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Non-Tech : 1000% returns are cool !!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike E. who wrote (3276)	8/31/2000 8:11:31 PM
From: smchan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3326

My Palm VII uses that type of triangulation to determine its location. Actually, it doesn't. The Palm.net gateways (the ones that connect the wireless to the wired world) know the tower id with which your Palm VII is communicating. If the PQA (the client application on the Palm VII) places a special token (%zipcode%) in the URL, the gateways will query a database that associate tower id's to zip codes and the zip code is inserted in place of the token. Certainly, zip codes are useful for location-based applications (ie local weather, traffic, etc) but it's too general for applications that require better location accuracy such as tracking trucks or pushing location-based advertising. So... as far as I know, cellular triangulation is not already happening, but indeed the Palm VII's zip code determination is probably the closest thing we have to a pervasive computing device that can determine location - barring vertical market, specialized application (ie UPS' truck tracking system which last I heard uses GPS + cellular for uplink) and embedded systems (ie GM's OnStar). After having been writing applications for a month or two on Palm VII emulators, I finally got the real deal yesterday. These are some seriously cool devices! Sam