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20/20 Foresight

Here are the 20 products, trends, and technologies that will change PCs in 2002--and beyond.

Daniel Tynan

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Cell Phones: Bandwidth on the Run

New cell phone network: What is it? Mobile phones that will be able to access the Internet at blistering speeds. What's cool? Significantly more bandwidth. The third-generation (so-called "3G") cellular network promises data rates from 384 kbps to 2 mbps--more than 100 times the puny rate today's cellular networks employ. The speed increase should open the way for a host of applications for cell phones and PDAs, from streaming audio and video to sophisticated real-time data manipulation. When's it coming? Verizon and Sprint were slated to begin U.S. trials in late 2001, but broad deployment is still three to five years away. What's the catch? Warring cellular standards in Europe and the United States could sow confusion and slow consumer acceptance. And the cell carriers have yet to prove that they can make voice transmission--let alone data transmission--as reliable as users want. Impact meter: 6

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