Cellphones: a digital future

手机的升级换代随着科技的飞速发展日新月异. 想象过未来的手机是一把刀、一支笔, 一副眼镜的形状么? 未来手机可以便捷到用酒精、风力做动力来充电么? 可以读报的手机, 声控手机, 投影仪手机......

The development of modern technology is changing with each passing day. The same goes for the advancement of cellphone technology. From the old brick like clumsy mobile device to the current full colour video taking webcam, no one could have predicted the ways in which cellphones have developed.



The advantages of digital transmission over analogue are well known today -these include clearer speech and more consistent data transmission. But in 1980, when the first cellular trials were made in Britain, digital technology was still in its infancy. The original Cellnet (now O2) and Vodafone networks both began as analogue systems.

The future was clearly digital however, and an international consortium of network operators and equipment manufacturers made plans for a universal digital cellular system known as GSM -Global System for Mobile Communication. In 1991 this vision became a reality, when Vodafone launched its digital (GSM) mobile phone service in the UK. Handsets cost ￡1,000 each and were in short supply. Other operators held off until customer equipment was more widely available and cheaper, with Mercury One-2-One (now Cable and Wireless) entering the market in 1993, Cellnet (now O2) in 1994 and Orange soon after.

By just early 2005, the GSM system was being used by a billion people on more than 200 networks worldwide.



Today's mobile phones include the components and software for multiple cellular standards such as GPRS, EDGE and UMTS. In addition to this, there is usually a personal area technology such as Bluetooth. The number of radios in cellphones is set to rise exponentially in the quest to make the handset a multifunctional communications, information and entertainment device.

Future cellphones will incorporate GPS for location based services, FM radio and broadcast/satellite based television for entertainment, various flavors of Wi-Fi and eventually WiMAX for data and VoIP communications. They may also include Near Field Communications (NFC), Ultrawideband (UWB), radio frequency identification (RFID), and maybe even Zigbee. The challenges of fitting the circuitry needed to support all these functions into the limited size of a handset are obvious.



Audio cellphone

For those who are not used to complex menus, the future audio cellphone (voice-controlled) will transform the current "hand operation" method into a "verbal" one. Without any keyboard or touch-screen, all calls and answers will be fully accomplished by voice. Various functions could also be found out through menus. You could give instructions to visit websites, listen to music, and watch films or TV programs via this voice-controlled browser.

Yet sometimes this kind of audio cellphone might be a hassle, for example when you have to shout in a noisy background such as in a bus, at a party or in the pub. It would also be inappropriate to use the phone in a cinema or a library. Sometimes soldiers and policemen are forbidden from making any sound when executing a task. To solve this problem, American scientists are engaged in research, hoping to develop a silent sensor which could directly sense and "read" the user's nerve and muscle activities. If this project turns out to be successful, people could deliver messages without having to speak at all.



Recharging will be convenient

Many people have had this experience: It's hard to find any recharging source when the cellphone's battery is dead. An Indian college student has successfully utilized wind power to propel a turbine as the cellphone's recharging power. Delicate but portable, this turbine is very handy for cellphone users when they are on trains or in cars. All you need to do is to stick the turbine out of the window so that the wind will generate power. Liquid battery recharging technology is usually associated with cars. In the near future, it will be probably used in cellphone recharging. Instead of waiting for several hours when the battery is dead, users could just fill a container inside the liquid battery with methanol. A 12 ml bottle of methanol can support 60 hours speaking time and the battery's standby time will reach 400 hours.



Multifunctional cellphones

In the future more versatile cellphone could be used as a scanner. While reading you could easily scan enjoyable passages and send them to a friend. With the video function, future cellphones will be able to play films, TV and even transmit images of friends on line. Additionally, it could also be used as a projector to project pictures onto the surface of any object. Furthermore, the shape of future cellphones will also be cooler and more flexible. They may resemble a bracelet, a pair of glasses, or a knife. It might even be possible to fold them up like a piece of paper.

Networks is also a developing trend of future cellphones. They could manipulate household electronic appliances, play CD's, and direct a computer by remote. Used as a webcam, the cellphone could support video conferencing and chatting.

Science & technology round-up

"Roof of world" Tibet moving northeast
青藏高原移向东北
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, dubbed "the roof of the world", is moving north-eastward at seven to thirty millimeters a year. Such movement is barely noticeable and will not change the Chinese continental plate any time soon. But it's still significant from a geological point of view.



Chromosome abnormality discovered
发现染色体变异
The world's first reported chromosomal abnormality karyotype was discovered in Jilin, China. The discovery of this new chromosomal abnormality karyotype not only enriches the world's chromosome data bank, but is also very helpful to the study of the evolution of the human race, and useful in the clinical studies of genetics.



Healthcare test kits get urine-powered batteries
体检中心使用尿动微型电池
A Singapore scientific institute has invented a urine-powered micro battery that can run cheap, disposable test kits for diseases such as diabetes. A drop of urine placed on the paper battery will generate enough electricity to power a "biochip device" that can analyze the urine sample for disease "biomarkers."

".xxx" domain name for porn delayed
美".XXX"色情域名延缓审批
The Internet's key regulator agreed to a one-month delay in approving a new ".xxx" domain name for sex-oriented websites after the U.S. government cited "unprecedented" levels of protests against a virtual red-light district. A new top-level domain with the .xxx extension was to be launched in June, for what was billed as a self-regulated adult-themed area of cyberspace.



Russian sets record for time spent in space
俄宇航员创住舱纪录
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev broke the record for the longest time spent in space after clocking up 748 days. Krikalev and his American partner Phillips, who have been working on the space station since mid-April, are expected to return to Earth in October after completing their mission.

Vocabulary
chromosomal 染色体的
abnormality 变异
karyotype 染色体组型
hereditary 遗传的
disposable 一次性的
cyberspace 电脑空间