|
Every day we hear about a new technology that its maker promises will change our lives. Forget version 1.3, they shout with glee, that was only a demo compared to what will be available in a few more weeks. Wait until you get your hands on version 2.0: that puppy really rocks! After about fifteen years of listening to hype like that, I do not get breathless with excitement every time a press release pops up in my email box. However, amid the noise and the incremental improvements, every once in a while a technology comes along that actually does completely change your life.
I am writing this column on my PowerBook, which is perched on my lap as I sit in the backyard. Music is flying out of the tiny speakers courtesy of
SoundJam. The Web browser is open to dictionary.com, and the Microsoft Word document I'm writing is actually on a desktop Mac in the upstairs loft. And there is not a wire in sight, thanks to Airport.
The moment I finished configuring the Airport software and had established a Web connection though the air, I fought the urge to look behind the screen and confirm that I really had unplugged the phone line. The performance was that good. Here I was, loading Web pages just as fast as my desktop computer, retrieving email, and giggling like a kid with a new toy. Excellent first impressions are very often proven wrong, but not this time. In just a few short days, Airport has significantly improved my life, and made itself indispensable in the process.
Airport satisfies my three criteria for life-changing technology. First, it is built on top of a solid infrastructure, but in an entirely new direction. Airport would not be one half as useful if the PowerBook was not as capable as a desktop Mac. Nor would it be as attractive if every Mac did not already have built-in file sharing. Second, it was easy to set up. Version 1.2 of Airport's software is well designed and can guide any user through the steps necessary to establish a basic wireless LAN. And third, the product does exactly what it claims to do.
Fulfilling grandiose claims is where most new technologies run off the road. But Airport does not even touch the asphalt. It glides though the air with the greatest of ease, making me feel as if I'm living in an Arthur C. Clarke novel come to life. Living an untethered existence takes a little time getting comfortable. My adjustment time totaled about three minutes. Once I double-checked that the phone wire really was disconnected, and I carried the PowerBook into the backyard, I was hooked.
Now if only Apple would make a sport model PowerBook, complete with a waterproof yellow enclosure, I could surf the Web from a floating pool chair. That is the trouble with technology, always pushing the next big improvement to just beyond our reach.
Oh well, maybe in the next version.
|
"Cleared
for Takeoff"
