Everyone has heard about wireless networking and a significant proportion of homes and business are now using wireless networks. The value provided by these networks in terms of flexibility has been enormous but imagine if you are were also able to provide power without having to worry about power cables all over the place?  It would be another step change in usability and flexibility.

Intel amongst others have been doing a fair amount of research and development work recently exploring the possibility of developing wireless power delivered using something called magnetic induction. Using magnetic fields driven by a transmitting resonator an object would have a receiving resonator which is tuned to efficiently absorb energy at is natural frequency from the magnetic field.  Intel have demonstrated the technology powering light bulbs at  a distance of a few feet, the next steps are to make the resonators smaller suitable for being used in things like laptops. Obviously there is a long way to go but there is definitely hope for a wireless powered world as well as the network.

Well we can’t do wireless power yet. But what is available is wired and wireless networks through the power cables which in certain situations and buildings can be an effective way of ensuring an effective network throughout the building.  The Netgear WGXB102 Wall-Plugged Wireless Range Extender allows you to use the power wiring in your home to provide a second access point in a room that might be on the edge of your current wireless network.  I am thinking of trying this in Dubai where the concrete walls and floors mean that our wireless network is weak in certain rooms.

Dell last week announced the release of a new range of its Latitude business range of laptop computers which we looked at in a previous post. One of the ways that Dell is seeking to differentiate its laptops from those of other vendors is through something called Dell Latitude ON. This feature allows access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts and the Internet very quickly without actually booting into Windows Vista.

The idea

The idea is that a lot of the time, e-mail, the Internet and chat are all we want to do with our laptop, so if you have the ability to do that without having to wait minutes (although it is always seems like hours) for our laptop to boot up that would be a very compelling feature, especially if your on the move a lot. Also by using this feature you are using very little power potentially having a very positive effect on battery life.

How it works

I promised in the previous post that I would investigate how this is achieved. It would appear that the Latitudes that support this feature (not all do) will utilise a completely separate dedicated, Linux subsystem using  a low-power ARM processor and flash memory. This will run completely  independently from the laptop’s main CPU and storage. The custom Linux OS Enterprise will includes a Firefox-based browser and email, calendar, and contacts applications as well as MS Office and PDF viewers to view attachments.  As far as I understand on board data is not accessed locally so data has to be pulled from a central source via a wireless connection.

Dell appears to have got a head start on the other mainstream vendors although Asus have been playing with something similar for a while. These “instant on” operating systems seem like they could be really useful and is something that we may see grow in importance over the next few years. What do you think?

In the meantime the existing Dell Latitude range are presently available with some nice discounts, of which the Dell Latitude D630C is a nice example (follow the shop link to see the discounts).

I have talked about virtual or online office capability before and there is an ever increasing number of companies with online applications that are providing productivity application functionality. Increasingly these applications are taking advantage of Adobe’s flash technology.

Adobe themselves are fast becoming somewhat of a major player in the online productivity applications space. They have recently bought an online flash based word processor, and have a stake in an online calendar and notebook application. It will not be long before they will end up with a complete online office based on their technology, one that has the potential to become a significant competitor to Microsoft’s and Google’s online suites.

Adobe has recently taken this plan for world domination one step forward by starting to build online versions of their own applications. Adobe last week announced the availability of Adobe Photoshop Express. This is an online image storage and editing application which will allow you to do some basic manipulation of images, and comes with about 2GB of storage. For most people though this is not yet going to provide a serious alternative to Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop elements on the desktop. However it does show Adobe’s believe in the online platform and for many people may well be a useful extension of the capabilities provided by Photoshop.

What do you think? Are you a believer in online applications? Have you tried Photoshop Express?

What do you think the office of the near future is going to be like? Will it be much the same as present with slightly faster computers with perhaps video conferencing being used more effectively? Or do you think it will be more radically changed with more people working in virtual teams or virtual companies, requiring a greater reliance on mobile and web based technologies to get things done.

Virtual office

Well IBM have been considering this problem too, and they have predicted that the virtual office will increasingly become more important, driven by such things as globalisation and increasing concerns about the environment meaning less travel. This will mean that the work environment will be become more centred around mobile platforms with increasing reliance on social networking and instant messaging for communication, with no place for desktop PC’s, phones or email. They also predicted that the traditional meeting would change rapidly as 3D and gaming tools would become more important enabling the ability to hold quick online meetings.

But when?

What I like about this sort of thing is that no-one ever specifies a timeline in which this is all going to happen! But for me, if I look at the way my kids use instant messaging and their mobile phones for all their communications, then indeed I can see that shortly there will be future generations of workers used to working together in these ways. The desktop is on its way out already with laptops now outselling them. I do believe however the inertia and the gatekeeper role of IT in large organisations, will serve as a drag on any quick change. I also think that 3D and gaming tools will first make their mark in the area of training, where I believe there is huge potential.

In the meantime I have been looking for a web cam to support my new virtual workplace! This Philips webcam which comes with a Multimedia headset and boom microphone caught my eye.

What do you think the office of the future will be like?