Web Surfers Are Getting Plugged In

Consumers soon may be able to connect appliances to the Internet through ordinary electrical outlets.

Cisco Systems Inc. is experimenting with technology that’s being trumpeted as a novel and inexpensive way for consumers to hook a wide range of new gadgets to the Net.

The approach is similar to that which allows consumers to use home wiring to create new telephone extensions.

Boston Globe

* Spam attack: Advertisers and pitchmen have latched onto a new way to deliver their messages, and legions of cell phone customers are up in arms.

Don’t be surprised if ads start appearing on the small screens of newer cell phones that have wireless e-mail capability.

One irate person called the ads “excessively aggressive and invasive” because a cell phone is something users tend to carry with them all day - unlike the personal computers that e-mail spammers have targeted for years.

Washington Post

This sidebar appeared with the story: Online Glance

The following stories appear in more detail at www.spokane. net/technology