Hello World!  My name is Jonathan Lundberg, and I am the Technology Infrastructure Manager here at RTÉ Digital.  I lead up the team of Infrastructure Engineers responsible for the back end systems which manage and deliver our Internet content (so if you’re reading this, it means everything is working as it should be right now…).  This involves making sure we have the right technologies in place and running effectively to power our web sites, streaming audio/video, and mobile apps, for example.

This is the first of our new RTÉ Digital Blogs, and I hope you will find it an interesting read.  There will be plenty of blogs posted here into the future from various areas responsible for RTÉ Digital’s output, including Production, Content, Design, and Development.  I hope that my team will write some fairly in-depth articles for the technophiles among you, and provide interesting insights into some of our decision making.

I’ve been working at RTÉ since 2000.  At that stage, the Web was part and parcel of life for my generation.  However looking back, it really was in its infancy.  RTÉ already had a successful web site generating about 5 million page impressions a month.  We even had live and on demand TV/Radio streaming.  However using Real Player with a postage stamp sized video window running at a paltry 32Kbps was enough to stress out the 56K dial-up modems that most Irish Internet users had (assuming someone hadn’t already picked up a phone somewhere else in the house to kill the Internet connection, remember that?!).  RTÉ had a 2 Mb connection to the Internet, which is half or less than what you can get on a mobile phone these days, and all of the equipment needed to deliver RTÉ’s online services were housed in 4 fridge sized cabinets (… half of one of them being used to hold a 500GB hard disk array, these days you get that in an average laptop).

Fast-forward to 2012.  We have more than 20 Gigabits of Internet connectivity, and need more like 16 of those cabinets to house all of the equipment we need.  Our hard disk storage array requirements are in the order of 60 Terabytes and growing fast.  These changes are down to both the phenomenal growth in use of RTÉ’s online services, as well as the addition of new key services.  Our page impression count now hits 135 million a month, but amazingly about half of those come from mobile devices.  In fact that’s almost entirely down to the RTÉ News Now App on iPhone and Android.  RTÉ Player provides our video streams at 512K (and has resulted in our traffic peak moving from 4pm to 11pm), but we’re about to change that to Adaptive Streaming and boost the quality to 1Mb.  This was unthinkable 12 years ago, and we will not be stopping there.

In the future (and not too far into it either I suspect/hope), RTÉ Player content will be streamed in High Definition.  The sheer power of servers and the advent of Cloud Computing may mean we see all of RTÉ Digital’s server space requirements being met in the confines of only 4 cabinets again.  The Second Screen (and may be even Third Screen) will become a vital part of the TV viewing experience for a lot of broadcasts (we’ll write more about this later).  Connected TV’s running RTÉ Apps will be the norm and not the high end exception.  Social interaction will be a huge development driver over the next few years, and audience expectation will centre on feeling socially connected while experiencing video and other online services.

And it is that audience expectation that brings us back to the past, and the present.  It is the one constant through it all, and the factor by which ideas and services live or die.  You get to decide.  The things you like, we keep.  The things you don’t, we don’t, because it doesn’t make sense.  You like our mobile services.  You like our RTÉ Player.  You like our online News services.  We put a lot of energy and focus into them, and constantly rethink our approach based on audience need.

I’m often asked about the technologies we use to deliver our content online.  We use a wide variety of both commercial and open source software.  We have bespoke back end Content Management Systems named Epic and Clipper, to manage our web and streaming content, respectively.  These are built on a Microsoft .Net stack, and have the ability to output to a variety of targets (static files, databases, feeds, etc.).  We rely on software from Digital Rapids and Kulabyte to handle our audio/video generation, while Adobe’s Flash Media Server generates the streams that get sent to your browser/app.

On the delivery side, the heavy lifting is done mainly by Open Source software, with Varnish Cache, Apache Web Server, and MySQL providing the backbone.  Our web delivery was traditionally static, but we are moving towards dynamic content generation, with the recently launched RTÉ.ie Sport website our first pillar site to use the Python Django Web Framework to generate the web pages.  RTÉ Player has relied on Python Django for metadata feeds since it’s launch in 2009, and it has proven itself a great technology.

Any one of those areas of our technology stack has enough in it to write some full blown tech articles for this Blog, so if there is anything you think might be particularly interesting please let me know in your comments.  If something stands out then we’ll see if we can put something together.

I hope you have found this to be an interesting read whether you are a techie or not.  I think this Blog is going to provide us with a great opportunity to give insights where we haven’t had the platform before.  It’s a two way street though, so if you have anything interesting to tell us about your experiences of our services, or stuff you have come across elsewhere, please let us know!

