Will wireless tech do daily chores?

gzlaser

IMAGINE a warning on your cellphone that tells you when a sick parent needs help, or that you should wash your underwear.

Forget mobile music and video. Wireless may end up running your life.

This may sound far-fetched. But labs worldwide are exploring such scenarios. As wireless networks become more powerful, there is a companion trend to miniaturize electronic chips to be placed into any product.

James Canton, president of the Institute for Global Futures, says sensor chips may one day be embedded into underwear to send laundry-related text or voice alerts to cellphones.

Others foresee a wide use of wireless sensors for potentially life-saving applications.

Professor John Guttag from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is studying how wirelessly connected medical devices, such as heart-monitor sensors, can help save human lives. He predicts that the devices could automatically send warnings of a problem to the patient's cellphone and then on to a relative or a doctor.

Also, cellphones, software, computers and sensors can work together to make our jobs easier and eliminate daily chores.

In the future, your computer will automatically switch on when you arrive at work. It will display documents for your meeting, thanks to phone and PC-based sensors, said Tom MacTavish, a researcher at Motorola Inc.