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Even if you don’t follow car audio technologies religiously, you will have noticed in the past year or so a revolution in car audio technology, which has transformed the mundane car audio system into a full on home entertainment system but in the car.

Our number one favourite car audio technology is the digital media stereo – a system that is a favourite to replace the good old car Cd/Mp3 player. In the last few years, we have all gone digital, replacing our CD players with iPods as we jog, now the car cd player is similarly to be replaced with digital media stereos that solely connect to Mp3 players and other digital media players (i.e sd cards). Although, we will dearly miss the CD player, the digital media stereo has the advantage of docking space for your iPod and a bigger screen.

In second place are navigation and stereo combinations, which combine the practical elements of sat-nav and an entertainment system all in one unit. The combination system has become really popular over the last few years as it means you can access all you need to from one device rather than several.

Our third love is Dual Zone technology – a useful feature that splits the car into two zones (front and back) whereby passengers can choose their own entertainment. Found to be often a valuable feature for families, the Dual Zone feature enable passengers at the front to listen to their own music, whilst the back passengers listen to music or watch a film through the attached headrest screens.

Number four on our list is Bluetooth, the technology that allows you to connect your smart phone or iPhone to your stereo. Stream music, take and receive calls all on your stereo whilst on the go. For busy people everywhere, this device is a saviour as they no longer have to fiddle with hands free. With in-built Bluetooth technology, they can instead connect quickly and easily with their loved ones and colleagues.

Our number five car audio love is the iPod Solution kits. Although not at the height of technology, they do enable older stereos to be able to play music from Mp3 players and iPods. Not everyone wants to change their car stereo, but they may still want the latest technology, so these solution kits have developed for that audience. It’s an apt technology for those who just want to connect up to the latest technology without many features, gadgets or gizmos.

When we say ‘wireless phones’ today, we are no longer talking about those cordless, land line, home phone. Instead the term ‘wireless’ pertains to mobile of cellular devices. With this great technology, there are no wires, no cords, no limit (well, just for cellular signals, that is). Cellular signals are sent via radio waves so there is obviously no need for wires and cables for it to operate.

The technology or concept of wireless technology is not recent. In fact, the story of wireless phones are dated way back to the middle of the 20th century. Those are the days mobile phones are bulky and are usually found in cars. Since they are big and huge, they are not considered to be portable handset, although they are mobile they are still not that ‘mobile’.

The first ever wireless phones were used and probably manufactured in Japan as early as 1979. Today, we keep hearing the 4G technology in wireless, during those times, it still 1G generatin.

Right about the same time, in Northern Europe, NMT, or Nordic Mobile Telephone are also developing the same kind of wireless technology in phones. Just like today where Finland is almost synonymous with a popular cellphone brand, it was NMT in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland where the first wireless phones were used in the Northern are of Europe.

A few years later, America made their scene in the wireless phone technology with Motorola mobiles. Their first cellular or mobile phones were used in 1983.

After America, the rest of the world followed suit – Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada etc.

Then in 1991, the second generation of wireless telephony started. Second generation, commonly known then as 2G, and it was introduced this time by Finland.

It was during this time that the GSM standard or technology was used. With GSM, new type of competition emerge between the wireless company giants with each providing their own great services.

Many people around the world are curious on WiMax technology and what it can offer. WiMax is a type of Internet connectivity protocol that is slowly gaining attention today. So what is WiMax technology? WiMax is a new and innovative way of getting connected to the Internet. It is a wireless telecommunications protocol that connects mobile devices to the World Wide Web from any place, at any time. It gives people the ability to be online from anywhere: From the city, to the jungle. As long as you have the proper devices needed and are signed up for the service, sky is the limit when it comes to your connectivity. WiMax can offer up to 40 Mbits per second and is being worked on today so that I can carry speeds of up to 1 Gbits per second. It is said to be the taste of the future when it comes to connecting to the Internet. It is the perfect complement to any mobile device.

Many people misconstrue WiMax technology for Wifi. Wifi, or wireless fidelity, may seem the same as WiMax from the surface. That’s probably because they both work with wireless connectivity. But the truth is that their similarities end there. You see, unlike Wifi technology, WiMax technology is boundless. If you have ever tried connecting via Wifi, you would know that it has limitations. For one, you have to be within the range of the Wifi signal. Secondly, you would know that it is fully dependent on a connected or wired Internet connection. Third, it can be slower, especially when compared to just jacking up directly to a cable or DSL connection. WiMax has none of these problems. WiMax, as mentioned about, provides wide-scale connectivity. When using it, you are not bound to a limited range. You will always have a WiMax signal. With Wifi, the farther you stray from the source signal, the weaker you connection will get.

WiMax technology is also self-reliant. Unlike Wifi, which basically gets its Internet connectivity from a connected source, WiMax is a stand-alone service provider. Wifi technology is basically comprises of a wireless router and a cable or wire-connected source. Without the wired connection, there will be a wireless signal, but no Internet connection. WiMax operates on its own and is not at all dependent on an external source. As long as the signal is alive, you will be connected to the net.

Since WiMax is independent of any landed connection, its speeds are better than Wifi. Current WiMax services reach speeds of up to 40 Mbits per second. It is currently being worked so that it can offer subscribers up to 1 Gbits per second speeds. Comparatively, WiMax technology matches up with the speeds of DSL and cable connections. But with WiMax, you get the benefit of not having to use wires. Right now, Wifi is the more popular protocol. But in the near future, WiMax is sure to take of the court. It’s the future of Internet connectivity.

Over the last couple of years many software manufacturers have been working on voice activated technology. We all remember 2001 a Space Odyssey with HAL the computer. I was fascinated by the ability to talk to a computer and have that artificial mind talk back to us. The next time I encountered computers was while watching Star Trek. We could talk to a machine and with only our voice command it to take us to the Bridge or make an entire meal appear out of thin air. It all seemed like a great idea at the time but no one believed that you would ever really be able to experience this wonder, at least not in our lifetimes.

However, today we are a lot closer to those fantasies. I’m dictating this article with voice activated software. In theory, I will be saving hours in the future preparing upcoming articles with this new technology. For now I am on a learning curve along with my trusty laptop.

I tried the earlier versions of voice activated software a few years ago and found it frustrating from an accuracy standpoint as well as difficult manipulating the document I was working on. This latest version is much better at navigating around the computer and it is also faster and somewhat more accurate. Saying the word ‘save’ and watching the screen as the computer hears your command and you actually begin to save the document has an odd combination of wonder and exhilaration.

However, there is a price to pay for this thrill. Learning a variety of new commands and in some cases dealing with the computer as it misinterprets what you’re saying delivers a level of frustration different from current technological anxiety. After all this is the answer we have been waiting for, the final step to make computers accessible to all including the infamous two fingered typist. On the plus side when you speak a complete sentence and watch the computer type it out in front of your eyes with no mistakes it is somewhat hard to believe.

But how does this new technology apply to marketing? Marketing is a lot of thinking and writing and rewriting. No one sits down to write a marketing plan in one pass or create the perfect copy for their website, an ad or brochure with the initial draft. So, in theory, if technology helped you to do some of the things that you normally don’t spend enough time on then perhaps you would be able to create those valuable marketing materials in a shorter period of time and get them out to your customers more efficiently.

We all have good intentions when it comes to answering e-mail, sending the follow-up thank you letter in a timely manner and creating proposals all requiring a fair bit of time parked in front of the computer.