Mobile_Computing

Mobile Computing Jared Myers INF 103 Melanie Davis July 11, 2011 Mobile Computing Computers made most people apprehensive less than a decade ago. My Mom finally got her first computer five years ago at the age of seventy-eight to correspond through email after learning the basics at Church. Most people could however, see their reliance coming although not many dreamed of the capabilities they would provide by 2011. For example, when my Grandmother passed away in 1976 the cell phone was just being pioneered and the cost was thirty nine hundred dollars. “The initial model, the DynaTAC 8000X, weighed nearly two pounds and cost $3995” (Azalma, Leydoig, Nbrewer, Nmolnar Rnarayan, 2010). In fact, MP3 technology would not exist for another ten years. There would be no way for her to see the first version of Microsoft Windows coming nine years later. “On November 20, 1985, two years after the initial announcement, Microsoft ships Windows 1.0. Now, rather than typing MS DOS commands, you just move a mouse to point and click your way through screens, or “windows”. Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/history. People born before 1980 to this day “are not considered a part of the digital society” (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). I had two years left in high school when my Grandmother passed away and she wanted me to go right to college. Thirty-five years later technology and asynchronous learning has allowed me to do so. Mobile computing not only plays a role in my higher education it provides the vehicle, which allows me to do so. The capabilities that computers allow us today are vast, varied and more and more geared towards our mobile society. We drive our cars, trucks or motorcycles to school, work and play. From the library, office and golf course we are constantly on the move. Wireless internet enables us to access the World Wide Web on the go. We can communicate from a kid’s soccer game to colleagues and clients from our business email accounts allowing us to be productive at work and still provide support for our children. There are many ways to access the internet wirelessly, which provides convenience and mobility. A laptop computer is like having an office on wheels. It can carry all of your office and personal files including digital pictures, music files, contacts, financial information, business and personal email accounts. It can connect to the internet through wireless hotspots like free vendor use sites including Starbucks and McDonalds. Most major airports across the country provide free access. AT&T and Verizon provide a list of all the sites available. Most hotels and motels all provide access to the internet either wirelessly or by cable hookup. The major cell phone companies offer data packages for laptop computers with “air cards” that connect at 3G and 4G speeds. Having an air card with a laptop brings an added level of mobility and expediency. Other ways to access the internet wirelessly include cell phones commonly referred to as “smart phones”, iPads and even game stations like the Microsoft Xbox or Sony Play Station. Almost every internet service provider (ISP) provides an email account that comes along with the service. Hotmail, Google, Comcast and Yahoo email accounts can be configured to Microsoft Outlook so the history of correspondence remains on the laptop. The data also lives on the ISP providers servers and accounts can be accessed from any computer in the world with internet access. “Cloud Computing” is becoming a wave of the future. Having copies of data including pictures, music and document files on a server at an external location allow us to access our data from any computer with internet access. It also safeguards our information in case of loss, theft or fire. For example, programs like “Mozypro” provide real time backup of the data we select. We can do our banking, buy products and services, sell business and personal items, check airplane flight information including checking in for flights all from our internet connections. New mobile devices continue to become available and they are getting smaller and more convenient all the time. Not only are the devices more readily available the amount of applications (apps) available for them is becoming mind boggling. “Although various apps are written for the specific operating systems used by different mobile phones, a huge catalogue of apps is developing. For example, the Android operating system produced by Google has over 70,000 apps available, while the iOS 4 system used by the Apple iPhone has over 200,000” Poyntz (2010). The Apple products have been and continue to be a huge success with people who have them. The iPod music player, the iPhone and the iPad allow capabilities that make staying connected with work, home, family and friends easy and efficient even the devises are light and compact. With the use of blue tooth, we can use our iPhone in our vehicles and talk hands free. Calling someone while driving is as simple as saying “call home’ through the voice recognition software that synchs with the contact list. A relative new technology called 2-D can be used to scan a bar code that launches a video, directs us to a specific website or any other types of information that the bar code designer desires. Pictures and videos are at our fingertips with a built in camera and recorder. A voice recorded allows us to record memos instead of taking notes. Email the pictures, videos or voice memo to friends and family. Post pictures to social media websites like Facebook and people can view them instantaneously. Along with all of the capabilities that mobile computing devices have they provide us the convenience to do an amazing amount of things. For example we can “surf the web” from practically anywhere. We can email colleagues, clients, family, friends and college professors from limitless locations. With online banking, we can pay our bills while saving money on stamps and transfer money from account to account. “The growth of mobile banking is staggering, especially compared to previous delivery channels. It took approximately 20 years for ATMs to become ubiquitous while online banking took a decade. Mobile banking' Expect widespread use in five or six years, according to many in the industry” (Valentine, 2011). No longer are the days when we would pull over while driving to use a payphone. Cell phones bring us the convenience to keep motoring down the road while calling and talking. Blue tooth capabilities allow us to drive and talk safely while keeping both hands on the wheel and utilizing the “hands free” and “voice activation” features. While on vacation, we can take pictures with the same devices we use for talking, emailing and accessing the World Wide Web. Parents can stay in touch with work while attending and video their children’s soccer game all with one device. Traveling professionals can take advantage of down time standing in line at airports to read the news from the internet on their high-resolution, smart phone screens. Technology evolves at a fast rate. According to Moore’s law; “every two years the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles, reducing the cost of the circuit board” (Bowles, 2010). Recent history demonstrates that computers have doubled in speed every two years while being reduced in size all adding to the capabilities and convenience that mobile computing provides. The internet has spawned technologies such as Wi-Fi, 2-D, Bluetooth, Camera, GPS navigation and Video. When considering the built in features of the Apple iPhone