Skybell wants to replace your doorbell

We all want our lives to be as easy and streamlined
as possible. Our phones sync up with our computer,
which can connect with automatic aspects of our
homes. It’s all very easy, so long as everything is
working as it should. If you like the idea of having a
interconnected home, then you most likely want to
control it all through your smartphone.
If you hate going to the door only to make your
presence known to the other person behind it that
you may not actually want to talk to, having a video
intercom system in place can help a lot. Seeing that
this is commonly found at places like an apartment
complex, you’ll have to find your own system should
you own or rent separate property. Something like
the Skybell might work, if it does all the things it
says it will. This is a doorbell enabled with WiFi
which will allow you to talk to and see anyone who
approaches your door.
It has a motion sensor so that you can be informed
if anyone gets too close to your front door, night
vision, and will work with any iOS or Android
devices. If you’re traveling, and just want to see
what the weather is like back home, you can look at
the video feed regardless of whether someone
presses the button or not. If you don’t want to be
the only one in charge of the door, you can grant
access to others as well. This will cost you around
$200, and will take some time to install and set up.

Use Any Phone on Any Wireless Network

The reason most cell phones are so cheap is that
wireless carriers subsidize them so you'll sign a long-
term contract. Open access could change the
economics of the mobile phone (and mobile data)
business dramatically as the walls preventing certain
devices from working on certain networks come down.
We could also see a rapid proliferation of cell phone
models, with smaller companies becoming better able
to make headway into formerly closed phone markets.
What is it? Two years is an eternity in the cellular
world. The original iPhone was announced, introduced,
and discontinued in less than that time, yet carriers
routinely ask you to sign up for two-year contracts if
you want access to their discounted phones. (It could
be worse--in other countries, three years is normal.)
Verizon launched the first volley late last year when it
promised that "any device, any application" would soon
be allowed on its famously closed network . Meanwhile,
AT&T and T-Mobile like to note that their GSM
networks have long been "open."
When is it coming? Open access is partially here: You
can use almost any unlocked GSM handset on AT&T or
T-Mobile today, and Verizon Wireless began certifying
third-party devices for its network in July (though to
date the company has approved only two products).
But the future isn't quite so rosy, as Verizon is
dragging its feet a bit on the legal requirement that it
keep its newly acquired 700-MHz network open to other
devices, a mandate that the FCC agreed to after
substantial lobbying by Google. Some experts have
argued that the FCC provisions aren't wholly
enforceable. However, we won't really know how "open"
is defined until the new network begins rolling out, a
debut slated for 2010.

Gesture-Based Remote Control

We love our mice, really we
do. Sometimes, however,
such as when we're sitting
on the couch watching a DVD
on a laptop, or when we're
working across the room
from an MP3-playing PC, it
just isn't convenient to drag
a hockey puck and click on
what we want. Attempts to
replace the venerable
mouse--whether with voice
recognition or brain-wave
scanners--have invariably
failed. But an alternative is emerging.
What is it? Compared with the intricacies of voice
recognition, gesture recognition is a fairly simple idea
that is only now making its way into consumer
electronics. The idea is to employ a camera (such as a
laptop's Webcam) to watch the user and react to the
person's hand signals. Holding your palm out flat
would indicate "stop," for example, if you're playing a
movie or a song. And waving a fist around in the air
could double as a pointing system: You would just
move your fist to the right to move the pointer right,
and so on.
When is it coming? Gesture recognition systems are
creeping onto the market now. Toshiba, a pioneer in
this market, has at least one product out that supports
an early version of the technology: the Qosmio G55
laptop, which can recognize gestures to control
multimedia playback. The company is also
experimenting with a TV version of the technology,
which would watch for hand signals via a small camera
atop the set. Based on my tests, though, the accuracy
of these systems still needs a lot of work.
Gesture recognition is a neat way to pause the DVD on
your laptop, but it probably remains a way off from
being sophisticated enough for broad adoption. All the
same, its successful development would excite tons of
interest from the "can't find the remote" crowd. Expect
to see gesture recognition technology make some great
strides over the next few years, with inroads into
mainstream markets by 2012.

Wireless Power Transmission

Wireless power transmission has been a dream since
the days when Nikola Tesla imagined a world studded
with enormous Tesla coils. But aside from advances in
recharging electric toothbrushes, wireless power has so
far failed to make significant inroads into consumer-
level gear.
What is it? This summer, Intel researchers
demonstrated a method--based on MIT research--for
throwing electricity a distance of a few feet, without
wires and without any dangers to bystanders (well,
none that they know about yet). Intel calls the
technology a "wireless resonant energy link ," and it
works by sending a specific, 10-MHz signal through a
coil of wire; a similar, nearby coil of wire resonates in
tune with the frequency, causing electrons to flow
through that coil too. Though the design is primitive, it
can light up a 60-watt bulb with 70 percent efficiency.
When is it coming? Numerous obstacles remain, the
first of which is that the Intel project uses alternating
current. To charge gadgets, we'd have to see a direct-
current version, and the size of the apparatus would
have to be considerably smaller. Numerous regulatory
hurdles would likely have to be cleared in
commercializing such a system, and it would have to
be thoroughly vetted for safety concerns.
Assuming those all go reasonably well, such receiving
circuitry could be integrated into the back of your
laptop screen in roughly the next six to eight years. It
would then be a simple matter for your local airport or
even Starbucks to embed the companion power
transmitters right into the walls so you can get a quick
charge without ever opening up your laptop bag.

32-Core CPUs From Intel and AMD

If your CPU has only a single
core, it's officially a
dinosaur. In fact, quad-core
computing is now
commonplace; you can even
get laptop computers with
four cores today. But we're
really just at the beginning of
the core wars: Leadership in
the CPU market will soon be
decided by who has the most
cores, not who has the
fastest clock speed.
What is it? With the
gigahertz race largely
abandoned, both AMD and
Intel are trying to pack more
cores onto a die in order to
continue to improve
processing power and aid
with multitasking operations. Miniaturizing chips further
will be key to fitting these cores and other components
into a limited space. Intel will roll out 32-nanometer
processors (down from today's 45nm chips) in 2009.
When is it coming? Intel has been very good about
sticking to its road map. A six-core CPU based on the
Itanium design should be out imminently, when Intel
then shifts focus to a brand-new architecture called
Nehalem, to be marketed as Core i7. Core i7 will
feature up to eight cores, with eight-core systems
available in 2009 or 2010. (And an eight-core AMD
project called Montreal is reportedly on tap for 2009.)
After that, the timeline gets fuzzy. Intel reportedly
canceled a 32-core project called Keifer, slated for
2010, possibly because of its complexity (the company
won't confirm this, though). That many cores requires a
new way of dealing with memory; apparently you can't
have 32 brains pulling out of one central pool of RAM.
But we still expect cores to proliferate when the kinks
are ironed out: 16 cores by 2011 or 2012 is plausible
(when transistors are predicted to drop again in size to
22nm), with 32 cores by 2013 or 2014 easily within
reach. Intel says "hundreds" of cores may come even
farther down the line.