Computing on the Move
by Gary Woods

A couple of years ago I was sitting in a meeting in Los Angeles in a high rise on Sunset Blvd. The guy next to me pulled out his laptop and started it up. He looked at me and said, "let's see if anybody is on the air around here." He opened his browser and sure enough after some bumps and grinds there we were, cruising the Internet.

The first thing you need is a wireless network card. A lot of the new notebooks come with Wi-Fi already built-in, but if yours doesn't for $50 to $100 for a wireless network card you can be cruising the net in style.

Depending on picking a stray signal from a nearby network can be a little iffy, so if you're serious about mobile computing you ought to look at T-Mobile. They've situated "Hot Spots" in public locations such as airports, American Airlines Admirals Clubs, Starbucks coffeehouses and Borders Books & Music stores.

Using either a laptop or PDA that is Wi-Fi 802.11b wirelessly-enabled you can download your email and attachments, watch a live webcast, or listen to streaming audio. T-Mobile provides a full T1 connection to every location and for a flat fee of $29.95 you can enjoy unlimited access. Or, if you're only going to sporadically use the system it costs $.10 a minute.

For local Internet cruising check out Starbucks all over town and Pierre Lafond on lower State St.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910