A Peek Inside the Wireless World *Chapter 2 from Joyce’s CUTTING THE CORD BOOK) never published (cut for space) written in 2001.

Wireless technology promises to unleash the power promised by the Information Superhighway of the '90s. It's driving that energy to the people, as going mobile becomes increasingly affordable. The realization will be person to person communication not point to point anywhere 24/7/365

Not so long ago, you could spot the big-shots who had car phones by the boomerang-shaped antennas on their trunks. Now gizmos, gadgets, and appliances galore transport us all into a mobile millennium, morning, noon, or night.

What has this "future-talk" got to do with you? All too often consumers and businesses just want to cut to the chase and just name the best model and the best place to buy. They say forget the adjectives and the anecdotes; they've got places to go and people to see, right? Well, that's why we urge you to stop before you shop. One size doesn't fit all when it comes to going mobile. Just like you buy your kids' shoes a half-size larger, you want a phone with more features so it grows with you.

Cutting the cord is a process, not an event. To really go mobile, you need a plan and plenty of perspective on your communications needs for home, office, and travel. That's why we're pleased to offer you a peek into the future to see how the wireless world will weave together to change the fabric of our lives. How we earn, learn, and live continue to change as we connect cordlessly.

To Live and Die in Cyberspace

To live and die in cyberspace is both an opportunity and a challenge. The Web gives us access to vast libraries, museums, auctions, and databases globally. But it comes with a lot of hardware and strings attached namely PC’s and phone lines. As the Internet advances, consumer electronics manufacturers are joining with Telco giants to cut those umbilical cords and bring the worldwide access to the mobile arena.

Untethered World “Always On.

An untethered world that's "always on" offers freedom but demands responsibility. Our identities, privacy, and sanity

might be at risk in a universe that knows who we are, where we are, and what we're doing.

*************************************

Pervasive Computing Means Everywhere

Researchers at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science working on a project called Oxygen say we'll soon enter an era of pervasive computing, where the Internet is wirelessly within reach not just from handheld devices but from transceivers built into cars and walls and public spaces. Wi-Fi and low frequency delivery systems will soon proliferate.

WIRELESS WORK --- SCI-FACT NOT SCI-FI

Techno-thrillers such as Blade Runner predict dark, dreary urban nightmares, where cyborgs and cybercops duel to the death and the dregs of humanity huddle together in hiding from Big Brother.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it, says early PC pioneer Alan Kay. In the new consumer-centric economy, you vote with your cash and credit cards. The more you know, the wiser your decision-making is. You're not just going mobile, you're starting to create a new life and work style wirelessly.

The Yellow Brick Road to Oz

The wireless Oz of instant connection to work, school, and play appears at an intersection of technology revolutions, including

Global telecommunications networks. These feature-rich digital systems are used for delivery of voice, video, and data, paving the way to mobile commerce, on-the-go banking, instant payment services, and more.

Ubiquitous Internet This brings the Web and e-mail to airplanes, hotel rooms, and auto dashboards. Built-in wireless modems link laptops, appliances, and TVs together. Yes, you'll soon text your microwave to start dinner while you're in your car on the way home. Shopping malls are wirelessly leading the way to swipe-and-go, cashless society. RFID Tags augment tracking and marketing methods.

Nanotechnology This leads the way to atomic-scale networks in which computers are no bigger than dust particles. So technology becomes invisible as it's embedded in clothes, eyeglasses, seatbacks, and tabletops, and you carry wireless connectivity with you everywhere. Technology will become "invisible" rather than "transparent" – it will be so small you don't see it, but you still can't see through it.

Voice recognition This lets you log on with words rather than clicks. Smart devices listen to you, and techno-toys and robots entertain you and do your chores on demand or on schedule using IA (intelligence augmentation)..

Smart machines These sport artificial intelligence and learn your preferences.

Bots These anticipate your needs and desires as they shop, plan, and organize your busy life, and maybe even become your best pals. You'll control these machines with wireless devices.

3D Internet and virtual reality system This offers sports, travel, games, and shopping simulations (wirelessly) and blurs the line between the bricks and clicks of our offline and online lives.

Biomedicine advances These sensors and wireless devices connect patients to doctors 24/7 and physicians to hospitals seamlessly for updated house calls.

Disappearing Devices by 2010

In the next decade, your phone, portable device, or wearable will unlock more and more wireless wonders. Beyond 2010, some futurists believe even the device might disappear as the world around us becomes so connected that we'll talk to smart walls, smart cars, and smart screens to communicate one-to-one or one-to-many. Biometrics including retina scans, thumbprints and embedded chips usher in new opportunity for security and marketing systems but at the same time may threaten personal privacy rights.

A Century of Change

At the start of the twentieth century, America changed from a rural to an urban economy, and a gap opened between the

public world of men at work in offices or factories and the private world of women at home. Who knew that the telephone would lead the way to closing that gap? As we ended the twentieth century, low-cost long distance service, two-way pagers, cell phones, and the Internet became essential tools to connect working men and women to their families. And the boundaries between work, home, and school began to blur.

What will your wireless world be like?

Look how going wireless is changing your home, car, office, and children's school.

You won't have to wait a century for this to happen.

A Day Inside the Connected Home

*** TIP**************

Here's a scenario of how wireless technologies will empower you and your family in the connected home of tomorrow. Knowing how powerful wireless will be may, give you a better idea of what your current needs are for a phone, PDA, or home networking system.

GOOD MORNING 2010:

Your wife wakes you with a kiss on the forehead while the household robotic stands at the doorway bringing STARBUCKS for-home VIP treatment, the delivery display screen enables you to scan the enews &check unified messages (text & video) still snuggled under the covers. You savor your café latte being kept at just the right temperature because of a special sensor embedded in the cup. Meanwhile the family PIM blinks at the foot of the bed with a rolling scroll of daily reminders and appointment times.

