Mobile workers could be hit hard by new laws which will affect the state of public WiFi in the UK.

The Digital Economy Bill is being pushed through by the government and could become law before the next general election. The bill has been designed by Business Secretary Lord Mandleson to regulate age ratings for video games and regulate copyright of music and films, among other things. 

While the controversial new bill has won the backing of many high-profile figures, there are also fears its side-effects could have a devastating effect on a generation which is used to accessing WiFi on the go. The bill could lead to public places like cafes and pubs being prosecuted if someone uses their WiFi to share files illegally. 

But what if they don't know? It doesn't matter! The tough new law doesn't make any exceptions when it comes to piracy and law breaking. Many web-lovers have described this new bill as "draconian" and fear it could have a serious impact on people's web habits. 

"People's rights are at stake. The bill doesn't require any test of evidence before harsh punishments are imposed on people accused of copyright infringement, and opens the door to a ratcheting-up of unwarranted powers without democratic scrutiny," said Jim Killock from the Open Rights Group.

"There is a massive swell of action against this bill, led by creators, citizens and people working in digital industries, who are outraged by this attempt by old businesses to hijack our rights."

For this reason, it could be the end of free public WiFi. Many restaurants, airports and universities now might be forced to install passwords on all servers to avoid prosecution. 

And it's not just public consumers and businesses which are set to be affected by the new bill. Major websites such as Facebook and YouTube could face illegal action if illegal content is found on their pages. 

While this new bill could prove to be a great asset in the fight against privacy, it certainly seems it won't be popular with all and could prove to have more of an impact on each and every resident in the UK than we might have first anticipated. 

Panasonic have become the latest company to launch a product to directly rival Apple's iPad. 

The firm have unveiled the Toughbook H1 Field, which is designed specifically for mobile workers, such as maintenance workers, law enforcers and field sales personnel.

The Toughbook is the first rugged tablet Panasonic has created and is ultimately designed to be functional, rather than good looking. To get to this end stage it's been put through thorough vigorous military style testing such as vibration tests, moisture tests and 6 feet drops.

One of its great features is that it's water, dust, spill and vibration resistant and can operate in extreme conditions such as very low or high temperatures. It's sure to be highly popular with mobile workers thanks to its 6 hour battery life, scanner, camera. WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity.

Dubbed the "world's toughest PC", the Toughbook comes with a three year guarantee and lifelong support. And so far the response has been good. 

“Customers love the ruggedness and the swappable battery concept in our tablet,” says Kyp Walls, director of product management for Panasonic Computer.

The bad part? It'll set you back about $3,400! Ouch! Before you become too disappointed you should remember this is only a guide price for when it's released later this month. The launch of the Toughbook could see other manufacturers following suit, with a more compact, affordable model sure to be released in the coming years. 

Electronics giant Sony is rumoured to be developing a new range of mobile devices which are set to rival Apple's hugely popular iPhone and iPad. 

The Japanese manufacturer is determined to stake its claim in the mobile portable market, which has been largely dominated by Apple in the last few years. New devices under development include a portable device which shares the characteristics of netbooks, e-book readers and hand-held game machines. 

Another device currently being developed is a smartphone which allows users to download and play video games. 

The new devices are set for release later in 2010 and will work on Sony's new media platform. The new platform, temporarily named the "Sony Online Service" is believed to be Sony's answer to the iTunes and will be launched in America later this month. 

The platform will offer many of the same features, including movies, songs and TV programmes and Sony is hoping it could help to turn its fortunes around. 

Currently Sony is having a tough time in the mobile device industry. Sony Ericsson saw global shipments decline by 41% in 2009 for mobile handsets, marking a nose dive for the company. Since its launch in 2001, the firm have lagged behind their competitors in the development of smartphones. 

The launch of the new products are part of Chief Executive Howard Stringer's plans to get the firm back on top. Sony Ericsson will launch its first smartphone, the Xperia X10, in April which will run on Google's operating system.

Despite these exciting announcements in the Wall Street Journal, Sony has yet to confirm any details.

"As already announced, Sony (including SCE) and Sony Ericsson have been strengthening their collaboration in the networked mobile space. However, it is not our strategy to discuss future products or business plan before we make a formal announcement. Any media report that suggests details of the product or business is based on speculation," said a Sony spokesperson.

If the speculation does turn out to be true; it'll be nice for mobile workers to have more choice when it comes to mobile devices in the future.   

Have you ever tried to have an important business phone call on the way from a key meeting only to struggle to be heard over the noise of the traffic/train? Many mobile workers have and have failed miserably. All that could be about to change though!

