Wi-Fi

More and more people are creating more and more digital content, and editing and storing that content on their notebook computers. With all the HD camcorders and digital cameras in use, there’s just so much content to share. Instead of viewing it on a small notebook computer screen, Intel’s new Wireless Display Technology, or WiDi, lets you display contents from your hard disk, home network or Web browser on your big-screen TV. 

If local area networks (LANs) were like plumbing, then Ethernet cables would be the pipes and routers the valve switchers. But data bits have a huge advantage over fluids. They don't require conduits to flow through your home or office to still be useful.

The triumph of digital TV broadcasting on June 12, 2009 (D-Day) was a defining moment for one generation above all others -- Baby Boomers. The growth of this generation closely tracks the rise of network television in the second half of the 20th Century. It's a generation I refer to as anadiggies and D-Day as a crossing over from the analog world, where they were born, into the digital world, where they'll expire -- no coupon necessary.

When I’m out, I’m often reduced to chasing Wi-Fi where I can find it. Intercity buses that pick up passengers near Penn Station, for example, are oases of connectivity in a city of slaphappy password protection. With Wi-Fi spilling out to the sidewalk, you’ll sometimes see me sprinting along 34^th Street with my iPod Touch trying to stay in range of a bus as it heads to the Lincoln Tunnel.