Consumer Gadgets is an approachable "how-to" book exploring fifty of today's high-tech innovations that can enable you to have fun, simplify your life, and be more productive in everyday tasks whether at home, at the office or even in your car.

Save some green by going green with these environmentally friendly gadgets! With concern for the future of our environment growing stronger and more serious every day, there has never been a better time to take a new approach to some of the most popular gizmos and gadgets on the market and learn how you can convernt to electronics that have minimal environmental impact. Green gadgets encompass everything from iPods to energy-efficient home entertainment devices to solar laptop chargers and crank-powered gizmos. This helpful resource explains how to research green gadgets, make a smart purchasing decision, use products you already own in a more environmentally friendly way, and say goodbye to electronics that zap both energy and money. Explore the environmental and financial benefits of green gadgets with this friendly reference Discusses which gadgets save energy-and which ones create energy Learn ways to offset your carbon footprint when you can't reduce consumption Get tips for understanding products labels and avoiding "greenwash" Discover how to calculate the energy and money your gadgets consume Get moving and start living green with this informative guide to environmentally and wallet-friendly gadgets! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

The consumer electronics industry is entering an era of extraordinary growth. The industry’s best companies will ride that wave to unprecedented success. But, today, many CE companies are struggling with business models that are simply untenable. They must change to survive: they must change even more dramatically to win. In this book, two world-renowned consultants preview the industry’s future—from online gaming to telehealthcare, and beyond. Next, they present a powerful new blueprint, offering indispensable guidance on everything from technology platforms to user interface design, branding to channel strategies. You’ll discover how to uncover new sources of value, design better models for doing business, and fuel growth by reaching new geographical markets. Whatever your role in the industry, this book will help you: · Make better decisions, find your differentiators, and focus on your key success drivers · Tap into the emergent “meta-value” that arises when technologies, devices, services, and content come together · Reach tomorrow’s smart, service-sensitive shopper: not just the “technology-hungry” customers · Widen margins by adding value consumers will pay for · Transform cost structures to support rapid growth and nonstop change · Sell into China, India, and other fast-growing emerging markets · Preview “telehealthcare”: the surprising application for the living room · Gain new insights into online gaming, smart home technology, and more · Discover the immense power of IBM’s Cell Broadband Engine processor—and the business opportunities it enables · Leverage embedded Linux to build more affordable, profitable, consumer-centric products · Develop higher-value software for connected consumer electronics · Differentiate products through state-of-the-art design and user interfaces · Discover what the industry’s “winners” will look like in five years—and how to be one of them The consumer electronics industry continues to grow at breakneck speed: from MP3 players to home healthcare devices, consumers are adopting new technologies faster than ever before. But most consumer electronics companies are struggling with razor-thin margins, or even losses. Their traditional business models simply aren’t working anymore. In Irresistible! Markets, Models, and Meta-Value in Consumer Electronics, IBM’s leading consumer electronic industry consultants reveal powerful new opportunities to profit—and offer realistic advice for leveraging them. Drawing on their experience working with innovators from Helsinki to Osaka, the authors and contributors introduce revolutionary On Demand Business models for improving profitability, and identify tomorrow’s most profitable CE opportunities. They cover every element of success: technology, design, service, branding, channel strategies, and much more. Whether you’re an executive or engineer, strategist or entrepreneur, this book will help you find your differentiators, focus on your key success drivers—and become one of this industry’s big long-term winners!

This book provides a comprehensive guide to procuring, utilizing and monetizing intellectual property rights, tailored for readers in the high-tech consumer electronics and software industries, as well as technology startups. Numerous, real examples, case studies and scenarios are incorporated throughout the book to illustrate the topics discussed. Readers will learn what to consider throughout the various creative phases of a product’s lifespan from initial research and development initiatives through post-production. Readers will gain an understanding of the intellectual property protections afforded to U.S. corporations, methods to pro-actively reduce potential problems, and guidelines for future considerations to reduce legal spending, prevent IP theft, and allow for greater profitability from corporate innovation and inventiveness.

