4.5: ‘Other’ wireless

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 305679

Mark Briggs
University of South Florida

$ \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } $

$ \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} $

$ \newcommand{\dsum}{\displaystyle\sum\limits} $

$ \newcommand{\dint}{\displaystyle\int\limits} $

$ \newcommand{\dlim}{\displaystyle\lim\limits} $

$ \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}$ $ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) $ \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}$

$ \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}$ $ \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}$

$ \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}$ $ \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}$

$ \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}$

$ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$

$ \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}$

$ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$

$ \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}$

$ \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}$

$ \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}$

$ \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}$

$ \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}$

$ \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}$

$ \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}$

$ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$ $ \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}$

$ \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}} % arrow$

$ \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}} % arrow$

$ \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } $

$ \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} $

$ \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} $

$ \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} $

$ \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} $

$ \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } $

$ \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} $

$\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}$ $\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}$ $\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}$ $\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}$ $\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}$ $\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}$ $\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}$ $\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}$ $\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}$ $\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}$ $\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}$ $\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}$ $\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}$ $\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}$ $\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}$ $\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}$ $\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}$ $\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}$ $\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}$ $\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}$ $\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}$ $\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}$ $\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}$ $\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}$ $\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}$ $\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}$ $\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}$ $\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}$ $\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}$ $\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}$ $\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}$ $\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}$ $\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}$ $\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}$ $\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}$ $\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}$ $\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}$ $\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}$ $\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}$ $\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}$ $\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}$ $\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}$ $\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}$ $\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}$ $\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}$ $\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}$ $\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}$ $\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}$ $\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}$ $\newcommand{\lt}{<}$ $\newcommand{\gt}{>}$ $\newcommand{\amp}{&}$ $\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}$

Some people actually still connect to the wireless Internet with a laptop computer. OK, that’s being too flip, since laptops are still the primary vehicle for people to use with the Internet, but when you see what’s happening with iPods and cell phones, it’s easy to forget.

Hitting a coffee shop with your laptop and paying a few bucks to connect to the Internet is one of the most popular ways to work wirelessly these days. But that business model doesn’t look promising. Independent coffee shops, restaurants, car dealers, rock-climbing gyms and all sorts of other small businesses now offer free Wi-Fi access, too. And the field is only getting more crowded.

Many cities are working on municipal Wi-Fi systems to bring free wireless Internet access to a concentrated area like a downtown.
Special cards provided by the major cell phone companies insert into most laptops and allow wireless connection to the Internet from anywhere there’s cell phone coverage. Users pay for the card — usually less than $100 — then pay a monthly service fee for unlimited connectivity. A new service, called EV-DO, offers broadband-like speeds.
A company called Clearwire, founded by Craig McCaw, who built one of the first cell phone companies, is launching in several U.S. cities. It offers standard wireless service or a special modem-like device that can be plugged into a laptop or desktop computer for more reliable service at a higher speed. The idea is that you could pay for one service that would go with you anywhere, so Clearwire would be your provider at home, at the local coffee shop, or wherever. You would use this external modem to connect at home or take it into coffee shop and use it instead of paying six bucks for a T-Mobile hook-up. It’s like having your home Internet connection anywhere.

What does this mean for you? The online audience served by breaking-news updates throughout the day will continue to grow. Thought of as the “at-work” audience for much of the digital age, potential readers of news updates will grow as wireless Internet service becomes free and ubiquitous. Combined with Mobile 2.0 gadgets and services and the continued mainstream adoption of downloaded material on iPods, the opportunities for news companies to reach customers digitally will continue to explode.

Get your “mojo” on: The increasing adoption of mobile communication technology not only changes the way audiences receive the news, but also opens up new ways to report it. Mobile journalists — or “mojos” — are becoming more common at TV news stations and even popping up at newspapers. Also known as backpack journalists, these multidimensional dynamos can carry an assortment of tools into the field to report the news in a fully multimedia manner. A laptop with wireless Internet connection, a video camera (that also shoots still photos) and an audio recorder are the basic pieces of equipment that allow journalists to produce news stories or blog posts, photos, video, or audio for a story.

Yahoo!’s Kevin Sites is the best-known backpack journalist working today. Sites traveled to war-torn countries around the world to tell the stories of those most affected by calamity, and his regular feature, In The Hot Zone, on Yahoo! News claimed 2 million readers a week in 2006.

The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., meanwhile, dispatched several “mojos” into the field every day to report hyperlocal news close to home. These new era reporters have no desks and rarely a specific assignment outside of a geographical area to visit. They drive around their area and perform a modern version of that “old shoe leather reporting.” They also do marketing, handing out fliers to educate people about the news organization’s online services.

Frank Ahrens of The Washington Post profiled the NewsPress mojos in December 2006 (and shot this photo of Kevin Myron in his car). “Their guiding principle: A constantly updated stream of intensely local, fresh Web content — regardless of its traditional news value — is key to building online and newspaper readership.”

Mojos are still an experiment, but if nothing else, they show how flexible — and mobile — journalists in the future can be when it comes to covering and reporting news.

Assignment

Talk to others about their toys: Ask how they use their cell phones, their iPods, and their wireless Internet. Ask them if they know people who use these technologies in interesting ways. To understand this new world, you should be able to converse in it.
See what you can do: Have you tried to get news on your mobile phone? Have you downloaded a podcast to your computer or MP3 player? Try it.

Search

Text Color

Text Size

Margin Size

Font Type