New technology has been developed which could put an end to those noisy phone conversations. The new prototype device could allow people to conduct phone calls without saying one word!

How does it work? 

The clever technology uses a technique called electromyography which measures the tiny electrical signals that are produced by the muscles when someone speaks. It then uses these signals to generate speech on another handset.

And it doesn't just stop at spoken words; the device is so clever it can even record the pulses generated when someone simply mouths words. 

The prototype has been on display at the Cebit electronics fair in Germany and works by attaching nine electrodes to someone's face. The electrical pulses are passed to a device which records and amplifies them before being sent to a laptop via Bluetooth. Once on the laptop, the pulses are translated into text before being spoken by a synthesiser. 

When would you use it?

There are many situations this technology would be useful. These include packed public transport, busy cafes and even in the office when you need to talk about confidential information. NASA are even believed to be interested in the technology for use in their noisy space station!

The device could even be used by people who have lost their voice for whatever reason, be it an accident or illness. 

"I was taking the train and the person sitting next to me was constantly chatting and I thought 'I need to change this'," said Professor Tanja Shultz of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. "We call it silent communication."

When can I get it? 

At the moment, nowhere - it's still in the early prototype stages so it won't be available for purchase for at least another couple of years. Although it doesn't have mass market appeal at the moment, we believe once it's launched, it could change the way mobile workers work forever. 

Orange Business Services have announced this week they have teamed up with Sybase to offer mobile device management as a service. The partnership will provide the service to any carrier, any mobile device and numerous operating systems around the world. 

It comes as a result of the growing number of mobile workers worldwide and it has been designed to help companies manage mobile devices, workers and applications in a much more effective way.

Orange Business Services will allow SMEs to consolidate their mobile assets e.g. SIM cards, implement a security policy and deploy all mobile applications. It's believed this help will allow companies to control their mobile spending and wireless costs. 

Many businesses are keen to embrace mobile devices but seem to lose their way when it comes to management strategies. This could be about to change though. New research by IDC found 40% of firms planned to deploy a mobile SaaS system within the next 12-18 months. 

The main features of the management service will be: 

• Mobile device management: This will cover: device inventory, corporate settings, upgrades and distribution, monitoring end-user experience, e-mail control and cost management. 

• Mobile security: This will enforce: access codes, encrypt devices and data cards, establishes "lock/wipe" policies, delivers firewall and antivirus applications and controls mobile access to corporate applications. 

New research has revealed British workers are so addicted to their Blackberrys and mobile devices, they're effectively working an extra 10 days a year. 

Nectar Business interviewed 1000 businesses and found millions said they found it hard to turn their mobile devices off when not in the office. A fifth said they keep their work mobiles on over the weekend and 24% said they felt stressed because they were constantly on call. 

It seems the rise and growing dependence on mobile devices is making it increasingly difficult for workers to leave the office behind. A third of men said they switched their mobile devices off when they leave the office compared with more than 50% of women.

Despite this, 22% of women said they had switched their Blackberry on over the weekend to check for any work issues. 

Of the businesses questioned, 71% said they felt e-mail was still the best way to communicate and many said Blackberrys allowed them to improve their working productivity.

The figures also show smartphones are increasing the popularity of the "virtual colleague". Amazingly 79% of the businesses questioned said they'd only met half of the contacts they regularly do business with. 

The research was carried out to mark the launch of the Nectar Business 2010 Small Business Awards. 

Home workers have begun to embrace jelly... and I'm not talking about the cold, wobbly stuff!

Jelly is a new phenomenon which has been designed to take the loneliness out of working at home. At Jelly events home workers are invited to come and spend the day working in one location. This could be a coffee shop, a meeting room or someone's house. 

It's the brainchild of two American students who both enjoyed working at home but also loved the brain storming, camaraderie and interaction that comes with communal working. Four years ago they decided to hold regular working events from their house and since then the events have been held in over 100 cities across the world. 

The events have recently come across to the UK and have been held in locations such as Frome, Wedmore and Bath.

Who goes to Jelly events? Home workers from all industries enjoy going to Jelly events. In particular home workers from the creative industries enjoy bouncing off each other's ideas e.g. designers, developers and writers.

When is the next Jelly event? The next event is being held in Taunton today. It's running from 8.30 this morning to 5 o'clock tonight at the Genesis Centre in Somerset College. Andrew Knutt decided to organise the event after hearing about it on Twitter. 

"With the last event I went to in Frome, a lot of people assumed there would be a lot of freelancers but there was a big range of people," he said. "There was a guy who ran a fostering training company for social services, a surveyor, and an operations director who runs two big ships which travel the world visiting developing countries to promote education. Most of the people there were above the age of 40."

