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What I would consider the 'ultimate' digital device
And one that could actually be feasably made today from components by an end-user.
Take a 'buffet style' data-only plan with a cell-phone provider with decent, but minimal, bandwidth. These usually include a PCMCIA card for laptops.
Plug said card into a PDA-ish device, likely a WinCE device, preferably one with a mic and speaker built in, that's of a decent size.
Subscribe to a 'broadband VoIP' service that's software-only and able to tolerate high latency from the cell-phone data service of 500-600ms. These aren't hard to find, but it does take a little looking.
You now have a fully portable internet connection with free long distance over a significant portion of the united states (if not the world, depending on your VoIP service you picked) that fits in your pocket.
The service would cost around $900/year, so it would be a 'razor blades/MMORPG' arrangement where it costs more to have the service than to buy the device, but we've officially reached the point where such a thing is possible.
Welcome to TL8. Shouldn't be much longer until someone discovers Jump Drives. =^.^=
Take a 'buffet style' data-only plan with a cell-phone provider with decent, but minimal, bandwidth. These usually include a PCMCIA card for laptops.
Plug said card into a PDA-ish device, likely a WinCE device, preferably one with a mic and speaker built in, that's of a decent size.
Subscribe to a 'broadband VoIP' service that's software-only and able to tolerate high latency from the cell-phone data service of 500-600ms. These aren't hard to find, but it does take a little looking.
You now have a fully portable internet connection with free long distance over a significant portion of the united states (if not the world, depending on your VoIP service you picked) that fits in your pocket.
The service would cost around $900/year, so it would be a 'razor blades/MMORPG' arrangement where it costs more to have the service than to buy the device, but we've officially reached the point where such a thing is possible.
Welcome to TL8. Shouldn't be much longer until someone discovers Jump Drives. =^.^=
Actually, TL predates GURPS by quite a few years.
And the physical implementation of this, I could built in less than a week given the funds to do so. It's all here, it's all possible using off-the-shelf tech. With something built just for this, it would be possible to build into something not much larger than a normal cell-phone, and much of the latency could likely be removed then.
Re: Actually, TL predates GURPS by quite a few years.