Motorola Shows Off Future Tech

PC Magazine (10/23/06) Segan, Sascha

Motorola's "Technology Innovation Showcase" in Chicago offered a first look at what the company has been working on. Motorola sees the cell phone at the center the next generation of computing. "We're taking a broader view of the cell phone...finally, the Internet business models, the experimental lab of the Internet can come to mobile devices. The technology world is beginning to get the protocols and standards together for this," says Motorola CTO Rob Shaddock. A customer service avatar was on display, which uses a camera for facial recognition that identifies repeat customers. Retail shelves of the future may be filled with boxes that illuminate when picked up, and are able to track how many times, and for how long, they are picked up by customers, thanks to an RFID chip. Motorola has decided to comply with a European Union directive to make electronics more recyclable, and will create phone casings made from recycled and biodegradable materials as part of its ECOMOTO initiative. Motorola also plans to release TV set-top cable boxes, as part of its Connected Home project, since the FCC has mandates a new standard for CableCard that will force cable providers to more high-tech boxes. Social TV, also being developed, is a way for people to talk about a TV show they are watching from different locations, utilizing a technology similar to instant messaging. Also on display was "Motorola Messenger Modem," a PC-to-phone system that uses a PC's modem to route VoIP calls over a land line to your cell phone.
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