Consumers understand that when there is more competition in a market, there are lower prices. This is especially true in the computer industry where it is reported that 68% of households have a computer. According to the Computer Industry Almanac, the worldwide number of Internet users will exceed 1 billion this year with the United States leading with over 185 million users. The number of users will continue to increase as well as competitors, forcing companies to offer faster connections at a cheaper price. Two technologies that will lend a hand in allowing new players into the Broadband market are BPL and WIMAX.

Broadband Over Power Lines, BPL

BPL is a technology that allows Internet data to be transmitted over utility power lines and is also referred to as Power-line Communications or PLC. The technology works by modulating high-frequency radio waves with the digital signals from the Internet. These radio waves are fed into the utility grid at specific points, then travel along the wires and pass through the utility transformers into homes and businesses. One main concern by officials in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), is that BPL will interfere with radio systems including fire, police, short-wave and land mobile. There are other groups who are taking the initiative in realizing this potential including the IEEE which has begun to develop IEEE P1675, "Standard for Broadband over Power Line Hardware."

This technology has gained national attention with reports by the Wall Street Journal that industry powerhouses Google and Goldman Sachs have invested nearly $100 million into Current Communications Group, a company that provides high-speed Internet access over electrical power lines. According to Reuters, CCG will use the financing to deploy voice, video and data services in domestic and global markets. IBM is also currently researching the use of electrical power lines to provide internet access by opening a BPL center in Houston with CenterPoint Energy although IBM has declined to put a dollar value on the amount invested.

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WIMAX

WiMAX, also known as IEEE 802.16, is a standards-based wireless technology that provides broadband connections over long distances and is intended for wireless metropolitan area networks". It can be used for wireless networking in much the same way WiFi is used today while also allowing for more efficient bandwidth use and interference avoidance. WiMAX has a broadband wireless access range of 30 miles compared to only 100 ?300 feet for a WiFi wireless local area network.

WiMAX can be used for a number of applications, including "last mile" broadband connections, hotspots, and high-speed connectivity for businesses. Alvarion, a global organization headquartered in Israel that supplies integrated Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) solutions, has announced it will supply satellite provider DirecTV Group Inc. with equipment that uses WIMAX technology in order to enhance customer upstream bandwidth requirements. By implementing last mile?broadband connections, DirecTV would then be able to supply faster connections to rural areas where it would cost millions to lay down the cable lines necessary for high speed. Another application under consideration is gaming. Microsoft is looking to make WiMax a standard feature in its Xbox 360. This would allow gamers with similar equipment to interact with other players without any internet access. All the funcionality of WiFi with improved range and reduced network latency makes WiMAX a very attractive alternative.

James Junior is a freelance writer and web programmer for http://www.jccorner.com

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Browsers are the gateway to World Wide Web (WWW). Following are the explanation-in-detail of the most popular features, which most of the Browsers in the current market are providing.

a) Search Button or Field: Most of the browsers are now equipped with a search field using which you can perform internet searches; you can also a select search engine out of the given few options provided to equip your search field.

b) Security Indicators: As secure connection is indicated by a browser by showing a padlock in the lower part of the window. A padlock in a locked position in a browser window indicates that the data sent or received from the server is encrypted and is difficult for any third-party to access.

If the padlock is unlocked, then your connection is not secure.

c) https://: You can also tell that a connection is secure or not by seeing the URL; if the URL begins with https:// then the server connection is secure otherwise not.

d) Status Bar: Displays how much a file has already been loaded; positioned at the bottom of the browser window.

e) Stop Button: Allow you to stop loading the contents of a page.

f) Window Title: Positioned on the upper part of the browser, the webpage title is the prominent feature. This feature is optional. Usually, if you try to bookmark a page then the Window title is used to identify the bookmark.

g) Pop-up Blocker: Blocks the pop-up windows based on intelligent identification; making internet browsing more enjoyable by enabling you to reduce unwanted content and ads.

h) RSS News Rendering Engine: Allows you to read RSS news directly from inside your browser; nowadays most of the browsers are built-up with this kind of option.

i) Safe Recovery: If your browser is closed improperly, this feature enables your browser to save all web pages and will be automatically reopened at next startup.

j) Zoom Option: Using this option you can zoom in /zoom out any Web page for better readability.

k) Records Cleaner: Almost all the browsers allow you to keep your privacy by clearing the cache or deleting Cookies, Typed Addresses, Visited Websites History, Search Keywords, and Temp files.

l) Skins: Customize your browser looks by selecting different variety skins; choose the look you want. Most of the browsers support this type of customization.

m) Group: A few tabbed browsers allow you to save and open a collection of sites as a group.

n) Drag & Drop: A few sophisticated browsers allow you to open new hyperlinks by using your mouse; just drag and drop the link into a new page, the site opens.

o) HTML Source Viewer: You can view the HTML syntax of a web page by selecting the View Source options; almost all the browsers provide this option.

Summary of How a Browser Works: A web browser uses a protocol called HTTP; this protocol is used to request a text document from a web server. This text document contains HTML instructions, which tell the browser how to display the document on the user's screen. These instructions may include hyperlinks to other web pages, information about color, text formatting, and images position information contained in the document.

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