The San Jose Mercury News has a summary today of the advent of “no touch” computing that will be coming fairly soon thanks to three dimensional sensors that represent the world to the machine in a much richer fashion than simple flat, 2 dimensional models. 3D sensors will allow people to interact with many devices in a much more natural way – for example via simply looking at a screen and moving your hands you could have dramatic control over a gaming environment.
The Mercury News seems to be suggesting that useful applications are about 5 years out but I’d guess we’ll have robust no touch devices within 3 years and high quality direct brain control within a decade. Braingate is already using brain control and Emotiv has developed a commercial version brain control device that uses theta waves that are read froma sensory “cap” with about 16 sensors. The Emotiv headset will be available to consumers this year.
The rise of the netbook continues to be a big story in computing, and the mobile providers are getting in the game. ATT now offers subsidized netbooks with two year service contracts and Verizon may have a competitive offer soon.
Palm just released the product many have been anxiously awaiting, their new Smartphone the Palm “Pre” which uses Palm’s new operating system called Nova. Engadget is reporting from the Palm press conference and has a good and postive early review of the Pre, which Palm is desparately hoping will resurrect their flagging Smartphone market share which has been dropping since the Palm Treo’s early successes in this niche.
Palm needed a knockout phone and this could be the ticket – anxious to handle one later in the conference and I’ll have more to say then.
Although some might say the Instinct and HTC Dream rival the iPhone in terms of form and function, they clearly do not appear to pose much threat to the iPhone and Blackberry Smartphone dominance. However in 2009 Nokia will broadly launch the N97, a virtual mini computer that some think could be a serious rival to the iPhone. As seen in this Nokia promotion video, the N97 is a stylish full featured smartphone with a full mini keyboard and some other amenities lacking in Apple’s iPhone. However, at the current street pricing of about $800 for unlocked units the N97 will have to be sold at a significantly lower price to dent the iPhone and Blackberry’s reputation as the best phones in their class.
Editor’s note: More Equipment for the road Warrior. Let’s see if they can beat Apple’s price point. –J Ghysels.
Barcelona, Spain: Nokia unveils the N97 with a tilting touchscreen display, keyboard, and widescreen video formatting. Touts the N97 as offering a full mobile computing experience.
Although it wont’ be available until the first half of 2009, Nokia today announced a phone that appears to exceed the Apple iPhone in most of the specifications, although we have heard this type of hype before and the iPhone remains the “gadget to beat” in the highly competitive mobile environment.
From today’s Nokia press release:
Barcelona, Spain – Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97, the world’s most advanced mobile computer, which will transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other. Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5″ touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an ‘always open’ window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations. Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology – including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection speeds – for people to create a personal Internet and share their ’social location.’
HELSINKI (Reuters) - IBM has started a two-year research program that aims to make cellphones easier to use for groups including the elderly and the illiterate. […]
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - More than 100 Chinese consumers have filed an official complaint against Hewlett-Packard Co over faulty laptop computers, leaving the door open for a lawsuit against the U.S. technology company, a lawyer for the group said on Wednesday. […]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is studying whether it can legally challenge Chinese Internet restrictions that hurt Google and other U.S. companies operating in China, but direct talks with Beijing might yield faster results, the top U.S. trade official said on Tuesday. […]
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The directors behind the Oscar-winning animated short "Logorama," are moving into the live-action world -- but they aren't going Hollywood just yet. […]
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - With shrinking audiences, deep layoffs and two management shake-ups, MySpace, the one-time leader in Internet social networking, has had a rocky year. […]
SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Electronics Inc, the world's No. 3 mobile phone maker, on Wednesday launched a smartphone based on Google's Android operating system in South Korea, as it seeks to boost its relatively weak smartphone line-ups. […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc introduced its first major new routers in six years and said they can be configured to handle Internet traffic up to 12 times faster than rival products. […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of cable and satellite companies will this week call on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to create a new process to resolve increasingly bitter disputes over carriage fees paid to broadcasters. […]
TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony and Samsung announced plans to introduce 3D televisions in coming months, betting they will become the next hot products in an increasingly crowded electronics industry. […]
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Internet was built on freedom of expression. Society wants someone held accountable when that freedom is abused. And major Internet companies like Google and Facebook are finding themselves caught between those ideals. […]
Recent Comments