Technology Futures

Microsoft has announced that the company will start bundling a voice telephony application into mobile versions of Windows Mobile that runs on smartphones and PDAs. It is apparently bundled with mobile versions of Office, meaning the initial marketing is aimed at business users rather than casual consumers, who are not likely to spend the money for a copy of Office for their phone.

Google's share value has declined 23% of late, mostly fueled by investor worries that the company has really overreached on its plans for global domination. Google's plan to build its own, parallel Internet just smacks of a "Let's party like it's 1999," when numerous high flying firms burned through billions of investor money chasing the same pipe dream.

Here is yet another marketing study that thinks broadband take rates (how many people sign up for broadband service) are affected primarily by price of the service. The study, done by The Yankee Group, shows just how wrongheaded both the analysts and their customers (mostly telcos and cable companies) are.

Rocketboom is creating a buzz online. It's a daily video Web log, or vlog, for short. Video blogs have been around for at least a year, but Rocketboom's minimalist approach, couple with an eBay auction for advertising, may just catch on as a model for both managing video content/commentary and for selling ads.

Liftport Group is testing a 1 mile high carbon fiber ribbon as part of its engineering efforts to design and build a 62,000 mile high space elevator that uses robotic lifters to ferry supplies and people up into Earth orbit. NASA has offered a cash prize for working prototypes that meet certain specifications.

I've borrowed the title of Jeff Chester's article in The Nation. Chester raises alarm bells about the plans of the incumbent broadband providers to create walled gardens that give them near monopoly control over what their subscribers can do and access via their broadband connections.

Vermont legislators are debating legislation that would provide low interest loans to wireless providers that offer broadband in underserved areas of the state. And even better, the state lawmakers may waive onerous state-required impact reviews and red tape for new wireless towers if local communities have an approved review process in place.

Tom Dorr is one of the most knowledgeable people in the Federal government when it comes to rural issues. At a seminar in Iowa, Dorr discussed a key advantage that he thinks rural communities have when attracting entrepreneurs--quality of life (hat tip to EDPro).

Georgia has created Entrepreneur Friendly communities (hat tip to the excellent EDPro blog).

Two statewide tech councils in Maryland have merged so that they can provide a clearer voice for technology businesses in the state.

If you are not familiar with the phrase "network neutrality," it is time to start learning more about it, as the issue is moving front and center in the debate about the future of the Internet.

The current Internet is "network neutral," meaning that there is a gentleman's agreement among all network managers that they will allow anyone else's data to cross their network. If you send an email to someone in California, it might traverse several privately owned networks along the way. Network neutrality is what makes the Internet work.

For those of us that travel frequently, it's mostly a chore to lug around a laptop. Treos and Blackberries are fine for sending a short, urgent message, but many of us has real work to do in the morning or in the evening while on the road. For that you need a full size keyboard and display.

NASA has announced a series of new cash prizes for companies that are able to introduce new space systems that meet the agency's specification. Like the popular X Prize that led to the creation of several private spaceship firms and the successful flight of Bert Rutan's SpaceShipOne, these new awards are designed to encourage the development of new space systems developed without the red tape and overhead of government research.

USA Today reports that Ford and GM are going to accelerate the introduction of more E85 cars and trucks, which will run on a mix of 85% ethanol (from corn) and 15% gasoline. Ford is planning to work with ethanol distillers to increase the number of gas stations that offer the alternative fuel, starting in the midwest, where corn is plentiful and where most of the ethanol producers are located.

Google's new version of its Desktop toolbar will copy the files on your computer to its servers, where you can search them. Ostensibly, this free service is designed to make life easier for people that have multiple computers (like a desktop machine and a laptop). By letting Google index all the files on both computers, you can find any file on either machine simply by searching Google.

The recording industry trade association (RIAA), according to this blog run by two lawyers, is suing a woman for illegal music downloads. There is just one small problem; she does not own a computer and has never had one in her house, period.

Nanotechnology has the potential to change the way all sorts of things work. This article about building computer memory using nano-size buckytubes is a perfect example. Memory is one of the most expensive parts of any digital device, and for little computers like iPods and other MP3 music players, the solid state memory or hard drive usually accounts for about half the cost of the components.

A new book alleges that the phone companies owe every household in America $2000, or about $200 billion in total. Just released (disclaimer: I have not had a chance to read it yet), the book is already creating a lot of discussion online.

The dollar figures allegedly come from calculations the author has performed by looking at the increases in phone and broadband costs over the past decade and comparing them to what the phone companies promised to do in the mid-nineties.

An iPod user has filed a federal lawsuit against Apple alleging that the popular music players cause hearing damage. The suit claims that Apple knows the volume can be set too high--so high that it causes permanent damage.

I worded the title of this article carefully; I used "may," not "will." Google may end up as de facto owner of the world's information, and I could be wrong. Time will tell.

Google's early success came by doing something well that no one else was doing--searching the Web. Google studied the behavior of early search engines like Alta Vista, and came up with better search algorithms. Everybody liked Google because it did something no one else could do--produce relevant search results.