Technology Futures

Enough poorly thought out and/or underfunded online services are dying that someone has started a death watch blog. This is a market where too many startups thought they were going to capture 10% of the market and make gazillions with their wizzy Web 2.0 service (file storage, online collaboration, etc.).

Many of these services are just quietly turning off the servers with little or no notification of their customers. So buyer beware if you are storing all your company documents or family baby pictures on one of these sites--your backups may just disappear one day.

Design Nine has been working on broadband planning with several communities recently, and during our meetings, some interesting stories have emerged.

One businesswoman moved her business from a big city to a beautiful small town, only to discover that broadband services were limited or nonexistent. She just took it for granted when she moved that services similar to what she was able to get in her previous location would be available in the small town. When she learned they were not, she remarked, "You have got to be kidding." She now has to drive farther to work than she wanted to because she had to locate her business in an area where there was broadband available.

I met another businessman who had just moved from Boston to a small town in rural Pennsylvania. His business is entirely Web-based, and moved for the quality of life. He was able to get broadband at his home, but told me the town is otherwise badly underserved.

The lesson for rural communities: People and businesses want to live in small towns, but they have to have affordable broadband at home and in downtown and commercial areas. Communities that can market broadband availability on their economic development Web sites have a distinct advantage.

It may be benign and even mildly useful, but SEEMS creepy. Google has announced it now tracking the flu by using searches for keywords like "flu," "fever," "thermometer," and so on. It uses information gleaned from your browser and computer (IP address, MAC address, service provider) to identify an approximate location. The data will then be passed on to the Center for Disease Control. A test last year was apparently good enough that they are doing it again this year.

Google swears the data is anonymized, but don't be surprised to see ads for pharmacies and Theraflu (TM) pop up as you search the Web for a flu remedy. Google and the CDC both announced, "...this is just the beginning." What's next? Google dispatches an order of chicken soup to your house? The Feds send you a quarantine order telling you to stay home for three days? Your data is sent to the TSA (Transportation Safety Agency) which then meets you at the airport and forbids you to fly because you might give others on the plane the flu?

Back in July, I traded in my aging Treo for a 3G iPhone. After using it for three months, it has exceeded all my expectations. I was a bit nervous about doing so, because I had heard so many complaints about poor service from the AT&T network. But I have found AT&T service to be widely available, even in the small towns and rural areas we visit from time to time. The sound quality of phone calls is noticeably better--crisp and clear. My one complaint about the AT&T network is that 3G service, when available (mostly in large cities), does not work very well. According to news reports, this is due to so many iPhones trying to use the company's 3G network simultaneously--the network can't handle the load. But AT&T's slower Edge network is still quite fast--fast enough to handle most Web browsing comfortably and email downloads work very well.

Where the iPhone really shines, though, is with its ability to download and use a wide variety of third party applications. The iPhone App Store, run by Apple, has thousands of useful and inexpensive applications running from the mundane (tip calculators) to very sophisticated apps like Molecules, which displays and rotate 3D representations of complicated molecules.

My main reason for switching was to get improved access to email when traveling, and the Mail application that comes with the iPhone is superb. It is fast and extremely easy to use, compared to the clunky mail app that came with my old Treo. Mail downloads quickly, even on the Edge network, and I can now check mail almost anywhere, at any time.

Some of the other apps I have found useful include JetSet, which the first travel receipts program I have ever used for more than a day or two. I tried out several on my Treo, and they were all so difficult to use I abandoned them almost immediately. JetSet's data entry is quick and easy, and emails a completed trip record to you that is ready to import into a spreadsheet.

The Treo had a Web browser that was notable only for it's constant crashing. It crashed so much that most Treo users never bothered with it, which I think contributed greatly to the Treo's slow decline. The iPhone's Web browser is fast, easy to use, and the large screen makes it very comfortable to read news sites. The ability to quickly magnify the size of the page with a simple two finger pinch means virtually any site can be viewed comfortably.

One little program really shows off the versatility and power of the iPhone. Shazam is a free application that will listen to a song playing on the radio (or any audio you can hear), record a portion of it, transmit it over the AT&T network to the Shazam database, identify it, and send it back to the iPhone. In about twenty seconds, you can find out the artist, the album, view the cover art, and make a one button click to purchase it from the iTunes Music Store.

Another free program is provided by Apple. The Remote application lets you use your iPhone in your house or office to control music playing via iTunes on your desktop or laptop computer. This little program hints at a whole new category of remote control software that will allow the iPhone to control a whole variety of devices. Indeed, AT&T is already talking about being able to use the iPhone to do things like starting your car on a cold morning to warm it up.

The iPhone has now taken second place in global cellphone sales, ahead of RIM (the Blackberry) and Microsoft. It's a great device that is troublefree and easy to use.