Current Industry Efforts
Information appliances
- Web TVs, screen phones, net-enabled smart handheld computers, internet gaming consoles, internet automotive systems, electronic books
Integration into Internet
- wireline high-speed access (high-speed data over phone lines; cable)
- wireless high-speed access (terrestrial/LMDS; satellite services)
- short-range wireless LANs (HomeRF, Bluetooth)
- networking/communication protocols for information appliances (Jini, Universal Plug & Play, Inferno, Odyssey, T spaces, JetSend)
Applications
- networked household (TV set-top boxes, handheld communicators, PDAs, PCs, laptops, printers/scanners, digital cameras)
- networked automobile (GPS, PDAs, cell phones, video games, e-mail, voice mail, web surfing, navigation assistance)
- BodyLANs (e.g., FedEx integration of handheld computers, scanners & printers to determine status of packages)