Technology Futures

It turns out that kids who have spent years playing video games learn to use complex information systems more quickly. The U.S. military reports that new recruits pick up the use of highly specialized and complex data systems easily, compared to youth in other countries, where some of the same systems are exported and in use.

Well, that's a bit of good news. Unfortunately, those same kids can't balance a checkbook or calculate a tip after a good meal in a restaurant. I guess that's why some cellphones come with a "tip calculator" built in, which has always seemed redundant to me since virtually all phones come with a calculator. But I guess a "tip calculator" relieves you of the heavy responsibility of understanding percentages and how to multiply.

I have been following news on the health effects of radio frequency radiation for twenty-five years, and I remain concerned about the possible effects of being bathed in microwave frequency radiation from cellphones, portable phones, and wireless Internet adapters. Keep in mind that all those devices use the same frequencies that a microwave oven uses to turn hot dogs into charcoal, albeit at lower energy levels. There has been a long, muted debate about the dangers, with the industry steadfastly maintaining there is no health risk, and some scientists and researchers much more concerned. Keep in mind that the tobacco industry maintained for decades that there was no health risk from smoking.

This study from the UK suggests that mobile phones may be a source of brain tumors. The study seems broad enough in scope to produce good data, so I view it as an encouraging sign. The researchers interviewed thousands of people with brain tumors to find out about their cellphone use, and were not able to find a connection between use the incidence of tumors. I don't think the debate is over, though. One possible flaw in the study--getting a brain tumor often means you may die in twelve to eighteen months, and the researchers admit that the data could be skewed because there were unable to interview people that had already died.

Until this is all sorted out, I would recommend using a wired headset or earpiece as much as possible with your cellphone. Remember that those wireless Bluetooth earpieces also use microwave frequencies to communicate with the phone.

Update: This study was funded by several cellphone manufacturers, which makes the results more suspect.

As many rural areas of the country continue to overbuild low end business incubators and pin their employment hopes on just one more call center, opportunities to step away from the me-too crowd and do something bold and different continue to slip by.

This BusinessWeek article (hat tip to From On High) describes the Halo Center, which is the next generation of business videoconferencing. This technology has been driving business location decisions for several years, but still continues to stay off the radar of many economic development organizations.

In a global Knowledge Economy, a business can't afford to send someone on a plane to every meeting. There are too many of them, in too many places too far away. So videoconferencing has already become a staple of the global economy. The Halo Collaboration Studio is an immersive, next generation videoconference environment, not just a camera stuck on top of a PC. The goal of the Halo Center was to create a virtual business meeting that felt as much as possible like a real meeting.

Designed and sold by HP, the system works extremely well. Multiple large screen HD monitors, professional quality cameras, and high end audio provide a high quality meeting experience.

Yes, it's currently expensive--too expensive for most companies. But if a region is trying to distinguish its economic development efforts from other areas of the country (and the world), why not invest in a shared facility like this? Few businesses need or want this as a full time operational cost, but what if a business could lease this by the hour locally? All of a sudden, running a business in a rural community comes with opportunities you can't get anywhere else.

This parallels a suggestion I made almost two years ago along the same lines--use inexpensive supercomputer clusters as an economic development tool. Low end business incubators, with no distinguishing business tools attractive to aggressive Knowledge Economy businesses, stuck out in the woods far from downtowns are not going to make a region competitive. Economic developers need to be investing in the next big thing, not the last big thing. The very life and future of their communities is at stake.

But wait....there's just one more thing. Guess what Halo Centers need to work?

That's right--high performance, affordable broadband, not just to the building, but across the entire region so that you have a big pipe all the way back to a major Internet connect point. High performance regional networks are now as important to business as sewer, water, and highways were forty years ago. What is your region doing to make sure you have what you need?

This article on the problems of smaller New England towns and communities could apply easily to most rural communities in America--youth leaving, lack jobs, decaying downtowns, and sprawl.

While many rural communities might claim they do not have the problem of expensive and overpriced housing, the opposite problem of too little good quality middle class and multi-family housing has the same effect--no one wants to move into a community without good neighborhoods and affordable housing for families. And businesses don't want to move staff and workers to an area where good quality housing is not available.

This story is worth a read, and is an excellent analysis of the problems (and some solutions) of rural towns. Check the right hand sidebar for an interesting look at the problems of not working regionally on problems.