10 Comparisons Between Star Trek and Modern Technologies

For those of us who were around to watch the original Star Trek series on television, we remember thinking how cool it would be to have some of the great gadgets they used. The future is now! Many of their ‘futuristic’ ideas have become available in some form, since then.

1. Communicators to cell phones – Flip open devices that allowed you to communicate with others from almost any location. Of course, there was the occasional atmospheric interference that cut off your connection to the other person. Lots of similarities in these two.
2. PADDs to tablet computers - Personal access display devices were used in Star Trek: The Next Generation. They were flat panel touch screen devices that were used for a multitude of tasks and gaining access to all kinds of information. Although the PADDs were a bit undefined at the time, they have definite similarity to the ipad and other tablet computers.
3. Ear piece headset to bluetooth technology – Wireless headsets were worn on the bridge of the Enterprise. They were small and attached to one ear. Bluetooth headsets are used in environments today that are not near as sophisticated as the star ship’s command deck.
4. Portable data disks to floppy disks/data drives – Thin, small pieces of plastic were inserted into the computer consoles of the star ship, which were close in size to the 3-1/2 floppy disk. Today we have even smaller USB data drives for transporting data.
5. Voice commands to voice commands – The ability to give verbal commands to electronics is a true reality today, even though it isn’t used as often as it was on Star Trek. Computers and many cell phones have the capability of being directed by voice command.
6. Tricorder to modern thermometers – The tricorder could scan a person’s body and provide readings on a number of different things. There have been some similar devices created, but the closest one to be seen in many homes today is the modern digital ear thermometer. The thought of getting a temperature reading from an infant so easily was not even thought of by mothers during the first years of Star Trek.
7. Transporter to GPS – No, we haven’t been able to ‘beam’ anyone up or down, but we can locate people just as specifically with a GPS as the transporter was able to lock into the location of people it was called on to retrieve.
8. Diagnostic scan to CAT, MRI and ultrasound – Dr. McCoy could lay you on his diagnostic table and perform a scan of your body to come up with a diagnosis. We use several different scanning technologies for diagnosis today.
9. Phasers to Tasers – In Star Trek, they pointed their phasers at the enemy and were able stun or disable them with a blast of energy. The reaction to being struck by a taser looks very similar to what you saw by those who had been hit by the beam of a phaser on the television show.
10. Video Screen Communication to Skype – We may not talk to people on a screen quite the size of the one Captain Kirk used on the Enterprise, but we easily communicate from screen to screen using Skype. The big screens are used, though, for teleconference speaking, all the time.

No one guessed at the time that Star Trek first aired, just how fast some of those technologies would develop. We still aren’t traveling at ‘warp speed’, and we haven’t found the Vulcan’s with those pointed ears, but Spock could show up any day now.

Please feel free to read other articles from Internet service providers 

Why Starting Justin.tv Was A Really Bad Idea, But I’m Glad We Did It Anyway

Editor’s note: The following guest post was written by Justin Kan, founder of Justin.tv. 

Right now I’m neck deep in product launch mode, putting the finishing touches on our new mobile video application—Socialcam. Of course, I’ve been here before . . .

Years ago when we launched the Justin.tv show we had no idea what we were doing. This much was obvious to anyone who watched. Outsiders attribute far more strategic thought to the venture than we gave it. Some think that we planned all along to start a live platform, and that the Justin.tv show itself was a way of promoting that platform. While this ended up happening, none of it had crossed our minds at the time.

Emmett Shear and I had been working on Kiko, the first Javascript web calendaring application in the Microsoft Outlook style. We prototyped the application in our final year at Yale, went on to raise money from Y Combinator, then continued working on it for over a year.

Then Google Calendar was released—boom—absorbing most of our nascent user base and capturing most of the early adopter mindshare. But to be perfectly honest, Kiko would have failed regardless. We were too easily distracted and hadn’t really thought through the strategic implications of owning a standalone calendaring property (hint: no one wants a calendar without email). A short time later we were burned out and spending most of our time playing Xbox with the Reddit guys in Davis Square—hardly a startup success story.

Emmett and I started thinking about possible ways to get out of the calendar business. At the same time, I was startup fatigued. We had spent over a year paying ourselves nothing. The seed and angel investment market conditions were the polar opposite of what they are today. It had been a struggle to even raise a paltry $70,000, and we had failed to build a product with real traction. I was starting to think about moving back to Seattle to try something new, maybe in a different industry.

