PC Magazine reviews the Kyocera KR-1 router. The $200-$300 WiFi box uses a cellular EV-DO card from Sprint for the backbone.

The Kyocera KR1—a full-featured 802.11g wireless router made by D-Link—includes a four-port switch and incorporates a slot in the back for your cell carrier’s EV-DO PC card. Or, if you prefer, you can use a data-capable cell phone as a cellular modem by connecting it to a USB port on the device. The feature is unique but works with very few phones (you’ll find a list of them on the Kyocera Web site).

Setup is very easy. Stick an activated EV-DO card into the back of the router and plug the KR1 into an outlet. If you need to activate your card, you can easily do so using your laptop and the provided software from your mobile phone carrier (the process requires no Internet connection).

Once the working card is in the router, turn on your laptop, browse for a wireless network called KR1, and connect.

Similar mobile wireless routers include the similar model available through D-Link, and the WavBoard CM3 ($379.00), designed to be used in a moving vehicle.

The Linksys Router for Mobile Broadband (WRT54G3G-NA), the Entree Box, the StompBox, Junxion Box, Omniway, Possio PX40 Wireless Router and NETGEAR’s box with a Flarion backbone are not potted plants. They can network voice and data around your home. Cellular backbones today, WiMAX tomorrow.

Verizon Wireless does not allow the use of these boxes on its cellular system. Sprint is more lenient. The Junxion Box allows HSDPA cards on Cingular’s 3G system.

WiMax: Do It Now Look. What’s wrong with specifying an ALL WiMax city-cloud, right now. Specify hotspots that can be upgraded with 802.16-2005 backhaul. Let coffee shops (or homes) put up their own hotspots. Inexpensive WiFi hotspots with built-in (or plugged in) WiMax backhaul are coming in 2006-2007. A $75 WiMax client will be able to supply the backhaul. Simple. Cheap. Licensed and unlicensed WiMax clients, using Mini PCI, PC Cards and USB dongles, should be available shortly. Wavesat’s 5.8 GHz Mini PCI WiMax card (below) could fit in a Soekris box. With cheap $20/mo Mobile WiMax backbone riding on the “city cloud”, it should be a snap. The infrastructure would be faster and cheaper. That translates into lower costs. And free hotspots. It might not be mobile, but 5.8 GHz WiMax would be cheaper and faster. Enterprises will demand wireless VoIP (via QOS-enabled WiMax). WiMax was designed for low cost metropolitan access. Why not use it. A $200, self-install box could deliver both broadband and voice for $40-$50 a month. That’s a competitive business proposition. A $300, triple play settop (with DVD) might add twenty channels of DVB-H. With location-based advertising, it might even be “free”.

Related DailyWireless articles include; WiFi Routers for Cars, USB Client with Antenna Connector, Routers Unwired: Burning Down The House, IPWireless Mobile Gateway, Solar Powered Media, Linksys WiFi/Cellular Access Point, and Seattle Transit WiFied.

Cellular News, EV-DO/HSDPA, Transit Connectivity, Wi-Fi News | 1 Comment »

Intel has a white paper (pdf) that argues, “only Mobile WiMAX can transport DSL and cable-like services cost-effectively in a mobile environment”.

The paper was prepared by WiMAX supporters on behalf of the WiMAX Forum. The paper compares HSDPA, HSUPA, EVDO Rev A, and EVDO Rev B (using duplex 2 Ghz cellular channels) with Mobile WiMAX (using simplex 2.5 GHz channels). Unsurprisingly, Mobile WiMAX compares favorably with advanced CDMA technologies in this technical comparison.

Mobile WiMAX is based on OFDM/OFDMA technology. It is said to have better resource allocation, better uplink efficiency, and can support a full range of advanced antenna technologies. These capabilities provide significant advantages in spectral efficiency and better QoS in both the downlink and uplink.

Mobile WiMAX can also dynamically adjust downlink/uplink ratio. In contrast, EVDO and HSPA, based on FDD, have a fixed asymmetric downlink/uplink ratio and fixed FDD channel bandwidths.

