New Florence. New Renaissance.

More on Femtocells

I wrote about them last April

They are becoming more mainstream as this MIT Technology Review writes

"In effect, every customer who buys and installs his own home femtocell would reduce the load on the carrier's local macro network. The femtocell itself serves as an alternative base station, broadcasting and receiving ordinary wireless signals from cell phones that the femtocell owner permits. This is a strikingly attractive idea, particularly to carriers in big cities that find their networks often overloaded, and find that local regulations or public opinion makes it difficult and costly to set up new antennas."

TED's last year in Monterey

"TED's invitation-only annual gathering, which starts Wednesday in Monterey, California, brings together an eclectic mix of academics, scientists, entrepreneurs, moguls, environmentalists, philosophers, and just a dash of Hollywood."

Read more about the conference (and the move next year) at Conde Nast Portfolio.com

This year's speakers also include a neuroanatomist, memeticist, animal behaviorist, paleoanthropologist, and a scholar of randomness. Eclectic, indeed.

All about Wikis

SocialText has put together a nice set of case studies and analyst reports on Wikis and other collaboration technologies.

The New Airlines: HP and Cisco

The HP Halo Room and the Cisco Telepresence 3000 (photo below- click to enlarge) are already starting to 

change the way groups of people meet. As a Cisco exec puts it "“This is life-size, with 1080p video resolution,..... The technology melts away and you feel you’re in the room with the people on the other side of the table, down to the smallest facial expression (on the 3 60 inch TVs)”

HP's is a cool $250K plus a monthly fee, Cisco's around $ 300K. Cisco also sells a smaller version for one-on-one meetings for $ 80K.

Not cheap, but neither are business class airfares, especially international. Not to mention the wear and tear and time away from office.

Expect folks like Kinko's, and likely hotels to also jump in to the opportunity. And if airlines are smart they should get in to their own telepresence centers. Can you imagine the loyalty is dad can come home for dinner and still get miles to take to faraway places on vacations?

Update: March 24: At VoiceCon I saw telepresence products from Polycom - in a larger theater setting. I also heard Cisco and HP are in discussions with hotel chains (HP with Marriott) and chains such as Kinko's to buy telepresence as a hourly "service". Finally, I saw the Siemens offering, which could be disruptive to this young market. While the others are offering A380s and 747s which work fine for "trunk" routes Siemens may be offering the 737 for the market to cover a much wider market. See my write up on Siemens offering here.

It's a phone, it's a camera, it's a bird...

"Modu, a domino-like GSM cell phone 7.8 millimeters thick, has basic calling functionality, but pop it into one of its “jackets” — a range of consumer electronics devices with a built-in slot for the phone — and it can take on multiple forms. For example, users will be able to put their Modu into a smartphone during the day to send and receive e-mail while on the go, but will then be able slide the small gadget into a more stylish, slim phone for after-work use, keeping the same phone number and single calling plan. Eventually, they’ll even be able to put Modu into navigation devices to access text messages and have calling capabilities straight from their handheld GPS unit. Or you might plug your Modu into a digital photo frame to download pictures from their device and use the frame as a speakerphone."

Fortune

The Geeky Oscars

I wrote about technology at the Academy Awards a while ago here

This year's 10 winners of Scientific and Technical Academy Awards were presented their awards earlier in February - so they will not be part of the glitz tonight but they are pushing the envelope on animation, special effects and generally improving the craft.

Popular Mechanics rates is favorites in other technical categories like Sound Editing and Visual Effects to be awarded tonight.

Also GM plans to transport the stars to the ceremony in fuel cell and hybrid technology SUVs.

Made in Japan - only for Japan

PC World Canada highlights several mobile, credit card, auto, robotic and earthquake related technologies available only in Japan today

The eBay for Houses?

"The concept of trading homes temporarily for vacations has long existed, but now it's being adapted to the slumping real estate market as people, particularly in the Sun Belt and other slow spots, scout for ways to unshackle themselves from their property...

...The current model is based on new technology that enables computerized  matching of a large number of properties...

...Sawtelle found his swap via a $19.95 listing on OnlineHouseTrading.com, one of at least six swap sites started in the last year. Four have started in just the last seven months, including OnlineHouseTrading.com, GoSwap.org, DaytonaHomeTrader.com and DomuSwap.com."

Chicago Tribune

Nabaztag Nation

ok, so it is a cute rabbit toy. Nabaztag is Armenian for rabbit.

But it is wired with Wi-Fi, MP3, RFID reader, USB and more technology

It can listen, talk, tell you weather and when you have email. socially network, read books (those with a RFID tag it can scan) and, of course, entertain kids with its flashing colors and dancing ears

and oh, also take part in the Opera.

Bandwidth on Demand

"Called the dynamic circuit network, its immediate applications are academic, but its underlying technologies could one day filter into the commercial Internet, and it could be used, for example, to carry high-definition video to consumers."

MIT Technology Review