Ben Bederson, co-founder of Seattle's Zumobi, discusses the future of cell phones on the latest episode of The Conversation on KUOW 94.9. At minute 34, Pelago co-founder Jeff Holden jumps into the discussion with a description of the Whrrl location-based service.

Host Ross Reynolds, who calls the cell phone the "Swiss Army knife of portable devices," starts the show off with University of Washington students discussing how they use their phone (a time piece, camera, text messaging, e-mail, voice, etc.)

Bederson, the vice president of client technologies at Zumobi and a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, says as cell phones become more powerful "they can almost be your computing device" with the ability to eventually hook up an external keyboard and monitor.

Still, Bederson said that many people have a "love-hate relationship" with their phones because the "vast majority" are hard to use.

He also discusses the upcoming wireless spectrum auction and how Google's Android platform could transform the wireless business, noting that "there is absolutely no doubt that the carriers will lose control, just as Ma Bell did."

And he mentions the social implications of using a cell phone, something that Holden also addresses by saying they allow users to "cloak" themselves if they don't want their location known.

While Bederson said Whrrl is an exciting new service, he also pointed out that it is "pushing the envelope" and introduces interesting security/privacy issues.

Zumobi, formerly ZenZui, spun out of Microsoft Research last year with $12 million in venture funding. By pre-fetching and caching online content, Bederson says they are making it easy to "get any information you want" very quickly.

Asked how Zumobi will make money, Bederson said, "That's the million-dollar question," but went on to explain how it will integrate "subtle" and "targeted" advertising.

Worth a listen.