I published a how-to article on suite101.com about transmitting radio signals from free applications on your smart phones to your car stereo. With such versatility, you can junk your satellite radio, because smart phone apps offer more variety, localized stations, and you can listen to your MP3s without having to burn them to a disk.

See the article here.

However, this is only the beginning of the money-saving versatility of a smart phone. Another option is to tether your smart phone to your computer for internet access. I don’t personally do this, but I did look into it when I bought my Blackberry. I use Verizon which charges a $10 per month fee to tether your phone to your computer for internet access, and they limit how much information you can download. I don’t see how they are able to legally charge for that service considering I have a contract that says I have unlimited data transfer to my phone, and I pay a substantial monthly free for that service. But some people may be interested in using such a service as it will allow you to junk your internet service in your home, given that you don’t exceed the data limits every month.

If you’re thinking about using this method and you’re worried about your TiVo or other WiFi equipment in your home, you will find that you can create an adhoc network with your computer that can give internet access to all of your WiFi equipment through your smart phone’s internet connection.

Because every smart phone and its service provider function differently, I’m not going to attempt to teach you how to do this. Also, because Verizon has limits on data for such usage, it is not yet practical to do this if you download a lot of information. Hopefully Verizon will realize in the near future that unlimited data usage for tethering would be beneficial to everyone.

You can imagine the possibilities of using your phone as your sole Internet service provider.

Of course this is only one step in the mass infusion of Internet into people’s daily lives. In the coming years, household appliances will have internet connectivity, allowing users to check the stove to make sure it’s turned off from anywhere in the world. Already in China, consumers are carrying their identities entirely in their cell phones, eliminating the need for a wallet. Consumers simply scan their cell phones like credit cards at the register. There has been some talk of a chip, inserted beneath the skin surgically, that would carry one’s financial information. As the Internet becomes more profitable, such ideas gain popularity. For instance, thanks to Myspace and Facebook, most people now have a personal Internet site. Because every Internet site has the potential to reach anyone in the world, every Internet site has the potential to make money. Of course Paypal would be the medium used to transfer funds on the Internet. Thus anyone can sell a product on the Internet.
As large corporations downsize, unemployed workers become more interested in enterprising on the Internet. Perhaps in the future, “jobs” won’t be measured so much in corporations as in every person’s ability to produce a niche product, because corporations won’t be able to grow if there isn’t anyone who actual wants to work for them. There probably isn’t a person in the world who doesn’t want to work for him or herself.

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