You can follow me on Twitter at @Jonathan_RTE_ie

By Jim Traficant

While the recent Supreme Court hearings were the biggest thing going on in U.S. healthcare, they weren’t the only thing. For years now, U.S. healthcare has been experiencing something of a revolution: Better technology and computer systems have radically improved the quality of healthcare. We now have electronic medical records, online referral and prescription systems, and seamless transfers of digital images between providers. The days of filling out the same patient form for each and every doctor visited is quickly becoming so 20^th century.

The best part? All of this state-of-the art technology was going to drastically lower costs – on the order of $80 billion a year, according one estimate. Yet a study published in the March issue of the journal Health Affairs has sent shockwaves through the industry by finding the exact opposite: the presence of electronic imaging results – think X-rays, CT scans, etc. – actually led doctors to order more tests, not fewer. Because each test costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars, the presence – not the absence – of better technology led to higher costs.

The collective gasp you hear is the U.S. healthcare industry asking: Have we been wrong all along?

Well, no. The study is at odds with years of established opinion and research. As the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) found last year, 92 percent of studies between 2007 and 2010 reached positive conclusions on the effects of better healthcare technology, including cost savings. The $80 billion a year in savings mentioned earlier came from a groundbreaking 2005 study from the RAND Corporation.

The Health Affairs study also seems to contradict an even more recent study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which found that electronic health records actually led to fewer tests. Although it didn’t address costs directly, the study aligned with the views of most in the industry: The ability to quickly and easily access health records reduces the need for further testing.

Studies like these have helped forge a consensus in the healthcare community that better technology leads to better treatment and lower costs. Naturally, this has led the government to enact policy to build better systems. Both in the private and public sectors, the federal government is spending billions of dollars to help providers build electronic healthcare systems that can share information seamlessly, reduce redundancy, and improve treatment for everyone.

Better technology will also lead to better security of patient information. You’ve probably seen the headlines in your local paper: Thousands of patient files found in garbage dump. And because these files contain personal and sensitive information, it is a serious problem for patients. But by securely storing these files electronically, behind state-of-the-art digital barricades, there won’t be any paper files to throw away in the dumpster.

Then there’s the patient experience. Why is it that you can seamlessly share, send and collect information between your smartphone, tablet computer, and laptop, and yet you have to fill out the same paper forms every time you visit a new doctor.

The problem is that upgrading a provider’s system to reach the bare minimum of interoperability is an intensive undertaking that requires significant investment. It’s also not easy to convince hospitals and physicians to invest in an unfamiliar, expensive system, especially if these providers think technology will only add to their operating costs. Fortunately, the federal government and many private providers are leading by example.

Just a few years ago, it took the Social Security Administration on average three months just to access the records needed to review benefits for patients. Now, because of better health IT, it takes seconds. In the private sector, Connecticut’s Hartford Hospital increased its early discharge rate, a metric hospitals use to manage bed utilization, nearly three-fold (from 9.5 to 25.6 percent) in seven months through the use of business intelligence dashboards. That’s the power of better healthcare technology.

These improvements don’t mean the industry as a whole should discount the Health Affairs study, because it exposes something often overlooked in our high-tech world: The human element. By providing critical data as it’s needed, when it’s needed, these technologies give physicians power beyond anything they’ve ever experienced. It’s not surprising that many would order more tests simply because it’s so much easier to do so.

In other words, no matter how amazing it is, the technology cannot replace the doctor. So as we continue to build a better healthcare system for the 21^st century (and, yes, lower costs), our attitudes toward treatment must evolve as well.

Jim Traficant is president of Harris Healthcare Solutions.

GLASGOW, Scotland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Future Technology Devices International (FTDI Chip), a leader and
innovator specializing in total solutions for converting legacy
peripherals to the USB connectivity standard, has signed a global
distribution agreement with Arrow Electronics, Inc. Under the agreement,
Arrow will distribute FTDI’s complete portfolio to customers in the
Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions.

“USB is one of the more ubiquitous standards for data transfer, and FTDI
Chip helps simplify USB implementation”

“Arrow brings best-in-class engineering and support infrastructure,
successful execution and global reach to the connectivity needs of the
USB interface market,” said Fred Dart, founder and chief executive
officer of FTDI Chip. “Arrow’s strength in design demand support, global
supply chain and value-added services will be appreciated by existing
and new FTDI Chip users. With the recent launch of our new X-Chip series
of USB bridge interface chips, our teams can now engage the market to
deliver the X-treme value proposition of these devices.”

