A leading academic has warned that the new era of gadgets such as the iPhone, Blackberry and Xbox may threaten future innovations.

Professor Jonathan Zittrain says the new internet-enabled devices don't lend themselves to the sort of tinkering and collaboration that leads to technological advances, reports Reuters.

Mr Zittrain, a professor of internet governance and regulation at Oxford University, explained that the mix of gadgets, over-regulation and security fears could destroy the old evolution system where mainstream technology could be influenced and revolutionized.

He told the news agency: "I don't want to see a two-tier world where only the experts can survive and the non-experts are stuck between something they don't understand and something that limits them."

Believing that the answer lies in social rather than technological changes, Mr Zittrain thinks that society should resist any more regulation of the internet and place its trust in its users.

In other news, the US government has recently announced that Open Range Communications is to receive a $267 million loan to provide broadband service to 518 rural communities in 17 states across the country.