What is mobile technology and what are the benefits?

Mobile technology is exactly what the name implies - technology that is portable. Examples of mobile IT devices include:

• laptop and netbook computers
• palmtop computers or personal digital assistants
• mobile phones and 'smart phones'
• global positioning system (GPS) devices
• wireless debit/credit card payment terminals

Mobile devices can be enabled to use a variety of communications technologies such as:

• wireless fidelity (WiFi) - a type of wireless local area network technology
• Bluetooth - connects mobile devices wirelessly
• 'third generation' (3G), global system for mobile communications (GSM) and general packet radio service (GPRS) data services - data networking services for mobile phones
• dial-up services - data networking services using modems and telephone lines
• virtual private networks - secure access to a private network

It is therefore possible to network the mobile device to a home office or the internet while travelling.

Benefits

Mobile computing can improve the service you offer your customers. For example, when meeting with customers you could access your customer relationship management system - over the internet - allowing you to update customer details whilst away from the office. Alternatively, you can enable customers to pay for services or goods without having to go to the till. For example, by using a wireless payment terminal diners can pay for their meal without leaving their table.

More powerful solutions can link you directly into the office network while working off site, for instance to access your database or accounting systems. For example, you could:

• set up a new customer's account
• check prices and stock availability
• place an order online

This leads to great flexibility in working - for example, enabling home working, or working while travelling. Increasingly, networking 'hot spots' are being provided in public areas that allow connection back to the office network or the internet. The growth of cloud computing has also impacted positively on the use of mobile devices, supporting more flexible working practices by providing services over the internet.

Drawbacks

There are costs involved in setting up the equipment and training required to make use of mobile devices. Mobile IT devices can expose valuable data to unauthorised people if the proper precautions are not taken to ensure that the devices, and the data they can access, are kept safe. See our guide on securing your wireless systems.

Mobile technology

Introduction

Mobile computing allows people to use IT without being tied to a single location. Any business with staff that work away from the office can benefit from using it.

Whether you are travelling to meetings, out on sales calls, working from a client's site or from home, mobile devices - can help you keep in touch and make the most productive use of your time. You can use a range of devices to stay in touch including laptops, netbooks, personal digital assistants and 'third generation' (3G) smart phones.

Mobile IT devices can also change the way you do business - new technologies lead to new ways of working, and new products and services that can be offered to your customers. This guide explains how mobile computing can benefit your business and introduces the key technologies available.

This guide explains how mobile computing can benefit your business and introduces the key technologies available.

Lip reading mobile promises end to noisy phone calls

Technology that could see an end to the bane of many commuters - people talking loudly on their mobile phones - has been shown off by researchers.

The kit is still very much at the prototype stage

The prototype device could allow people to conduct silent phone conversations.

The technology measures the tiny electrical signals produced by muscles used when someone speaks.

The device can record these pulses even when a person does not audibly utter any words and use them to generate synthesised speech in another handset.

"I was taking the train and the person sitting next to me was constantly chatting and I thought 'I need to change this'," Professor Tanja Shultz of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology told BBC News.

"We call it silent communication."

Translation system

The device, on show at the Cebit electronics fair in Germany, relies on a technique called electromyography which detects the electrical signals from muscles. It is commonly used to diagnose certain diseases, including those that involve nerve damage.

The prototype that is on display in Germany uses nine electrodes that are stuck to a user's face.

Nasa have explored the use of silent communication systems

"These capture the electrical potentials that result from you moving your articulatory muscles," explained Professor Shultz. "Those are the muscles that you need in order to produce speech."

The electrical pulses are then passed to a device which records and amplifies them before transmitting the signal via Bluetooth to a laptop.

There, software translates the signals into text, which can then be spoken by a synthesiser.

In the future, said Professor Shultz, the technology could be packed in a mobile phone for instantaneous communication.

"We know this is not appealing for mass market use at the moment."

However, she added, it could be initially used to help people who have lost their voice due to illness or accident.

It could also form the basis of an instant translation system, she said.

"You could speak in your mother tongue and the text could be translated into another language," she said.

"The person that you are communicating with would then hear the synthesised voice in the other language."

It is not the first time that electromyography has been explored for silent communication.

The US space agency Nasa has investigated the technique for communicating in noisy environments such as the Space Station. It has also used the technique to explore advanced flight control systems that do away with joysticks and other interfaces.

Nasa, she said, explored the technique to understand simple commands.

"The difference with our system is that we can record and recognise continually spoken sentences," said Professor Shultz.

Cebit runs from 2 to 6 March in Hanover, Germany.

Mobile phone network tips

NETWORK MONITOR

There is a hidden menu inside your Nokia phone. If you want to activate it, you'll have to re-program some chips inside of your phone.

1. Check your software version. You can only continue if you have v4.33, v4.73 or v5.24.

2. Take apart the phone.

3. De-solder the EEPROM (ATMEL AT 24C64).

4. Read out the data with an EEPROM programmer and save it to a file (Backup).

5. If you have v.33 or v4.73, change the address "03B8" from "00" to "FF".

6. If you have v5.24 then change the address "0378" from "00" to "FF".

7. Write the new data to the EEPROM and solder it back to the phone,

8. Power on your phone and you should have "Netmonitor" enabled.

The Network Monitor gives you the following information.

Get Sexy wallpaper

• Carrier number

• MS RX Level in DBM

• Received signal quality

• MS TX power level

• C1 (Path loss criterion, used for cell selection and reselection). The range is -99 to 99.

• RTL (Radio link timeout).

• Timeslot

• Indication of the transmitter status

• Information on the Network parameters.

• TMSI (Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity).

• Cell identification (Cell ID, Number of cells being used).

• MCC (Mobile country code)

• MCN (Mobile network code)

• LAC (Location area code)

• Ciphering (On/Off)

• Hopping (On/Off)

• DTX (On/Off)

• Discard cell barred information

THE JAMES BOND TRICK

If you short-circuit theleft middle and right pins on the bottom of the phone with all connections touching each other, the Nokia software hangs! The profile "Headset" will be activated. Before you do this just activate the "Automatic Answer" in the headset profile and set the ringing volume to "Mute". Now you can use your phone for checking out what people are talking about in a room. Just place it under a table in a room and call it. The phone receives the call without ringing and you can listen to what people are saying.