“USB is one of the more ubiquitous standards for data transfer, and FTDI
Chip helps simplify USB implementation,” said Jeff Eastman, senior vice
president of global supplier marketing and asset management for Arrow
Electronics. “The FTDI portfolio offers comprehensive USB solutions for
existing and new applications, with full compatibility, support and
leadership products. FTDI is a solid addition to our line card and we
look forward to a productive relationship.”

About Future Technology Devices International (FTDI Chip)

Future Technology Devices International (FTDI Chip) specializes in the
design and supply of silicon and software solutions for the Universal
Serial Bus (USB). FTDI Chip offers a simple route to USB migration by
combining easy-to-implement IC devices with ready-to-use, royalty-free
USB firmware and driver software. A wide range of evaluation kits and
modules are available to evaluate FTDI Chip’s silicon prior to design-in.

FTDI Chip is a global fab-less semiconductor company with RD centers in
Glasgow and Singapore and regional sales offices in Oregon, USA,
Shanghai, China and Taipei, Taiwan. More information is available at: http://www.ftdichip.com

3D printing is a hot topic right now, especially with reports of this incredible technology entering the consumer marketplace. The prices are dropping as more companies attempt consumer-grade machines. Is it time to start looking forward to a time when we all have a Star Trek-like replicator at home to produce everything we want, when we want it?

While the technology isn’t nearly as versatile or as user-friendly as the science fiction dream, the implications include the potential to provide the things we need in much greener, less-centralized, less resource-intensive way. But, as with any new technology, there are also potential negative effects to balance the scales. Over the long run, the human imagination will no doubt concoct new uses that appear grotesque to us now but may make sense as the technology becomes ubiquitous and famiiar.

In short: as with so many human inventions, the future of 3D printing includes the good, the bad and the grotesque.

The Good

3D printing actually refers to a range of different technologies for making a three-dimensional object from a digital file. First, the dimensions and details of the object must be drafted out in CAD (computer-aided design) software. The CAD file provides the directions by which the machine builds the object, laying down molecules layer by layer and line by line much like an inkjet printer. How the machine prints the object depends on the type of technology used by the manufacturer.

The first rapid prototyping machine using 3D printing technology went into commercial use in 1986. Since then, the machines have become ubiquitous in commercial manufacturing shops. At first, they enabled companies to more quickly produce plastic prototypes on site, but the real benefit has come from their expanded use as additive manufacturing machines—a product can be manufactured by adding resources rather than the conventional way of subtracting from a larger hunk of material by grinding, drilling, sanding, etc.

Thanks to the ability to build a product from the bottom up, 3D printers can print shapes that cannot be viably manufactured any other way. For example, Airbus is using 3D printers to make airplane parts lighter—allowing the plane to use less fuel—without sacrificing strength and safety. People with missing limbs can have custom prosthetics 3D printed to their personal shape, capability and style.

3D printing also means significantly less waste. Traditional forms of machining often leave up to 90 percent of a slab of metal on the machine shop floor, but additive manufacturing generates far less waste in the first place, and also makes it easier to reuse anything that’s left over. The machines are also the ultimate expression of “just-in-time” manufacturing: a company can manufacture a needed part instantly, right on the spot, rather than depend on the old system that required parts to be manufactured in mass quantities, stored in massive warehouses and shipped to far-flung locations.

To further lower the resource footprint on our products, some researchers are working on attaching recycling machines to allow manufacturers and hobbyists to reduce their ordering of raw injection materials which they have to order from somewhere else. When 3D printers are ready to saturate the home-use market, they may provide an almost fully self-contained system. When printed items break or need replacement, home users could simply recycle them into the machine, creating a cradle-to-cradle system—the Holy Grail for recycling advocates.

The primary costs are in the machine itself and in the consumables or injection materials. Which injection material your home machine uses depends on the company, the type of printer you have, and which material you want to make your item from. 3D printers are able to manufacture items from various plastics and metals as well as glass, wood, food and even living cells. Most of the cheaper machines are limited to plastic, but many will function with more than one type of plastic.

Consumers are also able to order 3D printed items online, and 3D printer shops similar to Kinkos are opening in local neighborhoods for a faster turnaround. You can find or buy the CAD file for your desired item on the Web, download it, send it to your local print shop, and then go pick up the item in a few hours. These companies grant consumers and small businesses all the benefit of custom additive manufacturing without the hassle of learning CAD (computer-aided design) and handling a machine that may pose potential dangers such as toxic fumes or exposed moving parts. Some of the cheaper machines rely on consumer wisdom — in the loosest sense of the word — to allow ventilation and to avoid touching exposed areas.

