Wireless technology could be the next 'boom'
In the 19th century, the invention of the telegraph and the telephone forever changed how messages moved around the world. In the 20th century, radio, television, computers and the Internet further revolutionized the near-instantaneous processing and transmission of data.
Experts say the 21st century will usher in a second Information Age in which these technologies, and their benefits, will be accessible anytime, anywhere.
Linking it all together? An absence of wires.
Every month, it seems, a new cell phone comes out that's "smarter" than the last in its ability to gather and transmit a growing amount of data: voice, images, news and more.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, a trade association working with "wireless-fidelity" technologies, says laptop computer and personal digital assistant (PDA) users can now sit down and instantly sync up on the Internet at tens of thousands of "hotspots" in homes, cafes and other high-traffic areas nationwide.
