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• & WORLD REPORT 1111ISMIllews NEWS YOU CAN USE charge supports three hours of active data transmission or 12 hours on the Internet. A new sense ofwhat at Now, the "nearly" part: The Ricochet network is established in only three cit- ies—Seattle,San Francisco,and Washing- ton,D.C.,with extensive suburban cover- moderns could a age lu in area.d (For a efull-service map, plus technical details, see zoww. map, .net.)The system also works at 11 major airports, including LaGuardia, Minne- In a wired age, the plugged in will be wireless Chica-St.Paul,and Los Angeles,but not Chicago's O'Hare or Atlanta, the world's JEFFREY MACMILLAN FOR usY6wR two most visited airports.Expansion BY JAMEs FnLI ows ram ; is planned to Southern California '= next year; after that, who knows? • ersonal technology is charming in The company's hopes depend on its"nearly right"stage.This is when - �y ; one-by-one contracts with cities and the product is advanced enough to utility companies to hang its ts.ans hint at its ultimate potential but not =K , w ceivers,each the size of a bread loaf, yet so mature as to be truly practical.The " at 1/4-to-�/z mile intervals. (Ivletri Compaq computers of the early 1980s, x com's main investor is Paul Allen, "portables"the size and weight of sewing ' :`- America's third-richest man, so in machines, were nightmares to lug - .i theory it can afford the expansion.) around—but Hahit-altering.If you live in one of PERSONAL TECH exciting be the favored cities or frequent the cause they ; right airports,is thesystemworthit? implied the To me,it made enough sense to buy. laptops someday to come.The pioneer E- The Internet connections are slower • mail network, MCI Mail,was also nearly than on an ISDN line but faster than right. Cumbersome to operate and lack- via the phone line modems most ing connections with any other system,it people use.Three or four seconds.af- still suggested how electronic communi- ter clicking the Ricochet icon,you're cation could revolutionize life. on the World Wide Web. The latest nearly right product is the Dial-up E-mail services take Ricochet wireless modem system, from slightly longer to connect than they publicly traded Metricom of Los Gatos, would on a phone line.But the free- Calif.The right part is its demonstration dom to connect without a wire is as of what truly wireless connections will habit-altering as cellular phones mean. A proprietary Ricochet modem, Ricochet costs less to use than a cellular modem. have been. I now count on being slightly larger than a pack of cards and able to send and receive E-mail weighing 8 ounces,attaches to your corn- do banking or other online functions) during the dead time of travel, standing puter's serial port.It bounces radio signals through any standard dial-up network. in a line or riding in a cab.Just to be ob- to a series of small transceivers hung from The modern itself costs $349,plus a $45 noxious,I once did so at a football game. utility poles and street lamps around activation fee. After that the service0 , in- To my surprise, I find I use the modem town;these,in turn,pass signals to an In- eluding unlimited Internet connection daily at both home and office; it frees up ternet server.The result is to let you make time and an E-mail account,costs$29.95 a telephone line.As,with the first ungain- reliable wireless connections to the Inter- a month.The modem works with Macin- ly Compaq,I feel I've seen a rough sketch net at nearly 40 kbps,or send E-mail(or tosh or Windows machines. One battery of something big. ■ Abridged from U.S.NEws&WORLD REPORT,APRIL 6, 1998 e Printed on recycled paper.