****************PIM (Personal Information Manager**********

PIM is the acronym for personal information manager, the term used for software and hardware that keeps your calendar, address book, and other reference information close. British research service ARC Group projects that the leading PIM will be the number-one mobile application until 2003, after which navigation and location systems will take over the top spot. Its current top list of mobile applications includes the following:

*email *entertainment, financial services, internet browsing, navigation/location * m-commerce and *intranet

BZZZZZ U11 scrolls across the screen to a buzzing sound….

You have a busy day ahead; your personal messenger is blinking and buzzing, reminding you today’s your 10th anniversary. As your wife, leaves the room to deal with the kids, your shopping bot senses you are alone and pops up with a marketing-sponsored text suggesting you click to order flowers NOW, NOW NOW…..

Another ping gets your attention. You say yes to the Mobile Shopping Network's smiling rep offering an up-sell to your order and add daily special an upgrade to 24 roses and same-day delivery for half the usual price. How can she be so cheery at this time of day? It's probably a 7th generation avatar but that blond hair looks so real and the voice sync is so perfect?

Less than five minutes have gone by since you woke up, but your kids are yelling at you through the bedroom mirror screen to help them in the kitchen.

Ham and Green Eggs on Demand

Both kids want pancakes. A quick request to the cutting board screen and the recipe appears instantly. As you flip the pancakes, you glance at the other wall and see the home security system showing video of the family dog, Chip, chasing your robotic pet, Aibo, into the street. With a flick of the finger you activate the family intercom and order Aibo and Chip back into the house. Puppy or ‘robo-dog’which one is more trouble?

While you eat breakfast, the refrigerator's bar-code scanner updates the inventory of what's inside and sends food orders to the local grocer, who will deliver them. The smart refrigerator also suggests its own menus and downloads coupons for your favorite products.

Smart Fridge/Kitchen-tainment

Whirlpool North America is already testing Internet-enabled appliances and will soon start delivering these products to consumers' homes. A proposed community in west Los Angeles called Playa Vista plans to feature 13,000 homes with such

21st Century features as these Web-enabled appliances and broadband Internet access for full entertainment services. The Whirlpool refrigerator-mounted Web tablet serves as the kitchen-appliance control point, linking oven, dishwasher, and microwave. It has an integrated Web browser that can search for recipes and then even program the oven to ensure proper cooking. Families can also use the Web tablet as a home bulletin board to organize notes and schedules. Whirlpool is not the only manufacturer of these new "smart appliances."

Good Wireless Morning to You

Where are those kids? Breakfast is done, and it's time to leave for school and work. You glance at the intercom screen and see your son is lying on his bed with the Advanced Video Game Boy in hand. "Don't worry, Dad, I'm practicing my French with my pal Jacques in Paris," he says. Then it's "bonjour" into the wearable microphone. Your daughter is searching through her jewelry drawer for a bracelet-style computer that matches her T-shirt. Meanwhile, she thumbs messages to pals on her two-way that has an optional video screen always off in the early mornings and 24 hours on “BAD HAIR DAYS” –why don’t you remember to do that – especially now that your hair is thinning?

TRAFFIC 411 TO THE RESCUE

You glance at the hall monitor which shows heavy traffic on the freeway, with a tap on the screen, it delivers alternate route recommendations. Say “print” and a map to the kids’ new school prints out from the networked wall printer.

***Traffic 411 Is Real Now*****

Traffic 411.com is a Los Angeles based firm that offered full-motion, wireless video traffic reports via Packet Video's technology on the Cassiopeia back in the year 2000. The Packet-Video enabled full-motion video construction updates serving the Las Vegas market, may have been the first in the country to show videos of actual helping motorists avoid traffic snarls. been the first in the country to show actual intersections under construction so drivers could avoid traffic snarls.

Finally…. everyone is ready to pile into the car…so you head to the garage and the car ready, motion-sensitive door locks open on your verbal command.

Remote greetings & all the songs you want…

Darn, you didn't leave a Happy Anniversary message for your wife, who is already attending a videoconference in the home office. You could run back upstairs, but you're already late and it's the kids' first day at their new school. Quickly you record an "I Love You" with your wearable personal messenger and tell the bot to attach her favorite love song so she can play it after she's out of her meeting. Good thing you paid that famous songwriter’s archive its annual copyright fee for unlimited use of that tune –it sure keeps you out of trouble.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

WIRELESS IS NOW:

Ben Mandel, co-host and producer of PBS's The New Home Show, says that wireless technology already affects today's homes. "After all, remember when your remote control was attached to a long wire that ran between the control pad and the TV or VCR?" And he reminds us that our garage door openers have long been wireless.

Here are some other things to watch for:

A remote starter on your car that revs it up while you're still inside

A smart defroster that turns on automatically, no scraping required

A remote thermostat control to turn on the air conditioner before you walk into the house

Beam It Up to Me

Most digital homes will have a home gateway featuring a central PC what the geeks call a server to connect all your appliances, PCs, Web tablets and maybe your PC/TVs in a wireless secure in-home network.

Your virtual private network will control all information and entertainment and serve as your connection to not only your immediate family but also to your friends, office, retailers, and service providers.

Personal Family Networks:

Watch for a world of personal family networks that evolve and customize to your family profiles, including the following:

Electronic learning

Safety and security systems

Entertainment on demand

Networked gaming systems for kids and adults

Bill payment, savings, and investment programs

You soon might have your own personal concierge dedicated to your family's lifestyle. This synthetic character with artificial intelligence may become a very close pal who knows your family's profiles and updates your systems.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

Your Onscreen Virtual Assistant

In the romance novel Keeper of the Heart by Johanna Lindsey (Avon Books), the heroine has a personal android who serves as a protector. She also has an always-on virtual personal assistant. "Martha" is part secretary, part motivational coach, part psychologist, and mostly friend. Martha is available 24 hours a day via screen.

