Emerging technologies

Examples of emerging technologies are Genetic engineering / Synthetic biology, Electric cars with range extenders and Personal rapid transit, Flash memory with smaller, faster, lower power consuming storage, Nanomaterials, CVD diamond, Scramjet, Wireless communication with ubiquitous network connectivity, Anti-aging drugs, Semantic Web or Answers Machine, more efficient bio fuels, OLEDs, Machine translation bob, Nuclear fusion power, 3D optical data storage or Holographic data storage, Metamaterials, 3D displays, Quantum computing, Nanowire batteries, Virtual retinal displays, WiTricity and WREL (Wireless energy transfer).

Emerging technologies

Emerging technologies and converging technologies are terms used to cover various cutting-edge developments in the emergence and convergence of technology.
Emerging technologies are those which represent new and significant developments within a field; converging techologies represent previously distinct fields which are in some way moving towards stronger inter-connection and similar goals.

Over time, new methods and topics are developed and opened up. Some arise due to theoretical research, others due to commercial research and development or new tools and discoveries.
Technological growth includes incremental developments, and disruptive technologies. An example of the former was the gradual roll-out of DVD as a development intended to follow on from the previous optical technology Compact Disc. By contrast, disruptive technologies are those where a new method replaces the previous technology and make it redundant, for example the replacement of horse drawn carriages by automobiles.
Emerging technologies is a general term used to denote significant technological developments that in effect, broach new territory in some significant way in their field. Examples of currently emerging technologies include nanotechnology, biotechnology, cognitive science, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Converging technologies are a related topic, signifying areas where different disciplines are converging and to an extent merging or developing broad links, towards a common direction. Thus as computers become more powerful, and media becomes digitized, computing and media are described as being converging technologies.

Mobile phone :
The mobile phone, also known as cellular phone, has become one of the most successful inventions in the 20th century. In the late 90s, mobile phones became one of the major communication devices. The first commercial mobile phone system started in 1979 in Japan. According to Cellular Online, the global mobile phone subscribers in 2003 are around 1.52 billion, which is about 20 percent of the current world population. This figure showed the success of the mobile phone industries. In about 20 years' time, this technology conquered the global and became a demand for the majority of people in the world. It provided communication for people no matter anywhere and anytime.

Mobile phones were meant to be a device which enables users to have the ease on telecommunication freely wherever they want. But in the late 90s, SMS (Short Message Service), a new technology was brought out. SMS is a transmission of short text message from mobile phones to mobile phones. This became a revolution making mobile phones to develop into a device that not only allows simple voice to voice telecommunication. Mobile phone now not only became an entertainment device (featuring functions such as camera, FM and MP3 players etc) but also allowing users to access through internet, personal digital assistant (PDA) functions and also having video conference using the latest 3G network. Someday, mobile phones might be able to replace computers.

From the early stages of analog cellular to now the latest 3G mobile phone system, the mobile phone developed rapidly in the past 20 years. Each stage of development provided a big improve to the industries. From early stages of voice to voice simple communication, to the WAP and GPRS internet connection and now the high speed internet connection through the internet, it showed that mobile phones is one of the leading technology in the high technology industry. The convenience brought by this technology indeed changed the life of many people and society. Many things such as banking, gathering information such as reports or latest news, control the share market via GPRS etc are what the technology helped to improve and ease the life of people. Japan is the country which the mobile phone technology develops the fastest in the world. Before the 3G technology was launched in other countries, the Japanese had already mastered the technology. A discussion about the fast development of mobile phone industry Japan will be included in the essay.

Studies believed that a new mobile phone network system, 4G will be in the market in the nearby future. 4G, or known as the fourth generation mobile is a whole new radio access network. Stronger and clearer signals and higher speed (broadband speed, 100 times faster than the 3G connection) connection through the internet are the highlights of the 4G technology. Although the 3G technology had only been promoted no long ago, this new technology is now under development stage and believed to be put out in the market in year 2010. It is believed that the 4G will be a big leap and a whole new revolution for the mobile phone industry and the users.

Along with the development of mobile phones, many subsidiary technology developed by the mobile phone companies were also developed and influencing other products such as Bluetooth, Symbian (an operating system (OS) specially designed for mobile phones) and some software companies that designs software for the Symbian OS. These technologies improved the interactive among mobile phones and the users. It provided a much convenience and wider usage for the mobile phone users. More and more companies now are trying to gain a share in the mobile phone market. Many big companies which are developing PDA OS such as Window CE (Pocket PC), PALM and Linux are also engaging their OS with mobile phones functions. This proved that the mobile phone industry is indeed a good market to invest in. The competition in the market is also another reason causing the mobile phone industry to develop in such a short time.

Since mobile phone was developed and used by a large population of people, it changed the lifestyle of many people. On positive views, mobile phone provided a fast and immediate communication for people, which built up a much closer relationship within each another. Though, the negative views of mobile phone became a popular discussion now. Symptoms such as radiation which causes cancer from the mobile phones and mobile phone addiction are now argued to be the disadvantages of the technology. The danger brought by using mobile phones such as the unsafe of using mobile phone during driving or radiation of mobile phone causing danger to certain places such as the gas station are also problems for mobile phone users.

Mobile Phone Technology - The Development
Mobile phone is a small, portable communication device that enables people to make phone calls whenever where they are. It receives and gives out signals via the service providers transmitting towers and even via satellite. The convenience of mobile phone is allowing people to communicate with one another without the limitation of regions and time.

