Microsoft, WebEx Ink a Digital Deal

"Attempting to boost momentum behind its Tablet PC initiative, Microsoft on Monday showcased its 2.5-pound pen-based device and announced that WebEx would support its digital ink capabilities. Online conferencing vendor WebEx said at the Demo 2002 conference in Phoenix that it will build Web conferencing services for the Tablet PC, taking advantage of the portable form factor to boost enterprise communications in meetings, according to K.V. Rao, director of platform marketing at WebEx in San Jose, California.... In addition, Groove Networks says it is building a secure collaboration offering based on the Tablet PC that will allow users to work together on projects in real time, sharing comments in digital ink." [at PC World]

I hadn't thought of this. I've been focusing a lot on how PDAs can make reference librarians more mobile, but I hadn't considered that the Tablet PC could do this but with more screen real estate. Things that make you go hmmm.......

802.11b and Bluetooth, Meet Ultra-wideband

"The technology simply put uses a large radio spectrum to send pulses of binary data without requiring a locked frequency to do so.... XtremeSpectrum president and CEO Dr. Martin Rofheart commented that the value of Ultra-wideband will be found in its high data rates, low power requirements, and low cost, three things which other wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and 802.11b cannot claim as a whole." [PDABuzz.com]

On the other hand, a News.com article notes the controversy in this decision because police and fire officials say it encroaches on the frequencies they use.

GLOCOM has posted a report that outlines four different scenarios for the future of the Japanese wireless market, projecting that it could reach a worth of 2-10 trillion Yen and 4G status (a high-speed, 4th-generation network) by 2010. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, since the Japanese are already headed down the 3G road. It outlines six "service characteristics that control the demands of mass users" and therefore impact future adoption:

1. Transmission service
2. Service areas
3. Brand of carriers
4. Device
5. Contents and Applications
6. User Interface

When you look at their chart of "3G Services vs. non-3G services" (towards the bottom of the page) the positives on the left and negatives on the right illustrate why Japan (on the left) is so much further ahead of the U.S. (on the right). Not every negative characteristic applies to the U.S. (or vice-versa), but enough of them do that we haven't made much progress in technology and adoption rates. [via Dave Farber's IP list]