By Grace Chng

VIDEO-CONFERENCING via a rodent sounds strange but if Nokia gets its way, it will have jet-setting parents talking to their toddlers via a robot-like mouse.

Nokia researchers have built a remote mouse called Jeppe with speakers, a microphone and a camera. When connected to the Web, Jeppe allows parents, wherever they are, to remotely shadow their children.

Nokia's researchers found that kids interact better to a friendly mouse than a webcam, while seated still at a table to video-conference. In fact, Nokia will have the mouse trailing after the child.

The Jeppe project is an example of how Nokia engineers try to understand user behaviour and needs in order to create the next-generation of mobile applications.

Nokia showcased Jeppe in mid-September in Helsinki when it allowed about 70 journalists a sneak peek into some of its research projects.

Billed as The Way We Live 2008, the event was unusual for Nokia. No shiny, new, eye-catching handsets were seen. Neither was there any glimpse of concept phones and certainly no sighting of the touchscreen phone Nokia promised earlier this year.

A mobile phone which can locate buildings

Instead, Nokia gave an overview of its software and services and how they could make an impact on its business.

These activities run the gamut from sociological and cultural studies in Africa to finding out how cellphones can alert car drivers in California to avoid congested roads.

More than phone calls

Findings from these activities will be funnelled into Nokia's research centre and into Agenda 2015, a seven-year look-ahead on how mobile technologies can be used for more than just making telephone calls.

According to Bob Iannucci, Nokia's chief technology officer, future applications will differentiate the company from its competitors as well as enhance its phone's usefulness.

Research is looking into, for example, how people can use the phone to teach languages, locate friends in the vicinity and interact with them and find restaurants indoors as satellites can only identify spots outdoors via global positioning tracking. The system can even calculate carbon footprint.

However, challenges like battery life remain.

'Today, the phone is being used not only to make calls but to watch video and surf the Web and other things.

'If we put in battery that is more than 3watts (higher than the norm), it would get too hot. It's the physics problem. This area is going to be one of our priorities for this year,' said Bob.

Another challenge is to search for social trends that will impact billions. It isn't easy to 'find the future that's already here', said Leo Karkkainen, chief visionary of Nokia Research Centre.

That is why Nokia is working with universities which are doing cutting-edge research in this area.

'With 3.3 billion phones worldwide and the numbers growing, there's an enormous amount of data being created like where you're located and the speed of your vehicle,' said Leo.

A system to manage traffic flow based on data from phones.

He foresees mobile technologies can be used in areas like health, education, energy, nutrition and safety.

The result of these applications: ad hoc built-in sensors in phone networks, cheap solar panels for home use, home robots, e-book readers and phone-navigated cars.

Designs would also change.

In the future, people will not be carrying handsets but wearing them instead.

Or an electronic circuit board of a phone can be printed out and that turned into a communication device. This might come in handy in situations where only one person has a handset, for instance, so the printed circuit board extends the range of communication.

The scenarios could be more than a pipe dream.

Given that cellphones today already have the power of computers of five years ago, tomorrow's handsets would likely be even more powerful.

So they can be programmed, said Bob, to collect information from the daily use of the phone or to collect data using the built-in sensors.

'Phones are going to be powerful tools. Not everyone can afford computers. But almost everyone can have a cellphone and, through that, many types of services can be provided.'

This article was first published in Digital Life, The Straits Times on Oct 15, 2008.