Customer Reviews

Brave New Unwired World: The Digital Big Bang and the Infinite Internet

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(1)
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This book is essential reading for anyone interested in knowing
where the future of wireless communications will go.

The book touches on many of the important topics of our time,
including pervasive computing (ubiqcomp) and wearable computing.
Indeed, much of the future demand for wireless communication
will come from digital eyeglasses (computer vision systems
built into eyeglasses, visual prosthetics, Global eHealth, etc.).

For teaching courses related to or using wireless communiction,
even if this book is not being used as the main text,
I would highly recommend the book as additional optional reading.

A thouroughly researched, detailed book on what direction wireless and ubiquitous computing are going in. There may be those who shake their heads at how much these new sensors/appliances/gadgets will influence our lives, but the book lays out the data and trends methodically. This is must reading for any manager of a high-tech company or anyone investing in same. The book is highly unusual in its level of illustration, examples and background data -- many other books on future technology, in contrast, offer only oceans of opinionated verbiage with little to back it up. Any reader alert to opportunity should get a very high ROI out of buying this book.

Brave New Unwired World addresses an exciting genre, personal wireless systems. The book also brings up and discusses many of the latest technologies in mobile computing.

Where this book falls short is it's presentation of more complex areas of mobile computing. Instead of building up to deeper issues with background and supporting information, there are spikes of depth. Specifically, terms and concepts will be brought up with little or no supporting background. And just as suddenly the depth will be abandoned, jumping to a new point at a low level. This makes for a very disjointed presentation.

If this were the only work in the field I would rate it higher. However there are similar works that are far superior (ex. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold) and cover the same subject matter.

A must for senior executives and policy makers around the world: Pervasive computing unobtrusively built into clothes, appliances, accessories--all connected wirelessly, using new technologies most of us don't know is already on the drawing boards. It's hard to imagine for most of us, but as the authors point out, the first 30,000 or so people who "get it" will be the ones who make the money. One of the most techically-grounded, insightful and credible visions of the future I've read.

The authors have done a brilliant job on exploring the fringes of wireless technology research and showing how these are going to become the next generations of mainstream products. How they are going to change all of our lives.
It's rare to see this kind of information discussed publicly instead of behind the closed doors of some corporate R&D Lab with everyone under NDA.

Mr. Lightman has his finger on the pulse, the beam, and the tsunami of the digital future. Great illustrations, well written, perfect time in my career to get such a surge of valuable information. For Computing and Telecom professionals, this should be required reading for all management...