In many parts of the world, the cell phone is the main device used to get on the Internet. As recently noted, the number of smartphones keeps growing and will soon exceed the number of PCs. For some time now, there has been speculation that the smartphone or some similar mobile platform would become the main device for personal computing and communication.

The speculation becomes closer to reality as the mobile platforms continually grow in power and utility. Already, the iPhone and its cousins are the main device for many. At Technologizer, Harry McCracken has a post called PC vs. Phone: Which Matters Most? He writes about a recent survey of smartphone users:

A quarter of the survey respondents said that they use their smartphones more than they do their PCs for business use. I’m not sure if that sounds low or high, but as smartphones get smarter over the next few years, you gotta think that many of us will come to see them as our principal computing devices, and consider traditional PCs to be the secondary, special-purpose gadget.

And at ZDNet, Dion Hinchcliffe asks, Are the iPhone and social networks making the classic Web and intranet obsolete? He thinks that not only the PC but also the present Web may be replaced. He writes:

There’s been an important and relatively sudden change taking place over the last couple of years in the way that we interact with the Web. While direct access or search activity has been (and still is) the most common way that we access the content and applications of the Web, new ways have been rapidly growing and competing with how we work online, both at home and at work.

Thus these new models, exemplified by social networking sites like Facebook or mobile apps on platforms like the iPhone, Palm’s new webOS, and Android, will ultimately herald a change in the way that we work with our IT systems in the enterprise.

Technology always goes down surprising paths and what we will be doing 5 or 10 years from now, I won’t venture to guess. But it is hard to believe that the complex and ponderous Windows PC will continue to be so dominant. Some people see Google’s Android system as the coming thing. For an enthusiastic look at Android, see the Gizmodo post, Giz Explains: Android, and How It Will Take Over the World. A little hyperbole there, of course, but who knows?

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Consider these remarks from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, spoken Wednesday at the CTIA wireless industry convention in San Diego: “We are fast entering a world where mass-market mobile devices consume thousands of megabytes each month. So we must ask: what happens when every mobile user has an iPhone, a Palm Pre, a BlackBerry Tour, or whatever the next device is? What happens when we quadruple the number of subscribers with mobile broadband on their laptops or netbooks? The short answer: We will need a lot more spectrum. The biggest threat to the future of mobile in America is the looming spectrum crisis.”

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

We’ve all been there. It’s infuriating to sit on hold for 20 minutes, only to be connected to a service agent who has only a cursory grasp of the English language and even less knowledge about how to help you. The following tricks will help you skip to the head of the line and find a better person to talk to.

There then follows a list of about 50 suggestions, not only for making human contact but also for getting to the head of the line. Some are standard but there are some unorthodox tips as well. For example:

Mumble. If the voice robot can’t understand you, it will be forced to connect you with a live person.
Speak nonsense. Again, if you can’t be understood, you’ll have to talk to a human.
Do nothing. By doing nothing, you can trick the PBX into thinking you have a rotary phone and force it to get you an agent.

All in all, an intriguing list.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Skype 4.0 became available for free on Tuesday to Windows users. The free desktop VoIP communicator is a worthy final version that brings some key enhancements with video and audio bandwidth, though it leaves behind some of the extra adornments of version 3.8, the last stable build.

Download here.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Enter GizmoCall, which offers Skype-like calling capabilities but requires no special software. Instead, it works right inside your browser-any browser, on any system (Windows, Mac, or Linux).

All you need is a microphone (the one in your webcam will do) and/or headset. You can make free calls to other Gizmo users, toll-free numbers, various college campuses, and other VoIP networks (like Earthlink and LiveVoip). Here’s the full list of GizmoCall freebies.

As with Skype, if you want to call landlines and cell phones, you’ll need to purchase blocks of call-out credit (which start at $10 for 500 minutes). You can also send SMS messages for about 7 cents apiece, great if you’re traveling abroad and don’t want to pay exorbitant roaming rates.

GizmoCall doesn’t do video calls or even instant messaging, but it’s definitely a cool and convenient way to make phone calls. And because it runs in a browser, you can actually embed it in, say, your blog. Neat stuff.

The GizmoCall link is here.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Her grandfather wanted to play tea party, but Alexandra Geosits, 2½, insisted she had only apple juice. She held out a plastic cup, giggling as she waited to see if he would accept the substitute.

That they were a thousand miles apart, their weekly visit unfolding over computer screens in their respective homes, did not faze either one. Like many other grandchildren and grandparents who live far apart, Alex and Joe Geosits (pronounced GAY-sits), 69, have become fluent in the ways of the Web cam.

The article goes on:

Video calling, long anticipated by science fiction, is filtering into everyday use. And two demographic groups not particularly known for being high-tech are among the earliest adopters.

In a way that even e-mailed photos never could, the Web cam promises to transcend both distance and the inability of toddlers to hold up their end of a phone conversation.

©2009 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.