***End STREETBUZZ***

What else can a connected wireless home offer you?

How close can you come to tomorrow today and re-create the connected home scenario you just read about? Three home networking technologies are already competing.

HomeRF

HomeRF achieves top data rates of around l.6Mbps (megabits per second), which works great for carrying audio and

relatively low-quality video. In the interest of neighborly harmony, HomeRF wireless network connections can be restricted to cover just your home and backyard.

The next generation of HomeRF is expected to offer data rates of 10Mbps and support home entertainment, such as whole house audio (no wires for speakers) and wireless distribution of DVD-quality video to monitors around the house. Also, it will support roaming. HomeRF 3.0 will feature data rates as high as 20Mbps.

The Home Radio Frequency Working Group (an organization comprised of Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and other industry giants) says that HomeRF will maintain backward compatibility so that newer and older products will work with one another.

Wireless Ethernet (802.llb) & beyond…….

802.11b, the current form of wireless Ethernet, offers data rates as high as 11Mbps. The next generation, 802.11a, will reach 20Mbps. The signals can be used to maintain connection while you roam around your house.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth technology, lauded as a replacement for cables that carry information from one device to another (such as between a PDA and a PC using a synchronization cradle), continues to develop. Palm plans to add Bluetooth to its operating system next year. Bluetooth promises that you will get your own personal area network (PAN) and that the devices will know whether you've carried them into the kitchen and can then download recipes for you. In addition, Bluetooth devices work without going through an access point.

Screenshot – www.bluetooth.com

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

More than 200 million Bluetooth-enabled devices will be sold by 2003 increasing to 670 million by 2005 according to market research firm Cahners-in-Stat Group.

***End STREETBUZZ******End STREETBUZZ***

Home Networking Doesn't Mean Wireless

You can set up a home networking system using power and phone lines. You'll see many devices that promise to connect your computers, but that doesn't mean they are wireless. If you want to use devices such as notebook computers or PDAs, wireless is the way to go.

Pulling the plug can be costly, however. As you add new PCs and electronic systems to your house, you can increase your electric bill. The connected home does not automatically mean conservation, although you can apply the technology to saving energy costs (such as by having it turn down the heater when you're not home). And you won't be able to go totally wireless today; you'll still probably need to get some cables and install new electrical outlets to accommodate the new hardware.

Before you spend a lot of time and money connecting your home, consider that installing and learning how to use all the hardware and software can take time. Costs can also add up quickly when trying to connect your existing home. Broadband access alone costs at least $40 to $100 per month. Home automation software, service equipment, and installation costs can run into the thousands of dollars. You might want to wait until you build your next home to truly go cordless throughout the whole house.

If you're not ready to go completely wireless yet, here are two other systems you can use to connect your PCs.

HomePlug Powerline Networking

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is a group working to turn your home's electrical wiring into the backbone that connects devices for computing, communications, and home entertainment. HomePlug products could be on store shelves soon. HomePlug works at speeds as high as 10Mbps, fast enough for streaming audio and video. Plug each PC into a wall jack and data races between them through the existing AC wires.

In field trials now, HomePlug's technology is in 500 homes worldwide, and specs for powerline networking standards are being finalized. Watch for adapters for linking PCs and peripherals for sharing high-speed Internet connections in a

powerline-based local area network (LAN). In the future, look for HomePlug appliances with built-in Web browsers and computer displays.

More than 75 companies make up the HomePlug alliance, including Compaq, Intel, and 3Com.

***Begin tip***

HomePlug vs HomePNA

Don't confuse HomePlug Networking with HomePNA phone line networking. One uses electrical wiring as a basis for home networking, and the other uses telephone wiring.

***End tip***

.

HomePNA Phone Line Networking

HomePNA is an organization formed by 10 companies (Compaq, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lucent, and AT&T Wireless among them) that introduced the first phone line networking in 1998. Today, HomePNA works at speeds as high as 10Mbps, and the next generation will get rates of 100Mbps.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

PAN (Personal Area Network)

The ultimate PAN is the human body. MIT Media Lab researcher Tom Zimmerman designed a low-frequency wireless networking technology in the early '90s that passes through the body and has a range of about 1 meter. Today, he's focusing the technology for security purposes in business, industrial, and consumer high-risk areas.

***End STREETBUZZ***

The majority of HomePNA products already on the market are low-cost and include add-in cards and USB adapters for PCs which themselves would cost $30 - $50 and home gateways that distribute high-speed Internet access across multiple computers. Ethernet-to-HomePNA adapters also are available for about $100.

What About Webcams?

One of the main benefits of the connected home is safety and security. Webcams can help you keep an eye on things. In our scenario of the future, Webcams and cameras are built into the house as it is constructed. To simulate the same scene today, you can get wireless Webcams and cameras and add them to complete your home network.

Why use a webcam? Here are some reasons:

To keep an eye on your babysitter while you're at work

To check that the bird is back in its cage

To make sure the storm didn't flood the basement

To see whether the blinds were left open or closed

To make sure the dog is still in the yard

Security is certainly a benefit of the new connected home, but while you're retrofitting your current house, you need to take all measures to stop invasions of your family's personal privacy (see Chapter 8 for more information). You don't want hackers gaining access to your home through Webcams or garage door openers.

A Webcam is not big enough to provide security for your front door or keep tabs on a sleeping baby. Other camera monitors are available for those purposes, most of which offer access to their views from any screen in the house or

Portable Web Devices

You can carry these devices from house to yard or even to the office. And all the time you've got the Internet with you and access to word processing programs or entertainment. A popular form of portable Web device is the Honeywell WebPad, which provides high-speed wireless connections to the Internet.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

Home versus Office--- 137 Million Users…

Dataquest, a research firm, predicts that by 2003, more than 137 million users worldwide will split their time between a traditional office and a home office.

Most people believe they will have different devices at home than in the office. A home device could be a handheld computer, a smart wireless phone, or a truly universal remote controller. All those might merge in the future, too.

