Next-Generation Mobile Services

A s a preteen/teen in the early to mid-80s, I was an avid subscriber of comic books. My mostpurchased comic book was The Amazing Spiderman, as Spiderman was my favorite superhero. However, being African-American, I was also fond of the African-American super heroes, which at the time included James Rhodes — who served as Iron Man for a stint and Luke Cage (also known as Power Man) from the Power Man and Iron Fist comics. For those who aren’t familiar with the comic book series from 30 years ago, then you might have seen the recent Netflix shows that have created separate Luke Cage and Iron Fist television series. At this point, you might be wondering about the relationship of comic books to the title of this editorial. A character in the Power Man and Iron Fist comic book series was Gordy, who was an agent of the Special Military Intelligence Law Enforcement division (S.M.I.L.E; www.marvunapp .com/Appendix4/gordysmile.htm#smile). Gordy’s weapon of choice was his mobile device. His early ’80s cellular phone, modeled as a household cordless phone, had the ability to create force fields in addition to projecting particle beams. The phone could also be used as a boomerang. On occasion he did actually make regular phone calls with it. Interestingly enough, in the early ’80s, they didn’t mention him using it to access the Internet. So, how does Gordy’s weapon tie in with the latest trends at the intersection of mobile computing and Internet computing? Well, much like Gordy’s use of mobile devices and generally all other areas of computing, a popular concern is the interaction of information and functions on the Internet with the real world using the mobile device as a medium. There are several themes that span next-generation mobile services as it relates to Internet computing. Sensing and crowdsensing will enhance Internet computing. The use of mobile devices, and particularly those with location-based services, has become pervasive. The wide distribution of mobile users with GPS, accelerometers, cameras, and real-time human conversations has made it possible to provide situational awareness of the real world in areas such as traffic congestion, urban networks, and Wi-Fi conditions, as well as other geographical information services.1 There are several challenges that Internet computing experts must address, to name a few: