| dc.description.abstract |
<p>In our homes and in the enterprise, in our leisure and in our professions, mobile
computing is no longer merely "exciting;" it is becoming an essential, ubiquitous
tool of the modern world. New and innovative mobile applications continue to inform,
entertain, and surprise users. But, to make the daily use of mobile technologies more
gratifying and worthwhile, we must move forward with new levels of sophistication.
The Mobile App Stores of the future must be built on stronger foundations. </p><p>This
dissertation considers a broad view of the challenges and intuitions behind a diverse
selection of such new primitives. Some of these primitives will mitigate existing
and fundamental challenges of mobile computing, especially relating to wireless communication.
Others will take an application-driven approach, being designed to serve a novel purpose,
and be adapted to the unique and varied challenges from their disparate domains. However,
all are related through a unifying goal, to provide a seamless, enjoyable, and productive
mobile experience. This dissertation takes view that by bringing together nontrivial
enhancements across a selection of disparate-but-interrelated domains, the impact
is synergistically stronger than the sum of each in isolation. Through their collective
impact, these new "building blocks" can help lay a foundation to upgrade mobile technology
beyond the expectations of early-adopters, and into seamless integration with all
of our lives.</p>
|
|