Other points include:

• Subchannels allow maximize spectrum utilization. All these wireless broadband technologies support a frequency reuse of one, i.e. all cells/sectors operate on one frequency channel. However, due to heavy interference between sectors, users at the cell edge may suffer low connection quality. 1xEVDO and HSPA address the interference issue by adjusting the loading of the network…but it’s applied to all users within the sector.
  

  WiMAX users operate on sub-channels, so the cell edge interference problem can be easily addressed by dynamic reconfiguration. Edge users can operate using fewer (but more powerful) sub-channels. It can be adaptively optimized with no frequency planning required.

• Advanced Antenna Technology. CDMA-based 1xEVDO and HSPA support simple transmit diversity and the HSPA standard has an option to support Beamforming. In general however, the use of advanced antenna technologies in current 1xEVDO and HSPA solutions has been limited.
  

  Mobile WiMAX, on the other hand, is based on smart antenna friendly OFDM/OFDMA technology. OFDM/OFDMA systems make it easier to support smart antenna technologies. The single frequency makes it cheaper and more practical. Complex equalizers are not required to compensate frequency selective fading. Mobile WiMAX supports a full range of smart antenna technologies to enhance performance including Beamforming, Space/Time Coding (STC) and Spacial Multiplexing (SM). These techniques improve both system coverage and capacity.

  
• High Data Rates with QOS. MIMO antenna techniques with flexible sub-channelization schemes and Advanced Coding and Modulation enable the Mobile WiMAX technology to support peak DL sector data rates up to 46 Mbps, assuming a DL/UL ratio of 3:1, and peak UL sector data rates up to 14 Mbps, assuming a DL/UL ratio of 1:1, in a 10 MHz channel. As opposed to priority-based QoS schemes in CDMA, Mobile WiMAX supports guaranteed service levels including committed and peak information rates, latency, and jitter for varied types of traffic on a customer-by-customer basis.

• Scalability. Mobile WiMAX is designed to be able to scale to work in different channelizations from 1.25 to 20 MHz to comply with varied worldwide requirements as efforts proceed to achieve spectrum harmonization in the longer term. This also allows diverse economies to realize benefits for their specific geographic needs, such as providing affordable internet access in rural settings or enhancing the capacity of mobile broadband access in metro and suburban areas.

The simulations show Mobile WiMAX has a distinct advantage over the 3G enhancements in both spectral efficiency and channel/sector throughput. The spectral efficiency for Mobile WiMAX with MIMO is more than 2 times better than EVDO Rev B and HSPA in both downlink and uplink and, in the same bandwidth, the sector throughput is more than 2 times higher in the DL and about 2 times higher in the UL.

A range comparison was not included and would have been helpful. Still, you have to wonder why the FCC wants to “kill” OFDMA in the AWS auction if Mobile WiMAX is supposed to be so much more efficient.

Covad, along with Korea Telecom, TeleKom Malaysia and PCCW are members of the WiBro and mobile WiMAX Community which plans interoperability between WiBro and Mobile WiMAX.

According to Verizon Wireless’ latest terms of agreement, its “Unlimited” BroadbandAccess services cannot be used for:

1. “uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games,
2. “with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing”
3. “as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections.”

How long until $99 USB Mobile WiMAX dongles are everywhere? How long until other countries get wireless broadband (with voice) at twice the speed for half the cost compared to the United States?

One election cycle.

The FCC’s Kevin Martin and the NTIA’s Michael Gallagher are on the hot seat. The U.S. Senate Friday confirmed Robert McDowell as the newest member of the FCC to re-establish a Republican majority.

It won’t help. The key is competition.