If you get a call on your wireless phone while you're listening to your MP3 player through your headphones, the songs will soon pause by themselves and send through the call so you don't have to pull the phone out of your purse.

***End STREETBUZZ***

Back to the Future

As you pull the car out of the garage, the car doors automatically lock and the OnStar Virtual Advisor says hello. Your son John pipes up and asks the service to find a dinner reservations for mom and dad for tonight—knowing you probably forgot.

Virtual Advisor launched in spring 2001 and gives drivers access to headlines; stock quotes, and sports scores, as well as a personal concierge service for making restaurant reservations and buying event tickets. Plus, drivers using Virtual Advisor can receive real-time, location-based traffic information thanks to content deals signed with such major U.S. traffic systems as Etak and Metro Networks.

However, Virtual Advisor prices can be steep for a family. One year of service is included with the cost of the vehicle; renewals cost $199 per year for safety and security and $399 for the premium service. Unless you're in your car a lot or use it for business, you might not want to pay $400 for information or concierge services.

As you pull away from the house, you see Anna, your housekeeper, walking up to the house and open the door for her by telling your home controller "open front door."

The OnStar system tells you it's going to be cold outside today. The personal concierge then pops up with an offer for a quick trip to sunny Los Cabos, Mexico because on your personal profile you requested special vacation offers during fall and winter for warm resorts. Just the thought that the sun is out somewhere makes you happier. Your daughter, of course, encourages you to order the trip as an anniversary present and to take the whole family.

***Begin Jargon***

TELEMATICS

Telematics is the term used for two-way communications tools in the car and has been around since the '90s. According to forecasters UBS Warburg, the business is set to explode and become a $47 billion global market by 2010.

***End Jargon***

Wearable allowances….

You refuse the vacation offer but secretly wish you and your wife could go perhaps next month it will be possible. You can probably find the offer in your electronic storage system and retrieve it later. But better offers might come in by then as the snow starts to pile up in the Midwest.

You ask the kids whether they have their lunch money, and both of them say no they don't like to carry cash anymore because cash isn't "cool." So, you arrange with the virtual; concierge to transfer some electronic cash to their wearable devices so they can have lunch at school. While you're at it, you add their weekly allowances.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

Mobile Banking

Mobile banking is here already. Bank of America alone had served 2.4 million wireless customers via the wireless Web by May 2001. Additionally, Bank of America is in the midst of rolling out wireless offerings in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Baltimore/Washington, D.C. markets and will soon offer a national wireless service.

***End STREETBUZZ***

***Begin JARGON***ALERTING:

Bank of America offers special services called alerting. An alert can tell you when your stock hits a certain price, when your checking account balance drops below a certain figure, or that a check has cleared. For most people, banking alerts can eliminate the need to go online to the bank's Web site to determine whether an electronic check for gas and electric cleared last night or whether a big incoming draft from a client cleared. Plus, no more lengthy

calls with the bank's voice services are necessary with alerts.

***End JARGON***

BEAMING MESSAGES

You son John is nervous about his first day at school and fears he's going to be late because he was told to show up for an optional orientation session at 7:30 a.m. You try to explain what optional is and even begin to look it up in the car dictionary. He complains, and you relent, dictating him a note explaining that you made him late. You transfer that directly to his wearable computer, and he'll beam the note to his teacher's WebPad.

After the kids are dropped off, you check your office calendar from the screen on what used to be called the glove compartment. You think, "Did I ever put gloves in there, anyway?"

It's nice that your new car PC connects to your office network. You're tempted to review your PowerPoint presentation, but it won't work unless the car is stopped a safety feature introduced last year. Instead, you turn on some soothing CD music and leave another message for your wife, reminding her about your date. As you do that, you send her an electronic greeting card because you didn't include one with the flower delivery.

Car PCs

Microsoft is said to be working on developing prototype in-car computing communications and entertainment systems based on WinCE for Automotive. It's apparently testing them in a fleet of its own cars, according to Microsoft's Automotive Business Unit. One of the prototypes is a car PC that uses 802.11b technology to become part of a nearby home or office computer network just like any other PC in the LAN.

You can learn more about car computers and telematics in Chapter 7, "The Web on Wheels: Telematics."

***Begin streetbuzz***

PC ON WHEELS

Cars of the future are likely to come equipped or be capable of being upgraded to include the following devices:

*MP3 music playback *DVD video playback * Normal radio functions *Navigation systems *Wireless information services Safety and security (to notify 911 automatically) Diagnostics to notify drivers about equipment status

***End streetbuzz***

What about satellite radio?

Telematics systems available today include the following:

OnStar From General Motors (www.onstar.com)

RESCU From Lincoln

Tele Aid From Mercedes (www.mbusa.com)

ASSIST From BMW but in Germany only (www.bmw.com)

***Begin Tip***

Telematics to go…

Before buying your next car, check to see what's available in the telematics area as an upgrade or standard issue. You might want to wait for the next model the telematics applications and systems that will be available soon are pretty awesome.

***End Tip***

CAR CONCIERGE

Your car concierge warns you that you're low on gas and tells you that the next gas station is at the corner of 9th and Vine. You vow that your next car will be a hybrid electric/gas car. Didn't that Honda dealer tell you he went all the way across the country for $78? You remember when gas was $1 per gallon in the good old days.

At the station, you get out and send a beam to the premium pump with your hand controller. You indicate you want $20

worth of gas and hope that gets you through the weekend. As you're filling up, a coupon on your hand controller offers you a free mocha cappuccino at the nearby Starbucks buy one, get one free. Mmm, that sounds good, but you're already late. You tell the coupon to "store" itself for later retrieval in your personal m-locker; maybe this afternoon you'll take a break and buy one for yourself and your pal Joe and reminisce about back when you first met your wife.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

SPEED PASS --- transponders transmitting…

Mobile speed pass was one of the first devices to allow you to "gas and go." A quick flash to the mobile reader on the pump, and Mobile Oil bills your credit card account and invoices you monthly. This has become the prototype for many "buy-and-go" systems mobile commerce systems.

