Subject: [NEXTEL-1] A Motorola phone running the program can be plugged into the diagnostics port under the dashboard of most cars.

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 17:55:40 -0500

A Motorola phone running the program can be plugged into the diagnostics port under the
dashboard of most cars.
http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=34182018&ID=cnniw&scategory=Business+and+Finance&

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Phones fan out

Source: Technology Review

Publication date: 2002-11-01

Arrival time: 2002-11-07

MOBILE COMPUTING | Soon anyone with the latest cell phone will be
able to check Grandpa's heart monitor, seek a diagnosis of that
rattle under the hood, or make sure the hot tub is hot enough.
That's because phones now coming onto the market can plug into
sensing devices-from health monitors to automotive diagnostic units-
to run software that reconciles a hodgepodge of data formats and
translates the data for uploading onto wireless networks and the
Web.

"The phone is becoming what I call a `digital Swiss Army knife,"
says Tony Hillman, a technology manager at Sun Microsystems, which
has developed one of the software standards turning up in the new
phones. "By downloading different applications you can transform
[your phone] into a different kind of device," he says.

VTTi of Moss Beach, CA, is one of the first US. software
companies to cast phones as wireless data gatherers. The company
recently used Sun's Java software, for example, to develop a remote
automotive-diagnostics program. A Motorola phone running the program
can be plugged into the diagnostics port under the dashboard of most
cars, says VTTi vice president of engineering, Tim Clark. The phone
converts engine data into packets that can be uploaded to a wireless
data network operated by Nextel. The data then go to a central Web
server where other Java software turns the information into a Web
page that can be viewed by mechanics back at the garage.

Future versions of the VTTi system will work with other phones
and with networks being built by other wireless providers, Clark
says. On the home front, spa owners can use a similar program to
check their tubs' water temperature and chemistry data, and they can
also send the data to a Web page where they or technicians can turn
up the heat or start the whirlpool jets.

VTTi also offers a phone program that sends electocardiogram data
from wearable heart monitors directly to medical professionals. In
the future, Clark says, similar software could provide a standard
way for ambulance operators to upload such data to hospitals,
preparing physicians for a patient's arrival. Try doing that with
your Swiss Army knife. -Wade Roush

Copyright Technology Review, Inc. Nov 2002

Publication date: 2002-11-01

© 2002, YellowBrix, Inc.

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