The range of items we can self-manufacture this way is as limitless as the ingenuity of the Web. Simply hop online, find an appropriate CAD design and print it from your printer—et voila, you have the means to make a lamp out of your grandmother’s old cane. Or print out a set of Legos for your kids, new food containers, custom iPhone covers, and any other practical plastic curiosity that your household needs.

If home-based 3D printing takes off and goes prime-time, online stores and large mass manufacturers will almost certainly find their business models threatened as digital technology again forces a massive change to retail business models. The mall and the factory — the cornerstones of American consumer culture — will both find themselves increasingly irrelevant.

The Bad

No matter how awesome the potential may be for any technology, a downside is always waiting to rear its ugly head. John Smart points out in his Fourth Law of Technology that the first generation of a new technology is almost always more dehumanizing than it is beneficial — and 3D printing is unlikely to be an exception. Never underestimate the ingenuity humans will bring to apply any new technology to their worst impulses. Consider how the Internet has served the causes of racism, sexism and kittie porn (those lol-cats drive me up the wall!).

The Internet liberated people to say things online that they would not say in public — and find like-minded people who confirmed those views. Now, all those same scary people isolated in their homes and addicted to trolling can make 3D objects of mischief in any size, shape and color their twisted imaginations can conjure.

Paramount Studios recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to someone who posted designs for a toy that was a licensed item based on one of the studio’s movies. Lawyers are going to get rich writing those letters in the near term, but in the longer term, it’s going to be hard to stop anyone from posting downloadable designs on the Internet for home 3D printers to create any novelty they choose. The same concerns over intellectual property the music industry has been whining about for more than a decade are now about to be visited on manufactured goods as well.

And some of those objects will be dangerous. Weapons like knives or clubs can be printed in any shape and practicable material. In some US states, every part of the AR-15, a popular firearm, can be purchased without a license except for the lower receiver. Recently the design for the lower receiver was posted on Thingiverse, a Web site where users share 3D printer design files. That last part can now be printed in the privacy of an individual’s home, license free. Some are arguing about whether the plastic lower receiver is good enough to be functional, but the larger point is clear: assuming the design works, any 3D printer that can handle metal or polymers can privately print out the necessary part for a functional, unregistered gun.

While homemade firearms are nothing new—and usually legal in most US states—3D printing could make it easier to create them, and thus ensure that we’ll have many, many more of them in circulation. Regardless of your views about the US Constitution and the right to bear arms, this could eventually place an arsenal of untraceable guns in the hands of people who would not be able to legally buy them. Plus, America’s gun violence will be easy to export—right over the Internet—to other countries that have stricter gun ownership regulations.

Printing items covered by intellectual property law poses legal and financial as well as security concerns. In Texas, a small band of thieves used a 3D printer to make an ATM card scanner which they installed in ATMs around their city. They then stole about $400,000 before being caught. Also, i.Materialise, an online 3D printing service, reports that a customer attempted to pass a design for an ATM scanner through their service. They say the design was rejected, but they still receive searches for ATM scanners on their Web site indicating that criminals are hoping to enter the black market enabled by 3D printing.

The Texas thieves paid for their crimes, but future criminals might not. A member of a German recreational lock-picking club designed a key to Dutch handcuffs just by looking at a photo he took of an officer’s key being worn by the police officer. (That’s right! He built a key just by looking at a photo.) He then printed a copy to prove it worked, and posted the new design online. Dutch police have not reported the use of a 3D printed key, but if a recreational club member can do it, certainly real criminals can too.

3D printing even has the potential to completely undermine the war on drugs. Researchers at the University of Glasgow have developed a system that would print the necessary lab equipment to create pharmaceuticals. While this kind of technology has the potential to democratize the pharmaceutical industry, it might also enable people to print illegal narcotics from home in a way that’s far safer and less detectable than a garage-based meth lab. It also means that the drugs people buy could become more dangerous than they are now, with black marketeers experimenting constantly with new substances and treating their customers as guinea pigs.

The Grotesque

3D printing is about more than just making fake plastic trees. It represents a new paradigm, additive manufacturing, which is a complete revolution in thinking about how we create many of the common objects that surround us and support our lives.

