get on to your sports book either from the office conference room or from your seat in the stadium. One device to operate and one device to hold. How’s that for friendly?
© Copyright 2004 Gambling Online Magazine This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
0 Comments
0 Trackbacks
