The Future of Cell Phones
Nokia’s head of R&D discusses technology that could shape the look, feel, and function of mobile devices in the next few years.
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17734&ch=biztech
Google’s Home Town to Get Web Access Free
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060816/google_wireless.html?.v=1
The new wireless, or “Wi-Fi,” network, is believed to establish Mountain View, Calif., as the largest U.S. city with totally free Internet access available throughout the entire community …
Google Mountain View WiFi
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/15037109.htm
The network will bring maximum outdoor data-transfer speeds of up to 1 megabit per second, roughly equivalent to DSL. To get coverage indoors, residents can buy an additional router to essentially amplify the signal…
… the network will not be used to gather personal information or track people’s Web-surfing habits, and has launched it solely “to understand emerging technologies.”
Paralyzed man moves computer cursor through thought
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060712/hl_nm/science_brain_dc
The scientists implanted a tiny silicon chip with 100 electrodes into an area of the brain responsible for movement. The activity of the cells was recorded and sent to a computer which translated the commands and enabled the patient to move and control the external device.
Nokia & Siemens To Merge Network Business
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060619/bs_nm/nokia_siemens_dc_9
Nokia and Siemens have agreed to combine the bulk of their telecom networks businesses to create one of the biggest players in the industry, sending shares in both firms higher.
Analysts put a value of 20 billion-25 billion euros ($25.2 billion-$31.5 billion) on the new business, whose Finnish and German parents will exchange no money to do the deal. Around one in five mobile phone calls is already made via a Siemens or Nokia network.
Real-Time Maps
http://technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16807&ch=infotech
uses location data to make real-time maps of how people move through space, gives insight into where people like to work and how traffic flows through the city — information that could help architects and city administration design better digital spaces.
Big communication companies want to get ahold of the data because they think they could sell them in the future. This is the model that Google is using in San Francisco. They are giving a free Wi-Fi infrastructure to San Francisco, but they want to be able to develop new business models based on data about how people use the infrastructure.
Cell phone service offers to put your family on the map
Technology lets parents locate their kids using GPS
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/14341941.htm
A central question is whether the service will spur useful conversation between parent and child about personal security or create family tensions over parents tracking or controlling their kids.
Wireless Sensing Spawns the Connected World
I get too many articles on sensor networks these days that it deserves its own category.
Innovations in sensing, wireless communications, and computing technologies foreshadow ultra-intelligent environments and enhanced lifestyles.
http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?AD=1&ArticleID=12203
The cell phone will play an important role in the real-world application of many of these scenarios. Customers could use their phone, for instance, to pay for food at the grocery store, eliminating the need to carry cash or a credit card.
10 Emerging Technologies
nanomedicine, nanobiomechanics, epigenetics, comparative interactomics, diffusion tensor imaging, cognitive radio, pervasive wireless, universal authentication, nuclear reprogramming, stretchable silicon
http://www.technologyreview.com//wtr_16465,332,p1.html
This year’s list spans a broad range of disciplines, from life sciences to
nanotechnology to the Internet, but the technologies have one thing in common:
they will soon have a signifi cant impact on business, medicine,
or culture.
