| There was a time when the internet was a mythical | | | | managed to deliver a faster internet, one where |
| invention, something that was coming but not quite | | | | looking at images and even listening to music was |
| here yet, a land reserved for geeks with monitor tans | | | | possible. While sound was definitely feasible, video |
| who could do zany things like “hack Gibsons” | | | | was a little shoddier, with many service providers |
| and for old-world scientists, who somehow got former | | | | unable to stream video well. Again, this was not a |
| Vice Presidents in hot water when misquoting their | | | | shortcoming of the programmers or designers, but |
| involvement with the internet. But things have come a | | | | rather, a challenge due to the lack of available |
| long way since, oh, about a decade ago. Today, | | | | technology. As connection speeds got faster and T1 |
| former Vice President Al Gore is actually the | | | | and T3 moved into the picture, suddenly more and |
| cofounder of the first cable channel to coexist just as | | | | more people weren’t just learning how to use |
| peacefully online, and the film that depicted people | | | | things like YouTube and Google; they were actually |
| hacking computers long before the days of wireless | | | | expecting that it be easy to get online and download |
| internet--Hackers--is little more than a cult classic. | | | | whatever you want, as fast as possible. |
| Things certainly change fast in the world of the world | | | | Up until now, the biggest leap forward in the internet |
| wide web. | | | | has been both the fact that so many people use it, |
| To understand the direction that technology is going, | | | | and that with wireless internet, it was possible to move |
| first one must understand where it has already been. In | | | | from a desktop computer in a home office to a laptop |
| the beginning, there was no mobile broadband, or even | | | | in some hip cafe. With companies clamoring for whose |
| regular broadband for that matter. It was only a lot of | | | | next big step will stick the longest, some people are |
| ones and zeros, simple binary code that made it | | | | guessing that WiMax might go the way of Beta Max, |
| possible to do simple things, like communicate via text | | | | while others are predicting that a mobile version of the |
| and read websites that consisted pretty much | | | | internet that can connect to a network set up like a |
| exclusively of text. The reason for these limitations | | | | cell phone network will win over consumers sick of |
| wasn’t shortsighted programmers, but technological | | | | staring at things on small phone screens. Either way, |
| roadblocks. The fastest modems around were once | | | | for five years there was no actual leap forward in the |
| measly 28.8k dial-ups, which are best compared for | | | | internet’s capabilities, so this new technology should |
| non-tech savvy readers to jalopies breaking down or | | | | be watched closely, and most likely will be adopted by |
| turtles crossing the road on a hot summer day. But | | | | the savviest of online users, from today’s |
| back in the day, in the mid-90s, these were some of | | | | contemporary hackers to regular folks who just |
| the fastest modems around. | | | | happen to be online a whole lot for whatever reason, |
| After dial-up came DSL and broadband, which | | | | especially while on the go. |