Wireless 2004

It's been a grim four years for most of the US telecommunications industry. But the world of wireless is roaring like it's still the Internet boom, circa 1996.

Just as the Net economy a decade ago began pouring billions into broadband and rich new online content, wireless providers are throwing billions of dollars into better, faster, more pervasive coverage.

''With wireless, there is still this innovative spirit which has almost disappeared in the wired Internet," said Roger Entner, a wireless industry analyst with The Yankee Group in Boston. ''I see all these energies being focused on wireless, which seems to be the Wild, Wild West of innovation. Whatever they haven't implemented yet, it gets hyped beyond belief, and every year, it's a different extraordinary event. Some of them survive, and some of them don't, but it's very exciting."

Today's edition of the Globe's Business & Innovation section takes a wide-ranging look at what's happening in the world of wireless, from the latest games and services for cellphones, to the emerging technology called WiMax that aims to turn entire cities, not just coffee shops and airport lounges, into hotspots for high-speed wireless data coverage.

Inside this section you'll also find a detailed map of Boston's WiFi ''hotspots": the free ones and the ones that require a payment. We also offer a ''WiFi 101" primer on what equipment and service plans you need.

Also in this issue: the state of RFID technology, mobile versions of weblogs (called ''moblogs"), and a roundtable of industry leaders on the potential -- and hype -- surrounding tiny wirelessly networked sensors for offices, factories, and homes.

And in the ''this just in" category, we describe the latest chip from Intel Corp., which will be anounced today.

Code-named Bulverde and developed in part at an Intel lab in Hudson, the chip is -- surprise -- optimized for wireless units like smartphones and hand-held devices.

Yes, even giant chipmakers are jumping on the wireless bandwagon.