Chicago gets first crack at speedy WiMax Posted on May 8th
By year-end, Chicago is expected to be a launchpad for the next generation of wireless networks, blanketed with a fast Internet signal—accessible to subscribers from homes, streets and traveling vehicles—and capable of giving mundane home appliances a voice.
In this Jetsonian vision of life, which could take several years to arrive fully, a washing machine embedded with a wireless chip would detect a problem and contact its manufacturer even before the homeowner knew something was wrong with the spin cycle.
The wireless breakthrough, known as WiMax, was dreamed up over the past few years and then beset by financial worries. It was revived Wednesday in a sweeping deal between Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. that also includes some of the biggest names in technology, such as Google Inc., Comcast Corp., Intel Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc.
The presence of marquee supporters signifies the industry view that the new technology eventually will bring together phone calls, Web access, radio and television, pushing all this content through one high-speed pipe and making it fully portable.
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