Related DailyWirless articles include; AWS Auction: Does It Suck?, Mobile WiMAX: It’s Done, 3G Band Scam?, HSDPA: Operation Grand Slam?, HSDPA Deployments Cingular Push to Talk, Cell Vs City Clouds: The Battle Begins, T-Mobile’s HSDPA Move, Verizon Expands EV-DO, Cuts Price, Verizon Tests Rev A, Sprint Rolls Out EV-DO, Cingular’s 3G Network, Sprint + Lucent for EV-DO, Jacobs: Cellular Beats WiMax, Verizon Tests Rev A, Finland Goes Flarion, Qualcomm Buys Flarion, T-Mobile’s HSDPA Move, HSPDA in China, Verizon Expands EV-DO, Cuts Price, Sprint Rolls Out EV-DO, Verizon EV-DO in Seattle, Portland & NYC, HSPDA Tests, 3G: HSPDA or Not?, CDMA vs OFDM, Mobile WiMax: It’s Alive!, 16e: Backward Compatibility - NOT, Flarion Testing WiFi Handoff, Banning Broadband Everywhere, City Clouds Save Money, Mobile WiMax - Now?, Laptop with EDGE, HSPDA & WiMax Living Together?, WiMax Over Hyped?, HSPDA Demos, Sprint Commits to EV-DO, Verizon Expands EV-DO, Cuts Price, 3G: HSDPA or Not?, and Cellular At The Races.

WiMAX Deployments, WiMAX News | 1 Comment »

Fujitsu said Tuesday it has completed its acquisition of the intellectual property (IP) division of Wi-LAN, a pioneering WiMax hardware developer.

Fujitsu Microelectronics America said it is also is acquiring Wi-LAN’s technology development division. Fujitsu is challenging Intel as a provider of chipsets for WiMAX wireless broadband systems.

Intel’s WiFi chipset in Centrino laptops has sold alot of laptops. Intel also has a fixed WiMax chipset, but some believe that Intel may go with Beceem for a Mobile WiMAX design.

Wi-LAN claims to own the essential Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (W-OFDM) patent required for any implementation of WiMAX 802.16 - both d and e.

“This acquisition reinforces Fujitsu’s commitment to the WiMAX market,” Kazuyuki Kawauchi, president and CEO of Fujitsu Microelectronics America, said in a statement.

“We have purchased the Wi-LAN IP related to WiMAX, extended the scope of our patent licenses from Wi-LAN, and retained an experienced engineering team to continue our WiMAX development.”

Terms of the acquisition were not released.

The Fujitsu WiMAX reference kit offers a quick way to develop Time Division Duplex (TDD) or Half Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (HDX-FDD) subscriber stations. The board includes Fujitsu’s MB87M3400 (pdf), a 802.16-2004 WiMAX SoC and all the other hardware resources required to create self-configurable indoor or outdoor subscriber stations that operate in a licensed or license-exempt band from 2 to 11 GHz.

Wi-LAN previously sold the LIBRA 5800 product line to Taiwan-based GIL Technology. This transaction completes the Company’s decision to exit the equipment business.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm, which bought Flarion several months ago, is now apparently using that purchase to increase their intellectual portfolio.

Qualcomm signed a licensing agreement for broadband wireless patents covering OFDM/OFDMA, reports Nancy Gohring, especially around Mobile WiMAX technology. Soma Networks paid Qualcomm an undisclosed sum for the rights to use Qualcomm’s intellectual property in a new mobile WiMax platform. Gohring reports:

The announcement is essentially a statement from Qualcomm that it plans to enforce its patents, said Caroline Gabriel, an analyst with Rethink Research. “It did not need to announce this since licensing deals are usually confidential, so I think it’s certainly a public challenge to the WiMax players,” she said.

Qualcomm acquired Flarion earlier this year. Some vendors and observers like Steve Sanders wonder if Qualcomm, had acquired IP crucial to WiMax.

“Qualcomm and Flarion settled for $1.8 million despite disagreement with the DOJ contention [taking control of Flarion prior to the sale closing]. What grabbed me the most about this was that the allegation that Qualcomm didn’t intend to commercialize Flarion’s technology in its present form. But if Qualcomm is not wanting to leverage Flarion’s gear “as is” what does it want to do with it…

Flarion was on a path to mobility (via 802.20). Now it appears that Qualcomm is on a path to the courthouse.

But Mobile WiMAX (802.16e-2005), some argue, is actually evolved from WiBro which adopted technology developed by Adaptix and its predecessor Broadstorm.

In the end, Qualcomm and Intel probably have the most lawyers.

Corporate News, WiMAX News | No Comments »

China says that the IEEE broke ISO rules developing the new security standard, 802.11i. China claims that the IEEE didn’t follow ethical and procedural rules and principles and the IEEE is waging a conspiracy against them.