For instance, researchers at Wake Forest University are using the technology to print new skin directly onto a burn wound. They scan a burn victim’s wound into a computer, which in turn creates a 3D image with the exact size and shape of the wound. The printer then prints new layers of cells—using skin instead of ink—directly onto the lesion. Developed for US troops in Afghanistan, the whole process takes only an hour.

3D bioprinting research could eventually lead to the printing of organs ready for implantation. That would mean no more waiting lists for organs and no more age restrictions on said organs. The organ donation system might be left to the lower classes as the wealthy take advantage of all kinds of new transhumanist life-extension techniques, replacing everything from faces to eyeballs to livers as they wear out due to age.

And here’s where it gets really weird. What if the long-term future for 3D bioprinting converged with some of the stranger aspects of transhumanism? Could additive manufacturing turn into additive biohacking? Instead of taking away from one body and giving it to another like organ transplants do, bioprinting new organs could change how society thinks about implants. The cyborg visions of using digital technology to enhance our bodies could become reality as people use bioprinted body parts—as well as other biological means—to heighten their existing abilities.

We’re already heading down this path: people are already implanting magnets in their wrists and RFIDs in their arms. Rahel Aima suggests that some people may eventually want an extra ear, or a second set of eyes placed on the sides of their heads to give them full 360-degree vision. If someone, for reasons we can’t fathom right now, decided they wanted a third eye on their forehead or a third arm growing from their back, they could have it. The ethics will be moot once 3D bioprinting can enable the creation of fresh body parts.

As with any cultural postulations about the future, the idea of bioprinting extra arms to implant them on a presumably sane person sounds ridiculous—until you look at the dozens of women who are already beautiful but who would prefer to look like circus freaks with abnormally plump lips, button noses and shiny skin. A quick glance in any celebrity tabloid will provide dozens of prime examples of men and women of almost any age who look like plastic mannequins. (And let’s not get into the whys and wheres and hows of people’s tattoo and piercing choices.) If you doubt whether anyone will be brave enough to attempt a grotesque fashion statement using 3D bioprinted body parts, just ask Cat Man, Dennis Avner, who has augmented his face to look like that of a tiger. However, unlike Cat Man’s augmentations, the implanted 3D printed body parts could actually be useful.

As robotics and automation increase over the years, more people may try to get an edge in the job market with specific augmentations that will enable them to perform certain unique tasks. If the human body can adjust to a third or fourth arm, data entry professionals could become more efficient by drinking water with their third hand while the other two continue typing. Lumberjacks could more easily climb trees with their tools in hand. Companies may even offer to pay for the operation if the employee is willing to sign a five- or 10-year contract. Plus, the military would likely be interested in enabling its soldiers to hold more guns or fight in hand-to-hand combat more effectively.

Society is certainly not ready for such extreme body modification yet, but it’s not hard to imagine people asking for some very bizarre cosmetic or utilitarian augmentations once doctors start implanting 3D printed organs.

3D printing has already revolutionized several industries from toys to airlines, and that revolution is now about to come home. Along with all the clear economic and environmental benefits this technology will bring, it also presents some very challenging implications for how we look at shopping, security, health, and just about everything else.

While the ramifications of any new technology can never be fully gamed out ahead of time, it’s time to get ready for the next wholesale technology shift that will upend our economy and reprint the basic order of our lives. As the technology improves and progresses, we might even see the shopaholics converge with hoarders, and we may then marvel at the tragic lives of the printerholics who live in a sandbox of 3D printed trinkets — and just can’t stop spending their days printing.

Dennis D. Draeger is a foresight researcher with AFR, and a freelance writer on technology and its social implications. Follow him at Ad Futura and at @dddraeger on Twitter.

By Prince Osuagwu

President and CEO of Ericsson, Mr Hans Vestberg has peeped through the Ericsson crystal ball, and predicted that two technological revolutions would change the world between now and 2016.

However, Vesteberg was not just predicting. He has statistics which he has followed religiously and if their antecedents are to be relied upon, the future could hardly do without them— the technology deployment and installation revolutions. For him, these two systems would change the way telecommunications services are delivered in the near future.

Vestberg made the disclosures exclusively to Vanguard in Ghana recently when he visited the Sub-Saharan Africa to preach preparedness for  new ways of delivering services in line with new and emerging technologies.

From his explanation, the deployment phase looks at what kind of infrastructure could be deployed in the near future, while the installation phase, deals with a period when consumers would naturally use technology in different ways than they are used to.

The implication of these revolutions is that only those who understood their dynamics, tailor services towards them would be in business within the period under review.

