There was a brief news item on our Daybreak broadcast Thursday morning that stirred a lot of interest, and no wonder. It was about a little gizmo that promises a full year of unlimited telephone service for under $40.

It's called MagicJack, and using it is said to be simple: plug the cord from any traditional home telephone into the small device, then pop MagicJack into your PC.

Your existing Internet connection is used to route the calls, bypassing traditional telephone service. If you're willing to roll the dice on a company without a track record, you can also plunk down an additional $20 up front to lock in an additional year of unlimited calls in the U.S.

If it all sounds too good to be true, there may be some reason to question MagicJack's business model.

Similar (and much larger) Internet-telephone hybrid services like Vonage have struggled to make money, even though they charge more for their services.

Vonage, for instance, offers a $24.99 unlimited plan for residential users—but that's due every month.

But Vonage and others like it have several advantages, including:

• You can often transfer an existing phone number

• You don't have to leave your computer on 24/7 to make and receive phone calls.

MagicJack has a growing but limited universe of phone numbers, and they're not available in all area codes. So while you can currently get a MagicJack number based in Houston or Austin, you can't choose a phone number in Dallas or Fort Worth.

You can still use MagicJack service in North Texas; you just won't have a local area code. That means that anybody calling you from next door would have to dial long distance.

If you're already paying $40 a month (or more) for home phone service, you may feel that MagicJack is the bargain of the 21st century. But you should be aware of its limitations.

The year was 1994, and I was getting my first up-close-and-personal look at the World Wide Web.

It was during a visit to the Dallas Infomart, where a company then known as OnRamp Technologies was helping other firms plant a seed on the Internet.

An OnRamp executive ushered me into a small room humming with computers and sat me down in front of a 14-inch monitor that had a connection to this mysterious new technology.

I am not easily impressed, but I was in awe—even though what I saw on that day would appear awfully primative by today's standards.

The highlight was a virtual visit to an Egyptian museum, which had posted photos and text (no video, sound clips or Flash animations) describing some of the artifacts in its collection.

"We're looking at pictures from Cairo?" I asked. "How much extra do you have to pay for the overseas connection?"

This Internet thing clearly required a whole new way of thinking, and the implications were staggering.

Instantaneous information. About anything. From anywhere.

For a number of years, though, accessing that information required a physical connection to the Internet. You needed to plug your computer in to a phone line. Not a big deal, of course; just scribble down a note about what you want to research and catch up later on.

This is all a rather lenghy preamble to the description of a new software product that has provided me with another of those rare "Wow!" moments in technology.

The main vTap screen offers a simple, helpful mobile interface.

It's called vTap, and it gives many (but not all) Internet-enabled cell phones the ability to find information and view video clips.

Instantaneously. About anything. From just about anywhere, with no waiting required.

vTap loaded and installed without a hitch on my Samsung Blackjack handset. It also works on most other Windows Mobile devices, some versions of BlackBerry and also Apple's iPhone.

In its present state of development, vTap has two basic functions:

• A drop-dead-genius mobile interface to Wikipedia's ever-growing repository of human knowledge

• A similar way to access and view video clips on the Web

The vTap philosophy can be summed up in two words: "Start typing." In fact, that's what it says right at the top of the screen after loading the software. You don't have to click on anything or move a cursor over to the right spot. Just start typing.

As you type, vTap starts filtering your request and the results appear instantaneously in the window below the query line. Now you can use your directional keys to hover over items of interest for a bit of extra information.

When you find a video clip you'd like to view (or a Wikipedia entry you want to access in full), press the select key to make it appear.

Video clips on my Blackjack take a few seconds to download, but then they appear in full-screen mode, with remarkably smooth playback, from a variety of sources including Google Videos, YouTube, ESPN and CNN. The delay is apparently at least partly from the vTap software reformatting the clip for optimal appearance on tiny phone screen.

Response is a little snappier for Wikipedia entries, but there is still a delay—even with a high-speed, 3G wireless connection—while vTap digests the original Web page and recreates it in a mobile-friendly format.

Its power came into play the other night as I was puzzling over a crossword clue: "'Wozzeck' composer ______ Berg."

In the pre-Internet age, divining the correct answer would have required—at best—a good encyclopedia (or an encyclopedic knowledge of music); at worst, a visit to the library (or, even less likely in my case, getting the correct answers to all the surrounding clues).

But vTap made it almost too easy. I just reached over to the nightstand, grabbed my phone, launched vTap, and typed in the word "Wozzeck." All that remained was to scroll down the page until I saw this entry: Alban Berg (wozzeck).

I'm beginning to see how vTap could easily usurp existing tools on my cell phone if its text search interface is expanded to include other databases. How about Google?

The software would also seem to be ideal for accessing other types of data in a portable form—whether the information is coming in over the Internet or even stored on a memory card. Perhaps vTap can make its money by selling its technology to real estate agents and medical personnel, while providing general purpose users with a great (and free) product.

Yes, vTap is free, and if you have a phone that's compatible, do give it a try (as long as your cellular account has unlimited Internet data privileges; using vTap is addictive, and that can get expensive if you're paying by the kilobyte.

Download the software at vtap.com, where you can also test-drive a vTap simulation on your home computer screen.

Watch Computer Corner every week on News 8 Midday at noon (usually seen on Wednesdays; this week it's on Friday), or online any time.

E-mail askwalt@wfaa.com