Office1000 Blog December Archive

Feeling Lucky

By Blog Stories at 12/24/2007 09:15

We are arguably blessed because we are living in the 21st century. Well, I feel I'm blessed, at the very least--since I'm biased to modernity and technology.

Take for instance, the computer, one of the most important inventions during the 20th century. Computers made our life easier, more efficient, grander--it made our lives better. I cannot think what would I be like if I lived in, say, the 16th century when the lightbulb has not even been invented. Those were dark days, I believe, for communication was a luxury only the nobles and governments could afford. If you were a peasant, you'd probably know almost nothing around you. Now, many people from different income brackets have mobile phones and landlines to reach one another, wherever they are.

Without digitalization, much of the processes done today would have been a lot lot more expensive--if not impossible. Yes, many would have been impossible...from big things like the Internet and global economic integration to not-so-big things like photo editing using digital cameras (though I'm sure film-lovers would like this). It would have been an inconvenient life in an unconnected world.

Some, I know, would say that they'd like the cleaner and greener world of the past--global warming and all--than the dirtier world of the present. I believe, however, that it's just a phase that we all have to go through. I believe that we can manage to pull out of this environmental disaster. End of the human race? Most probably not.

I feel lucky that we are living in a highly technological age--that we are living in an age when the territories on this planet are starting to become one. This wouldn't be possible, though, if not for the technological innovations of the past that led to where we are now--the fire of the prehistoric era, democracy and philosophy of the Greeks, the innovations of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, to the space know-how during the Space Age. The Information Era wouldn't have existed if those other phases in human history had not occurred.

What Happens When You are not Prepared

You are in some desolated place, alone (how you got there, I do not know), and without shelters. You see no-one. No-one at all. You shouted out loud, thinking--wishing--that somebody would shout back in response. Company is always welcome in times of desertion, after all. To your frustration, however, nobody shouted back.

Since there are no landlines in the area (the area being an inhabited one), the only hope that you can see--the only hope that might save you--is your mobile phone. Hmm. perhaps you could call somebody? You worried that there might not be any cell site, but you still pursued on using it, since, as I have told, it is your last hope.

To your surprise (not to mention extreme horror), you find out that your mobile phone's out of battery energy!!! What luck, ain't it? You were the luckiest guy on earth, stuck in some lonely universe with no means of contacting outside forces.

You might say that no, why on earth will you be alone in a place like that? Well, Who knows what might happen? You could be on a plane then the plane landed or things like that. The point is, it is not impossible to have yourself stranded in such a place. When this happens, you should be ready, just like a boy scout or a girl scout. It never hurts to be always ahead.

In the situation mentioned above, how can we be ready, given that we cannot prevent ourselves being lost there? Bring extra, of course! If it is a long trip, bring a lot of extra batteries as you may never know what may happen.

If it happens, though, that there are no cell sites nearby (let's say that what you have is a mobile phone)--let us sace it for another time.

Mobile Phones

Way way after the first telephone and not-so-way before VoIP phones, there came devices that tried to continue the first phone's purpose (to provide instant communication across long distances) and added some features that did not exist before (wireless communication). They are smaller than the ordinary landlines and some have antenna(e), obvious or not obvious. They are called mobile phones, precisely because of their use in mobile communication.

Most of these phones connect with each other through a series of cellular sites (a cellular network or a base station). Because of this, mobile phones also came to be known as cell phones. Note however that some mobile phones do not connect to cell sites. Example of these are satellite phones.

Originally, mobile phones are meant to be used like landlines but without the cords attached to them. As technology progresses, however, additional features that were ordinarily seen in other devices were also incorporated with these phones. Some of these are short message services (SMS) used for text messaging, polyphonic tones, 'real' tones (they are actually .wav and .mp3 files stored in the cell phone), imaging, videos, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service; used in mobile Internet), 3G, and, more recently, mobile television. And they were incorporated in just a short span of time.

With the rate new mobile phone technology is moving, is it not exciting to wait for the 'next big thing'? Who knows, next time we might even see a full-length movie playing in our phones. Now THAT is something to look out for. Can't wait for that.

In the end, however, despite all of the fancy stuff that the new models come up with, mobile phones' most important features are those that were already made out a long long time ago--during the time when the mobile phone's father is invented. That is the ability of the mobile phone's to let you talk and communicate with anyone around the globe.