New short-range wireless communication technologies would enable environment-aware, mobile, personal area networks. These new technologies will serve as enablers for ubiquitous, low-cost, low-complexity, small-sized information appliances. These appliances will serve as interaction tools between humans and computer-driven services and applications existing in either the close or distant vicinity of humans. In this article the new application paradigms these new technologies will enable are explored. Furthermore, an experimental wireless personal access networking platform called WiSAP, developed to research these new technologies and applications paradigms, is presented. Finally, some of the experiences gained from WiSAP while designing a consumer-oriented portable wireless communication system suitable for wireless mobile personal access networks are also presented.