Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say
It's unlucky that the acronym for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) has such an unfortunate rhyme! Even more unlucky for WAP, it burst onto the mobile communication scene with lavish promises from the Mobile Operators (you know who you are) of 'The Internet on your Mobile' and 'Take the Internet with you'.That really was a load of WAP. So, a few years on we can ask, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 'WAP, what is it good for'?More than you might think, given the current deafening silence from those same Mobile Operators. The rise (and rise) of SMS is instructive. This has gone from nowhere to everywhere with practically no promotion from the networks. Type SMS into Google and you get 52 million hits! In China in 2003, 220 Billion SMS messages were sent.
During 2003 in the UK alone, 30 Billion were sent, which equates to 500 for every man, woman and child in the entire country! What is going on here?Well SMS is cheap, not cheap enough perhaps but, up until a couple of years ago, much cheaper than calling. So it was a viable alternative to making a mobile phone call, everyone could send and receive them, and it didn't matter what handset you used or what network you were on (or even which country you were in). Much the same is true of WAP. Most handsets sold this century in GSM markets are compatible. Costs, especially using GPRS, are very low, as long as the information is optimised for the handset.
Actually, it costs less to read your email with GPRS than to send an SMS. How times change!And people are using it, too. In the UK in December 2003, the number of WAP pages viewed was over 1 billion for the first time. The Mobile Data Association (MDA) forecasts 13 billion for 2004 as a whole, up from 9.2 billion in 2003 (against an original MDA forecast for 2003 of 8 billion).All this is in the face of complete indifference, if not outright hostility, from the networks. The problem for them is that, as mentioned, WAP is cheap.
You can get all the mobile email you need via WAP to your handset for around one tenth of the cost of a RIM Blackberry data subscription. And please don't ask how much the running costs are of a laptop mobile data card! A while ago, one of my colleagues used more data in a month than the cost of the mobile data card itself. Since then the networks have introduced more reasonable price bands, but he now gets all the email he needs on his cellular phone via WAP for one hundredth the amount spent during those expensive 30 days. And he doesn't need to carry a laptop around with him, wait for it boot, wait again for it to download the mail, and balance it on one hand whilst holding his coffee with the other and his mobile phone in a third! One of our customers for our mobile email software reads his mail whilst shaving in the morning. He can find out what has been happening overnight without having to get his computer out, dial in and log on.
Another browses whilst tending to his cows, miles from mains electricity. Yet another admits he reads his mail in board meetings. So far luckily no-one has noticed his mobile sitting on the desk in front of him.And there is for WAP, most likely, no new device to buy, either. Nothing additional to weigh down your pockets or to find room for in your briefcase. And it isn't just good for email.
You can also look up train timetables, get news & sports results, find medical information, find a restaurant and see what's on the TV tonight.And you can do all this, with the one electronic device that most people have with them all of the time - their mobile phone. So - no new expensive devices are required, no high monthly charges are incurred and there is no waiting. No wonder the Mobile Operators aren't impressed!.
Keyspan Ships Unique PC-to-PC Transfer Solution
Keyspan, America's #1 brand of USB connectivity products*, is now shipping its USB Parallel Transfer Cable. The cable and software provide a complete solution for connecting an older PC (with no USB port) to a new PC (with USB port) in order to transfer files or to synchronize a desktop PC with a laptop PC.The Keyspan USB Parallel Transfer Cable has an MSRP of $29 and is available to resellers at Ingram Micro, D&H, and Wynit; and to consumers at, CDW, PC Connection and other leading computer products resellers.While many older PCs do not support USB, many new PCs, including more and more laptops, have dropped serial and parallel ports. Keyspan has developed a cable that connects the parallel port of the old PC to the USB port of the newer PC. The cable enables file transfer and synchronization in instances where USB-USB, Ethernet-Ethernet, or Parallel-Parallel connectivity is not possible. The Keyspan USB Parallel Transfer Cable lets users:- Display content of connected PCs with dual...
Keyspan Ships Unique PC-to-PC Transfer Solution
Laptop > Keyspan Ships Unique PC-to-PC Transfer Solution
eBooks – Technology for the Armchair or the Student Desktop?
Gloucester, United Kingdom (ContentDesk) January 24, 2006 Textbook Solutions believes eBooks should be more than just a good read, and today announced the release of eTextbookViewer, available for free download from www.etextbookshop.com.The added-value approach by Textbook Solutions differs from other eBook software vendors. It recognises that a move from paper to electronic books can provide significant functionality benefits to the reader, rather than simply delivering the same content in a different medium."Other organisations are trying to promote the use of eBooks for works of fiction, whereas we believe delivering textbooks in a more productive way is a more realistic goal than expecting folks to curl up in an armchair with their dual processor laptop pumping out 400 watts of heat.", says Phil Webb, of Textbook Solutions. "We took a look at the life of a student, leaving the social life...
eBooks – Technology for the Armchair or the Student Desktop?
Laptop > eBooks – Technology for the Armchair or the Student Desktop?
Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say
It's unlucky that the acronym for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) has such an unfortunate rhyme! Even more unlucky for WAP, it burst onto the mobile communication scene with lavish promises from the Mobile Operators (you know who you are) of 'The Internet on your Mobile' and 'Take the Internet with you'.That really was a load of WAP. So, a few years on we can ask, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 'WAP, what is it good for'?More than you might think, given the current deafening silence from those same Mobile Operators. The rise (and rise) of SMS is instructive. This has gone from nowhere to everywhere with practically no promotion from the networks. Type SMS into Google and you get 52 million hits! In China in 2003, 220 Billion SMS messages were sent.
During 2003 in the UK alone, 30 Billion were sent, which equates to 500 for every man, woman and child in the entire country! What is going on here?Well SMS is cheap, not cheap enough perhaps but, up until a couple of years ago,...
Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say
Laptop > Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say
Another Million Dollar Dream
When the itch of literature comes upon a man, the only thing that will relieve it is the scratching of a pen.
A Victorian vicar wrote that and he wasn't wrong. I'd had the urge to write since I was a young man and I indulged myself from time to time. I scribbled the odd short story, I wrote pornographic letters for a couple of contact magazines, I sent ideas to TV stations, I wrote scripts and I collected a lot of rejections ? as most writers do. One day I got a letter inviting me to visit a TV producer to discuss my work. I wept.
The producer didn't want to use my script; she liked it, but she was looking for writers for the revival of an old courtroom drama.
Did I think I could write thirty episodes? Why not? I said. Go away and study the law, courts and court procedure, she said. As soon as the contracts are signed I'll send you the story lines, she said.
I read books. I spent my days in London's famous courts. I made friends with...
Laptop > Another Million Dollar Dream
Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say
Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say Laptop
Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say Laptop plasma tv
Why WAP isn't - as bad as people say Laptop laser printer