BroadBand2Go

As a freelancer, I use my computer on the go a lot; usually I'm writing and don't need Internet, but it's nice to occasionally read an email or fact check something...it's not nice enough to pay the 60 dollar fee for a 3G data plan.

Virgin Mobile is about to release a new plan that's perfect for people who want the "occasional" Internet on the go. The BroadBand2Go USB device sold exclusively through Best Buy let's you get Pay As You Go Internet access with no monthly fees or contracts.

The catch is it's $150 dollars to buy the USB drive, but if you need your Internet to go in minimal doses, then it's perfect.

The Future of the Internet

A new study came out today that shows what experts believe the Internet will be. Some findings are below...a more detailed report is available here. Any report that says the primary Internet connection tool will be a cell phone and not a computer has flaws in my opinion. If anything, I think by 2020 the primary connection tool will be everything...it will be in our cars, our TVs, our kitchens, and yes, our cell phones...actually it's already in all these places.

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The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.

The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.

Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.

Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.

The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.

Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

Should the Internet Be Free?

If lawmakers have it their way, it might very well be the case...I doubt it would happen anytime soon, because of the filtering issue (some want pornography blocked, some think it violates free speech).

Make It a Firefox Day!

Today is National Download Day! News to you? Probably news to just about everyone you know. The holiday is likely to pass, but one thing that's not likely to pass anytime soon is the Firefox web browser; to celebrate Download Day, Mozilla has released the long awaited Firefox 3.

Judging from the preview version I've already downloaded, it's not as innovating as I hoped for, but worth the download nonetheless. Firefox is also trying to break a world record for most downloads of a program in a single day. Read about that here, and then help them out already! Of course you can also wait a year when Microsoft will release a version of Internet Explorer that basically copies every single popular feature on the new Firefox 3!

Mozilla is also preparing to release a mobile version of the browser for cell phones.