Still, we learned a ton and it was fun to be part of the early Y Combinator startup community (then largely in Boston). We became friends with Matt Brezina and Adam Smith (of Xobni), Trip Adler, Tikhon Bernstam and Jared Friedman (of Scribd), and many others. It’s amazing to see how many of those friendships persist today, and even more amazing how well many of those companies are doing.

Coming back from one particular YC dinner, Emmett and I were discussing strategic ideas for Kiko, and I remember telling Emmett an idea that popped into my head: what if you could hear an audio feed on the web of our discussion? Wouldn’t that be interesting to other like-minded entrepreneurial types? We kept going, and eventually the idea morphed into a video feed. Then it became a live video feed. Then it became a continuous live video feed that followed someone around 24/7. Then it had chat, and a community built around watching this live show, which was now a new form of entertainment. I was hooked.

I couldn’t stop talking about the idea. I mentioned it at YC dinners and to other friends. I even came up with a perfect name for it: Justin.tv. On one trip to DC, I told my Dad and my college friend Michael Seibel what I was thinking. Eventually, in-between drinking sessions, we thought of a brilliant idea for divesting ourselves of Kiko, which is a story for another day. After that, Emmett and I were coming up with other startup ideas (I guess we got excited about staying in the industry after all). One particular favorite was the idea of a web app that would ingest your blog’s RSS feed and then allow you to layout and print physical magazines from it. Excitedly, we drove one afternoon to Paul Graham’s house to pitch it.

We explained the idea to Paul and Robert Morris, who just happened to be at the house visiting. I vaguely recall there also being a “this will kill academic publishing” angle, although I can’t figure out how that sensibly fits in now. Paul didn’t particularly like the idea: he didn’t think people would use it. “Well,” he said, “what else do you have?”

I said the only thing I could think of: “Justin.tv.”

Because it was something I was clearly passionate about, and because creating a new form of entertainment was clearly a big market (if you could invent one!), Paul was actually into it. Robert’s addition to the conversation was “I’ll fund that just to see you make a fool of yourself.” Emmett and I walked out of there with a check for $50,000.

Six months later, we’d recruited two other cofounders (Kyle Vogt, our hardware hacker, who we convinced to drop out of MIT on a temporary leave of absence, and Michael Seibel, my college friend from DC, who became our “producer”). We built a site with a video player and chat and two prototype cameras that captured, encoded and streamed live video over cell data networks, negotiated with a CDN to carry our live video traffic, and raised an additional couple hundred thousand dollars. Our plan? Launch the show and see what happens.

Now, let me just tell you why this was a bad idea:

• We didn’t have a plan. We loosely figured if the show became popular we could sell sponsorships or advertising, but we didn’t have a plan to scale the number of shows, nor did we understand what our marginal costs on streaming, customer acquisition, or actually selling ads were.
• We didn’t understand the industry. We didn’t know what kinds of content advertisers would pay for. We didn’t have good insight into what kind of content people wanted to watch, either.
• We relied on proprietary hardware that we were going to mass-produce ourselves. Smart angels told us to drop the hardware and figure out how to do it with commodity equipment, but we wouldn’t listen because we thought hardware would be easy (or at least, doable). Ironically, months after we were told this we switched to using a laptop.
• We were trying to build a “hits” based business without any experience making hits. We knew a lot about websites, but little about content creation. Smart VCs (who took our calls because Paul referred us) told us as much: nobody really likes investing in hits based businesses, because it requires the continual generation of new hits to be successful (instead of, say, building a platform like eBay or Google whose success is built on masses of regular users).

How did we get as far as we did?

• We were passionate. We honestly believed we could create a new form of reality entertainment. Put to the side that we had no experience with creating video (or any kind of content), by God, we were going to make this work.
• Early stage investing is often about the people, not the idea. Paul has said as much about what he looks for. As two-time YC founders he knew that we worked well together and even if we were working on something totally inane we were going to stick it out with the company and iterate until we found a business model.
• We sold the shit out of it. Everyone we knew was excited for Justin.tv. Why? Because our excitement was infectious. That’s how we got Kyle to drop out of school. That’s how we got Michael to quit his job and move across the country.

Ultimately, the show failed. But all told, I’m thankful every day that things went the way they did. Why?

