On Jun 30, 2005, at 11:02 PM, Alison Lewis wrote:

> Is it a cell phone network, or is
> there something else going on there? It just seems to
> just plug into the wall and bam it works.
>
> quote: "No computer or Internet connection required.
> Uses a nationwide wireless network to bring
> information to your Orb"
>
there are lots of possibilities.  Back in the pre-web days when
"internet" meant mostly usenet newsgroups, there was talk of
usurping one of the FM subcarrier or TV verical retrace areas
to broadcast the newsgroup data.  If you were "read only", you
could have collected huge amounts of data for free (essentially.)

But I suspect this device simply ties into something based on the
alphanumeric pager protocols, which gets simplified a lot if the
"pager" side doesn't have to be individualized.  Is there a
"subscription fee"?

BillW

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