Trick or treat? 

Bill Gates recently predicted that single handheld devices will be introduced to meet all our audio/video/communication needs as well as the imminent death of physical music and film formats such as CD and DVDs. 

Speaking at the inaugural Internet Advertising Bureau’s Engage 2005 conference in London last week, he also noted that current mobile phones have only scratched the surface of their potential and outlined what could be achieved with voice-activated, GPS-enabled handsets connected to computers that will have “disappeared into the environment as we are all connected to the Internet.”

He and other speakers spoke about the importance for new technology to be developed that will help people, rather than just creating another flashy gadget -- technology can only serve as a bridge, never as a destination.  Regarding Microsoft, Gates noted that Microsoft systems offer unbelievable power, but the emphasis must be on how to write software to make this power work for the user -- “empowering technology is about everyone being enabled.”