Vestberg was so emphatic on these revolutions perhaps on the back of his company’s long history of shaping the future of world telecommunications industry through research and development, RD. Ericsson has distinguished itself as a clear leader in the telecommunications infrastructure business not only for the efficiency and reliability of its equipment and services but also due to its ability to predict the future and prepare operators ahead of time.

According to Vestberg, Ericsson spends a whopping 8 billion dollars every year in Research and Development, RD, to clearly understand the dynamic and change pattern of technologies that govern the telecommunications industry. He threw up some statistics which have ruled the dynamics of the industry for over a century and painted a picture of why Ericsson recently rolled out the multi-million dollar project tagged Networked Society.

The project is aimed at ushering in a new era where technology would enable more people to interact, innovate and share knowledge in whole new ways and creating a dynamic shift in mindset. Ericsson would like to see a world where more people are empowered, more businesses liberated and the society more connected than ever.

Statistics that shaped technology revolution
In Vestberg’s statistics, “it took some 100 years to get 1 billion fixed lines but it took 24 years to get 5 billion mobile subscriptions. Last year end, there was about 6 billion mobile subscriptions in the world. 85% of that population are on mobile coverage.

“If you take that and think about what will happen in the next five years, then you will have mobile subscription in the world, come up to about 8 billion. Now the most important point in these figures is that considering that about 500 million people on earth today are on fixed broad band while that of mobile broadband is 1 billion, in 2016, if the fixed broadband will grow, it would not be much, but in line with trend of growth, the mobile broadband will grow tremendously”.

What to expect in 2016
Between now and 2016 is just about 4 years away, yet, Vestberg was also confident to posit that about three times of people that have access to internet today would be broadband users. “We expect 25 billion broadband users by 2016 which is a huge leap. Today, about1.8billion people have access to internet and 92 percent of population will have mobile coverage.

“Lets also remember that the networks that are carrying these services were based on voice. Apps, data, smart phones were not intended when these networks were built, but in 2016, the network will be in total change and that is what we call technology revolution. It has two phases. First is the deployment phase, where infrastructure is deployed and the other is installation phase, when consumers would use technology in different ways”.

Ericsson CEO, Hans Vestberg

Benefits of the revolution
Every revolution brings with it a change and the two revolutions Vestberg predicted would also introduce a couple of changes in service delivery and consumption from what is obtainable at the moment. For instance, the consumers will change in the way they use phones. 26 percent of time used on phone would be for voice call while 74 percent will be for data related usages. This is in sharp contrast to, for instance, the past three years, where 90% of time spent on phone was voice call and 10% was for SMS and data.

The Ericsson boss said that the revolution would transform education in a way that in the next ten years from now, printing books will no longer be in vogue. Also giving the broad spectrum of coverage, speed and data possibilities, digital healthcare would be possible and this would transform healthcare and make it affordable to more people.

The place of Networked Society in the new revolution
Networked society is  important in every bit of the revolution because it would enable anything that will benefit from connection, to be connected. We took from 400 different studies in 2010 from universities, academia, business, to look at what the impact of broadband is, and came up with two things that are common.

For every 10% of broadband penetration, 1% goes to GDP and for every 100 connections you get 80% new jobs. Then, if you have 1000 penetration, you have higher impact and this applies to all countries.

You can now see how important Networked society is in the need to transform our people’s behavioural pattern, transform enterprises in the society, using the technology infrastructure. That possibility is what we foresee. It fuels our belief that if by 2020, there is going to be about 60 billion connected devices in the world, then anything that will benefit people, needs to be connected. Of course, when the society is connected, the ICT industry lives up to its name. That is what we call a networked society.

What preparations for this new networked world
Ericsson is building more infrastructure and more networks around the world. Majority are based on latest technologies to accommodate the new order.

Already, roughly, 40% of mobile infrastructure in the world is on Ericsson traffic and still we are building more and upgrading those others that need latest standardization.

Don’t forget, we spend 8 billion dollars in Research and Development, RD, every year to understand all the networks that will be used in the future.

We designed technologies that help operators offer services on health care, the connected calls, online gaming, big time information management among others.

The place of emerging markets in all these
We use the same standard of technology in the whole world. We sale the same technology in Africa in US and the unique thing is that we can bring down the cost where we think is important to the world. So, Ericsson has 2G, 3G patterns in the world. That means that we are relevant. First we have to maintain standards so that we can continue to supply the world. We are the biggest mobile infrastructure providers for operators in the world.

