1 / 16

Emerging Technologies

Emerging Technologies. 24 May 2007. Agenda. Recap Digital divide and accessibility Social Networks Lecture Discussion Leader. Next Week:. Tuesday: recap the quarter Round table sharing of any podcasts ready for review Thursday: short (~2 min!) overview of your podcast topic

areba
Download Presentation

Emerging Technologies

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Emerging Technologies 24 May 2007

  2. Agenda • Recap • Digital divide and accessibility • Social Networks • Lecture • Discussion Leader

  3. Next Week: • Tuesday: recap the quarter • Round table sharing of any podcasts ready for review • Thursday: short (~2 min!) overview of your podcast topic • Please give me a short “title” for your podcast. We’ll be giving awards. 

  4. Recap • Access is only part of the Digital Divide story • Although most of the DD story is outside our borders, it’s not just outside • Look at these data from Pew: • Broadband @ Home: • Rural: 24% adults • Suburban/Urban: 39% adults

  5. Emerging Technologies • Nature of bits puts pressure on many sectors of society • Sometimes the pressure is referred to as “convergence” • The latest sector is telephony

  6. POTS • Mature technology • Dedicated voice network • End-to-end guaranteed bandwidth • Exception: disasters • Reasonably good security • Meets 9-1-1 regulatory requirements

  7. What is VoIP? • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a way to first digitize voice and then encapsulate it into packets before transmitting over a (non-voice) packet-switched IP network. • It is sometimes called “internet telephony”

  8. Differences (1/2) • Packet-switching versus circuit-switching • “Internet” technology allows several calls to use the same bit of bandwidth, because the bandwidth is not dedicated • This is possible because our voice is “digitized” and then that file is broken into small packets (bundles of bits)

  9. Differences (2/2) • Power requirements • POTS corded phone works when the power goes out. (Cordless does not! Neither does VoIP.) • Telephone line is multi-use infrastructure • Some people use it for broadband (DSL) • Security systems, DVRs (Tivo, RePlay) “phone home” on it • 9-1-1

  10. Locked to Computer? • No! Businesses already using • No! Homeowners already using • Computer-to-phone: Skype and (soon?) Microsoft/MCI • “Portable” VoIP phones use wi-fi networks • Vonage now has the “key-chain” phone • Who provides “hot-spots” in coffee shops, airports, etc? Mostly telephone companies (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint etc.)

  11. PC World, Feb 2006: • My People is an Internet phone service that features wake-up calls and voice dialing • EQO is a mobile-phone app with a hard-to-pronounce name (it's "echo"--not "E Q O") that lets you place and receive Skype calls • Chili is a wireless gadget from ZinkKat that is designed to let teenagers make VOIP calls, listen to music stored on a PC, and hear text-to-speech versions of RSS feeds

  12. Feb 2007: • VoIP Service for Cell Phones • Savings is on international calls • Cordless Phones to Get VoIP • Manufacturers of cordless digital telephones plan to add IP capability to home communication and entertainment devices. • Vonage to become Vonage Wireless? • Deal with Earthlink to resell wifi

  13. VoIP: The New Phone • Subscribers, 2003: 150,000 • Subscribers, 2004: 1.2 million • Subscribers, 2005: 4.2 million • Subscribers 3rd qtr 2006: 8.2 million • End of year forecast, 9.7 million or 8.7 percent US households • Subscribers by 2010: 34% US HH

  14. Discussion • Part 1: 15 minutes • Read the blog posts of your peer group • Comment on each person’s post • Jot down questions of interest • Part 2: • Group and discuss • Where do you have consensus, disagreement? • Part 3: • General discussion (see next slide!)

  15. Possible Questions: • Despite of all the cool features and great rates of VoIP, what are the factors that may prevent people from NOT going to VoIP in the household? • Do you think the impacts of VoIP on society are positive or negative? And why? • How will VoIP change the landscape in how we communicate throughout the world? • What about those caught in the digital divide – will they be left behind?

  16. In-Class Exercise: • Go to Vonage and Speakeasy.net • See if service is available at your current address • Determine the cost of service • Keep your current number (why?) • Make sure equipment costs are included • How easy was this exercise? What are your thoughts about these services? What would entice you to “buy”?

More Related