• We built a strong team. The four of us started, and the four of us all still have leadership roles in the company. Along the way we recruited the smartest engineers and best product designers we could find.
• We were willing to learn, and to pivot. After quickly realizing the initial show wasn’t a sustainable model, we decided to go the platform route, and built the world’s largest live video platform (both on the web and in our mobile apps, which have millions of downloads).
• It got us started. Some people wait until the stars are aligned before they jump in. Maybe that’s the right move, but plenty of businesses get started with something that seems implausible, stupid, or not-a-real-business but turn into something of value (think Groupon). If we hadn’t started then, would we have later?

Today, I’m more excited about Justin.tv than I’ve been at any time since we launched the initial platform. Why? We’re taking everything we’ve gathered and learned over the past four and half years building the largest live video platform on the Web (17 million monthly unique visitors in Dec according to comScore’s MediaMetrix), and applying it to tackle a new generation of problems in mobile video. Our world class web and mobile engineering team, all of our product development knowledge, our substantial, scaled video infrastructure, and everything we’ve learned about building engineering teams has all been put to work on a new app that we think is going to change everything.

Our new app is called Socialcam, but that’s another story.

Macworld Expo shines without superstar Apple

SAN FRANCISCO: From star-gazing iPad applications to crystal-encrusted iPhone cases, a universe of products spun off of Apple gadgets flourished at Macworld Expo despite the absence of the sun around which they revolve.

Attendance was on track to hit 25,000 by the time the annual gathering of Apple faithful ends.

The crowd was down from the 40,000 to 50,000 people seen in years when Apple took part and chief executive Steve Jobs starred in presentations that included unveiling hot new gadgets like the iPhone.

Apple pulled out of the show in 2010, but engineers from Cupertino, California-based company still make pilgrimages to Macworld to see what fans and entrepreneurs are making of their products.

“The energy is still really high,” said Anna-Maria Pardini, who works for Hewlett-Packard tending to its relationship with Apple.

“The nature of the show has definitely changed,” she continued, noting she has attended Macworld Expos for more than a decade. “Eleven years ago there was no iTunes, no iPhone, and until recently there was no iPad.

“You’ve seen Apple expanding and changing markets, and changing the way we do things,” she continued. “It is like never stepping into the same river twice.”

Computer titan Hewlett-Packard (HP) makes hundreds of monitors, printers, hubs and other products compatible with Macintosh computers.

Interest was high in HP technology that let people wirelessly connect with printers from Apple gadgets.

Offerings on the crowded expo floor ranged from data storage devices and computer security services to applications for playing or working on Apple devices.

SouthernStars.com showed off Sky Safari software that essentially turns iPads into windows into the night sky.

A freshly-launched Sky Wire cable lets people use iPhones to command telescopes to automatically find celestial objects.

The array of iPhone cases included Luxmo designs coated with Swarovski crystals glued by hand in tiger, parrot, skull, frog and other patterns. Prices ranged from $300 to $350.

Rhinestone covered Luxmo iPhone cases priced at $75 dollars were available for fashionable but frugal technophiles. “Apple people enjoy making a statement,” said David Fung of Luxmo.

US+U claimed to have the most functional iPad case, with a cuff on the back as a handle so people could hold tablets single-handed in a fashion similar to paint palettes. A Waterproof Dry Case was crafted to vacuum seal smartphones in plastic while letting users still plug in headsets to listen to music.

“You could be in a sandstorm or out in the water and not have to worry about it,” Jordan Messick of US-based Dry Corp said. “If nothing else survives, at least your iPhone is going to.”

A Boom application that beefed up sound coming from Macintosh or iPad speakers was among ten products awarded “Best of Macworld” honors on Friday.

Another winner was Ten One Design, a startup that invented Fling joysticks that stick onto faces of iPads with suction cups to provide videogame console style controls.

“Once you get your thumbs on it, you will feel the difference,” said Ten One chief executive Peter Skinner. “What we really love about Fling is they are transparent, so you can see your enemies coming from all directions.”

The company behind Invisible Shield film that protects touchscreen gadgets from scratching took a best-of award for a Zaggmate aluminum iPad case with a wireless Bluetooth-enabled keypad.

“Zaggmate converts iPad into a netbook of sorts,” said Jason Melville of Zagg, adding that the company name is an acronym for ‘Zealous About Great Gadgets.”

