Up Front: The Next Internet Breakthrough(s)

Think the Web has already changed everything? Just you wait.

Don't look now, but another Internet revolution is on its way -- several of them, actually, all adding up to one powerful idea. A dozen years after it began connecting the world's PCs, the Internet is effectively becoming the planet's biggest PC -- a colossal, colossally rich environment that holds the promise of putting unprecedented processing cycles, information, and storage at our fingertips, wherever and whenever we need them.

Our computing lives, in other words, are starting to slip-slide out of our stand-alone PCs and onto the Net. The current form of this new way of working is a rough first draft, yet it's already exciting and useful. And the revolutions I mentioned? Three are especially worth keeping tabs on:

Web services are beginning to act like software. Using the Web is called browsing for good reason: With its focus on consuming information rather than creating, managing, and sharing it, the Web has been pretty passive so far. In part, that's because browsers were never built to support anything as complex and interactive as traditional desktop programs. But clever Web developers are now building services that put desktoplike features right into your browser.

Consider Writely a free browser-based word processor that's built for the Net in ways that the 23-year-old Microsoft Word simply isn't. Writely isn't exactly packed with flashy features, but using it to collaborate on documents with coworkers couldn't be much simpler: Every file resides on the Internet, sharable with anyone you choose, so you never need to fiddle with file attachments.

True, this word processor exemplifies the drawbacks of browser apps as well as their virtues. If your Net connection is sluggish, so is Writely; if the connection goes down, Writely goes AWOL. Even so, it's bursting with potential, as are lots of other free browser-based tools, such as the Meebo IM client.

Files are venturing online. When it comes to data, I'm like an absent-minded squirrel: I have stuff stashed everywhere, from the photos and music on my home system to the documents on my office desktop to the hodgepodge of personal and professional items on my laptop. The more I bop between machines, the more I wish everything were available on every device.

That's not a radical concept--tools such as GoToMyPC have provided remote file access for years. But a new generation of services such as Avvenu and BeInSync aim to provide access to everything on all your PCs in a way that's nearly transparent. (The basic versions of Avvenu and BeInSync are free, even.) Another intriguing approach: You can use a digital-locker service such as Streamload MediaMax to create an online mirror of all your vital data that's available from anywhere you can get online. (For more on some of these services, see " Get More Out of Your PC .")

Broadband is going new places. Of course, browser-based apps and online storage can't reinvent the way you work unless you can get to them. Ever tried using your cell provider's wireless data service with a laptop? It's been enough to prompt a flashback to the days of slow, flaky dial-up.

Enter new data services from Cingular and Verizon that truly deserve the monikerhigh-speed. These offerings aren't yet available everywhere--and at $60 and up a month, they're relatively pricey. Still, try one for just a few minutes, and you might get seriously addicted. See " Broadband to Go " for our hands-on review.

For broadband, the final frontier may be in the air. I've met one Lufthansa frequent flier who says that using Boeing's Connexion in-flight Net access is a life-changing experience. Too bad the entire U.S. airline industry remains too cash-strapped to roll it out.

Like I said, the Internet's latest iteration is still a work in progress--which makes it great fodder forPC World. Stay tuned for much more, and feel free to drop me a note at mageditor@pcworld.com with your take, whether you're already a believer or a confirmed skeptic.