The wireless

I've gotten pretty blase about the marvels of the Internet, but I was close to amazed when I just got this Facebook update from an adventurous pal: "Blowing 20 knots on the nose. I'm not ready to call the coast guard, but It looks to be a long bumpy ride to Vancouver."
Here's a guy who is tooling around on his boat in the Pacific Northwest. He uploads his status to Facebook near the remote island of Lasqueti, British Columbia, using his nifty satellite device. And it pops up on my smartphone in Unionville, on the other side of the continent, seconds later.