T.A.P. SERIES, #1 -- THE ANSWER TO S***TY CELL RECEPTION IN YOUR HOUSE . . . MAYBE

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that pretty much all of us have, at one time or another, wanted to throw our cell phones out the window after having a call drop for the 100th time while talking on it in our homes. Well have no fear, a technology called femtocells (don't ask me where they came up with that name!) is coming to a neighborhood store near you -- hopefully sooner rather than later.

So what exactly are femtocells? In a nutshell, they're super small versions of cell towers (also known as "access point base stations") that are housed in a piece of hardware that looks like your standard home Internet modem. In some cases they will come pre-installed with an Internet modem -- mostly in those cases where you have a provider (e.g., AT&T, Verizon, etc.) who your cell phone and home Internet service. If that's not the case, then you'll likely need to get a sepate box -- either way these femtocells use existing high speed Internet connection in your home. From what I can tell, the current versions that are in development will be able to support 2-4 cell phones in one location, and they'll operate much like a home Wi-Fi environment in that you'll be able to "lock" your network and limit access so that you don't have folks camped outside your house poaching your signal.

As of last year, Sprint was the first carrier here in the U.S. to make the service (called "Airave") available nationwide -- for those of you interested you can see get more info on their web site here. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are apparently in the trial phase and should be rolling out their femtocell services sometime this year. And since I haven't tried these services yet, I can't really vouch for how well (or not!) they work.

So if you haven't already chucked that cell phone out your living room window, you now have even more reason than ever to hold on to it!

If you have any suggestions on topics to be covered as part of this T.A.P. series, drop me a line at chris@bravenewmediaworld.com.

THE BEST THING IN TRAVEL SINCE . . . HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS?!

So I know I'm a bit late in the game to comment on the fact that (partial) Internet access is quickly becoming a reality in the not-so-friendly skies, but it's really worth spending a few minutes riffing on because it is probably now the one and only thing to look forward to -- what with all the s**t we have to deal with from the airlines -- checked bag fees, no pillows or blankets, higher fares, less flights, longer lines, more connections, longer delays . . . shall I keep going?!

Yeah, yeah - I know there's those of you out there that are going to complain about the price for this in-flight Internet access, but I for one will be glad to pay it -- in part because when I'm traveling for business on American Airlines (not by choice - my company makes us use them -- and for once they did something right!) I'll just pass the cost on to my employer, who'll be grateful that I used what little down time I used to have while in the sky to get even more work done.

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here's a commercial put together by the company (GoGo Inflight) that behind the Internet service on American - as well as on Virgin America and Delta Airlines.

And do yourself a favor -- sign up for an account with GoGo before you take your first flight -- that'll save you a few more minutes so that you can eek out that last snarky email.