***End STREETBUZZ***

Mobile Spammers

As you store the coffee coupon, an offer is displayed for free Lotto. You hit Delete because you've been on a losing streak. Your wife doesn't like getting all these offers because she thinks they're just spam, but you're a Capricorn and like deals. You feel if you opt in to get these goodies, they are valuable, and heck you do drink coffee and play Lotto anyway.

About a mile from the office, on a whim, you make a left turn instead of a right, overriding the car mapping system. You decide that you want to work from home, too, today. Managers at your firm get a choice of two days a week when they can work remotely, and you've been in the office all week so far.

AVATAR IS STAR

To be truthful, they might not even miss you because your face will be available to them on your desktop screen. You switch on the screen and record a good-morning message for your personal avatar it's almost as good as having a clone.

L-Commerce at the Mall

As you near the mall, the communicator offers you today's specials, including free alterations at your favorite specialty store. Then, the store manager comes onscreen to wish you "Happy Anniversary" and offer you a $50 anniversary discount coupon on the purchase of a new sports coat. How does he know? Your personal profile lists special dates in your life for which you might need new clothes each year.

This is an example of location commerce (l-commerce), which is being deployed. Early systems don't need fancy GPS locators and can work from your roaming position. They can pinpoint your current cell site and make you a target for provider promotional marketing. Other systems rely on the name of a city; a ZIP code; or the designation of a highway, a freeway exit, or a geographical feature to localize a user.

You print out the clothes discount coupon on your car-puter and at the same time order a strawberry mango smoothie for pickup as you head to the mall. Chances are that your mall has installed new payment systems by now, so you'll be able to just scan and buy things using a bar code and your electronic debit system no more credit cards to carry around.

Inside the mall, the large video screens feature daily specials at most of the stores. It has been a while since you've been to the mall; most of the time you shop from your Mobile Shopping Service. After all, it's customized to know your preferences, offer you deals, and update your files, so you always know the last time you bought shoes and the brand of wine you prefer.

M-Commerce Call to Action

The ubiquity of the telephone and enhanced interfaces for commerce and special applications will help mobile commerce (m-commerce) evolve quickly.

Soon inside malls, merchants will send "calls to action" to pagers and mobile phone customers. A must-use-today coupon might go to all those entering a mall. A sign posted at the mall door might read, "By entering this mall, you provide your permission for us to beam you coupons, specials, and discounts; be assured, your identity is safe and no beams are sent to children under the age of 18." Is that spam? Many people think it is, but when spam becomes useful, it ceases to be a bother and becomes a special deal for you or your family.

Redeeming electronic coupons can be as easy as going to the point of sale, calling up the message on the device display, and showing it to a person or an electronic reader no complex tech is required.

Planethopper.com

One company offering deals today is PlanetHopper in New York (www.planethopper.com), which offers such daily digital deals as Tower Records $5-off coupons. All you do to redeem the coupon is turn the corner and flash your wireless device to the salesperson. Most of these specials are time based, meaning they must be used in the next eight hours or so.

PlanetHopper has deals with General Cinema, Atlantic Records, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball team. To get these types of offers, you don't even have to be on the wireless Web, which is a premium service with most service providers. And you don't need a fancy phone, either. It's simple and cheap for the consumer. PlanetHopper makes money in three ways: *Set-up fees * Monthly subscriptions *

Commission fees on anything sold

But the corporate clients of PlanetHopper pay for the service, not you.

***Begin caution***

Text Messaging $$$$$

Most of these deals require text messaging, which on many carriers costs an additional $10 or more per month. But, of course, you don't pay for the incoming phone call offer nor your response to it.

***End caution***

The Brand Finds You: BrandFinder

As you walk down the mall, your BrandFinder service pops up on your mobile device. You use it to remind yourself where the menswear shop is located. It also notes that the store's new competitor has moved into a building close to your office. You might check that out next time, but for now you head to the shop whose manager you like; besides, you have that coupon to redeem right now.

BrandFinder is a service of Vicinity Corporation, one of the many firms that provide l-commerce (see Figure 2.?). Go to www.vicinity.com to find out more.

***End STREETBUZZ***

Bricks to Mobile Clicks:

BrandFinder uses wireless Internet access technology to enable mobile users to search on a product name or category and quickly find the brick-and-mortar stores nearest their current locations that carry the item or provide the desired service they're looking for Brandfinder isn’t the only shopping service available for mobile customers others include go2systems.com, and ipal.com. AT&T’s PocketNet service can also use mobile comparisons from Barpoint.com where you can either search for a product or type in a product’s UPC (universal product code).

***End tip***

MOBILE IMAGING – next generation imaging 2 go…..

As you head into the menswear store, you remember just how nice it is to see real clothes, not just the virtual pictures your wife sends you to show you what she'd like you to buy and wear to work. Speaking of pictures, you ask the manager about his son's graduation, which you saw mentioned in this morning's m-newspaper. He's pleased to show you via the wireless picture frame on the counter not just the graduation picture with the mortarboard, but the whole graduation, including the party and the new car he bought for his son.

3 Way Imaging & More.You start to select a new tie and then realize your wife doesn't usually like your choices, so you call her in her home office and ask whether she wants to look at the tie you're thinking of buying. Because you don't want her to know you're there, you set up a three-way conversation with you, your wife, and the store manager. The manager displays the tie to the store's wireless camera, and no one knows you didn't go to the office today.

