Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
Posted: 02/12/10 by Mobile Future Team
CNN has an interesting commentary from Larry Rosen, Cal-State psychology professor and author of a new book which explores how Americans of different generations approach new technology.
Rosen cites a recent Neilsen Mobile survey showing that from 2007 to 2009, the number of texts sent by the average teen increased by more than 600 percent. “If you have a teenager (or even a preteen),” he writes, “You must learn how to text, or you two will never ‘connect.’”
More generally, he says, America’s youngest two generations “are defined not by a letter or by their birth year but by their use of technology and media, their need and ability to multitask, their rapid acceptance of anything new and their view of the meaning of technology.” Any way you look at this, it means more texts, more social networking, more streaming videos – increasingly on a mobile network.
For more of Rosen's CNN commentary, click here.
Posted: 01/27/10 by Mobile Future Team
The lights have dimmed at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center and for all the hype surrounding the iPad, the far more important issue involves the rapid impact that tablet computing will have across the wireless ecosystem.
If the iPad is a success, watch for hardware and software developers to respond in kind – and fast. Take hardware development: By the fall of 2007, consumers had shown clear interest in mobile phone touch screens. A year later, at least three other companies had unveiled touch screen phones. Since then, even more choices have emerged.
That, in turn, spurred the current surge in mobile apps. If tablet computers become a success, expect to see a huge amount of resources deployed for software development. Earlier this week, The New York Times’ Jenna Wortham once again showed why she has a reputation for being ahead of the curve on tech trends. On Monday, The Times published this article by Wortham on the broader implications of the iPad [Link]:
“Apple’s move to open up the iPhone to outside programmers in 2008 started a software-writing frenzy. [The iPad’s 10-inch screen and other features] could inspire developers to create new twists on apps, like games that two or more people can easily play at once on the same device.”
As with mobile phone apps, the growth of the “tablet app” market will continue to hasten America’s mobile adoption.
For policymakers, the importance of allocating enough wireless spectrum to accommodate consumers’ expected surge in mobile usage becomes even more important. Fortunately, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet recently approved a bill that’s a step in the right direction.
Posted: 01/06/10 by Molly Kocour
David Pogue of the New York Times takes a look at the newest entrant in the handset market, the Nexus One.
"It's pretty sweet, it advances the state of the art, and it's a welcome addition to the catalog of great app phones like the iPhone, Palm Pre and Motorola Droid. You'll pay $529 without a two-year contract for service with T-Mobile, or $179 with one."
Posted: 01/05/10
Ever see a pothole or a tree that's fallen in the road and think, "Someone ought to fix that"?
Well, if you're in Washington, DC, you're in luck. All you need to do is snap a photo with your PDA and using the city's DC 311 mobile app, pair it with a GPS location. You then upload it into a local government database. This also works for graffiti, broken parking meters and any other public nuisance.
Other cities from New York to San Francisco have also moved to harness the power of mobile consumers. The practical result, as CNN reports is that:
[T]ech geeks transform banal local government spreadsheets about train schedules, complaint systems, potholes, street lamp repairs and city garbage into useful applications for mobile phones and the Web. The aim is to let citizens report problems to their governments more easily and accurately; and to put public information, which otherwise may be buried in file cabinets and Excel files, at the fingertips of taxpayers.
San Francisco and other cities are trying to develop a national standard for municipal government data. That way, a mobile app that tracks, say, bus service in San Francisco could also be used in any other city. That could enable cities that cannot afford to develop their own mobile apps to benefit.
Posted: 01/04/10 by Mobile Future Team
Eric Savitz writes the Technology Week column for Barron's and his business perspective on technology's changes is always refreshing. Case in point, his predictions for the Consumer Electronics Show, which begins January 7th:
[M]obile devices should be the big story. New phones are likely to be unveiled by Palm, Motorola and others. There will be a host of new e-book readers; keep your eye on the QUE from start-up Plastic Logic. The netbook surge rolls on, aided by variants known as smartbooks -- generally Linux-based, with non-Intel processors, and offering handy features like instant on. Even now-mundane devices like cameras and camcorders will offer wireless connectivity. Also expect a host of new tablet-based PCs, taking advantage of special features in still-nascent Windows 7.
Incidentally, we're offering Savitz' insights solely for their own merits and not to help convince our bosses to approve our last-minute CES travel request.
Posted: 12/02/09 by Jonathan Spalter
Last Friday ushered in the holiday shopping season, and while
consumers were clamoring for the best bargain, this year they had a new
tool in their artillery - their cell phone.
With an array of smartphone choices from the Palm Pre to the iPhone,
several new Blackberry models, and the Droid - never before have
Americans had so many options at their disposal. That's not to mention
the proliferation of retail m-commerce sites, and applications that can
help you navigate stores, compare prices and even send coupons straight to your mobile phone. For customers, cell phones have become the ultimate aid in savvy shopping.
The Wall Street Journal reported that on Black Friday, "mobile online payments through PayPal surged 650%" and mobile searches grew to 200,000 from around 5,000 in 2008.
This is good news for retailers, but more importantly it signals that
2009 is likely to be seen as a tipping point for the mobile web.
Today, nearly 40 percent of new phone sales are smartphones, a
figure that will surely rise with the current holiday promotions. And a
recent report projects that by 2011 a majority of phones in the U.S.
will be connected smartphones that put PC-like functionalities in the palm of your hand.
What's driving this growth is a fundamental shift in how we use our wireless devices.
According to a recent survey of nearly 1,000 phone users:
"[S]martphone users are no longer just reading e-mail or
scheduling appointments but also surfing the Web, streaming video and
music, downloading games, and snapping pictures. Smartphones are now
seen more by consumers as minicomputers than as cell phones."
