Verizon (www.verizonwireless.com) has been all over the media in the last couple of weeks - from the Super Bowl to double spreads in the papers - touting their new V CAST service. Already available in 30 US markets, the high bandwidth network enables phones capable of handling the speed (300-500 kbps) to view up to 5 minutes of streaming video and sound, play 3-D games, and take pictures at a resolution rivaling a cheap digital camera (1.3 megapixels). OK, we're finally catching up to Finland.

We're happy to see progress being made on the wireless front. As Corbin notes, the United States is a third world country when it comes to this technology. You can rest easy knowing the rest of the carriers are hot on the trail in this extremely competitive industry. This may not sound very techie, but I'm not entirely looking forward to these new capabilities.

I don't care to take pictures with my telephone. I would just like to have calls that sound great and aren't dropped. You can see from the website that the service is being promoted to a young demographic, and they'll love the games, but who else has the time? Streaming video sounds good, and I won't mind catching some news, weather, or sports clips, but I have this vision of people in their cars, watching their phones instead of the road. It's bad enough now. I'd like to hear your feedback. - JR