Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I have  written about  the Internet and how the time will come when it is an integrated part of our everyday lives. What I think we really need is better wireless  access. Now you can  use  WiFi hotspots and  they are good but  you only have access when you’re within range. Cell phone brandband cards are good , their speeds are improving  and you can get online anywhere you can get a cell signal, but they are a little pricey and most limit you to five gigs of data transfer a month.  You can use a service like Clearwire ,which is what I currently use, their speeds are  fast  and they  don’t  have a five gig cap but even with their pc  card  you still don’t have  connections everywhere.  I think it is time for a change in thinking. I feel that charging for Internet access is an outdated idea. I believe there needs to be free Wifi worldwide. I think there should be  free internet  access to anyone with WiFi capability. Now I’m not saying that all those who provide  interent access now needs to be put out of business. I just think that instead of them being internet providers they need to become content providers. People who choose to go through  them should have access to content  that they woudn’t be able to get through  the free access. Some examples might be  much faster access then the free WiFi can provide. Virtual worlds  that can only be accessed through  that provider. Exclusive or  easier access to high quality streaming audio and video. They just need to get creative and come up with content that will make people want to continue to pay them for access. I think it can really change the way we live  and the way businesses operate. Think about this for a moment you decide to head to the mall for a little shopping now you walk into the mall check out a few stores ,grab few flyers to see what's on sale  and toss them when your done, maybe you  check out the bulletin board to see if they have any events coming to the mall that you might want to come back and see. If your mall has a movie theatre you might head on over and see what's playing.  Now lets see what it could be. You decide to go into the mall. You  get ready , grab your pocket computer  with it’s mobile operating system, unplug your car from its charging station and off you go.  When you get to there the mall shows up as a local network and presents you with a little icon on your screen. Clicking on that shows you  a map of the mall; clicking on a store  tells you  what they have in stock, what's on sale, even if they have what you want in your size.  Going back to the mall map you click on events and see if anything is going on in the mall and what is coming. Clicking the movie theatre will show you what’s playing,  show times, ticket costs even what's available in the snack bar.  Business owners can take advantage of this connectivity as well.   What about  random hourly specials. One hour only special saving in our children’s clothing department. Things like that will have people coming back often to get a chance at hourly specials for things they want and need. The interesting thing about all this is it can happen now even without the free everywhere wifi.  We already have  devices like the Apple Ipod touch which has wi-fi built in. The stores inventory  are already  computerized. And it wouldn’t be difficult for businesses to  create local wi-fi networks for their stores .  That way when the free global Wi-Fi becomes a reality  we will all be able to roam freely from one network to another remaining connected  the whole time.