Word: access
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...meeting commenced, as all do, with the approval of the minutes of the last gathering--this is a government bureaucracy, after all--and some staff reports. Then a "go-round" took place in which the presidents and Fed governors discussed the economic outlook, each having had access to two briefing books bulging with fresh data and policy choices. Then it was Greenspan's turn, the meeting's moment of truth, when he delivers his interest-rate recommendation and the rationale for it. "Greenspan always has some striking insight, or some number that no one else has ever heard of before...
...handhelds either have or will soon have wireless capability. The Palm VII has a built-in antenna. Flip it up, and you have Internet access. By the end of the year, Palm promises add-ons that will let all its earlier models hook up too. The implications are striking. By 2002, says International Data Corp., the number of people connecting to the Internet wirelessly will surpass the number hooking up through...
What are all these folks doing with their wireless connections? Getting the Net wirelessly means having access to all the things that come with it--e-mail and instant messaging, news from the New York Times or ABC, detailed driving directions from MapQuest, even remote access to eBay auctions. And little doesn't mean less. Cell phones rely on a software standard called Wireless Application Protocol, which custom fits Web content onto those cramped little displays. Palm Inc., for its part, uses its own Web "clipping" technology to pull information onto its PDAs...
Then there are the specialized applications. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles take Palms on their rounds and have instantaneous access to patients' charts and lab results. Electronic Data Systems has a program that lets you do your banking from your backyard hammock. If you need to communicate with a deaf person, SignIt! will walk you through sign language. MSN Mobile alerts you through your PDA about important events that you preselect--e-mail from your boss, say, or when a stock drops below 60 and you want to be reminded...
...surfing. But they're expensive. A Palm VII costs $449, plus the monthly fee you pay for any wireless service. And they're not much use when you need to make a phone call. One-way pagers seem pretty antiquated these days, but two-way pagers with Web access can be a less expensive and highly portable way to access discrete bits of information. You can already use them to send and receive e-mail, buy the new Toni Braxton CD on Amazon.com ditch your Microsoft stock and get directions to the nearest cinema or sushi...