For the automobile industry, it measured for safety devices, body control, convenience devices, infotainment, vehicle communications, power transmission devices, OEM systems, and cooperation between companies.
We have allowed our online behaviour to be commoditised in the interests of convenience and access to cheap communications.
Unified messaging refers to a central repository where consumers can access all their E-mail, voicemail and efaxes, blending these forms of communications for their convenience.
The next big wave in applications is likely to be "location aware" communications -- whether conveniences like directions to the nearest restaurant or movie theater, or intrusions like neighborhood spam that will assault Web surfers as they sit in coffee shops or stoll down the street.
This is unfortunate given the low cost and convenience of web and text-based communications.
Proponents say such systems bring new convenience, efficiency and cost savings to corporate communications.
The digital home is the result of trends leading to increased communications, entertainment, home control, and convenience.
Of course, on the Internet just as in the larger world, we must try to protect sensitive information and communications, balancing security against freedom and convenience.
They unleash the full force of their mighty lobbying group, the National Association of Broadcasters, against any effort to ensure that stations, in the words of the Communications Act, "serve the public interest, convenience and necessity".
"It is a question of convenience, enriching people's lives, because we can provide communications, information and entertainment the way they want it," says Mark Wegleitner of Verizon, an American telecoms giant.
