Thomas Dolby Robertson, Beatnik

In 1982, Thomas Dolby Robertson climbed the pop charts with his album The Golden Age of Wireless, scoring a major hit with his new wave classic “She Blinded Me With Science.” Two decades later, he's spearheading a different kind of wireless renaissance as the founder of San Mateo, Calif.-based music content firm Beatnik.

With its Beatnik Audio Engine software, the outfit is pioneering the delivery of sound and music clips via wireless technology by enabling wireless phones and PDAs to play back and mix a variety of audio file formats to create a truly enhanced user experience.

“Given that a small hand-held device will always have a limitation on screen size, there's only so much you can do with graphics,” Robertson said. “Sound is one way to make it a lot better.”

Robertson founded Beatnik (formerly Headspace) in 1993. “There was a great opportunity for sound to play a major part in the Internet's evolution,” he said. “As a musician, I could see the potential benefits to breaking the cycle of manufacturer and retail, but that wasn't something I wanted to tackle. I was only interested in one area: creating new types of experiences.”

Those experiences extended to wireless in early 2001, and by the end of the year Beatnik was licensing its technology to Nokia and Danger Inc. to enhance the companies' respective smartphones.

At last month's 3GSM World Congress, Beatnik introduced its next-gen software, an XMF-enabled solution that lets handset manufacturers add customized audio samples, multimedia messaging, gaming sound effects and even ringtones. “The ringtone could be a line from a movie, a sound effect from ‘Star Wars’ — even your mother-in-law screaming at you,” Dolby said. “Whatever floats your boat.”

All things considered, a few bars of “She Blinded Me With Science” seem far more appropriate.