The manager wishes her a happy anniversary, and you know that you're busted. She thanks you for the lovely roses and says how excited she is to be going to Spago tonight. Apparently, the restaurant concierge called to confirm the reservation and asked her to pick a menu in advance. Obviously, your son forgot to mention that dinner should be a surprise when he made the mobile reservation in the car. Oh well, you can almost taste the broiled swordfish and creamed spinach deluxe, which is the special of the day. No coupons for the restaurant, though.

***Begin streetbuzz***

Bricks Change to Clicks

Experts are predicting that around 2005, online purchases will reach 10 to 15 percent of total sales in most categories, which will wipe out the profit of most retailers. By 2010, online shopping may grab as much as 31 percent of retail sales, percent if you exclude the automobile and education categories. Imagine the impact on local malls, national retailers and mass marketers.

***End streetbuzz***

Mobile Payment Systems

You pay for your purchases with your mobile wearable scanner and decide to go to the office after all. Your new desk is arriving, and you want to make sure it's arranged properly in the corner area in the large open office space. Of course, cubicles went out long ago, and now one large space is divided by wireless ‘sound muffling’ systems that muffle sounds and provide private ‘cocoon’ sections.

You turn on your work-area camera and look at the desk remotely. Real wood, real people, real cash, but no sense reminiscing about the last millennium. Good thing you have a ‘feely’mouse attachment on your tele-puter---it is good to remember what real wood felt like.

VIRTUAL ROMANCE

On the way home from the office, you download a mobile book and listen to How to Keep the Romance Alive. As you listen to the audio book, your mobile concierge overhears it and

offers to hook you up to a "love doctor" who will give you personalized tips based on how long you've been married. The romance psychiatrist is available at 2 p.m. If you want to have a session with her, it can be billed to your m-commerce bill, included with your OnStar invoice sent each month to your home billing system.

Love Doc2 Go…

"No, pass on the romance doc," you say. That's all you need for your wife to see that you've lost the Don Juan moves she married you for. And how stupid can they be, billing you at home when you know that kind of thing should go to your personal m-locker bill? The m-locker bill arrives in your personal Web tablet and can be opened only with your thumbprint, using the latest in mobile biometrics.

.

On the Road Again

As you drive up to the traffic light, your car hits its auto-brakes. Your mobile communicator buzzes, and you see an alert that says, "Look out your window." There, next to you is your wife, probably coming home from the same shopping center you visited earlier. You instant message her a quick "I love you" and hope that she didn't see you come to that abrupt stop when your mind was wandering about the love doc.

Your wife's voice and image come on the car-puter, and you chuckle as she hums a love song, karaoke style, to the tune of an old MP3 you both used to download on something called Napster in college. Whatever happened to that peer-2-peer system? Guess mobile instant messaging (MIM) replaced it. After the dot.com crash of 2000, you stopped following the tech market and shifted your stocks to biomed.

Audio/Video2Go

Thinking of biomed, you take a moment to check your stock portfolio; it turns out you're just in time to listen to a live annual report from Dr. Gulav, head of the Russian cell regeneration company you invested in last month. You decide not to just listen because if you had the video on, you’d have to pull over into the ‘listening lane’

It was so much easier when the video played in the car instantly, but now, if you don't have someone sitting in the

passenger seat, the video won't play for more than 10 seconds because of that car safety legislation. There are ways to beat the system, though. Your concierge had a special on virtual mobile "passengers" just last week. But the things looked like celluloid flour sacks, and if the cybercops catch you with one of them, the fine is high. At one time, you were able to outwit the passenger seat sensor by taking your old PC out of storage and bringing it home for decoration in the family den. That thing was so heavy, it was big enough to simulate a passenger's weight.

UMAIL – Universal mail

That reminds you: Your local congresswoman is fighting to get that law repealed, so you send her a U-mail encouraging her with the fight. The U-mail locates her universally, anywhere she is. Because you're a donor to her campaigns, she'll probably retrieve it immediately and get back to you. You use U-mail only to impress someone because most people communicate via instant messenger systems nowadays, and if you're not on a person's profile list, you don't get access. It's worse than the old days of caller ID but with better security.

As you head down your street, you think that maybe the roses aren't enough of a gift, after all, it is your tenth anniversary. How about something more personal? Your thumb automatically hits a button that brings you to a version of your family home page on the mobile Web.

You and your wife had a personal home page you built in college together. Is it still up on the old WWW? You connect to the Web wirelessly and see the page, looking very outdated now. But it does feature a photo of you and your wife on your first date.

Holographic imaging:

If you only remembered how to do a screengrab from the old Internet. Your son is savvy about that type of retro-Web stuff, so you instantly message him. His face comes up on the car-puter screen for the requisite 10-second maximum, and you ask him to download the photo for you and to please print holographically so it will be preserved forever. He tells you it's going to cost $50 because the only place he can get the holographically treated paper from Kodak is in the science lab, and he has to pay his lab fee for the month.

You memo his homeroom teacher after your concierge quickly looks up her name. She'll tell you why the lab fee wasn't taken directly out of your family bank statement. Your guess is that your son canceled the science lab and signed up for the VR driving lessons because it's more fun. At his age, you might have done that, too.

An autoreply arrives from the teacher; she's swamped today because it's the first day of school and will get back to you tomorrow. Can you imagine how many messages a teacher must get? Your family gets about 500 mobile messages a week, not including the countless alerts and instant chat messages your kids do. Your daughter alone must send almost a hundred messages a day to her pals, rock star fan clubs, and kids in her teen MIM (mobile instant messaging) group.

OFFICE ALERT

An alert arrives on your communicator. You can tell it's from the office, not a friend, because of the special audio -tone and the blue blinking light. You check the code and find out it's from Human Resources; press a button and your memory file shows it's Jessica James.

She wants to know where your time sheet is for payroll. The one on the office vortal (virtual private network) is not up-to-date and payday is tomorrow. You quickly transmit your update to your office Web tablet and give her a code to pull it off of there, as if you had it complete the whole time. The wonders of wireless.