He closed a co-worker’s iPad into the case and dropped it to the floor to make a point about the $99 Zaggmate’s ability to protect tablets.

Banners reminded people to mark their calendars for next year’s Macworld event in a clear sign that the independently run event was continuing undaunted without Apple.

Tech world stunned at Egypt's Internet shutdown

The Egyptian government's unprecedented shutdown of Internet and mobile phone access Friday stunned the world's technology community, which questioned whether the country can quickly recover from cutting such a vital link for commerce and communication.
The government's surprising move came in the face of widespread civil unrest, but essentially wiped the country off the world's online maps, said Jim Cowie, chief technology officer and co-founder of Renesys, a New Hampshire firm that monitors how the Internet is operating.
"It is astonishing because Egypt has so much potentially to lose in terms of credibility with the Internet community and the economic world," Cowie said. "It will set Egypt back for years in terms of its hopes of becoming a regional Internet power."
He said the long-term economic effects are unclear because "we've never seen a country rebooted on this scale before."
The shutdown illustrated how ingrained the Internet has become for everyday global communications.
Moreover, the unrest in Egypt, and that in Tunisia the week before, have once again highlighted how vital online social networks like San Francisco's Twitter Inc., and Palo Alto's Facebook Inc. and the video-sharing site YouTube Inc. of San Bruno have become in exporting ideals such as freedom of speech.
Protesters, for example, used a Facebook page to list their demands and rally support.
"A world without the Internet is unimaginable," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an e-mailed response to the Egyptian shutdown.
"Although the turmoil in Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people and their government to resolve, limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community. It is essential to communication and to commerce. No one should be denied access to the Internet."

Facebook and Twitter

Both Facebook and Twitter reported diminishing traffic to and from Egypt as the protests escalated this week, presumably as the government sought to filter those sites.
The precise "surgical" targeting of Facebook and Twitter wasn't surprising, though it failed to quell the uprising. But Cowie said he was astonished when the country began cutting all access, especially because Egypt has aspirations to become a Middle East hub for Internet operations.

'Obliged to comply'

Renesys watched as about 93 percent of Egypt's Internet traffic began to shut down after midnight Friday in Cairo. Cowie said he could track each of the country's major Internet service providers as they began a shutdown and data suggest government officials made a series of quick phone calls within a few minutes.
In a statement on the company's website, Vodafone Egypt also said that "all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it. The Egyptian authorities will be clarifying the situation in due course."
Cowie said there was only one other similar government-ordered online shutdown, in Burma in 2007, but that did not compare to the outage in as large a country as Egypt.
"What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80 million people from the Internet?" Cowie wrote in a Renesys blog. "What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets? This has never happened before and the unknowns are piling up."
The nonprofit Internet Society of Reston, Va., said that shutdown was "an inappropriate response to a political crisis" and "a serious intrusion into its citizens' basic rights to communicate."

'Ones that will suffer'

"Ultimately, the Egyptian people and nation are the ones that will suffer, while the rest of the world will be worse off with the loss of Egyptian voices on the Net," the group said.
Eva Galperin, international activist with the San Francisco digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the situation shows what can happen if laws are enacted to "put the power to shut down a portion of the Internet in the hands of a single person, whether it's the president of Egypt or the president of the United States."
Galperin also said that while social networking has given activists in Egypt, Tunisia and Iran a "powerful voice" heard beyond their own borders, the Bay Area is also home to companies that provide computer security tools that governments can use to identify and retaliate against them.
Activists living in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes should take precautions to not reveal personal information that could jeopardize their lives, she said.

Narus singled out

In an article published by the Huffington Post, Timothy Karr, campaign director of the Washington media reform group Free Press, singled out Narus Inc., a Sunnyvale computer security firm, for selling the Egyptian government tools for monitoring Internet and mobile phone traffic.
"What we are seeing in Egypt is a frightening example of how the power of technology can be abused," Karr said.
A spokeswoman for Narus did not return voice and e-mail messages requesting comment.

Comparison Chart: Motorola XOOM vs. iPad

The price of the Motorola XOOM has been quite the topic of discussion over the last couple of days so we thought we’d drop some additional information into the conversation.  Here is a comparison chart of the XOOM ($699) to the 32GB 3G iPad ($729).  Yes, we actually compared it to the version of the iPad that matches up closest rather than to the $499 Wi-Fi-only model that so many keep referring to.  This battle isn’t even close.  Chart after the break.     