China wants its own proprietary and secret encryption standard (called WAPI) to be adopted. But it was forced to abandon that plan when Intel refused to sell its products behind the bamboo curtain. Intel said that if it adopted the standard, it would have to hand over IP rights to Chinese companies.

According to the China Broadband Wireless IP Standards Working Group (BWIPS), “the IEEE has committed unethical and unjust activities trying to destroy WAPI by every means.”

In March both the IEEE and China asked the ISO to approve a standard for Wireless. The ISO rejected China’s WAPI standard, but Beijing claims that was only because the IEEE misled many national bodies that voted on the plan. WAPI was supported by just 32 percent of ISO members. In the same voting session, 802.11i was backed by 89 percent of those who voted. The IEEE’s 802.11i encryption standard is also backed by Wi-Fi chip leader Intel.

China’s GDP grew 9.9% in 2005 while its telecom industry revenue grew 25.4%, more than double the pace of the overall economy, according to the Ministry of Information Industry of China (”MII”). In addition, the statistics from MII shows that China had approximately 404.1 million mobile phone users in February 2006, which is 60 million more than the a year ago. China may add another 50 million to 60 million mobile phone users in 2006, say industry observers.

China is expected to have over 600 million mobile phone users by the end of 2008.

China may also be concerned about companies like Qualcomm which is suing Nokia, charging they infringed on two Qualcomm patents in GPRS and EDGE for GSM Evolution. Qualcomm has been collecting royalties for its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, and more recently for W-CDMA 3G as well. Qualcomm now believes it has patents on WiMAX (and intends to enforce them).

Of course the IEEE is supposed to resolve those rights issues when it develops a standard.

Perhaps shutting out Qualcomm from the Chinese market would be a more effective policy. They might get LOTS of support for that!

IEEE Standards, Wi-Fi News | No Comments »

Qualcomm has a new chip that can work with three different mobile TV systems. The Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) can receive signals using Qualcomm’s FLO standard, as well as DVB-H and ISDB-T. The chip will allow manufacturers to make a single handset that can be customized by carriers around the globe for whichever TV standard an operator chooses.

The UBM is designed to work in conjunction with Qualcomm’s MSM 3G chipsets. Qualcomm expects samples of the UBM to be available to manufacturers in early 2007.

Features of Qualcomm’s UBM solution include:

• Support for the entire UHF bandwidth - 470 to 862 MHz;
• Tunable modes 5, 6, 7 and 8 MHz channel bandwidths; and
• Support for single- and multi-frequency networks.

However, it will not support DMB, a popular mobile TV standard. DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) is an extension of DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). BT’s mobile TV service, called Movio, is based on DMB, as is a service being launched in Germany this month ahead of the football World Cup. Several handset manufacturers are working on DMB-compatible phones.

Cellular Media Networks

	DVB-H	MediaFLO	ISDB-T	DMB
Source: Texas Instruments

TI has demonstrated their Hollywood” DTV-1000 single-chip demodulator/tuner on Modeo’s DVB-H network, coupled with the OMAP 2420 application processor running PacketVideo’s Windows Media codecs and DRM, and S3’s DVB-H protocol stack. Philips introduced has a rival BGT216 DVB-H module, which measures just 7×7 mm and will be available in early 2007. ADI announced a few T-DMB design wins in Korea, running the T-DMB demodulation processing on a Blackfin DSP.

Engadget says that Toshiba is prepping their new Gigabeat V series of Windows Portable Media Centers (above) with a ISDB-T tuner. The V30T features a 3.5-inch, 320 x 240 display, support for WMV/WMA/MP3/WAV/JPEG and PlaysForSure WMA formats, and a brawny battery capable of up to 7/9/25 hours of TV/video/music playback, respectively. The V30T packs in a 30GB drive which allows you to record broadcasts up to 24 hours in advance for a maximum of about 130 hours of recorded, portable video. Available late June (in Japan) for about $450.

