The end of June sees not only the summer solstice (longest day of the year in terms of daylight hours) but also the return of the high profile Future of Wireless International Conference (FWIC).

Organised by Cambridge Wireless the two-day event held in Cambridge over the 29th & 30th June brings together key business leaders, entrepreneurs, technologists, investors & academics to explore the key market, business & technology opportunities for wireless.

In addition to lively, thought-provoking discussions there is an online partnering service to facilitate networking, allowing one-to-one meetings to be setup in advance to the conference.

The two-day event also hosts two "Innovation HotHouses" featuring handpicked, exciting UK SME's & start-up businesses showcasing a range of new products & services that have the potential to make a major impact on global markets. AND Technology Research is proud to be showcasing a new ZigBee solution at one of the Wednesday Innovation HotHouse slots - be sure to catch us.

Keynote presentations have formed the backbone of past conferences & this year promises to be no different with confirmed speakers including Robert Crow (Research in Motion), Tudor Brown (ARM), Andrew Glibert (Qualcomm), Houston Spencer (Alcatel Lucent) Microsoft Research, Orange Labs, Motorola to name but a few

Useful links
Cambridge Wireless FWIC 2010 [www.cambridgewireless.co.uk]

iPad (Apple), Streak (Dell), Slate (HP) - while most people are caught up with first deciding "do I need one" & secondly "where does this fit into my digital life in terms of my laptop, netbook & smartphone"; others are looking at this reinvigorated generation of devices in a completely different light - Software.

Without doubt the hardware that powers these new, slimline devices is impressive & the relenting pace in which technology has evolved over the past 25 years is almost unimaginable to those at the time who were unwrapping the first Apple computer. But this time around will it actually be the software features, & more accurately the Operating System/User Interface, instead of the hardware innovation that decides whether these & future devices are a success?

Over the past 10-15 years technical innovation has brought devices once for the techie few to everyone. If you compare hardware evolution over that same period to OS/UI development it's as if the world forgot to invent new UI's. Certainly UI's have progressed, but not with the same speed & diversity as hardware.

Of course without the high-performance embedded hardware platform furiously crunching away at algorithms behind-the-scenes there would be no multi-touch, high resolution colour, always connected, location & motion-aware devices. But now, with phenomenal processing power in the hands of most, it is the everyday consumer that is setting the requirements for human computer interaction & not hardware constraint.

So, where could this instinctive, instead of learnt, interaction with computing systems take us?

Multi-touch is seen as a major step forward & already available on an array of products today, ranging from smart phones to the aforementioned tablet/slate computers. Microsoft's Surface project takes this one step further acting a large-scale multi touch system that is well suited to being integrated in objects like tables or retail displays. Not only does Surface accept input from multiple users at once, the technology also recognises physical objects that are placed on the screen. Microsoft Surface [www.microsoft.com/surface]

With Google's recent purchase of BumpTop, the rumoured launch of a tablet computer from the Californian giant could desktops move into 3D. BumpTop on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/bumptop]

Microsoft's Kinect, formerly Project Natal available later this year, is an addition to Xbox 360 gaming system that represents "controller-free gaming". Put simply, the technology tracks full body movement in 3D in addition to face & facial expression to provide a user interface to the Xbox. Microsoft Kinect (Natal) [www.microsoft.com/uk/wave/hardware-projectnatal]

Aside from information & gaming - what about real world activities & work? SixthSense introduced by Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry at the TED2009 caused a real buzz. SxithSense is a wearable gesture interface that augments the surrounding physical world around with digital information & uses natural hand gestures interact with that information. TED SixthSense [www.ted.com/sixthsense]

Who of course could forget the amazing UI expertly driven by Tom Cruise in Minority Report? Science advisor to the film & inventor has brought it to life in g-speak. TED g-speak [www.ted.com/gspeak]

The iPad (& other tablet/slate devices) has had a polarising affect on people's opinions. Look solely at the specifications it does not take long to think about other types of device that can offer the same benefits, more conveniently & in most cases for less money. But actually use one & watch how others simply pick the device up & intuitively know how to use it, marks something a bit different.

Useful links
Apple iPad [www.apple.com/uk]
Dell Streak [content.dell.com]
HP Slate [www.hp.com]


AND|30

2010 not only marks the start of a new decade, but sees AND Technology Research Ltd., celebrate its 30th anniversary!

Incorporated on June 11th 1980 AND Technology Research (AND Software - as it was known back then) came into being.

In order to celebrate this significant milestone, AND plans to host a number of events throughout the year to mark the anniversary, culminating in a grand reunion & celebration event in the summer, where AND hope to bring together former staff plus clients past & present to celebrate its birthday.

Be sure to keep an eye on the company website (andtr.com) & Control Columns to find out more about AND's celebrations in 2010.

Useful links
AND Technology Research [www.andtr.com]


Free IP White Papers

'Managing IP, Assets & Costs' & 'Easing Integration & Test Pressure' are just a couple of the titles available from our expanding, free, online White Papers section on the andtr.com website.

Over the coming months the team at AND hope to expand the number of titles, with topics ranging from PAN (Personal Area Network) RF through to making the right battery choice & energy harvesting techniques.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the latest titles, which include:

'Managing IP, Assets & Costs'. This paper looks at how development of embedded software is costly & reliant on highly skilled labour & how the goals of the design team & the goals of higher-level management in companies are mis-aligned. The paper focuses on three critical components of the development team project & its outputs, exposing the issues that team managers are faced with when sourcing or developing software & explores some techniques which can help them make decisions which align more naturally to company goals.

'Easing Integration & Test Pressure' looks at how continual growth in system size & complexity increases the need for software reuse. This paper exposes & explores some key integration & test pressures associated with reusing a large base of third-party software, providing readers with practical advice on how to improve the success of complex integration projects.
Both papers are available online from the AND website - Technology Consultancy, White Papers section [www.andtr.com].

Useful links
andtr.com White Papers [www.andtr.com]