One of the major factors which people don't like about home working is the loneliness and isolation but it now seems Jelly could be the answer to all those problems! 

Events are lined up right across Manchester, London and Cardiff in the coming months. To get more information on an event near you visit www.workatjelly.com. 

20 years ago, when someone mentioned a mobile phone they'd be referring to a brick-like device that could only make poor quality calls. Since then mobile phones and mobile devices in general have dramatically improved and advanced.  

Now it seems there's no limit to what you can do on a mobile device. Take a picture, make a video, surf the web, pay your credit card bill; all these applications and more can be achieved using a simple hand held device so it's no wonder they've become so popular with mobile workers. 

And smartphones (a mobile phone converged with a hand held device) are set to become even more popular in the coming years. Studies predict that by 2011, 46% of mobile workers will use smartphones and over the next 3 years the enterprise application to smartphones will rise by 196%. 

While many companies are keen to embrace smartphones, not many are aware of the dangers and the aspects they need to consider before investing. 

1. The cost of wireless: It's imperative mobile devices have secure, quality wireless internet to run properly. New research shows firms can save up to 25% per user per month by creating a proper management system for their wireless connectivity. Aspects of wireless costs to consider include data usage, network coverage and quality of service. There are now lots of WiFi hotspots and hundreds of wireless carriers so finding the best deal shouldn't be a problem.

2. Remote control and access: Mobile workers often carry key information via their wireless networks so it's key to have good systems in place to provide back up to mobile workers at all times. Mobile device management systems should be put in place so updates install automatically. This saves both mobile workers and support staff valuable time and money.

3. Security risks: Many firms have chosen to disable the messaging aspects on their mobile devices to eliminate the risk of malware viruses and hackers. Although this is a great way to cut risks, it also eliminates the purpose of mobile devices. Firms need to be sensible about security risks and put policies in place to reduce the factors which can lead to problems. 

4. Policy enforcement: It's important to enforce policy for a number of reasons. Software management software can help employees identify where their mobile workers are and just how many calls or messages they're making. GPS software allows mobile workers to prove where they've been and can help employees identify their wireless connectivity needs. 

A new study out by iPass this week has revealed the habits of the world's mobile workers. The Mobile Workforce Report questioned 3,500 mobile employees in 2009 and the results were quite surprising. 

Overall, the vast majority (63%) said they preferred smartphones to laptops, with the iPhone being the most popular device. 32% said they preferred Blackberrys but 54% of Blackberry users said they would swap to the iPhone given the chance. 

Although the iPad is yet to ship, it's already proving hugely popular with mobile workers. 24% of respondents said they would prefer an iPad to an Android device or Netbook. 

"The adoption of consumer devices and services by enterprise users is making enterprise mobility expensive and chaotic to manage," said iPass' Evan Kaplan. "Attempts to ignore this trend and deny employees the consumer devices they crave will not only drive up the cost of enterprise mobility, it will turn employees and IT departments into rivals versus allies."

The survey also revealed that the majority of mobile workers have no idea how much their operations cost. Only 36% admitted they knew how much their mobile connectivity costs their employers. 41% said they had received an unexpected mobility charge, while 9% reported a surprise charge of more than $500. 

With the number of mobile workers set to rise to more than a billion by the end of the year, it's key mobile workers get to grips with their connectivity costs and devices now before the security and financial risks become too large to manage. 

Augmented Reality is the newest phenomenon to hit the smartphone generation and a new app has just been launched which will no doubt prove to be a big hit with the mobile workers of the world.

Worksnug is an app for the iPhone which allows you to find WiFi spots nearby. Not only can it point you to the nearest coffee shop, hotel or library but it can also provide you with reviews of the location. It can even go as far as to tell you how good the coffee is - A dream come true for mobile workers? We think so!

Richard Leyland is the brains behind the app. He developed Worksnug directly from his experiences of mobile working for 2-3 years in London.

"The knowledge-based economy confronts us with a style of work that is new and different. The working situation is a bit like the wild west – there's no guide to tell you when to start or when to stop or where you should work," he said. "Worksnug is a small attempt to bring back some order. We want Worksnug users to feel part of a community again."

The app sets priorities for the different locations e.g. art galleries are seen as more important than Starbucks. To help with the app, users are encouraged to leave their own reviews on the website from next year. 

Worksnug has recently won approval from Apple and is set to be rolled out in London first, followed by San Francisco, New York, Berlin and Madrid. 

Want to know the best part? It's all completely free!

This new app is set to save mobile workers valuable time and money and will help to eliminate the endless search for WiFi spots in the near future.