Article Abstract:
A variety of new products aimed at automating the tasks of the handicapped are entering the market. A contest sponsored by Johns Hopkins University, MCI Communications and the National Science Foundation has produced 800 inventions that help disabled people who work at home or at the office. The equipment includes telephones, keyboards, computers and other essential products that are becoming more important in the business community due to the recent acceptance of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. The act forbids discrimination in hiring against disabled people and requires employers to provide equipment for the disabled. Two of the products entered into the contest include a telephone that allows deaf people to communicate using displayed messages and a keyboard that helps people who have trouble with standard size keyboards.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
The telephone is undergoing the most profound transformation in its history as new technology imbues it with the functions of the computer, the fax machine, the pager, the clock, the compass, the stock ticker and the television. The converging of technologies and industries has triggered a market excitement that can be represented by a graphical trend line that goes sky high. In the US alone, there are 11 million cellular telephone subscribers; pagers that display the caller's phone number and messages are being used by 14 million, while on-line information services have a market share of about 20 million users. The advent of the innovative telephone technologies are changing lifestyles and manners, and has overhauled the definition of what is private and what is public.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
United States Trade Representative Carla A. Hills says she is satisfied with the outcome of a trade agreement which involves trading of telecommunications equipment with Japan. The agreement comes after four months of negotiations in which the US was seeking greater access to Japanese markets for US telecommunications equipment companies. The Japanese have agreed to remove barriers keeping US firms from offering services such as voice mail and electronic banking. The agreement also opens up the market for network channel terminating equipment. The two markets are estimated to be worth $3 billion annually in Japan.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic: