The 1984 Tech Blog

Normally when someone is at home and makes a cell call it is routed through the closest cell tower and uses minutes from that persons service plan. However with femtocells the game has changed completely. With femtocell technology cell calls from ones home can now be routed through a dedicated VoIP network and not count towards the callers available minutes.

The word femtocell originated from the prefix femto which means 10-15 or essentially a extremely small number. When this prefix is used in conjunction with the word cell as “femtocell” it refers to a small electronic device and the technology that it employs. Femtocells are a relatively new idea and they work by creating their own small, independent cell networks. One major issue that femtocells are expected to solve is the inability of mobile carriers to provide an adequate signal where its user want it most, inside buildings and homes. In this case femtocells will work as a cell signal booster of sorts by providing perfect service in the home. With the small network created by a femtocell all calls that are made while in range of it are routed over a dedicated VoIP network rather than through a cell network.

The practicality behind femtocell is two fold. With the benefits being to move traffic off of clogged cell networks while people are at home and allow for better service indoors.

Over the past year mobile carriers have tried to introduce femtocell devices to their subscribers, albeit unsuccessfully. The issue lies with mobile carriers wanting to charge subscribers a monthly fee for unlimited femtocell minutes and an expensive upfront cost for the device. In this case the cell carriers want to have their cake and eat it too. With internet phones becoming popular these days mobile carriers are experiencing clogged cell networks that lower overall call quality. Due to this carriers need to move calls and data use off of their networks. One way to do this is by getting subscribers to use femtocells. However they want to try to accomplish this feat while also charging customers more money.

Recently, there had been alot of noise in the femtocell sector from Ymax, the company known for providing low-cost phone services through its landline based magicJack VoIP device. The commotion has come from Ymax’s announcement of the femtoJack – a new femtocell device that was recently tested and shown off by Ymax CEO Dan Barislow at the CES 2010. The femtoJack uses femtocell technology and works just like other femtocells but it seems to be the first femtocell that we have see that comes at a price that consumers are be willing to pay, $40 up front and then $20 per year thereafter.

Outside of the femtoJack there have been other femtocell offerings but none of them have been very successful. Sprint was the first carrier to offer a femtocell in the US when they come out with the much anticipated AIRAVE femtocell. Unfortunately due to high costs for the device and a monthly service charge the AIRAVE has yet to take off.

The race now seems to be on among Sprint, Ymax, and other femtocell producers to be the first to produce a low cost femtocell that will actually entice consumers to jump on board. Regardless of who wins the race it is clear that once manufacturing costs are reduced to a rate that makes femtocells affordable to consumers the market for them will explode.

The legendary 1984 Apple Macintosh Commercial

The evolution of the TV is a perfect example of how technology has progressed over the past 75 years or so. When the TV originally came out it was small, boxy, came in black and white, and didn’t provide great picture quality. The television stayed this way for quite some without much change. Eventually TVs started being a little bigger and then the color TV was introduced. At this time TVs were still quite small and the picture quality wasn’t very good.

The next step for the TV was an improvement in picture quality and a dramatic increase in size. At this time manufacturers began producing “big screen” TVs and began improving picture quality. The evolution to this point took quite some time and into the mid 1990s people were still using the large boxy TVs. This was the age of the “big screen” but these TVs not only had big screens but were BIG altogether and took up tons of space.

From this time the progression of the TV picked up quickly. Manufacturers were able to develop HD, plasma, and LCD TVs at this time which no only dramatically increased picture quality but also dramatically reduced the size of televisions. Televisions were now only 3-4 inches thick rather than 1-2 feet thick. These types of TVs were around for several years as the cream of the crop but now manufacturers have come out with LED TVs which provide even richer colors and an even smaller TV. TVs are now being made with a 1.5 inch thickness and their overall weight has again dropped dramatically. Now the question is when will they come out with TVs that are as thin as a laptop computer screen. I think its only a matter of time.

As technology progresses in all areas each advancement or break through has a shorter period in the pinnacle before something better is develop. This has been seen time and time again with all tech products and I don’t expect it to be any different with TVs. My expectation is that we will get .5 inch thick or smaller and better picture quality TVs within 3 years. The LED TV is great but it’s life span at the top will be even small than what we saw with Plasma and LCD TVs.