• Yeah, okay, wireless is the shiny new market offering, all kinds of people are surfing the Net, sending IMs, making phone calls, and retrieving e-mail without a single cable or wire in sight, and I'm just writing this page? So sue me.

If you follow the ads, it seems as if wireless (mostly based on the WAP protocols, which stands for "Wireless Application Protocol" and doesn't bear explaining here) is here and ready for prime time. Yes, there are plenty of wireless phones equipped with microbrowsers that allow limited access to the Web, in the form of WAP-enabled sites. However, most of the wireless buzz is more market hype than reality. It's true that the big dogs of the computer industry are all working overtime to bring wireless connectivity to the masses, but it isn't quite here yet. Basically, wireless connectivity depends on one of five sets of devices -- a pager, a phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant -- think Palm Pilot), a handheld computer, or a notebook computer. The lines between these five types of devices are blurring rapidly. For example, you can get a pager with a keyboard, a handheld computer that lets you make phone calls, cell phones that function as PDAs, notebook computers that combine the functionality of all five, etc. What you end up with depends on what you want, what you need, and how much money you want to lay out. You should also be aware that more and more Palm-targeted viruses are cropping up, and as of yet, Palms have little security to keep the bugs out.

Currently there aren't too many companies to choose from if you're hunting for a wireless ISP. GoAmerica, PageNet, and SkyTel are the big three as of this writing. Definitely check the fees (including the fine print) before you sign up, as none of these guys are cheap. You can find out more about them at, respectively, www.goamerica.net/, www.pagenet.com/, or www.skytel.com/.

• One of the biggest elements of wireless technology is a fledgling connectivity protocol called "Bluetooth." The idea is that Bluetooth provides the wherewithal for cell phones, desktop PCs, notebook PCs, PDAs, paging devices, toasters, and little red wagons to all connect with each other through the ether, leaving the wires and cables to lay unused in the storage closets. Well, Bluetooth isn't up and running just yet. Nine companies -- Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia, Toshiba, and latecomers Microsoft, 3Com, Motorola, and Lucent -- are all working to bring Bluetooth-equipped devices to market, and an astonishing 1,300 others are jumping on the bandwagon, but we won't see them until winter 2001 at the earliest. Problems have plagued this new technology -- the usual developmental bugs and setbacks, along with resistance from the French government (Bluetooth uses the globally available 2.4GHz band, but so does the French military, and it took awhile for the French to allow Bluetooth to share the band with the troops), questions from airlines as to Bluetooth broadcasts interfering with their communications, security flaws, and so on. Look for a cell-phone headset from Ericsson soon after you read this, and for add-ons to Palm products shortly thereafter. IBM has a Bluetooth-compatible ThinkPad on the drawing boards, and Toshiba has just released a Bluetooth PC card that will enable future Bluetooth devices to interface with laptops.

Is Bluetooth the be-all end-all of wireless technology? Of course not. Infrared connectivity, along with HomeRF and DECT protocols, also exist and are being explored. But until the scientists work the bugs out of Bluetooth, don't expect to see real wireless access anytime soon.

• Other fronts: Microsoft expects to release a new software platform called "Airstream" soon. The idea is to allow any Windows or Web application to run on an array of different devices, including desktops, laptops and notebooks, palm devices, and so-called "smart phones." Microsoft is also developing a "smart phone" called "Stinger," expected to be marketed by Samsung in mid-2001. Stinger is expected to look and feel somewhat like a scaled-down version of the Pocket PC, running a "lite" version of Win CE, and offering local storage, unified messaging technology, and e-shopping. It will support a "microbrowser," undoubtedly a version of MSIE, that supports both HTML and WAP protocols simultaneously. Speaking of WAP browsers, check out the new Blazer Personal Edition wireless Web browser for the Palm at www.bluelark.com/. It's free for the download, and allows fast viewing of HTML, WAP, and i-Mode pages.
   
• More on all of this as new information surfaces. Keep abreast of the changes by visiting www.wapland.com, and learn about the wide world of PDAs and wireless at www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/stories/main/0,5594,2621779,00.html. Certainly the market is opening itself up to wireless technology: in 1999, sales of Palm PDAs jumped 80%, and projections indicate that by 2005 wireless communications services will have well over a billion subscribers, up from 469 million at the end of 1999. One wireless company even predicts that by the end of 2003, more Americans will access the Internet through wireless devices than through traditional PCs. Other industry savants are predicting that PCs will disappear altogether, to be replaced by vast arrays of different devices such as the Japanese "keitai" (think text pagers) and other personal devices, and that the current focus on operating systems will dwindle to a secondary (at best) consideration. "As time goes forward," says Dave Winer of Userland Software, "it will become apparent that there is one virtual computer on the planet, and we're all users of it." Even Windows-centric Microsoft is heading in this direction with their new focus on MS.Net technology.

A new wireless (WML-based) portal called Buzzed is now available. The idea is to provide a Geocities-like home for wireless Web page builders using WML. Take a look at what's available at www.buzzed.co.uk/ Another site, Alloutwap (www.alloutwap.com/), tracks the sites available for wireless browsers. Note: WML isn't long for this world, being slated for replacement by XHTML.
 

• Tired of the lackluster LCD display screens on so many wireless devices? Watch for pLED displays coming soon from Delta Optoelectronics, which promise to be much brighter than the current LCD displays, faster to refresh, and easy on batteries.
   
• Got an old wireless phone you're ready to discard? Give it to the Wireless Foundation at www.wirelessfoundation.org/12give/; all proceeds go to victims of domestic violence.