This is a giant step forward for U.S. connectivity and greatly
beneficial to American consumers, but it also raises key questions for
federal policymakers.
With the surge in smartphone adoption and mobile web usage, wireless data traffic in North America is expected to double every year between 2008 and 2013.
If this forecast holds true, it means that we are facing what FCC
Chairman Julius Genachowski calls a 'looming spectrum crisis.' The FCC
needs to take action by opening up new wireless spectrum. Thankfully,
Chairman Genachowski recognizes this challenge and is taking steps to
address it.
However, as we witnessed with the last auctions, the path to
spectrum allocation can be a lengthy and bureaucratic process, and
consumers also need more immediate solutions. Wireless network
management helps ensure as seamless a consumer experience as possible,
no matter how busy the wireless networks become. As we seek solutions
to address exponentially increasing mobile usage, we should keep in
mind the constructive policies and engineering practices that made this
growth possible in the first place.
As evidenced this Black Friday, wireless innovation is working for
America. When considering policy changes, the FCC must first do no
harm. Government policies should support mobile's still-nascent
potential and growth, but consumer choices and mobile innovation should
guide wireless' bright future.
This article was originally posted on Huffington Post.
Posted: 11/19/09 by Mobile Future Team
According to The New York Times, economists are baffled
over how American consumers are responding to wireless pricing plans but despite
the pricing complexity, the plans are driven by consumer demand and
U.S. wireless customers are coming
out ahead.
To read more about the debate, you can check out the discussion here.
Posted: 11/18/09 by Mobile Future Team
If you're looking to brush up on a little reading, you don't need to carry around a stack of books or even buy an e-reading device. You've already got them with you.
A recent article in the New York Times describes how phones are gaining an edge over e-readers like Kindle. Many people are finding that there is no reason to spend $300 on a new device when they've already got access to thousands of books in their pocket. This trend has caught on with application designers:
Over the last eight months, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a range of smaller companies have released book-reading software for the iPhone and other mobile devices. One out of every five new applications introduced for the iPhone last month was a book, according to Flurry, a research firm that studies mobile trends.
Many new reading applications feature videos, music and other multimedia features, in addition to colorful screens that can't be found on the Kindle. The fact that smart phones go with us everywhere, take up less space and can perform more functions make them an easy choice for e-reading.
Posted: 11/17/09 by Mobile Future Team
The
New York Times reported this
month on an engineer who is converting cell phones into devices that diagnose
diseases. Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at
UCLA, has successfully adapted cell phones for screening in places far from
hospitals, technicians or diagnostic laboratories. Dr. Ozcan's devices provide a
simple solution to a complex problem by replacing the need for a traditional
microscope with a basic cell phone camera.
One prototype, a slide holding a finger
prick of blood can be inserted over the phone's camera sensor. The sensor
detects the slide's contents and sends the information wirelessly to a hospital
or regional health center. The phones can detect the asymmetric shape of
diseased blood cells or other abnormal cells, or note an increase of white blood
cells, a sign of infection.
Dr. Ozcan has formed a company, Microskia,
to commercialize the technology. Some of the company's products would be
adaptations of regular cell phones. For phones without cameras, or phones too
compact to modify, the company has different designs, including a simple box
with a sensing chip that can be plugged into a cell phone or laptop with a USB
cord.
As explained in The New York Times article, the devices
are compact in part because they have eliminated the central element in a
microscope, its lenses. There is no need for lenses in these devices because
magnification can be done electronically. For this electronic system of
magnification, inexpensive light-emitting diodes added to the basic cell phone
shine their light on a sample slide placed over the phone's camera chip. Some of
the light waves hit the cells suspended in the sample, scattering off the cells
and interfering with the other light waves. When the waves interfere, they
create a pattern called a hologram. The detector in the camera records that
hologram or interference pattern as a series of
pixels.
"The holograms are rich in information,"
Dr. Ozcan said. "We can learn a lot in seconds," he said. "We can process the
information mathematically and reconstruct images like those you would see with
a microscope."
Posted: 11/13/09 by Mobile Future Team
Do you hate the cold stethoscope pressed against your back as your doctor asks for a good deep cough? Well, those days may soon be over thanks to our phones.
A recent article on Discovery News offers exciting insight into new applications for our phones, which can analyze the sound of coughs and allow doctors to make initial diagnoses.
New research by American and Australian scientists aims to diagnose cold, flu, pneumonia or other respiratory diseases by analyzing coughs with software. The research could save patients across the world a trip to the doctor's office. Instead, they could simply cough into their cell phone and receive a diagnosis a few seconds later.
The implications for such research might not only save us a trip to the doctor's office, but could also help reduce the spread of contagious diseases and help employers keep sick workers at home, as a recent post on Internet Evolution points out.
If the software commercially existed now, it could go far in preventing the spread of H1N1 flu, as infected people would no longer congregate in doctors' offices, nor could they stay at work while sick. An employer could simply require any staff member to cough into her phone to check to see if the illness is contagious. Or an employer could require employees to cough into their phones before reporting in to work.
There are still a number of issues to be worked out: how to sterilize our phones after coughing into them, or how doctors will account for the factors like age, sex and weight that influence coughs. Still, the possibility of bringing the point of diagnosis from the doctor's office to any place we can take our phones must not be overlooked.
Our nation has been consumed over the last few months with the need to improve healthcare while reducing healthcare costs. Here's a chance for our phones to help do both.
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Tags: Mobile Broadband, Mobile Phone, Net Neutrality, Smartphone, Social Networking, Text message, Wireless Broadband, Wireless Innovation, Looming Spectrum Crisis, Network Neutrality