| This first time I saw this it took me a | | | | dot mobi web page (Internet for cell |
| bit to get my thoughts around what I was | | | | phones) that I entered the license plate |
| seeing. To explain, a good friend has | | | | number is only a web page in the most |
| been a member of a local Corvette club | | | | limited sense, basically just a blank |
| for years and as I sat in the passenger | | | | text box referred to as a database |
| seat of this monster fast Z06 vehicle he | | | | portal that anyone can use. To access it |
| points out a fellow club members car | | | | yourself, enter hardlink.mobi into your |
| ahead of us. As we crawled along in | | | | cell phones web browser. |
| freeway traffic he pulls out his cell | | | | It is from this portal that you have |
| phone and hands it to me and asks that I | | | | access to all hardlinks, which is |
| enter the license plate number of the | | | | basically a hyperlink from the real |
| other Corvette. I did just that and I | | | | world. Once there you enter a name or |
| was presented with information about | | | | number found on some object and it |
| that car, including a picture, the club | | | | searches a database and returns all |
| he belonged to, his forum user name and | | | | links with that identifier. It does not |
| vehicle modifications - this was cool, | | | | search the Internet - that is a key |
| but not really rocket science from my | | | | point here. In fact, Google and this |
| assumptions. What I learned next allowed | | | | portal never even cross paths and the |
| me to see the scope of the application I | | | | content is said to not be directly |
| was using. | | | | search engine discoverable (referring to |
| I asked if this was their club web site | | | | Google). |
| and the answer was no, surprisingly. The | | | | |