and the two hundred thousand and counting applications that are available for it one has to wonder what is next. The old adage that “the sky is the limit” seems to apply well when it comes to technology. Biotechnology and the medical field has benefited from mobile technology. The use of a sonogram converted to a display monitor helps doctors and pregnant parents stay on top of any potential issues. Back in the early nineteen hundred, many women died at childbirth. Today with the use of measuring devises like blood tests cases of gestational diabetes can be detected and treated. “Gestational diabetes mellitus is one of the major medical complications of pregnancy. Untreated, the mother and the unborn child may experience morbidity and fetal death may even occur. It is important to diagnose and treat all hyperglycemia appearing during pregnancy” (Jovanovic, 2004). The use of mobile computing seems to have a limitless number of applications when it comes to the medical field. It should be considered that a cell phone be standard issue in a first aid safety kit. “Each day, approximately 750 Europeans suffer from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which presents a large public health problem. In such circumstances, rapid activation of the Chain of Survival with effective and continuous realisation of its four links can have a large impact on survival. Mobile phones, which have become the most ubiquitous piece of modern technology, possess a strong potential to strengthen each link of the chain. Initially, they can be used to educate rescuers about appropriate actions performed in each step of the resuscitation process. However, mobile phones can also assume a more active role of helping the rescuer in a real medical emergency. They have a potential to allow for a faster and superior emergency medical services contact, assure a higher quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and quicker retrieval of an automated external defibrillator and facilitate a finer post-resuscitation care through telemedical and clinical decision support systems. Smartphones, mobile phones with advanced computing abilities and connectivity, should be considered as medical devices, and their use, among lay rescuers and medical professionals in cardiovascular emergencies, further investigated and strongly encouraged” (Ileana, Ivor, Kovic, Lulic, 2011). Gene therapy is being employed successfully to help us live longer lives that are more productive. For example, the average lifespan of humans was thirty-seven years in 1800 and seventy-eight years in 2002. Artificial red blood cells can now be implanted into the bloodstream to cure type-one diabetes (Kurzweil, 2009). The growth of mobile computing is jaw dropping. Laptop computers are great although have their drawbacks like weight and size. Smartphone devices are becoming more and more like laptop computers all the time. With “cloud computing” evolving the way it is, it is also making smart phone devices that much more productive and desirable. For example, “The worldwide smartphone market would increase by 49.2 percent in 2011” (Twice 2011). The Silicon Alley Insider published a graph based upon RBC Markets estimates in 2008 showing smartphone sales overtaking PC sales by 2011. The RBC Markets estimates from 2008 that smartphones would outsell laptops by 2011 proved correct. “For the first time ever, smart phones such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone are outselling personal computers, according to a report by research group IDC that was released Monday. Worldwide, consumer electronics makers shipped 100.9 million smart phones in the last three months of 2010, an 87 percent jump from a year earlier. PC shipments were weaker than expected, edging up just 3 percent to 92.1 million” (Wollman, 2011). With all the advances in technology and the prevalence of mobile computing comes some issues to consider. First and foremost is the safety issue of driving while talking on a cell phone. Driving accidents occur every day and talking on a cell while driving may contribute to those accidents. Many states have laws about driving while on a cell phone. The law in Washington State where I live allows the use only with blue tooth technology and “hands free” talking. It has yet to be determined if that alone is enough to curb the accident rate. Consider for example, “At particular risk are college students, who walk frequently in and near traffic, have increased pedestrian injury rates compared to other age groups, and frequently use cell phones” (Byington, David, Despina, Katherine, Schwebel, Stavrinos 2011). Another concern is that the radiation emitted from a cell phone can be harmful. For example, consider the following result from lab tests on mice, “Short-term memory in mice is affected by mobile phone radiation” (Margaritis, Ntzouni, Stamatakis, Stylianopoulou 2011). Another issue to consider is weather children are growing up too wired on technology. A large amount of time is being spent indoors watching TV, playing video games or being on a computer compared to past generations. Middle school age children have cell phones and text with their friends and family on a regular basis. The increased use of acronyms might be contributing to a decrease in the proper use of writing and grammar. Consider for example a case of over texting by an adolescent “The article presents a case study on the occurrence of tendinitis in a 14-year-old girl. It says that the girl was noted with a swelling local soft tissue and mild erythema, aggravated by thumb abduction. She, accordingly, was not involved in trauma, sports, and thumb problems, except of texting for some four hours a day wherein she was presumed of having texting tendinitis” (Kennedy, Williams, 2011). Mobile computing like most things in life have pros and cons. Deciding whether the pros out way the cons comes down to individual preference. My Grandmother who passed away in 1976 was born and raised on a two hundred acre farm in Purdin, Missouri. Even though she only had a high school education, not anyone meeting her would ever have known that. She was a ferocious reader and was passionate about current state of affairs ranging from local and world news to politician’s beliefs and voting records. If she could imagine the wealth of information that mobile technology would provide by 2011 she would indeed have pre-ordered an iPad2. My Grandmother dearly wanted me to go to college. For the past thirty-three years since graduating from high school, I have worked full time. I travel extensively to the point that going to college in a classroom is not a possibility. Mobile computing not only plays a role in my higher education it provides the vehicle, which allows me to do so. My Grandmother would be proud of the advances that our society has made in technology and me for taking advantage of them. Learn Surf Jam Record Communicate Earn Relax References A history of Windows. Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/history Azalma, Leydoig, Nbrewer, Nmolnar, Rnarayan (2010). Evolution of Cell Phone Technology. Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Evolution_of_Cell_Phone_Technology Bowles, M., D. (2010). Introduction to Computer Literacy. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUINF103.10.2 Byington, David C, Despina, Katherine W., Schwebel, Stavrinos (2011). Journal of Safety Research. Vol. 42 Issue 2, p101-107, 7p; DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2011.01.004 Global smartphone growth to accelerate. 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