Nine of the 10 technologies that we describe in this month's cover story (see "10 Emerging Technologies,"p. 43) will make people's lives better in ome interesting way. The 10th? Not so much. One of the wonders of the modern world, of course, is that nearly every person and apparently every electronic gadget can be connected. Wireless devices are taken for granted. Unfortunately, it turns out that these smart, connected gadgets can easily wreak electronic havoc. Virus programs, which have become an annoying fact of life for computer users, are now infecting cell phones, too (see "Cell-Phone Viruses" p. 50). The impact will at first be minimal—your phone's address book might get scrambled, or you might find yourself billed for a series of phone calls you didn't make. But the potential for more-grievous harm is real, and it is very scary.
展开▼