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The News – 11/14/00
HP and Nokia to Enable Cell Phones to Print from Web
The two companies
recently announced an effort that would allow a person to identify a
document on the Web via URL, send that URL to an HP printer, and the
printer would retrieve the document and print it. The phone would use IR,
vCard or Bluetooth protocols to send the URL to the printer. “Nokia 9110
and 9110i Communicators currently have the capability to beam a URL using
today's vCard and IR technology. HP printers supporting these evolving standards
will be available beginning next year.”
This effort is
stemming from HP’s “CoolTown” research project. Let’s see. Our image is
stodgy; we don’t seem to get it. I know! Let’s start a project called “CoolTown!”
Then all the kids will think we’re hep!
Kidding aside, HP
envisions, in CoolTown, that devices will be broadcasting URLs wirelessly
throughout our environment via “beacons.” This sounds like Bluetooth, but
HP doesn’t name that technology specifically. HP is also a partner in MIT’s
Oxygen project, which aims to bring a pervasive computing fabric to
everyday life.
I do like one turn
of phrase in HP’s CoolTown propaganda, though: “your pocket device becomes
a remote control for the world-at-large.” Yes! Now I can mute the people
who talk in movies!
Visit CoolTown
MIT's Oxygen Project
HP Press
Release
A B2B Business Standard?
UDDI is a
non-profit organization originally established by Ariba, IBM, and Microsoft
that is fostering a Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration
standard. This standard will involve “the creation of a service registry
architecture that presents a standard way for businesses to build a
registry, query other businesses, and enable those registered businesses to
interoperate and share information globally in a distributed manner.” This
registry will contain information on how each business is able to do
electronic commerce and provides a globally unique identifier. The goal is
to help businesses find trading partners and enter into productive
relationships without worrying about disparate technologies.
“Registering with
UDDI will enable a company to publicly list a definition of itself, its
services, and methods for engagement.” The list of community members
includes most of the luminaries of the B2B marketplace. The real test will
be in spreading the concept into the rest of the industrial marketplaces.
UDDI
Business 2.0
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