'Made it, Ma! Top of the world."
It is a safe bet that James Cagney's line from the 1949 classic White Heat has been included in many tweets and Facebook posts.
It is only a matter of time, however, that someone will post this and actually mean it. Thanks to the Nepali telecoms provider Ncell, Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, is now a Wi-Fi zone.
This may evoke images of climbers checking out the latest apps on their iPads as they sip on lattes, but there is a serious side to the development. One can't scale the world's highest peak without risking life and limb. Safety, for climbers and Sherpas alike, will be improved significantly. Wi-Fi will help rescuers find the injured more quickly. And with better communication between different groups of climbers on the mountain, unforgiving weather conditions can be anticipated. Lives will be saved.
There's also a mystery this might solve. For as long as people have tried to climb Everest, they've reported some strange company up in the clouds. The indomitable snow man of the Himalayas, the Yeti, may finally be captured - at least on an iPhone and posted on YouTube. That would be one small click for a man, but a Bigfoot for mankind.
