First, I came across Bluetooth written all over billboards in downtown Toronto. Bluetooth is a specification based on radio link technology, which enables the connection of nearby devices without the use of cables. The intriguing part is that it offers exciting possibilities such as transforming dumb appliances into intelligent ones. Just imagine your Bluetooth fridge prompting your Bluetooth telephone to call your friendly grocer to replenish your food supply. But how does Bluetooth work? Well, you need hardware that lets the radio waves through and software to make devices talk to each other. However, no need to throw away your laptop, cellular phone and new printer. Bluetooth accessories will shortly make their appearance on the market.
While in Europe last week, I heard that Ericsson is coming up with a smart phone based on the Quartz platform. Quartz is an interface design for wireless devices that combine communications and computing. So think of a smart phone as a PDA that includes telephony, e-mail, Internet browsing and streaming multimedia. Should you hold off purchasing Palm VII? I think not. Quartz devices are not yet around the corner especially in North America.
More within reach are the exciting developments in voice technology that bridge access, ubiquity and customer service.
Have you heard that you can access your e-mail by telephone and have it read to you? This is made possible thanks to text-to-speech software and entrepreneurial service providers. If you sign on with Orchestrate.com, you can also reply to your email by phone and get all messages from all devices in a single Orchestrate mailbox. This is what is termed "unified messaging".
Have you heard that if you buy this summer a luxury GM car equipped with OnStar, you can tell the onboard computer to send e-mail, make a phone call or access the Internet without taking your hands off the wheel? This is magic by General Magic who offers a platform dubbed the magicTalk (TM) communications platform. Thanks to this platform, voice applications can be deployed on Websites.
And have you heard of HearMe? This is a solution provider that will let you add live voice on your web site in minutes. They say all what is required is copying and pasting a few lines of HTML code into your Web page.
Live voice on the Internet has exciting potential not only for e-commerce and customer relationship management but also for distance education. Students can learn anytime and anywhere as well as talk directly to the class forum through their Internet connected PC or from any standard telephone.
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