Word: wirelessed
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first time, the phone might make the call. Now a new class of phones is speaker independent: anyone can say a name and, in theory, the phone will call. Sprint PCS sells three such phones--the Samsung A600 ($350), VGA1000 ($260) and new VI660 ($230). Verizon Wireless introduced similar voice recognition last fall in the Samsung i600 Smartphone ($500) and this week follows it up with the VX4500 from LG ($120). We programmed the four new models with identical phone books. The three Samsungs immediately displayed a knack for recognition. Hard consonants and names with several syllables seemed...
Embarrassment needled me in the head like a virtual noogie. Wireless computing, it dawned on me, was no longer emerging. It's here. The gap between what I cover as a journalist and how I live widens daily. Despite a long-held fascination with the shine and beep of all things high tech, I'm becoming more of a fumbling Luddite. And that's a bummer, because any digiratus will tell you that not only does technology change quickly but the pace at which it changes is accelerating. According to this logic, in 10 years we'll be buying newer...
Have you gone wireless? Should you? I haven't, despite my moment of digital embarrassment. Do I really need to look up something on the Internet Movie Database from my bed? Here's an even simpler question, worth addressing in this first column: What is technology? A handy definition goes like this: if something breaks or crashes, it's technology; if you don't notice it, it's no longer technology. Consider the car. Cars were probably a new technology until the 1950s, when they became reliable enough not to fall apart at high speeds. Microsoft Windows is clearly technology...
Back in that pressroom in Cambridge, I realized I was free from technology, visible and invisible. No Ethernet connection, no wireless service--and fortunately no deadline. I had a couple of beers with another technophile before getting on an airplane to fly home to my wonderful fiance, whom--I had nearly forgotten--I met on the Internet. By the thumbnail definition, maybe the Internet already isn't technology anymore...
...least a winner on Pop Idol - but few parents want to endure the cacophony from their very own Sheryl Crow-in-training. The new HandBand ($90) from KGI Consumer Products offers a cheap alternative. Using nothing more than a high-tech pair of gloves and a portable, wireless receiver, it lets kids play virtual guitar, keyboards or drums at less-than-earsplitting volume. Each bend of the finger produces a different note; you switch instruments with the push of a button. It's a great idea, but the execution needs work. The sound that emerges from the grapefruit-size speaker...