-
- Microwave power levels transmitted by the growing number
of cell phone towers is going to rapidly escalate, when hundreds of millions
of mobile phones are online, up to 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, functioning
as portable (i.e., wearable) instant messengers, news and entertainment
centers, voting/polling booths, and shopping 'malls'. Very soon, broadband
access (high power broadcasting) will enable 'popular' (profitable) 3-D
virtual-reality headsets, wearable video cameras, etc. No wonder they ignore
the microwave health hazards.... the government surveilance possibilities
are absolutely dizzying. Roll over, George Orwell.
-
- Bill K.
-
-
- From the following article:
-
- " The Microsoft venture will intensify competition
among mobile phone operators to offer the fastest access to the net. "This
is going to have a long-term impact on the whole wireless industry,"
said Ilkka Rauvola, analyst at Paribas. "
-
- :Link
-
-
- Microsoft Signals Death Of PCs
-
- John Cassy and Jane Martinson The Guardian Unlimited
12-9-99
-
- The death knell for the personal computer sounded last
night when Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, announced a
major investment in the next generation of mobile phones.
-
- The agreement with Ericsson, the world's largest manufacturer
of mobile electronic devices, to make Microsoft's e-mail system compatible
with mobiles and personal organisers is a tacit admission from the US giant
that the PC will soon be overtaken as the preferred way of accessing the
internet.
-
- Industry experts say that by 2003 more than 600m people
will be accessing the internet from mobile devices compared to 550m using
desktop computers.
-
- Phones, walkmans, personal organisers and even digital
cameras will provide access to the internet with users able to surf, read
books, trade shares, speak to friends, e-mail and shop from the same device.
-
- "We have entered the post- PC era," said Keith
Woolcock, senior technology analyst at Nomura. "The PC is is being
obviated. The technology world is now all about mobility. There is no
need to be desk-bound."
-
- Microsoft, which controls 95% of the PC software market,
has only latterly acknowledged the threat mobile devices pose to its startling
growth.
-
- Bill Gates's company was also slow to pick up on the
internet but massive investment has allowed Microsoft to bludgeon its way
back to the forefront of the net revolution.
-
- In the same way as it made Windows the world's standard
software operating system, Microsoft has been trying to produce a standard
system for mobile devices.
-
- However, the Symbian alliance struck by a host of Europe's
leading mobile phone, electronics and software manufacturers has proved
more difficult to muscle past.
-
- Mr Gates has already identified British computer company
Psion, a tiny player in global terms and best-known for its handheld organisers,
as one of the biggest threats to his empire. Psion and mobile phone companies
Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and Panasonic are, through Symbian, attempting
to create a global operating standard for handheld devices.
-
- Analysts say that although it is a David versus Goliath
battle, the mainly European companies for once look like outflanking their
Silicon Valley rivals.
-
- "For the last 25 years everything computer and software
related has come out of California," said Mr Woolcock. "Now all
eyes are on Europe. We are ahead in the mobile phone market and that will
prove vital."
-
- The Microsoft venture will intensify competition among
mobile phone operators to offer the fastest access to the net. "This
is going to have a long-term impact on the whole wireless industry,"
said Ilkka Rauvola, analyst at Paribas.
-
- "Ericsson has handsets, Microsoft has operating
systems and has been looking for a way to enter the wireless industry."
Microsoft has already teamed up with British Telecom to develop Internet
and multimedia services for consumers and businesses to use on the move.
-
- "Mobile internet access and services are crucial
for realising Microsoft's vision of empowering knowledge workers and consumers
through software anytime, anywhere and on any device," said Microsoft
president Steve Ballmer.
-
- The new technology that will drive the growth is called
WAP, standing for Wireless Application Protocol, which is a piece of software
that filters text information from web pages and displays the words on
your phone.
-
- Mobile phone operator Orange expects 60% of new hand-sets
to be "Wap-enabled" by next year.
-
- Last month Nokia launched the UK's first WAP phone offering
access to e-mails, news headlines, sports information and entertainment.
-
- Fuller details of the Microsoft/Ericsson link-up will
be unveiled at a press conference in Stockholm this morning.
-
-
- © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 1999
-
-
-
- Forwarded with no endorsement implied-- for education,
research and discussion.
-
- *** NOTICE: Per Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest,
for Fair Use research and educational purposes, only. *** Ref: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
****
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