Mobile phone is a device providing two-way communication. Signal transmission is the very basic concept for mobile phone. It uses the radio wave theories which are similar to the ordinary radios. The frequencies of mobile phones of course are stronger and higher than ordinary radios to enable clearer conversation among users. The transmission of the mobile phones allows this radio wave (signals) to interact? (To receive and send) from the device to the transmission centers (towers), then to another user (no matter land line or another mobile phone). The signals of mobile phone are split into small cells (This is also why mobile phones are also known as Cell Phones? earlier) geographically. These cells allow radio transmission enabling authorized signals to receive and send out among the mobile phones.

The technology influencing on mobile phone started back in the mid twentieth century. The very first mobile telephony service was in Sweden. It was a form of radio telephony tested by the Swedish police for used in police cruisers. This form of radio telephone is a two-way radio which is still widely used in taxis and police cruisers. In 1946, Americas AT&T and Southwestern Bell brought out the first commercial mobile telephone service in 1946. This service is used on communication devices which are permanently installed on vehicles. It uses a weaker signal (compared to what mobile phones receive now), but a similar theory of receiving and giving out signals. Though, the bandwidth is very low.

The modern mobile phones are developed, researched and experimented in the 1970s. AT&T's Bell Lab and Motorola from United States are the pioneers in that time. Mobile phone was patented individually by Motorola in 1975. Though, the first commercial mobile phone system (also known as network system or system operator) was launched in Japan in 1979. The second mobile phone system was established in 1981 later in United States. In the late 1980s, along with the commercialized mobile phone system, the mobile phone industry started to develop rapidly and attracting more users to use mobile phones.

In 1990s, along with the popularity on a new network system GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication), more and more people started to subscribe for mobile phones. In 2003, there are about 1.52 billion mobile phone users around the world, making it a big and important industry in the technology field.

Mobile Phone Technology - Disadvantages
The development of mobile phones brought convenient and advantages to the world. Communication between people and people are easier and fast. Though, the disadvantages brought along with the fast grown technology cannot be ignored. These problems not only influenced people personally but also the society.
Symptoms caused by the radiation of mobile phones are one of the most argued problems. Many scientists believe that the radiation from the mobile phones may cause the users to have different symptoms such as headache, earaches, blurring of vision and even causing cancer. Though, these problems are still under research. Mobile phone users are advice to reduce the usage on mobile phones if it is possible.
Mobile phone addiction is a big social problem. Psychiatrists believe that mobile phone addiction is becoming one of the biggest non-drug addictions in the 21st century. Along with the age drop of the mobile phone users and the ease of prepaid method provide by the system operators, most teenagers now own their own mobile phone and network service. Teenagers are engaged on their mobile phones all the time, no matter on phone calls, using SMS text messages, personalizing the mobile phones with ring tones and pictures etc. Besides this, many people are running after the latest mobile phones. New models of mobile phones are released almost everyday. In order to get up-to-date, people tend to change their mobile phones once in a while. These became habits among the mobile phone users causing them to spend unnecessary cost on mobile bills and costs.

Cyber bullying is also another issue among the disadvantages of mobile phones. Cyber bullying is a bullying act using offensive words and behavior via online chatting, emails or SMS text messages. It was showed that the psychological effects of cyber bullying are much severe that face-to-face bullying. This problem now is among teenagers especially the secondary students.

There are still many problems causing but the new technology. Mobile phones with camera functions are causing privacy problems. Saudi Arabia had banned camera phones through out the country while many countries are concern about this problem. This is because many people have misused the usage on the camera phones such as using it as a hidden camera to take photos which are private. The spreading on computer viruses is also a problem for this new technology. Just like computer viruses, these viruses will affect the normal usage on mobile phones making them to malfunction and causing destructions.

Mobile Phone Technology - Future Development
Mobile phones are getting more and more sophisticated. Thus, development on mobile phones is just like the computers. The technology is growing everyday. Different functions and usage on mobile phones are created and updated. From the network system from mobile phones, it is still developing. Although the new 3G system had just been launched not long ago, many companies had already started on researching and developing on the fourth generation (4G) system. Researchers are hoping that the 4G system can reach a much faster speed, a connection speed up to 100Mb per second during connection, tighter network security and also bring up the quality during communication no matter on voice or video calls. Via mobile phones, many things such as the security system, surveillance on certain items could be done easily. The 4G system will be expected to be launched in 2010.

Mobile phone, the piece of communication device itself is also becoming a multi functioned device. Smart phones and PDA phones are already launched in the market. From the new models of mobile phones released in the market recently, we can see that mobile phone manufacturers now are all heading to this market. Mobile phone incorporating with computing functions will be able to replace other devices such as laptop, PDA and even entertainment devices tool.

Along with the development of mobile phones integrated with OS, the OS and software development will also be a big challenge. The mobile phone market will not only be a competed by mobile phone manufacturers (hardware manufacturers), software companies such as Microsoft, PALM and Symbian will also be competing in the mobile phone market, creating more and more new product and ideas.

Push to talk (PTT) is also function is also expected to integrate on mobile phones in the near future. Push to talk is not like making a phone call. Users will not have to dial to get connected. It is similar to the idea of a walkie-talkie, but can get connected to another user in another side of the world. The size and outlook of mobile phones are also plays an important role for the mobile phone. Thus, many concept mobile phones brought out by the manufacturers now are all very fashionable and colorful. As for the size of mobile phones, concepts such as whist phones and mini sized.

Other concepts brought out by the researchers include remote-controlling a car via a mobile phones, holophones (mobile phones that project three-dimensional moving images of the users). These concepts are expected to be brought out in the next 15-20 years

Definition of Technology

Technology:

Technology is a broad concept that deals with a species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances predate the two concepts. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek "technologia", "τεχνολογία" — "techne", "τέχνη" ("craft") and "logia", "λογία" ("saying"). However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology".









Construction Technology:

Medical Technology:

The human race's use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology Development:



Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.

Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, claiming that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.