Critical Business Trends, Bluetooth-Enabled Prosthetics and Virtual Classrooms

Spectrum April

April 8, 2008 By Karen Stewartson

Critical Factors

Deloitte's 2008 Industry Outlook: A Look Around the Corner predicts eight business trends that will cut across multiple sectors of the U.S. economy, including state and local governments:

Globalization

Convergence

Environmental sustainability

Rising energy and health-care costs

Transparency

Technology use and integration

The 2008 presidential election

Talent management

Bluetooth-Enabled

The Bluetooth technology used in hands-free cell phones also is helping Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill walk again after he lost both his legs above the knees while on patrol in Iraq.

Computer chips in each leg send signals to motors in the joints of his artificial legs so the knees and ankles move coordinatively. Bleill's prosthetics have Bluetooth receivers strapped to the ankle. The Bluetooth device on each leg tells the other leg what it's doing and how it's moving - whether walking, standing or climbing steps.

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that connects cell phones to ear pieces, computers to printers and MP3 players to speakers. Like many electronics used today, Bleill's must be charged overnight. - Cnn.com

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