Introduction
Walking around the Internet World in Los Angeles, it seemed that everything involving the Internet is free these days. Free DSL, free disk space, and heck — even free legal information. Yes, your eyes did not betray you. In a 24-hour/7 days a week chat room at USLaw.com, attorneys are giving something away for free. There must be a catch, right? Of course there is. What you get is general legal information, not legal advice. This means that there is no attorney-client relationship and hence no attorney-client privileges, so your little chat is not necessarily kept private.
But FreeDSL is good, isn’t it? Well, in this case it really is — if you can actually get it, that is. On April 3 the Broadband Digital started the first phase of the rollout of their always-on, high-speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technology for several thousand subscribers in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Orange County. By the end of this year the service is expected to reach about 40 markets. FreeDSL service is available over existing telephone lines, which support two bandwidth channels — one for voice (telephone) service and another higher bandwidth channel that is used for delivering data at high speeds.
The basic FreeDSL service is free at speeds of up to 144 kbps, but you have to endure the advertisements plastered all over your desktop. You can also get the same speed without any advertisements, but this costs you $9.95 per month. Which is actually not a bad deal at all, considering that most people still pay $19.95 per month for 56 kbps dial-up access. For $19.95 you actually get 384 kbps at FreeDSL, that is almost seven times faster than 56 kbps! However, there is one tiny little detail: you must buy a DSL connection kit for $199 that includes the necessary hardware and software — unless you can refer 10 qualifying customers. In that case the connection kit is free as well. But before you can lay your hands on DSL, you need to subscribe at FreeDSL’s Website and provide basic demographic and geographic information.
The biggest problem, however, is actually getting the service. You might as well forget about the fast lane to the Internet, if you do not live in a major metropolitan area. And even if you do, you may still not qualify. Like me, for example. I live in San Jose — in Silicon Valley, the heart of the information revolution. For over one year now I have tried to get Pacific Bell’s much advertised DSL service, just to hear that I live about 700 yards too far way from their switch. Go figure.
While we are all waiting for the free high-speed Internet access to come along, the Netscape users among us might want to upgrade to Netscape 6. AOL boss Steve Case himself introduced the new version at Internet World. It has a new look and feel, and is powered by Gecko technology, Netscape/AOL’s new browsing engine software. It speeds up browsing by displaying tables much faster, resizes pages instantly, and text information appears more quickly. Netscape 6 also fully implements open Web standards, including XML, HTML 4.0, CSS1, W3C DOM Level 0 and 1, JavaScript 1.5, and RDF. It is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers.
On the left side of the Netscape 6 interface is a new feature called ‘My Sidebar’, a so-called ‘mini’ companion browser, that allows users to keep the online functions and information they rely on in one place. Also new is a Web search field in the main browser toolbar, and the ability to store multiple email accounts. Netscape 6 is available for free download from Netscape Netcenter. But users beware! It is only the Preview Release 1, and it still has quite a few bugs. After I installed Netscape 6 on my computer, it crashed a few times when I tried to access a Website. It also did not import my email address book from the old version 4.7, which is really annoying. I, for my part, switched back to Communicator 4.7. I’m waiting for the next release of Netscape 6.
Wearable Internet Devices
There was also some new hardware at Internet World. Gateway 2000 and AOL teamed up and introduced consumer Internet appliances: A countertop appliance, a wireless Web pad and a low-cost desktop. The countertop appliance comes with a wireless keyboard and a flat-panel LCD touchscreen display, that can be mounted on any flat surface, and is supposed to ship by the end of this year. The Web pad offers a wireless connection to a base station. The desktop appliance is a simplified Internet device, but looks more like a traditional computer. It will cost less than $500 according to Gateway, and goes on sale at the end of this year.
All devices come with Instant AOL, meaning that they automatically connect to AOL when switched on. The user therefore does not need to set up and configure the Internet connection. Other ISPs are not supported, however.
Internet World also had its own fashion show. Charmed Technology, a spin-off from MIT Media Lab showed their latest collection of Internet-enabled wireless wearable devices. The show featured more than sixty products, including the so-called Charmed Badge, a miniature communicator that tracks and collects information from other wearers. The badge uses infrared technology to read other badges, much like an electronic business card. It will be initially marketed to conferences and trade shows where attendees can use their badges to exchange contact information. The badge can also perform ‘affinity’ matching. This is the ability to determine that two badge wearers have common interests, based on data loaded into the badge. This should make the dating game a whole lot easier in the future…
The next Internet World in the US is in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency, July 11 — 13, 2000.
