Sunday, February 5, 2006

The end of the Victorian Internet, plus new ideas for wireless future No more telegrams full of bad news... Western Union has ended its telegram message service, which began in 1856 -- competing with the postal service, railroad, pony express and, eventually, e-mail. According to an Associated Press report I'd missed last week: ...the last 10 telegrams included birthday wishes, condolences on the death of a loved one, notification of an emergency, and several people trying to be the last to send a telegram. Bloomberg News noted a final bit of irony: Western Union's posted the Jan. 27 closing notice on its website, one of the newer technologies that have taken the place of pay-by-the-word telegraph messages. However, the company still does "wire" money. If you're looking for newer ways to send a message, prepare your bookmark lists for Skype and FON, which are trying to link together a network of wireless (WiFi) hotspots from which people would be able to make Skype Internet telephone calls, among other things. Meanwhile, AOL and Yahoo are talking about a program that would charge bulk-mailers for a virtual "certified" stamp to let their messages get past spam filters. At least that the best I can make out of this array of stories on the subject. Footnote: The Victorian Internet in the headline is the title of a book about the telegraph, by Tom Standage. 6:24:08 PM

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