There are phones and then there are the RoboHon

imageIf you thought you had seen it all then here is a new take on what a phone could be like.

Sharp Corp. in Japan has announced a robot phone and they have called it RoboHon. I thought at first that it might have been a joke, but no it really is a phone designed by well-known designer Tomotake Takahashi.

The little fella is about 20cm high and has a 5cm screen on his back plus a camera and – believe or not –  a projector in his forehead. RoboHon isn’t just a phone it walks, talks, dances and connects to LTE. It can identify people by their appearance or voice and can then act appropriately and let them know if they have received a message or for that matter when to smile for the camera. A friendly phone indeed.

The RoboHon is scheduled to be released next year, but whether it will come to NZ, and when, is still to be decided, as is the price.

Meanwhile here is a little video with English subtitles, I am sure you’ll find him quite adorable so maybe it is not such a silly idea.

Ca-ching, ca-ching, a sound you may not hear for much longer

KaChingA year ago I wrote about the likelihood of us becoming a cashless society and a chequeless one too.

The threat hasn’t gone away, but I wondered if there were newer signs of the impending loss and lo and behold there are.

Two buskers in Seattle, Washington, with a vio...Though cash is still around, have you noticed what is happening to the buskers we used to have plenty of around the shopping centre, not just on paydays or super days, but also to all the various organizations that used to line the doorways into the supermarket with their collection boxes?

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What’s next?

Trends 2014 arrowWhat is happening out there in the wide world of communication? What devices are we using? and where are we heading?

To be sure things do not stand still, and the usage of computing devices including smartphones is ever increasing as is the impact of the internet. If you read ‘All things Internet’ you know which direction that

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Federation Newsletter – April 2013

For full screen viewing please click on the little square at the foot of the frame on the right hand side, this will bring the pages up for full viewing. To go back just click on the return arrow at the top left hand side of your screen.

What will the next iteration of Windows become?

Ah, you say, why on earth start talking about the next version of Windows, we are still using Windows XP?Windows XP Penguin

Really, but XP was launched about 12 years ago and is destined for the scrapheap in short order, and since then we have had Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8 plus Windows RT and Windows Pro, the last two for the newer devices like smartphones and tablets.

You’d think that

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