Bluetooth Technology

As of July 1, a police officer can pull you over and give you a ticket for DWT -- Driving While Talking. On a cellphone, that is, if it's held up to your ear. Talking on cellphones in cars will still be allowed (otherwise, life as we know it in Southern California would come to a halt), but drivers must use a hands-free device while gabbing, according to a California law ratified in 2006 and finally about to take effect. The law applies to drivers 18 and older.

Telecommunications has always been about wires. But now it seems the industry's future may well ride on airwaves instead. The shift so far has been a slow one, limited largely by the cost and capability of U.S. wireless systems. In the coming years, however, cutting the cord will likely become easier and cheaper, and the service offerings will approach the reliability and functionality of wired phones and computers. Obviously, expectations are high.

Crazy? Or cellphone? It's the latest sidewalk game in the urban canyon: On K Street, a guy in a tie screams at the air, "Who do you think you are?" In Dupont Circle, a woman downing dainty bites of a muffin ponders, seemingly to no one, "Ummm, no." Then, more confidently, "No." Outside the Capitol, a dapper young man circles a patch of sidewalk, stabs his pen at a notebook and jabbers whispered words to the ground. Crazy? Or cellphone?