h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

no, no, don't get up. It isn't the Queen, it's just me, blu.
hullo, hullo.
I saw your note about WAP over in Damogran, and thought I would come over here and ask you about it.

What are the technical specs? And does it only work in the UK? Sorta with ranges like cellular phones?

I only have a passing knowledge of cellular phones, but am VERY interested in wireless internet capabilities.

Tell me more, please.


yer friend,
blu
}:=8

What I know is that Nokia are bringing out Wireless Application Protocol (WAP for short) over the next few months in Europe. It'll be standard in three years, when it's hoped to get download speeds up to 2Mbits a second (a lot faster than the usual modem uses now at home). I saw wap.h2g2.com running in a mobile 'phone shop and it's very scaled down. Black and white (because of the current screen displays on the 8110 model), but colour displays are slowly being introduced.

WAP is nothing too technical... just a stripped down version of HTML for the smaller resolutions a mobile phone will have. It has data compression algorithms built in, like mp3 players and mpeg video discs use, so future phones will have a 300x200 screen and will be able to transmit rgb-video at 12 frames a second. The age of the video communication wristwatch is almost with us.

Imagine the camera you can get on a Nintendo Gameboy. The technology exists now to have a simple camera like that on a cellphone... they just need to get the transmitters decked out with the new pulse transmitters and get the 'phones on the market.

...and that's all I know.

thank you!
now I am wondering what the status of all this is in the states.
and how you design webpages to be compatible with 300x300 screens....

}:=8

welcome !

Well, I guess you'll have a WAP emulator program that allows you to design graphics in the 256 colours (sorry for the English spelling... force of habit) and then download them using an equivelent FTP program that we all use to do our web pages now. It's the videophone bit that interests me. Finally feels like the 21st Century just thinking about it.

(I think I might have exhausted this topic !!!)

I was interested to read your postings about WAP. I am involved at the moment because I want to extend a certain person's Web Site to WAP. (Not saying who, but 'The Old Curmudgeon' may give a hint).

My particular questions, to which I have been most unsuccessful at finding answers, are:

• Do I have to register a WAP.MYNAME.CO.UK domain?
• If so, with whom?
• Must I have an existing WWW. domain with the same name or can I register a completely new one?
• Is there any software like Dreamweaver to help me write pages?
• Will my existing FTP (WS FTPro) work to upload my new pages?
• How much does it cost? Can I shop around like I do with most of my Internet stuff?

I have had no luck finding answers so far! Because this is for business purposes I don't want to wait too long and possibly miss the boat. Any help would be appreciated.

Best wishes

Ragnar Hairy-breeks

PS Anagrams are a hobby of mine. For example, 'The Uncarved Block' = CHECK TROUBLED VAN.

PPS 'Shawn Seabrook' = BASK ASHORE NOW

Hello!
You have probably visited Nokias pages, but there is a mention about Nokias own WAP toolkit, page:
http://www.nokia.fi/yritysratkaisut/wap/wap_ratkaisut_3.html
The page is of course in Finnish, but maybe Nokia could give you some information in English? The toolkit is some kind of simulator and meant to help to create WAP-pages and stuff.

Natsa

I'm just going with the info I read in the press. Best bet is to do a web search on Yahoo! for WAP, see what comes up. Look at http://www.forum.nokia.com/developers/wap/wap.html for the English version of this. Looks like it's being aimed at companies for now but in time you may get WAPspace in the same way you get webspace now.