Another area we are relevant is that we also run network services. Roughly 80% of Ericsson turnover is from installation, integration, consultation, running mobile networks, fixed networks for operators. We are providing the back_ up tools for operators to carry on what they do.

We are consultants to operators. We have 900 million subscribers in the network we are responsible for, out of 6billion on the network. Our responsibility is important because we know what consumers care about and understand what happen in the network.

Also, we build and sell software that enable billing system, operating system, so that operators can bill in different ways, prepaid, post paid real_time charging, have different data plans. All of that we have products for.

Of course, we must take emerging market standard. In taking emerging market standard, we see two things, the penetration for mobile services is lowered in this region. If you go back to five years in Africa, you will see how quick the mobile technology has developed. We see the region leapfrogging in five years.

Effects of networked society on Africa’s new mobile entrants
The next billions of subscribers coming on networked society will be subscribers who never have phones, tablets, PCs and smart phones.

Now, we are going to see a lot of innovation. The next step is to get mobile broadband for every one in this region, get connectivity to the internet, connectivity for different services. It can be connectivity to start doing business, can be simple infrastructure that can be useful for people in healthcare, education etc.

Our view on Africa is that, having stayed 50 years in Nigeria, this region represents a very important place. We are working on different initiatives on Africa and very much engaged in millions of villages where we connect rural areas with health institutions, where they have millennium Development Goals. It is the toughest challenge on earth, doing all these in education, health care etc. We believe ICT will play a vital role and we will do everything to grow the region.

The Loewe Invisio is a crazy concept that may actually yield a retail product

Does your HDTV just not seem as sleek and sexy as it once was? If the allure of having a flat-panel display mounted to your wall just isn’t enough anymore, the completely see-through Loewe Invisio might be just what you’re looking for. Designed by Michael Friebe, the transparent television made a big splash in the 2011 iF Concept Design competition, and if we’re lucky we may soon see it in our own homes.

Loewe is well known in Europe for its high-end televisions and audio hardware. In fact, the company is said to be in talks with Apple about a possible acquisition. This would give Apple a huge head start if the company decides to release a long-rumored Apple-branded HDTV, and would mean products like the futuristic Invisio could arrive stateside sooner rather than later.

The Invsio looks absolutely stunning — well, as stunning as a see-through television can look. The clear LCD technology allows the display to pop to life when you hit the power button, but then disappear the instant you shut it off. The bottom portion of the set houses all the important bits, and the entire unit can be mounted on a wall if you’re not a fan of the shiny silver tabletop stand.

Loewe Invisio

Without a border or frame of any kind, the screen is meant to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings when not in use. The Invisio is clearly meant for TV lovers who want their living rooms to have an air of sophistication on nights when must-see-TV isn’t a priority. Of course, if the rear of your entertainment center is littered with cords, you’re going to want to clean them up before showing off a new transparent TV.

But don’t start saving for this futuristic display just yet — the Invisio isn’t yet a Loewe’s retail offering, and because it’s still considered a concept, it may never be. Of course, one look at the company’s plans for other future products — including a TV with two screens and a mirror with built-in social displays (pictured below) — should be enough to tell you that the Invisio may very well see the light of day.

Loewe concepts

If the Inviso concept sounds like something out of science fiction, don’t forget that transparent LCD technology has been around for a while now. Samsung has already shown off its own see-through “Smart Window” technology which allows users to interact with apps, or even pull down a set of virtual shades to dim the daylight. The Invisio would likely work in a similar fashion, though without the addition of touchscreen controls.

Regardless of whether or not it ever becomes a reality, the fact that we have the technology available to make see-through televisions is enough to make us feel like we’re living in the future. And if the rumored Apple acquisition does indeed take place, who knows what other ridiculously cool concepts could eventually emerge from the deal.

[Image credit: Michael Friebe via Yanko Design]

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – The legacy of Facebook may be darker than many would first suspect. While Facebook upsets users from time to time, mostly with cosmetic and functional interface changes, the users keep coming back, unwilling to leave their social networks. And those social networks are large, often numbering in the hundreds and including family, friends, coworkers, old flames and sweethearts. Added to that number are all the products and services that people “like” creating a virtual dossier of information on the user. 

And that’s the catch.

You see, Facebook’s users are more than users, they’re the company’s product. Each profile contains dozens of bits of information defining each user as a consumer with particular likes and interests. Based on this, Facebook sells user profiles to advertisers who pay premium fees to place their ads before their most likely customers. Even status updates are quietly gleaned for information. 