Looks like a steal to me.  And yes, consumers do care about tech specs.

Update:  Why would we not compare this to the iPad?  It’s the leading tablet on the market.  Normally when you do comparisons, you find the top product on the market and see how yours stacks up.  Some of you people are silly.  When the iPad2 comes out, we’ll make another chart.  We’ll also do charts for the G-Slate, the Toshiba Tab and the Galaxy Tab 2.  Chill.

New technology can be the best medicine

Doctors And New Technology

We all know that smartphones, tablet computers and big-screen TVs are transforming the workplace and home. But the newest gadgets could also be a tonic for medicine and health care.

Cellphones have already proven to be a potent medical instrument in improving patient outcomes. Diabetes patients who are sent videos on their cellphones and actually view them are more likely to check blood sugar levels and comply with their care regimens, said U.S. Army Col. Ron Poropatich, who spoke at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

And wounded veterans sent text messages via cellphone have better follow-up treatment routines and feel more connected to caregivers, said Poropatich, deputy director of the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center at Fort Detrick, Md.

Several military-run treatment trials are testing the promise of cellphones and online apps in patient care. Poropatich foresees patients tracking their blood pressure and other measurements using computers and devices, and those findings being monitored remotely by caregivers. Similarly, cellphones and online video can connect care-intensive patients who want to remain in their homes with off-site doctors and families.

Both of Poropatich's parents are alive and "I would like to be able to log onto my Blackberry and see how they are doing," he said.

Already, commercial firms are making their own evolutionary strides in telemedicine and personal health monitoring.

A look at some of the health and medical advances on display last week at CES:

•Homebound parents can stay connected online using VitalLink, a touch-screen based computer system that allows real-time video chatting using the phone line and webcam. The New Jersey-based company created online software that can be used with touchscreens, no mouse or keyboard required. "We're keeping it easy to use for the elderly who are computer-phobic and don't have the skills," says company president Rich Brown.

Photo galleries can also be uploaded for viewing. Chat and photo software features start at $4.99 monthly; touchscreens start at about $300 (vitallink.net).

In some assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, VitalLink is being tested with an additional activity monitor feature that lets caregivers and primary family members track the resident's involvement. "If they are not active, you can try and call or you can initiate a call from their end and see what's going on," Brown says.

•For elderly relatives who want to remain in their own homes, the My Guardian Angel service provides automated fall and wander detection, emergency readings and other behavioral and medical monitoring. Residents wear a wristwatch that tracks location, sends out fall alerts, records body temperature and can be upgraded to record pulse as well.

Additional health data from Bluetooth devices (blood pressure, glucose monitoring) can be captured by My Guardian, too. Base price for the system with watch, wireless Internet gateway, three wireless electrical plug-in routers and charging unit is under $1,000; $79.95 monthly service (atguardianangel.com).

The system is highly customizable. "My mom does not like to sleep with (the watch on) and she takes it off every night. If she doesn't have it on by 8 a.m. I get a text message to call my mom and tell to put it on," said CEO Ed Caracappa. "It's a very complete and fully functional system for those who wish to age in place."

•Data tracking can also help those who aim to get – and remain – physically fit. MapMyFitness records and tracks your workout progress using free iPhone apps and compatible devices such as hear monitors and GPS devices.

Runners and bicyclists can wirelessly input data from a heart rate sensor (made by Garmin, Wahoo, Adidas or Timex, for instance) to the iPhone or iPod Touch (also compatible with Blackberry and Android devices). " That gives you instant feedback," says MapMyFitness senior mobile development manager Chris Glode. "You can just look at your phone and know whether you are in your target zone or not."

Other data types that can be input include runner cadence and speed, power expenditure (good for cyclists) and weight ($130-up, www.mapmyfitness.com).

Beyond that, a Web-based subscription service lets you view workout charts and reports, as well as training plans (free to $100 annually). "More and more people are wanting to track every aspect of their life using more and more sophisticated types of sensors," Glode says. "The data you get, in addition to how you feel during the workout and how many calories you burned, is crucial to people."

•Workouts can tracked and more enjoyable by incorporating your big-screen TV. BodyMedia's Fit Armband BW ($249) tracks calories burned and consumed, physical activity, steps taken and sleep. The Bluetooth device lets you monitor activity on your iPhone or Android phone already, but starting in April Panasonic will let you access BodyMedia's software on its Viera HDTVs.

