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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (31969)	11/6/2009 2:41:29 PM
From: Rob S.	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 46821

What always connected personal computing devices, SmartPhones, could do soon (now with proper industry motivation and government support): 1) Provide an alternative to individuals hopping in their Dinosaurmobiles to do errands willy-nilly and to do routine things like commute single-file like drones to and from work 5 days a week. 2) Be used more for video conferencing, distance learning, site service/maintenance, sales, auditing, PRM, CRM, etc. Picture this current scenario: A fantasy nation develops from an industrial era dependence on transporting goods and services and doing work at centralized locations to become 70% an 'information society'. Personal, family, and group associations also shift to be a matter of function, convenience and choice. However, despite the evolution of work and personal life, laws, spending priorities, organizational structure, influence peddling, etc. lag decades behind. Boiling this down to a finite example I am familiar since I live in the area: The city of Seattle is projected to spend over $4.2 billion to build a 1.3 mile underground roadway. The impact will be to further snarl traffic over the ~5 years it will take to build. Meanwhile, traffic in and around Everett, Seattle, Renton, Tacoma highways corridors will remain highly congested; mostly due to the fact that there are an average of 1.2 persons per vehicle traveling along the same routes every day. Use of public transport including bus and limited amount of light rail is relatively cheap but inconvenient, time consuming and relatively inflexible. Use of private transport including taxis and shuttles is costly due to the wide spread of the metro area that has grown up around the automobile. What if the local, tri-county, state, and federal government put 1/4th the amount of money that they will spend for a 1.3 mile underground 4-lane roadway into an e-Rideshare telecommute and social enablement program? a) SmartPhones/mobile broadband devices using Android, Symbian, MS mobile, Apple OS/iPhone that meet program criteria could be offered to the public. b) The public would be required to apply for program as well: telecommuting could be pre-qualified with employers and building/facilities owners or users could apply individually by showing their normal commutes and routine travel. c) The project fund would subsidize a significant cost of the approved devices: $300-$500 each. How e-ridesharing works: Users signed up for the program have pre-entered their home and work locations but may modify based on current location. They list their routine travel times. The e-rideshare program assists them with GPS map routing and time estimates. The user can modify the suggested times including putting in a time buffer. For routine trip planning, the program shows other travelers on the map with icon coding for match of time and location. Clicking on icons shows more information including route information. Over time, the route information can be based on accumulated experience. This can also show how reliable a particular person has been in arriving at a specific work or other routine location. Subscribers to the system can be peer rated for courtesy, timeliness, cleanliness of the vehicle, music preferences, etc. Why this makes sense: it is flexible and saves money and keeps vehicles off the road, pollution including Greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. If the rider wants to adjust their schedule they can make changes within several minutes of being picked up. If a driver wishes to make changes, they can do so within a couple days. If an emergency intercedes, the phone can be used to call between participants at any time. What if a rider finds themselves stranded? They can make an scheduled or ad-hoc connection with another driver. They can use the device to locate a nearby available taxi, bus, rail or otehr transit. Same routine applies if the rider wants to make some shopping or other stops along the way. If a driver wants to make stops of longer than a pre-determined purpose or duration, such as to get gas, they can note it on their itinerary which is immediately flagged to the icon on everyone's front-page mobile device.. and drivers and riders can call others including as conference calls.. "Hey, you want to stop off at WalMart/the mall on the way back from the city tomorrow?" What works against this: We are not far removed from being neanderthals cast in our ways, structured by our political and economic processes. What we could do doesn't much matter so long as we can plod along as we bake ourselves in a poisonous atmosphere. What works against rational choices is ignorance and arrogance... therefore, a snowballs chance in hell!