Smartphones emerge as future of wireless. Credit: By Gary Krakow.

  LOS ANGELES — The cell phone industry is changing — and it's changing fast.

That's easy to see here at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment 2006 trade show in Los Angeles, where cell phone makers are showing off new gadgets designed to meet the needs of consumers who are demanding more from their cell phones.

Cell phone makers are packing new features into cell phones, many of which have been the exclusive domain of PCs. These features include e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, television, music players, television shows and even full-length movies.

Smartphones, with features such as a voice, contact, appointment, Web browsing and e-mail functionality used to be purchased mainly by business people. That's changing rapidly. Manufacturers are now marketing their smarter, full-function handsets to regular consumers and are realizing that the demand is going to be high.
 

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Tracking Trucks the Telematics Way  Credit: By Rachael King.

     Times are tough in trucking. Operating margins are low, driver turnover is high, and fuel costs are through the roof. Consider the expenses associated with truck idling alone. As long-haul drivers rest in their cabs or operate onboard appliances such as microwave ovens and TVs, often they leave the engine running. According to a 2002 study by the Environmental Protection Agency, long-duration truck idling consumes about 960 million gallons of diesel fuel annually.

No wonder it's drivers, rather than fleet operators, who control some 80% of the variable costs associated with trucking. In an effort to rein in expenses, a growing number of trucking companies is investing in so-called telematics, a combination of computing, wireless data, and global positioning system (GPS) technology. The U.S. market for commercial vehicle telematics was $942 million in 2005, and is expected to rise to $2.13 billion by the end of 2010, growing annually at almost 20%, according to consulting firm Global Industry Analysts. The idea behind telematics is to help fleet operators run their businesses more efficiently.

NSA Spy Program Gets Temporary OK  Credit: By Associated Press.

    CINCINNATI -- The Bush administration can continue its warrantless surveillance program while it appeals a judge's ruling that the program is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The president has said the program is needed in the war on terrorism; opponents argue it oversteps constitutional boundaries on free speech, privacy and executive powers. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave little explanation for the decision. In the three-paragraph ruling, judges said that they balanced the likelihood an appeal would succeed, the potential damage to both sides and the public interest. The Bush administration applauded the decision. "We are pleased to see that it will be allowed to continue while the Court of Appeals examines the trial court's decision, with which we strongly disagree," Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.

The program monitors international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United States involving people the government suspects have terrorist links. A secret court has been set up to grant warrants for such surveillance, but the government says it can't always wait for a court to take action.

How to Run a Meeting Like Google   Credit: Carmine Gallo.

     Meetings get a bad rap in business today and for good reason—very little gets accomplished in them. I can recall a Dilbert cartoon in which several people sat around a table while the meeting organizer said, "There is no specific agenda for this meeting. As usual, we'll just make unrelated emotional statements about things which bother us…"

That pretty much sums it up. The majority of meetings are unstructured, uninspiring, and unproductive. But they don't have to be that way.

When I decided to write a column about running effective meetings, I turned to a leader who holds more than anyone I know and who actually credits her meeting structure for leading to some of the most innovative advances in technology today: Marissa Mayer, Google's vice-president of search products (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/19/06, "Marissa Mayer: The Talent Scout").

Mayer holds an average of 70 meetings a week and serves as the last stop before engineers and project managers get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Google's co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Eight teams consisting of directors, managers, and engineers—all at various stages of product development—answer to Mayer.

Working out of a 'third place'.  Credit: Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY.

     SAN FRANCISCO — The fall morning is mercifully fog-free, which puts a spring in the step of Mordy Karsch as he rolls into work. In short order, he fires up the computer, turns on his cellphone and orders breakfast.
Though he has toiled on these premises for two years, he doesn't know anyone here well except for Angel Pinto, who brings him his hot coffee. That's because Karsch, 34, works out of The Grove, a bohemian eatery in this city's hip Marina district that caters to a growing army of office-less employees.

"Working from a place like this is less stressful than being in an office, and I find I get a lot more done," says Karsch, general manager of Spanish Sales Force, a Spanish-language marketing consultancy. "If you can make this work for you, you'll love it."

Call The Grove the office of the future, except the future is here.

An estimated 30 million Americans, or roughly one-fifth of the nation's workforce, are part of the so-called Kinko's generation, employees who spend significant hours each month working outside of a traditional office.

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