ROBO-TRAINER

As you drive into the industrial park, you see that the big boss has flown in from Seattle because his private helicopter is on the pad. You mobile message his human assistant Carol and she confirms that he has time to see you later this afternoon to discuss your new plans for the robot trainer you've been working on with Honda Motors in Tokyo.

You message the Tokyo office, and your note is forwarded to a gym in the suburbs where your colleague, Tonsu, is on an old-fashioned stairclimber or so you assume from his labored breathing. He speaks from his mobile microphone but seems to be mumbling, so the universal translator can't catch his

words. After you've said hello for the seventh time, his voice comes on, instantly translated into English.

VR DISPLAYS

Yes, he has the new drawings and can send them to your workstation or directly to your boss's assistant if you want. He doesn't have a handheld with him, but he can access the file via his head-mounted eyeglass display, which offers a VR filing system he can access by blinking. You feel so outdated by the rest of the world's technologies.

You ask him to send the files as you access your private parking space by activating the sensor to open the electronic laser gates. Every time you do that, it reminds you of that old film where the thief has to steel the jewels by tiptoeing through the laser security system in the vault.

What was the name of that movie? You ask your car concierge to check on it later for you and forward a clip of it to your colleague in Tokyo. He'll enjoy it now that videos are as easy to access as MP3s once were. Of course, it will cost you a rights fee, but you signed up for a Hollywood Gold Pass that allows you access to 10 minutes of movie clips per month to send to your wireless devices. In addition, the access is free if you and your family agree to watch at least 10 minutes of new digital film previews. Nothing is truly free anymore when you're m-charge is only a few digits away from the salespeople.

Public Spaces and Office Buildings

You walk through the lobby of the work/public space that was once your office building. It's now converted into a multipurpose electronic training center, shared with a couple of local colleges and an MIT Media Lab contingent. They've set up a virtual reality facility to test equipment in cold weather environments before they send it to Antarctica, so you're glad the building is climate-controlled.

Wearable neckwarmer/sensors

If it weren't, you could activate the neckwarmer in your coat jacket to up your internal temperature a few degrees or so; however, you never liked being hot, and sometimes those sensors malfunction. You remember the time you got your ears

burned from the electronic earmuffs, and your pals called you "Dumbo" for weeks.

Another beep and you see it's Starbucks reminding you about that special coupon you got this morning. You decide to stop at the shop because it's a great place to update yourself on your boss's messages before you head into your building. Starbucks has been totally wired, or should you say wireless, since 2000.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

Starbucks' founder, Harold Schultz, has long talked about the importance of the "third space" in our lives not home, not work, but someplace in between that offers us a physical place to relax.

***END STREETBUZZ***

You order the mocha cappuccino and instant message your co-worker Joe to see what he wants to drink (it's a two-for-one coupon). You eye the chocolate brownies longingly, but the biomed meter on your belt shows that you're four pounds over your target weight. And there's still that anniversary dinner tonight.

Where is that restaurant, anyway? You always pass it by unless you turn on the GPS. As Joe walks up, you beep your car concierge to download the map to Spago and arrange for the valet parking in advance. Last time, you didn't have parking reservations, so you had to walk 200 yards in the pouring rain; that won't do for tonight's big event.

It's good to see Joe in person. He's one of the few managers who comes into the office on the same days you do.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

TELEWORK:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 12 million out of 131 million workers in the United States have "alternative arrangements" of job-sharing or telecommuting. Telework is becoming more and more common at least part of the time for most companies. Watch for telework centers, also called hoteling, to be set up in suburbs where desks,

office equipment, and screens make new offices look more like airline club lounges than work centers. Jay Chiat,the late,founder of video syndicators Screaming Media, started this trend when he was head of Chiat/Day advertising in Venice, California and built a 25,000-square foot open interior workspace designed to be a second home and social club for its staffers.

***End streetbuzz***

***Begin jargon***

HOTELING:

Hoteling is a term used for working in a joint-space area where workers can call up an automated concierge at the office to book a workspace. You arrive at the designated time for a conference room meeting or for a video seminar. Hoteliers often offer wall-mounted cabinets, privacy panels, desks, team desks, and a mobile storage trolley. Most office hotel spaces offer three features:

Transparency to open the space up

Surface and mobility to overcome territorial issues

Absence of physical connections so workers can bring their own mobile equipment and not have to learn to run new systems on-the-

***End jargon***

MOBILE WORKSPACE

Joe shows you a cool researcher workstation you can place as an adjunct to your wooden desk. It's from Red Rocket and was featured in the Museum of Modern Art Workspheres exhibit in Spring 2001. Inspired by film and camera equipment, the Red Rocket looks like a tripod for computers. It ships and stores flat and opens up to a tri-legged structure that supports a portable monitor. In addition, it has a peanut-shaped work station. The canopy and butterfly work screens on the back provide a sense of individual workspace. It only ways 5 lbs so it’s great for setting up an office anywhere.. or office2go

Mobile Virtual Catalog:

You look at Joe's m-catalog so you can outfit the rest of your corner workspace to match the snazzy desk being delivered. As you glance at the screen on his telepad, you think that most of the gadgets look like something from that ancient television series The Jetsons.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

JETSONS: Rosie the Robot

The Jetsons was an animated TV series produced by Joe Barbera and his team at Hanna-Barbera. In 24 episodes during 1962 and 1963, viewers saw early visions of what the future might hold. You can still catch episodes on the Cartoon Network. George Jetson worked at the factory Spacely Sprockets, pushing buttons all day and arguing with his domineering boss. His family lived in a skypad, and his commute was via personal aircraft. Rosie the Robot did the cleaning, and everything in the show was automated.

