Ed Hansberry
02-10-2002, 10:19 PM
<a href="http://pdanews.scoca-k12.org/article.php?sid=120&mode=thread&order=0">http://pdanews.scoca-k12.org/article.php?sid=120&mode=thread&order=0</a><br /><br />Cisco Systems had a booth a the recently held Ohio SchoolNet Technology Conference to show off their IP telephony products.<br /><br />"One very cool feature was that with the proper software and a WiFi card, a Pocket PC could also call this phone. I was allowed a brief time with an iPAQ equipped with a Cisco Aironet wireless card, special software, and a set of in-ear headphones. Tapping the speed dial button connected me to the desktop IP phone, and I was able to chat with the guys in the booth while walking through the large convention center, speaking into the iPAQ's built-in microphone. What surprised me was the really great clarity of the voice on the other end."<br /><img src="http://pdanews.scoca-k12.org/images/articles/iphone2.jpg" /><br />Interesting. I personally don't think the infrastructure is in place to make this viable yet - at least outside the walls of your 802.11b equipped office, but it definitely shows that using common technology available off the shelf under the right circumstances can give us communication options that was pure science fiction just a few years ago. Just a few days ago my I watched TRON with my 7 and 4 year old sons. They asked "Dad - what is an 'arcade'" I wonder if my 4 year old will remember what a "phone" is when he is a teenager? :-)