IBM, Microsoft Unveil New Travel Products

ORLANDO— During the Emerging Technologies session here at HITEC, panelists from IBM and Microsoft unveiled some of their latest technologies, from wearable PCs to flexible digital screens, and discussed how these new products will impact the travel industry. Clay Dickinson of IBM Global Services said he expects wireless technology will have a huge impact on the future of the travel industry, particularly as the memory increases on portable devices. IBM has recently developed a Microdrive chip that is only one inch in diameter but can hold up to one GB of information, creating more functionality for PDAs as they develop. “Within five years I expect PDAs to have the computing power of PCs,” he said. He also said PDAs will soon include direct to digital GPS technology that can track vehicles at a hotel, uniforms at a property, or even employees. He added that the digital radio chip used to create this technology runs at speeds 150 times greater than a Pentium processor. In addition, flat and flexible panel displays might also be incorporated in hotels soon. He noted the displays on these futuristic digital screens feature 200 pixels per inch, which is crisper than a piece of paper. “The display resolution exceeds human eye resolution,” said Dickinson. He added that flexible screens could be rolled-up and transported around a hotel to announce group meeting locations, or placed in guestrooms to create a more customized guest experience. “You could hang it in a guestroom and periodically change the art or photo seen to meet guest tastes.” In addition, hotel front desks may soon become a thing of the past, according to Dickinson. Travelers may start to receive their room numbers and keys digitally, allowing them to check in without ever speaking to a hotel employee. Users could also use the device to pay restaurant bills, check out, receive electronic folios, have the bill deducted from their account and the expense report filed with their company all digitally with very little effort. Biometrics was also a hot topic, and Dickinson noted that he expects it to replace pin numbers as a form of security in the near future. Whether its retinal scans, voice, face, or motion recognition, IBM is expecting that biometrics will eventually catch on as a form of confirmation. “Its human resistance thats slowing down the adaptation,” said Dickinson. “But there are a lot of hotels interested in using it for security and guest recognition.” He ended his presentation with a glimpse at the worlds first wearable PC, which could eliminate the need for laptops. The PC, which looks like a head set, has a small square device (no bigger than a pack of gum) that is situated in front of the users eye and displays a computer screen. The PC is controlled with voice commands and also features wireless phone capabilities. “It has computing power, a display, input and output devices, and a power supply,” he said. Gary Cooke, worldwide industry manager of hospitality and food services for Microsoft, began his presentation with a look at the traveler of the future. Featured were digital picture frames, instant messaging that pops up on televisions, video answering machines, and computers that can link projects together and be viewed simultaneously on two machines. Cooke also stressed the importance of biometrics as a security feature, especially to provide authorization for computers, PDAs, or kiosks. He also noted Microsofts advancements in voice recognition technology. “We have computers with rich voice recognition that can understand you while youre brushing your teeth,” he said. He also suggested that video games will become more high-tech, allowing players to scan their image onto the face of the character in the game. “It could be a major upgrade for hotel in-room entertainment,” said Cooke. He stated that as travelers become more accustomed to having high tech devices in their homes and their daily live