By CLAYTON PARK

One of Kent Forschmiedt's favorite movies as a kid was the 1968 sci-fi classic "2001," which astonished audiences at the time because of its startling vision of the future. As Forschmiedt recalls, there is a scene in the film where one of the characters, an astronaut, is shown eating his breakfast while "reading" a newspaper via a tablet-shaped computer.

Imagine Forschmiedt's shock then a few months ago when he found himself unconsciously acting out that scene in real life. The 39-year-old, who had "retired" in the spring of 1999 after seven years of working for Microsoft, was in his kitchen cooking breakfast while checking out the day's headlines on a wireless handheld personal computer when the realization of what he was doing dawned on him.

Of course, as a Microsoftie whose job was helping develop the computer operating system now known as Windows 2000, Forschmiedt was used to having access to the latest in computer devices, including prototypes not available to the general public.

But that day in his kitchen, Forschmiedt got to thinking, "this stuff belongs in everybody's home."

At the same time, Forschmiedt, who had become bored with retirement, was looking for a new challenge to tackle. He noted how visitors seemed impressed at the setup he created that allowed him to operate his laptop PC anywhere in his house without wires and still have high-speed Internet access. What's more, he could move his laptop from room to room and continue using it without having to disconnect and reconnect it.

"My Microsoft friends would come into my house, look at my cordless laptop and go: 'I've got to have one of those!'' he recalled.

After advising several of his friends on how to create similar setups, Forschmiedt decided, why not start a business of his own where he could get paid to do this kind of work? Forschmiedt recruited his younger brother, Forrest, a trained computer technician who had experience managing businesses, to help him launch Unplugged Northwest in January. Kent serves as the company's president, while Forrest is vice president in charge of business operations. The company has three other employees, Rod Hearne, who oversees marketing and sales, computer technician Sandra McKenna and Michele Parent, receptionist and "office do-it-all."

Located at 115 N. 85th in the heart of Greenwood, Unplugged Northwest is a provider of what Kent Forschmiedt calls "cordless networking solutions" geared towards homes, small businesses and schools. "We focus on the consumer edge of business rather than the enterprise edge of business," he said.

He prefers to use the term "cordless" to describe the technology his company offers, to avoid confusion with the deluge of "wireless cell phones" out there, many of which can connect users to the Internet, but operate as "slow as molasses."

Unplugged Northwest offers a basic service in which, for a one-time fee, it can connect a single laptop to a DSL or cable modem without cords. The setup can be expanded to accommodate several computers than share one Internet connection. Optional features include hardware firewall security and content filtering, which allows parents to control what Web sites their kids see.

"I see this as technology for the masses," said Forschmiedt, who added: "People can also call up and ask what we think of the latest gadget."

Forschmiedt said he and his staff are constantly testing new products to determine which ones are worthy of recommending to customers. "For every 10 new wireless products, nine are a bust," he said.

2001 is just a few months away, but Forschmiedt is already looking forward to what's next after that. He notes: "I like to always be two years ahead of the mass market."