National Wi-Fi is a hot topic lately. We’ve recently reported on
Google’s plan to
make it happen and Intel’s new wi-fi platform.
Now, a new product has launched that may satisfy our need for
around the clock connectivity.
TapRoot
Systems announced it’s WalkingHotSpot software
yesterday, which offers a new way to get connected using your
handheld device. If you own a Wi-Fi and mobile broadband-enabled
cellphone, the software turns it into a Wi-Fi router, effectively
transforming your phone into a hotspot.
There are a few kinks to be worked out before this can be widely
adopted. The service will be sold to carriers, not directly to
consumers, so we’ll have to wait and see who picks it up. Also,
only phones based on AT&T Wireless’ service would allow
internet access and phone calls to be made simultaneously. To
narrow it further, only phones using Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile operating systems are currently
supported.
Cellular phones continue to follow Moore’s law and
technologically grow in power each year. Inventive individuals
continue to fund new ways to harness this power into other
industries such as movie making, music broadcasting, and now real
estate.
According to a
Cincinnati real estate blog, cellular phones are becoming a
useful real estate tool. The smart phone and txt enabled phones can
send short codes found on real estate signs to gain basic
information on the price, square footage, and other basics. Going
forward smart phones will be able to download virtual tours and
potentially schematics on homes yet to be built.
I would look to fashion as the next major venue to pick up the
smart phone as an outlet. The ability to capture style in an image
and then have garments found or custom made could drive fashion
sales. Look to houses such as Zara and H&M to be quick adopters of this model
since their factory is already designed for fast turn around.
We here in the US have fallen so far behind the rest of the world in ground-breaking technology (cough! Large Hadron Collider, stem cells, cloning cough!) that even Russia is kicking our butts. Evidence? Here’s a nifty video from our Siberian rivals friends.
What you saw there was the video of HTCs MAX 4G, a smartphone capable of download speeds up to 10Mps on Russia’s Yota Mobile WiMAX network. “The MAX 4G will support the Yota Video network and the device is capable of displaying up to nine TV channels simultaneously.” On top of the usual bells and whistles (bluetooth, WiFi, GPS), it also sports a five-megapixel camera and even an FM radio.