Want to test it out? Put a couple of status updates about dogs in your newsfeed. Then watch dogs appearing in the ads on the side of your pages and in other activity. 

And while Facebook has always been “free” to use, (and always will be according to the website’s tag line on the login page) it’s not free at all. After all, the only thing that’s ever free is the cheese in the mouse trap. 

What is Facebook costing users? Their privacy. 

Most users are aware, at least on some level, that Facebook costs something in terms of privacy. Naturally, friends and neighbors can potentially view anything posted on the site. And Facebook has a privacy policy where they explain how user data is aggregated and shared with others.

However, it is this aggregation and sharing, coupled with mass adoption, that will make Facebook the stuff of infamy in years to come. 

Someday, when Facebook has evolved past all recognition (or gone extinct), historians will look back on the service as the icon that finally eliminated the last vestiges of consumer privacy.

Facebook certainly isn’t the first to profile users and aggregate data for profit. However, they are by far the largest in history. Additionally, an entire generation of consumers is now painfully aware that in the world of business, your profile is a coveted commodity. 

New polls taken ahead of Facebook’s imminent IPO show that the public does not trust Facebook and they feel the social networking giant is overvalued and overrated. The cynicism runs deep and grows with age. An Associated Press – CNBC poll found that while 59 percent of adults under 35 think the IPO is a good buy, only 39 percent of senior citizens feel the same. 

Also, 46 percent of those same participants feel Facebook is a passing fad. 

This naturally flies in the face of the very real statistic that Facebook now accounts for more than 14 percent of all internet use, according to comScore.

Still the naysayers have history on their side. Geocities, Friendster, MySpace, have all gone the way of the dodo after quick rises to the top. Today, Facebook faces challenges from Google+ and Pintrest, among others. Also, the great marketplace of ideas – the web itself, is changing. The internet is now giving way to mobile and websites are feeling the pinch. Mobile applications, not websites are all the rage today. Facebook evolved as a website and was a relative latecomer to mobile. And last week, Google+ unveiled a new look that’s very visual in its appeal and designed to offer users an experience much different from the vaunted Facebook. 

In any case, Facebook has all the hallmarks of a fad, and the public is fickle. Just like tulip mania in  Holland (1636-1637), a new wave of “Facebook mania” may wash over Wall Street. However, in its wake may be a jaded public, disaffected investors, and the cold judgment of history. Investors may find Facebook lovable, but something tells me that history will have a different view.

—–

Marshall Connolly is a contributor to Catholic Online with a degree in history and a background in marketing and business. 

2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM. 

4OVER4.COM has launched a special corporate printing offer for clothiers and fashion establishments. With the new offer from 4OVER4.COM, clothiers can access special discounts on bulk printing of various materials including store magazines, fashion spreads, seasonal style brochures, in-house stationery, general wears catalogs, and PR/advertisement/gift materials like shopping bags, posters, banners, flyers and more.

Astoria, NY (PRWEB) May 15, 2012

4OVER4.COM, a leading provider of digital and offset printing services including flyer printing, banner printing, booklet printing and other custom printing applications has announced a special corporate printing offer for clothiers which will allow them to access special discounts on the bulk printing of various publications including style and fashion guides, seasonal style brochures, general wears catalogs, in-house stationery, shopping bags, posters, flyers, banners, and more, while saving costs, improving efficiency and boosting profits over time.

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The 4OVER4.COM offer really provides the best of both worlds for clothiers – lower printing costs, better print quality, fast turnarounds, consistent output and professional printing service.

“Clothiers and fashion establishments face huge printing costs on a monthly and annual basis as they constantly have to roll out magazines, spreads, style brochures, seasonal collections, as well as advertisement materials like flyers, posters, banners, and more, not to mention in-house stationery. Our offer of special discounts on bulk printing for clothiers will help significantly reduce their printing costs while introducing new standards of quality, turnout and fast turnarounds,” says 4OVER4.COM Principal Taso Panagiotopoulos.

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About 4OVER4.COM

Online printing company 4OVER4.COM, an NYC printing firm, is a green printing company that serves tens of thousands of clients nationally and whose printing New York facility began operations in 1999.4OVER4.COM provides unmatched technical and customer support and instant online pricing and ordering for full color printing services since 1999, 4OVER4.COM has offered free expert file review and free online proofs without any obligation to purchase. As a green printing company, we are strongly oriented towards sustainable environmental renewal, and we are happy to lead the way with environmentally and socially responsible printing practices and projects among national as well as New York Printers.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb4over4/custom-printing/prweb9507511.htm