Greetings Telecom Thinkers! I hope you’ve all had a good summer, with memorable vacations or staycations, as the case may be - or just enjoyed great outdoor moments throughout the whole season!
I wonder how much technology was involved in each day you spent on holiday – no doubt, at any given moment, you were under the guidance of hundreds, if not thousands, of sensors…..most people do not realize how much they depend on machines in their day-to-day lives - until they fail, that is. With the evolution of PAN technologies and wireless solutions - including RFID, UWB, and NFC, and widescale deployment of embedded intelligence, there are more machines running your life than you can imagine! But that is a story for another post – I have other intentions for this note.
Today I wanted to share with you what is truly happening in the world of mobile, which today, means it touches just about every aspect of your life! Think about it – what is the main characteristic of mobility that is so compelling to just about every sentient being – it’s a concept that so many have fought for, prayed for - since the beginning of time – that concept is Freedom!
To understand how education, and knowledge building and transfer, are going to dramatically change in the coming years, you must also understand how mobile devices and communications are going to change within 5-10 years. And the teacher and mentor in me says - you must take a look at the work going on in R&D labs and key universities - in the areas of nanotechnology, tangible interfaces, fluid interfaces, embedded intelligence, and wearables. I also believe you must look at what is being developed as applications in the worlds of healthcare, military/warfare, and entertainment – but that’s a different conversation for another time. Back to the hyperconnected universe of mobile……..
The array of concept phones and prototypes being developed and studied is absolutely the most fascinating peek into the future of communications - it is a veritable crystal ball! I'm preparing for my fall seminar tour, 3 Day MBA in Telecom, and have been having the pleasure of researching this arena - and due to the visual metamorphosis we're in - there are videos available to allow us all to truly visualize and experience the potential!
We all know the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so I’m truly happy to direct you to videos that will provide you a great additional depth in understanding just how mobile devices and applications are evolving ! I encourage you to view these videos as soon as you can - you'll quickly see that today's smart phones will soon be considered archaic and cumbersome.
Let me provide you with three of my favorite projects.....
You have to see Ericsson's Exciter device, which will enable teleportation, through 3D holograms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYCycOSoPfQ, - just imagine how your life will change in 7-15 years - which is coming faster than you know! In fact, recent research reveals that we (information workers) now live a 36 hour network day, due to the impact of multitasking and ambient (passive) networking, - each adding 6 hours of additional activity to our day - and it will be a 48 hour network day by 2013!
Nokia's Morph phone concept is a study in the application of nanotechnology to mobile devices – in the application of wearable communications devices - http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/research/demos/the-morph-concept/video.
And, I very seriously recommend that you view Pattie Maes, of MIT's Fluid Interface Labs discuss and demonstrate the SixthSense device – this presentation will simply astound you! Wearing the device enables it to 'see‘ what the user has in front of them. The projector can then project data onto the surfaces or objects in front of the user - meaning the device has no physical screen but uses anything at hand, including the user’s own hand or a blank piece of newspaper. And , as if this were not enough, Patti predicts that the SixthSense device will be available as a brain implant in 10 years - now that is mobile! The video is at at http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html. The demonstrations they conduct during this 9 minute video are not mock-up productions, or animations, or “concepts” – you will see a working prototype engage in a wonderful range of applications, and I bet there will be one or two that you have not thought of!
After you view just these three projects, your view of mobile phones, or more truly, your view of “communications” will never be the same - and this is just three of the dozen we'll be covering in LIDO's Master of Telecommunications seminars. The process of learning and teaching, as well as knowledge transfer and exchange, are undergoing tremendous change, enabled by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
One parting thought for you – to bring us back to the immediate timeframe – did you know? - today's high-end smart phones and netbooks generate as much traffic as 450 standard mobiles!! Which is why telecommunication infrastructures will continue to grow and evolve, and why anyone involved with knowledge building had better understand their telecom essentials!
I hope you enjoy the look into your near-term future - and Happy Learning!
Lili
This is a really great article. I have to agree with you. Our dependency on mobile phone is tremendous and new evolving technologies will definetly have us scratch our heads in the near future.
Posted by: Vital | April 01, 2010 at 05:58 PM
That was great! I wonder when exactly will these mobile devices be available in the market. Advancement in technology is really a big help for us people especially in terms of communication. Very nice blog!
Posted by: call center philippines | May 04, 2010 at 07:47 PM
Great write. You must also include the new technology that has also been evolved nowadays and that is Cell Phone Monitoring software.
These software has clearly changed the scenarios for the suspicious spouse. It is very hot nowadays. You must add something on it as well.
Any way overall, I really appreciate your effort.
Posted by: Cell Phone Monitoring | October 17, 2010 at 03:15 AM
Mobile and telecommunications technology is one of the fastest industries to grow, in terms of both products and services. What do the next ten years have in store for us users? With the way things are going, we can now not only imagine the industry growing ever bigger to serve our growing needs!
Posted by: Sonia Roody | June 23, 2011 at 06:36 AM
Thanks for sharing! I look forward to viewing more on these situations.
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