beach to check email and catch up on some work.

With the widespread use of smart phones or PDA (personal digital assistant) with data service (and thus access to the Internet), anyone can check email and even read documents. This means they can work almost anywhere-while walking, lying on their bed, relaxing on the beach, or even sitting in the bathroom!

Through the Internet, work no longer has any physical geographical boundaries.

COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS

Aside from work related communications, the Internet allows people to have almost instant communications with their friends and families.

Before the Internet, people used phones to keep in touch with family and friends during their waking hours. There may be friends or acquaintances out there they may have lost touch with, but have never thought about reaching. In some cases, people wrote mail and sent it using the US Postal Service. The letter would take days to reach its recipient, and the response would take as long.

Today, communication is instant-using email or Internet chat applications. Almost everyone has an email address, and sending email can be done at any time of the day. The response can be read at any time of the day as well. If people want instant communication, they can use Internet chat, where messages and their responses are sent and received in real time. One doesn't even need a phone to call someone; ever heard of Skype? With Skype, one can use the Internet to make an online phone call.

Not only is communication improved by the capabilities now available on the Internet, the ability of sharing pictures has improved through services like Flickr and other similar online sharing services. No longer does one have to mail pictures to grandma; today, all one has to do is email a link and everyone can see!

Aside from communicating with relatives and close friends, finding long lost friends has become extremely easy as well. With the rise and widespread use of social networking services like MySpace and FaceBook, people can easily find long lost friends through their network and their friends and relatives' network. Communication in these social networks is done through one's social pages-much like email, but the messages are shared to a degree which is user controlled.

Most recently, the search engine giant of the Internet, Google.com, has announced the release of Google Wave-a revolutionary Internet communication tool. It may just be the next step in online communication.

The Internet

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