The current buzzword in personal electronics is Wi-Fi, but the full potential of the latest laptops, cell phones and PDAs is being held back by batteries that last just a few hours. Major consumer electronics firms like NEC, Toshiba and Motorola, along with a number of startups.. are working on micro fuel cells, which theoretically can generate power 10 times longer than conventional batteries.
“Wireless fidelity” is allowing an ever-increasing number of laptops and personal digital assistants (PDA) to log on to the Internet with broadband speeds — cable-free — in airports, VIP lounges, planes and hotels worldwide. The momentum for Wi-Fi is beginning to reach a critical mass in the travel industry with corporate travelers leading the way.
IP Talk, a subsidiary of electronics firm Mitsubishi Electric, will sell a phone that works on voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) only. It will operate only when in the hotspot of a Wi-Fi (802.11b) access point, according to Nikkei Electronics Asia Online.
Almost exactly 30 years ago, Motorola’s Martin Cooper, now regarded as the father of the modern cellphone, unleashed an entire industry when he made some of the first calls with a portable cellular phone in New York city. The rest, of course, is history – a lot of which is being written right here in Asian countries like Japan.
Each client interacting with the sign can choose to allow an icon representing the owner to be displayed on the screen; the icon can display a message like “looking for partner to attend jazz concert at 7:00PM.” If you wish to accept the offer, simply drag your icon down to “mate” with the other. The clients will then be notified how to contact each other and a date can be made on the spot. Unlike the Americans, the Japanese are building highly personal, device-to-device, and socially interactive communication capability into their system from the ground up.
There’s a whole donburi full of WLAN projects in the works right now, including efforts by NTT DoCoMo, NTT Communications, Yahoo BB, Speednet, and others. All are following the famous “hotspot” model, and are angling tie-ups with your Macdonalds, your Mos Burgers, and your coffee shops. But we found a new entrant with a contrarian approach. Forget all the relatively immobile burger eaters and coffee drinkers; MIS provides fat pipes to surfers who are actually walking down the street.
