Inventor of cell phone: We knew someday everybody would have one July 9, 2010
In 1973, Martin Cooper changed the world, although he didn’t know it yet.Cooper and his team at Motorola, the communications company, created maybe the only thing that runs the lives of business professionals and teenagers alike — the cell phone.
It was the size of a brick and wasn’t commercially sold for another decade. But as Cooper demonstrated on a New York sidewalk, it worked.
The concept of cellular technology had already been created by Motorola’s rival, AT&T, whose Bell Labs introduced a system allowing calls to be moved from one cell to another while remaining on the same channel. But AT&T …
Email This PostNew Device Uses Mobile Phone To Test Vision In Developing Countries June 28, 2010
We tend to think of mobile phones as a matter of convenience, allowing us to be productive and entertained while we’re on the go. But a team of researchers at MIT’s Media Lab has created a simple and inexpensive device that when used with a mobile phone can help diagnose vision problems.
The underlying principles of the NETRA (Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment) system are related to recent advances in adaptive optics. The test takes less than two minutes, during which the patient is asked to look through a small device attached to the screen of a mobile phone. The …
Email This PostMobile phones bring revolution to developing world June 23, 2010
We all know how fast technology can change markets and businesses. Now the web and the mass proliferation of mobile phones, as well as falling costs for all kinds of technologies, are allowing rapid change to affect more than just the developed world.
And advances in technology and the falling cost of delivery are driving big corporations as well as entrepreneurs to take new or renewed interest in solving some of the most seemingly intractable issues we face as a global community, from health care to education, from economic development and rolling out affordable alternative energy to coping with the social …
Email This PostText messages become a growing weapon in dating violence June 22, 2010
The text messages to the 22-year-old Virginia woman arrived during the day and night, sometimes 20 or 30 at once. Her ex-boyfriend wanted her back. He would not be refused. He texted and called 758 times.
In New York, a 17-year-old trying to break up with her boyfriend got fewer messages, but they were menacing. “You don’t need nobody else but me,” read one. Another threatened to kill her.
It is all part of what is increasingly called “textual harassment,” a growing aspect of dating violence at a time when cellphones and unlimited texting plans are ubiquitous among the young. It …
Email This PostInventor Proposes New Language for Cell Phone Messaging — Using Hieroglyphics June 16, 2010
Modern man no longer communicates via cave painting, yet hieroglyphs may be making a comeback — thanks to the cell phone.
Colorado native Kai Staats has invented a new language for cell phones that replaces words with pictures to represent actions, nouns, and places, making his invention essentially a modern form of the hieroglyphics used in ancient Egypt.
The language, which Staats calls “iConji,” consists of 32×32 pixel square images that convey either a single meaning, such as “sports car,” …
Orange’s Prototype Power-Welly Boots Are Made For Charging June 7, 2010
First the British invented waterproof Wellington boots; now they’ve invented a way to derive power from those boots. Could corduroy-friction-power be far off?The European telecom firm Orange, which sponsors the huge Glastonbury Festival at the end of June, is promoting its new “Power Wellies” as a means for festivalgoers to keep their cellphones charged.Users will have to stomp in the Pilton mud for about 12 hours to generate enough electricity to charge a cellphone for one hour, however — so the wellies are more notable for novelty than practicality.Read more: popsic.com
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Scotland texting program aims to prevent binge drinking, STDs June 4, 2010
Let’s face it, there’s a reason why “stupid” is a euphemism for “inebriated.” And to prevent young adults from acting irresponsibly while hitting the sauce, researchers in Scotland are launching a pilot program to send text messages to “hazardous drinkers” as a means of preventing binge drinking and stopping the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.The study, called “Talking or Texting?” will recruit 1,000 volunteers in their 20s to determine effective means of encouraging participants to drink in moderation via one of three methods: text messaging, leaflets or a brief, structured interview with a health professional, E-Health Insider reports. Those in …
Email This PostEye Tracking for Mobile Control May 31, 2010
It’s hard sending a text message with arms full of groceries or while wearing winter gloves. Voice control is one alternative to using your fingers, but researchers are also working on other hands-free ways to control mobile devices. A team at Dartmouth College has now created an eye-tracking system that lets a user operate a smart phone with eye movement.Eye tracking has been used for years, primarily as a way for people with disabilities to use computers and to enable advertisers to track a person’s focus of interest. “The naturalness of gaze interaction makes eye tracking promising,” says Email This Post
How apps, texting can improve your health May 21, 2010
Before iPhones, Foursquare and Facebook, B.J. Fogg envisioned a mobile fitness device that coaches the user, tracks her location, and shows her friends also exercising at that time. The concept appeared in Fogg’s 1997 dissertation about how computing and psychology can merge to change behavior, and people thought the idea sounded “Star Trek-ish.” He went on to found Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab, where he began work on mobile applications long before most phones in wide use could support them.Today, Fogg’s ideas that once seemed like science fiction are in widespread use. Anyone can develop a smart phone …
Email This PostSolar Powered Trash Cans send text message May 18, 2010
Fourteen new trash cans at Lodi parks do far more than just serve as garbage receptacles.Through solar power, they compact trash after it’s collected. They even send text messages to city workers when the cans are full and need to be emptied.A single Big Belly solar compactor costs about $4,000, but Lodi officials said the cans were bought through federal stimulus dollars. They also said the cans can help the city save money.Read more: ABC News
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