How things have changed already in how we access information

I remember when I first accessed the internet. I don't think I could
even see pictures. I think we used Mosaic. It was many years ago. 1994
or 1995. I was so excited by the potential I started the internet club
at school back when the internet was so unheard of people wrote it as
the Internet. I remember my excitement at discovering pervasive
computing devices in 1997 but I never thought to put pervasive
computing, the internet and mobile phone technology together. I remember
being the proud owner of the first serious smartphone, the Nokia
Comminicator, when I was at university. At the time there was limited
use for the mobile internet but it didn't matter because this brick
phone was also a device that was several years ahead of its time and I
was nerdy enough to want that.

Without the invention and proliferation of the mobile internet people
would be tethered to the desktop or laptop with a LAN connection but
with the latest generation of smartphones people can access the internet
and get an experience almost as good as sitting down with a big screen
and wired connection. The laptop forms the next step away from tethered
access but it's the smartphone and PDA that truly liberated where people
access online information.

But many people aren't really using the mobile internet for the power it
offers. The geeks are happy to have the feature but the public want the
benefits. Keeping in touch - email and social network applications - is
probably the most common reason people use their mobile's internet
capabilities. Professional people may use the internet capabilities much
more but the general public is still seeking the applications that make
their lives better.

What's been the most significant advance perhaps is the inclusion of
GPS. This technology was unheard of even by the techno-elite way back in
the 1990s simply because it was a military technology developed so
intercontinental ballistic missiles with multiple warheads could
accurately hit and annihilate their targets. A netowkr of satellites
with highly accurate clocks positioned around the world offered the
capability to know where a thing with a sensor sensitive enough to
detect the GPS transmissions and calculate the difference in time
between the satellite signals to calculate position. The technology
moved from cars and was further miniaturised to fit into smartphones and
people began using their phones to help them get around.

The inclusion of GPS offers the most significant change in how we access
digital information. A smartphone knows where you are and so much of our
information needs are based on location and timeliness. We want to be
able to look at an overcast sky and know whether it's going to rain
instantly. A suitable smartphone with the right application will be able
to connect with meteorological sites and relay the information to the
user. All the user has to do is point their phone at the sky and click
on a button. In fact the button click may not even be necessary because
the phone recognises it's been flicked upwards and pointed a the sky
where there are no other AR markers or interesting information in
available in the Articulated Naturality Web.

Totally intuitive and totally there when you need it. That's the future
of online information. And it's just the beginning.