***End STREETBUZZ***

In the era of plug-and-play, everyone yearns for an intelligent workspace. WirelessPlug workspaces offer these benefits:

Individual comfort and climate control systems

Organizational flexibility

Technological adaptability

Environmental sustainability

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

STEVE MANN – MIT2Go

The ultimate nomadic worker of the early millennium might be Steve Mann. He is said to be the first person that put his life on the Internet, which he did during his student days at MIT. His portable apparatus includes a helmet with camera, a private-eye lens that displays all information directly to his right eye, a few cables, wire, backpacks, and a glove with keys. This "keyer" worked as an input device. His office was basically his right eye, so in the morning he put on his office and off he went.

***End STREETBUZZ***

Virtual Purchasing:

Joe puts in an order for the butterfly unit via the office's mobile ordering system and keys in the code for the budget it goes under. The firm's virtual purchasing concierge comes online and confirms that the order will be delivered next Tuesday.

The Unwired Starbucks

As you sit at Starbucks, you marvel at the new style "second skins" most of the junior staffers are wearing. One gal even has a scarf equipped with a built-in communication interface, including what looks like a hands-free phone, screen, keyboard, and what might be a camera. The scarf is great because it muffles her conversation and protects the tele-puter from the elements. Wonder what that thing cost?

While you're staring at the gal with the techno-scarf, Joe prints out a custom-designed anniversary card for you and your wife. He takes out his e-quill (wirelessly-connected pen) and signs it with his own signature (Not many people would take the time to print out a paper card and sign it with a real pen. In fact, most people don't even carry writing instruments anymore since the mobile signature laws went into effect last year.

Your communicator buzzes, and you see that your meeting with the boss is in three minutes. You hustle across the campus and wonder what new wireless techno-gear he brought with him from his trip to Scandinavia.

Back at Home

Your wife is napping in her soft office bed that doubles as a couch during the day. She can adjust its corners to upright and reclining positions, in addition to horizontal orientation. Two of the sides are equipped with computer screens; plus, a wireless keyboard and mouse are embedded in smart pillows that use touch-sensor technology.

She's also fond of the Power Patch, a cushion that encourages you to lounge comfortably while working on the floor. You can move it easily to the living room, den, or kitchen, and its gel filling molds to fit the contours of the body. Or, you can turn off the computer and let it

double as a plain, old-fashioned pillow under your head or to prop up your legs.

INSTA BUZZ

The insta-buzz on the kids' mobiles wakes your wife from dreamland. By the time she heads to the kitchen, your daughter has chosen the Alice in Wonderland menu of tea sandwiches, and your son has chosen the Gladiator menu of broiled chicken to be delivered by a take-out service.

The Power Patch lights up, and your wife presses the Buy button to approve the purchases because the children's household spending limit is only $20.

She heads to the vanity area in the bedroom, where a virtual beauty advisor offers to demonstrate new makeup tricks. She agrees but turns off the mobile shopping advisor because she already has a stock of allergy free makeup on her table. A video image of her face comes onscreen with an animated wand that shows how to apply luminescent lipstick and eyeliner. It's reminiscent of the paper clip flash demo that used to annoy Microsoft Word users.

AUTO BIOMED READING

Her biomed device shows that her cholesterol level is just perfect today. Guess the last tele-medical visit with that dietician is working. She schedules another visit for next month by pressing a button, and the family medical concierge confirms it verbally within 30 seconds.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

Wireless Restrooms on the Horizon

The Japanese have invented a health-monitoring toilet that examines human wastes for medical purposes. The toilet also weighs you, takes your body temperature and blood pressure, and sends the information wirelessly over a secure home network to your doctor or dietician's office. We might all soon carry biomed devices that link to the toilet or to our refrigerators and that tell the smart fridge to lock up the ice cream until we've lost a few pounds.

***End StreetBuzz***

OLD-FASHIONED DOOR BELL

The chauffeur rings the doorbell nostalgic touch you asked him to use instead of his biometric ID system. You imagine your wife checking it out on the kitchen tele-screen. You can hear both dogs barking and figure Aibo's camera was switched to alert mode.

PERSONALIZED MESSAGING:

In less than a minute, you're sitting in the back of a stretch limousine. You're enjoying the nonalcoholic bubbly your kids ordered as their present to both of you and are watching videos of your first date on an in-car system that includes audio comments by your kids. Your daughter must have edited this tape on her computer and sent it wirelessly to the limo service to surprise both of you.

PHONY ACCENT:

The restaurant concierge confirms that you're expected at 8 p.m. and that salads and appetizers are already at your table. At least that's what you think he said; his phony French accent doesn't translate via the car mobile communicator system very well.

After a luxurious dinner, you reach for your communicator to pay the bill, but it turns out that your sister-in-law has already paid as her gift to you and your wife. On the drive home, a college pal locates you on the mobile. Because his face is in your mobile album, he's allowed to leave a video message, but he can't get through live until you okay his live transmissions. He attempts to sing "happy anniversary" to the tune of "Happy Birthday” he should have composed a musical theme using needlepoint copyright-free MP3s instead.

You vow tomorrow to check the family monitor to see how your son's doing in that virtual driving class. The school sends over the weekly videos recapping the kids' accomplishments, and you can always tune in to the school-cam to see what's up yourself.

Good Wireless Night to You

Upstairs in the privacy of your own bedroom, you give your wife the holograph of the first date photo, which brings tears to her eyes. She gives you a key chain with a musical symbol on it containing a duplicate of your whole college MP3 collection, downloaded from the Web page still archived.

The whole collection of more than 1000 CDs fits on a small flashcard for your mobile communicator or office desk pad.

You've come a long way in 10 years, you agree, as you wirelessly shut off the lights, lock the doors, and open a bookmarked song from the wireless bedroom music network. As you do, your family tele-puter deducts 50 cents for each time you hit the repeat play button on the bedpost control panel. You know you should have bought a subscription to that “all u-can-hear” music service.

***Begin STREETBUZZ***

Living Tomorrow Today

The assortment of wireless devices that will be available in the next decade would fill a convention center and it usually does during the Consumer Electronics Show each January.