The great strides made over the past decade in the complexity and network functionality of embedded systems have significantly enhanced their attractiveness for use in critical applications such as medical devices and military communications. However, this expansion into critical areas has presented embedded engineers with a serious new problem: their designs are now being targeted by the same malicious attackers whose predations have plagued traditional systems for years. Rising concerns about data security in embedded devices are leading engineers to pay more attention to security assurance in their designs than ever before. This is particularly challenging due to embedded devices' inherent resource constraints such as limited power and memory. Therefore, traditional security solutions must be customized to fit their profile, and entirely new security concepts must be explored. However, there are few resources available to help engineers understand how to implement security measures within the unique embedded context. This new book from embedded security expert Timothy Stapko is the first to provide engineers with a comprehensive guide to this pivotal topic. From a brief review of basic security concepts, through clear explanations of complex issues such as choosing the best cryptographic algorithms for embedded utilization, the reader is provided with all the information needed to successfully produce safe, secure embedded devices. - The ONLY book dedicated to a comprehensive coverage of embedded security! - Covers both hardware- and software-based embedded security solutions for preventing and dealing with attacks - Application case studies support practical explanations of all key topics, including network protocols, wireless and cellular communications, languages (Java and C/++), compilers, web-based interfaces, cryptography, and an entire section on SSL

By examining the interface between consumer behavior and new product development, People and Products: Consumer Behavior and Product Design demonstrates the ways in which consumers contribute to product design, enhance product utility, and determine brand identity. With increased connectedness and advances in technology, consumers and marketers are more closely connected than ever before. Yet consumer behavior texts often overlook the application of the subject to product design, testing, and success. This is the first book to explore this interface in detail, exploring such issues as: the attributes and qualities that consumers demand from products and services, and social and cultural forces to be aware of; design and form and how they facilitate product usage; technological developments and the ways they have changed how consumers interact with products; product disposal and sustainability; emerging and future trends in consumer behavior and product development and design. This exciting volume is relevant to anyone interested in marketing, consumer behavior, product development, technology, engineering, design, and brand management.

Dr.B.Sugumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science , Sourashtra College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Dr.S.Rasheed Mansoor Ali, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Applications, Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Dr.R.Rajesh, Assistant Professor, Head & IIC President, PG and Research Department of Computer Science and Department of CA & IT, Kaamadhenu Arts and Science College, Sathyamangalam, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India. Mrs.V.Suganthi, Assistant Professor, Research Scholar, Department of Computer Science, C.T.T.E College for Women, University of Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Dr.G.Dona Rashmi, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Applications, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

From e-readers to cameras and audio recorders to the iPad, Jason provides insight into what these devices can do, how much they cost, and how librarians can use them to enhance their facilities and service.

From the industrial revolution to the railway age, through the era of electrification, the advent of mass production, and finally to the information age, the same pattern keeps repeating itself. An exciting, vibrant phase of innovation and financial speculation is followed by a crash, after which begins a longer, more stately period during which the technology is actually deployed properly. This collection of surveys and articles from The Economist examines how far technology has come and where it is heading. Part one looks at topics such as the “greying” (maturing) of IT, the growing importance of security, the rise of outsourcing, and the challenge of complexity, all of which have more to do with implementation than innovation. Part two looks at the shift from corporate computing towards consumer technology, whereby new technologies now appear first in consumer gadgets such as mobile phones. Topics covered will include the emergence of the mobile phone as the “digital Swiss Army knife”; the rise of digital cameras, which now outsell film-based ones; the growing size and importance of the games industry and its ever-closer links with other more traditional parts of the entertainment industry; and the social impact of technologies such as text messaging, Wi-Fi, and camera phones. Part three considers which technology will lead the next great phase of technological disruption and focuses on biotechnology, energy technology, and nanotechnology.

Reaching the Interactive Customer provides critical information for business professionals who want to understand a "connected world", linking businesses, customers, and service providers. It describes how the audience for interactive services has evolved and what that audience is looking for in consumer devices. This book also appeals to anyone who works on or is interested in Web-based technology because it paints a clear picture of how interactivity is evolving from the Internet to the next generation of interactivity with phones and televisions.