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Archive for November, 2007

Death to WiMAX?

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 30th, 2007

King Arthur: Who are you who can summon fire without flint or tinder?
Tim: There are some who call me… Tim.
– Search for the Holy Grail

Motorola said Friday that Ed Zander will step down as chief executive on Jan. 1 after months under pressure for the sharp decline of the company’s once-hot cell-phone business.
Zander, 60, will [...]

Google’s 700 MHz Plans

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 30th, 2007

The deadline for declaring an intent to bid on 700MHz is December 3rd. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google isn’t waiting. They will announce their 700 Mhz plans today.
What Google plans to do with the spectrum is anyone’s guess. Google could experiment with different revenue models such as a one-time licensing fee with [...]

Leopard Causes Macbook WiFi Glitch?

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 29th, 2007

Owners of Apple’s 13-inch notebooks are reporting that their Wi-Fi access is much less reliable after installing Mac OS X Leopard or more recent updates to Mac OS X Tiger, especially when the systems switch to battery power, reports Apple Insider

The exact behavior of affected systems can vary slightly, but appears to largely be [...]

iPhone Going HSPA

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 29th, 2007

Apple will introduce a version of the iPhone next year that can use HSPA, AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said today at a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California.
“You’ll have it next year,” Stephenson said in response to a question about when the 3G iPhone would debut. He said he [...]

Cellular Penetration: Half the World

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 29th, 2007

Today, worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion — equivalent to half the global population, according to research firm Informa.
Since the first Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) networks were switched on in 1981 in Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Norway, mobile phones have become the consumer electronics sector with the largest volume of sales in [...]

Verizon: It’s LTE

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 29th, 2007

Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that it plans to use Long Term Evolution (LTE) to upgrade its wireless network and will run tests of the technology in 2008.
Britain’s Vodafone, which owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, also plans to build a network based on LTE. A common network infrastructure will allow roaming between the [...]

Ford SYNC adds Voice Command

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 28th, 2007

Nuance Communications, today announced that Nuance speech solutions are being shipped within Ford SYNC for twelve Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models for 2008. The system works with Bluetooth phones and cellular carriers to provide voice command.
Ford SYNC, a new factory-installed, in-car communications and entertainment system, developed in conjunction with Microsoft and Nuance, includes Nuance speech [...]

PePWave Mobility: Connectivity for Vehicles

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 28th, 2007

PePWave, an innovator of Citywide Wi-Fi solutions, today announced their newest Mobility solution, CarFi. CarFi can be mounted in a vehicle to provide a fast and secure Wi-Fi hotspot in and around a stationary vehicle.
CarFi provides connectivity while in or near a car. It’s designed for mobile workforces, public safety, transit authorities, and city governments. [...]

Google Maps Tracks w/o GPS

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 28th, 2007

Google now can use cell towers to determine your location on Google Maps.. The new feature, called “my location”, is in the latest version of Google Maps for mobile phones.
Instead of having to type in your location, Google Maps is able to find it automatically, even if there’s no GPS. Google Maps can approximate [...]

iYule Log

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 27th, 2007

Cali Lewis and her team of videobloggers have created a video Yule Log, notes TechCrunch.

You get 30-minutes of crackling fire with an original score by Geoff Smith. Five dollars gets you a small, iPod-ready version while $10 gets you a compedium of Yule Log videos including versions for the Apple TV and other hi-res [...]