That will allow exercisers to watch their activity levels and calories burnt add up while they watch movies, TV shows or while playing video games. "Our partnership with Panasonic is on the cutting edge for adding important health and wellness information to everyday TV viewing," says BodyMedia chief information officer Steve Menke. "The integration of a body monitoring technology with the TV is enabling real-time health and wellness management."

The marrying of consumer electronics and medical technologies is going to be needed especially as baby boomers age, Poropatich says. "Electronic devices are going to hooked to the cloud. That's all happening."

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New gadgets cook up tech euphoria

2011 International Consumer Electronics Show

 Jan. 14--As a slew of new devices were presented at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show that finished Sunday in Las Vegas, among the tech euphoria was a device that blurred the lines between what a cellphone and desktop computer should be.

The Atrix 4G was Motorola's newest mobile device that made its debut last week, a smartphone running Android 2.2 with a 4 inch gorilla glass capacitive high-res 540x960 resolution display, powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, with each core running at 1 GHz, theoretically delivering up to two GHz of processing power, and 1 GB of DDR2 RAM.

In addition, it will have 16 GB of onboard memory, which can be upgraded to 48 GB with a 32 GB microSD memory card.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the ITEXPO East, February 2-4, 2011 Miami Beach Convention Center, FL.

Motorola claims this device to be "the world's most powerful smartphone," and with the special feature shown during the presentation, it certainly has facts to back up its claims.

Although it uses a newly designed dual-core processor like the also unveiled LG Optimus 2X, in addition to both a front-facing and a back-facing 5MP auto focus camera with a duel-LED flash, what sets it apart from the current line of devices is its ability to dock, which launches a webtop Linux or entertainment center environment, allowing the device for use as a desktop or laptop computer or a multimedia center.

When the device is released, multiple docks will be available.

One of the options is the HD Multimedia Dock that has ports to connect an HD monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

This creates a desktop experience with a full Mozilla Firefox browser and integrated Flash 10.1 for watching Hulu videos, all outputted at 720p.

Bringing pc-like power to the mobile platform, when docked to the HD Dock, all of the phone's capabilities will remain intact, in addition to 80 percent to 90 percent of PC functions available through cloud-based computing.

A file manager is available for saving all types of documents, which can be edited through webapps like Google Docs. When a more traditional PC experience is needed, virtualization is available through Citrix remote desktop support.

Motorola demonstrated the feature by remotely connecting to a PC running Windows XP fullscreen.

The Atrix can also be connected to an HDTV and used with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for relaxed webpage viewing from the comfort of your living room or while connected to a TV, the home entertainment environment can be launched, allowing access to HD videos, photos, and music, creating an Apple TV-like experience.

The other dock available is the Laptop Dock which connects into a device that looks like a laptop, but is only a screen, keyboard and battery, with all of the computing power done on the smartphone, same as with the HD Multimedia Dock.

The Laptop Dock will get six hours of battery life and when disconnected, the user will be left with a fully charged smartphone.

When the smartphone is removed from its dock, the environment will remain, so when reconnected to the dock again, the user can continue web browsing where he left off. All brower tabs will still be loaded as well as videos.

The browser tabs are also available for mobile viewing once they are disconnected from the dock.

With such extraordinary computing power in your pocket, it's hard to believe where the Atrix's origins date back to nearly 30-plus years ago.

The first successful mass-produced cellphone came with the Motorola DynaTAC in 1984, known to many as "The brick," which weighed two pounds and offered just a half-hour of talk time for every recharging and sold for $3,995, and the computer was the Apple II, with two models, retailing at $1,298 with 4 KB of RAM and $2,638 with the maximum 48 KB of RAM.

The Atrix 4G has about 21 times more RAM than the fastest Apple II, weighing just 135 grams, and lasting for 8.80 hours of talk time and 264 hours of standby time in a super slim package only 10.9 mm thick.

With such vast improvements, it makes phones like Apple's iPhone 4 with its inhouse-built A4 processor, the same as in the iPad, becoming increasingly outdated less than a year after its release, even though it was also revealed for Verizon Tuesday.

Although no pricing was released by Motorola or AT&T, the only U.S. carrier which the Atrix will be available, it was hinted at launch for sometime this quarter.