Today, February 29^th is Leap Year Day and it comes once every four years. What a funny world of tradition where we use a calendar that has a day that shows up only every four years. But how can you argue with the math? Because the Earth's rotation actually lasts 365 days and six hours, we get that extra day every four years to keep us aligned with the Universe.

According to Dolores Tichenor, a professor of mathematics at Tri-State University, the last time February 29^th occurred on a Friday it was 1980. As a junior in high school, I had a lot more hair then. The coolest thing that I can remember was a handheld electronic football game. Cell phones, GPS, text messaging, MP3s weren’t imaginable although I am sure someone was working on a flying car and personal robots.

The next time February 29^th will land on a Friday, it will be 2036. If can make it to the average lifespan of a US male, I should be around. It makes you wonder where technology will be in another 24 years.

I found an interesting blog post yesterday from the BBC that took a look at how

Nokia Research Center is working with the University of Cambridge to apply nanotechnology to cell phones in the future. This is quite a leap from how we view cell phones today and how we view computing as well. It was not so much of an endorsement of Nokia as an enlightment on the power and future of nanotechnology and the mobile platform.

 

“Does it surprise you to learn that Nokia is responsible for the world's largest computing platform? That with 17 phones sold every second the Finnish firm is bigger than Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), bigger than Linux and arguably more influential than Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).”

 

Nokia Morph

Nokia has introduced a concept product called Morph. Imagine a handheld computing device that uses nanotechnology

• To sense the chemical properties of compounds in the air
• To convert the sun's rays into electrical power to charge the device
• With greater computing power than today's fastest computers
• To be flexible enough to change shape and color at a users whim
• To provide transparent electronics
• To self-clean the device

Check out the video that explains the concept.

Morph Nokia - The Revolution - Watch more free videos

Meanwhile, what can I expect near-term from my cell phone? Pretty cools stuff actually.

“You could use your phone to get information on almost any kind of consumer product - from CD covers, to movie posters and even wine in a local shop; simply snap a picture of the wine label and your phone could pull up reviews and sampling information.”

Or what about calculating traffic patterns using cell phones?

"’A phone knows where it is, how fast it's going and of course it is programmable so we can instruct it to do things,’ said Dr. Quinn Jacobson from Nokia labs. By creating a series of virtual triplines on maps - markers placed in virtual space - the flow of traffic can be mapped by instructing phones to send data about their location and speed as they pass these points.”

Stand ready. Cell phones won’t just be cell phones – even in the near future. Be prepared to leap ahead in how we use mobile technology.