HTC predicts the future of football

HTC the company that produces innovative mobile phones and Futurizon have produced "The Future of Football" report.

They have made some predictions (that may or not become actual reality).

Ones that are more realistic are: -

• By 2020 footballs will have impact sensors and accelerometers embedded in the ball, as well as in the kit that players wear, which will allow precise measurements on how players are playing and what the ball is doing.
• By 2014 players could have 'active skin' which could entail electronics printed on to the skin (or built into the materials of the clothing players wear) which can measure such things as blood chemistry and even link to their nervous system which will be linked to external monitoring system.

Some of the more "interesting" predictions are: -

• By 2050 fans will be able to receive full sensory information so they will 'feel' like it's like to actually be playing on the pitch.
• By 2060 Android (as in robotic humans, not the Google OS) players remotely controlled by fans.

They have also produced an infographic

about football.

By 2018 fans will be able to hold a small flexible card display displaying players and info about them as well as links to social networks etc.

Then by 2045, phones will have 3D holographic type displays which can display the action in realtime.

And (this is more realistic, though maybe not in insect form) there will be tiny drones giving access to views that aren't possible now.

Isn't the future going to be fun.

HTC Wildfire fired into the wild

HTC have released their new Wildfire phone running Android 2.1 (Eclair) and HTC Sense with a suite of social networking tools built in (Facebook, Twitter and Flickr) and many more on Android Marketplace.

The CPU isn't brilliant (only 528MHz) and the display is only QVGA (240 x 320) and os 3.2", but it does have a 5MP auto-focus camera with flash, 512MB ROM and 384MB RAM. It supports 3G, EDGE, GPRS and WiFi (b/g), Bluetooth 2.1 and an FM radio.

There's a multitude of sensors, including G-Sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor.

Here's a video of what it can do

Share hosted by Wikio

More info can be found at the HTC site.

Apple sues HTC but guns for Android

Apple filed a suit against handset manufacturer HTC in the court in Delaware and the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The suit claims 20 patent infringements relating to "the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware".

Though Apple is suing HTC it is generally thought that Apple's real target is Google's Android and they may be going after other vendors in the near future.

Though Apple is still dominant in the high-end smartphone market, Google are catching up as they give away their Nexus One phones to all and sundry and the Android OS to anyone who wants it.

Whether they win or not, they'll cause annoyance probably just make Google spend some of its cash.