The company has also been discussing linking medical devices in hospitals and doctors' surgeries.

ECONOMIST: Broadband in America

IPv6, even if the intermediate devices linking them have not been upgraded.

ECONOMIST: Internet protocol

ZigBee is good for low-speed, low-power transmissions (automated meter readings, for example), while ultrawideband is ideal for linking up home-entertainment devices, though it is currently mired in a standards war (see article).

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said his group will be watching carefully to ensure that Intel doesn't do anything with its chips that could betray users' privacy, such as linking their identities to particular devices in a way that could be seen by others.

WSJ: Intel Bets Its Chips on McAfee

As well as making it possible to scribble virtually anywhere, linking the real and virtual worlds through mobile devices could also change users' perception of their surroundings, says Jason Devitt of Vindigo, a company based in New York that provides location-based services on both handheld computers and mobile phones.

ECONOMIST: THE INTERNET: The revenge of geography | The

Starting this month, Toshiba UK will include a standard desktop tile linking to the National Rail Enquiries journey planner on all its Windows 8 devices, and the next step for Darwin is to incorporate GPS data as it becomes more available.

BBC: Train information now in real time for journey planners