CHAPTER 14 Computers in Society: Tomorrow
Cell Telephones and Palm PCs Merge In case you were wondering when cell phones and palm PCs would merge, its about to happen. Two of the biggest names in technology, Palm and Motorola have agreed to pool their resources and manufacture a line of "smart phones." The devices will combine the capabilities of cell phones and handheld PCs and should be available in a little over a year. Soon you will be able to check your appointments and e-mail, read an e-book, and make telephone calls on the same device, which is yet to be named.
Trends Influencing the Internet Economy The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) has identified key trends that are influencing directions for the Internet economy. These are software as a service (migration of software from client to server), the business of policy (cooperation among competitors and government to set policy), customer empowerment (B2C explosion with many customer choices just a click away), the value of information (recognition that information has value), the digitization of business (further digital convergence), and education any time, any place (online education via distance learning).