Each DVB-H class uses H.264 encoding with High Efficiency AAC audio. Streamed TV using 3G is able to provide sufficient bandwidth for Class B services, however existing services use H.263 coding rather than H.264 and therefore give reduced resolution/quality. MPEG-2, used for DVB-T, is not used for DVB-H because it requires higher data rates and reception error resilience of MPEG-2 is poor.

Informa predicts the Japanese terrestrial-based system, ISDB-T, will attract its first subscribers in 2006. By 2010, ISDB-T is expected to have 17.55 million users, all of them in Japan.

DVB-H will become the dominant format in 2008, predicts Informa, accounting for more than half of all sales, By 2010, DVB-H users worldwide will reach 74.03 million, or 60 percent of all broadcast users.

HiWire, a subsidiary of Aloha Partners, plans to use the 700 MHz spectrum (on UHF channels 54 and 59), covering some 60% of the US population. HiWire will compete with Crown Castle’s Modeo , which plans to offer nationwide DVB-H services in the L-band 1700 MHz spectrum, and with Qualcomm’s MediaFlo, which will also offer mobile TV services in the 700 MHz spectrum using its own technology (on UHF channel 55).

Cellular News, Mobile TV | No Comments »

SkyPilot Networks, a provider of wireless mesh gear for “city clouds” such as Portland’s, today announced it has been selected by NuTel Broadband, a broadband wireless managed services provider based in Cranbury, NJ, to provide the equipment for Wi-Fi mesh networks that will be built out across more than 200 “Tier 2-5″ domestic markets.

NuTel is partnering with SkyPilot to reach under-serviced suburban and rural subscribers and small-to-medium sized businesses in regions where broadband wireless network services have been limited or generally unavailable. It would deliver both broadband wireless and VoIP service.

By combining NuTel’s back office management services with SkyPilot’s mesh networking gear, regional WISPs can grow their consumer and small business subscriber base substantially, says NuTel.

NuTel has 8 to 10 operating partners lined up already, says WiFi Planet, and expects it could reach 200 partners by the end of 2007. The nationwide network is not looking to compete with municipal networks or even citywide Wi-Fi from third party providers. It wants to provide service where cable and DSL broadband is scarce, if not wholly unavailable.

NuTel is embarking on an initial 14 state rollout that will go live within the next three months. The company is first targeting the Mississippi Valley from north of St. Louis to the Tennessee border, as well as northeast Arkansas, the Minnesota/Wisconsin borders and areas north of Oklahoma City. Additional regions include west central Ohio north of Dayton, the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh, areas of West Virginia and west Texas reaching eastern New Mexico. And new Wi-Fi networks are being established in the Sacramento, El Dorado, Chico and south San Jose areas of California.

A base package of high-speed Internet access at 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) coupled with a voice over IP service would cost about $60 a month. A simple dial-up replacement Internet connection could cost as little as $15 a month for 200 Kbps.

Municipal Wireless, Wi-Fi Deployments | No Comments »

Here’s an overdue product — a USB WiFi client with an antenna connector. WIFI-Link’s USB adapter (WL-USB-RSMAP) has a female reverse polarity (RP) SMA connector so you can choose from a huge variety of WiFi antennas (in addition to the one that comes with it).

The MSRP of $49.50 is reasonable. In quantities of 100, it’s only $29/each. Coupled with a 16db Vagi ($35, left) it may be just the ticket for residential penetration of WiFi city clouds. It’s compatible with Windows 98se/ME/2000/XP and offers up to 256-bit WEP and WPA2 protection.

USB clients are a snap to install. USB cords are cheap and available at any store. USB clients also eliminate expensive, easily broken PC card connectors, RF cable losses and power cords.

The key to “city cloud” residential penetration is a strong signal with a low ($30-$60) CPE price. This may be the proverbial “it”.

Wi-Fi News | No Comments »

The Web’s free and wireless in Hood River, reports the Oregonian.

Embarq, which was the local phone division of Sprint Nextel until it was spun off last week, has built a free Wi-Fi network covering Hood River’s three square miles. The newly independent company is experimenting with wireless Internet access and has made Hood River its second test site. The first one went online in Henderson, Nev., in March.

For the next 90 days, Embarq said Friday, it will test the network’s capabilities and explore ways to make it operate profitably. At the end of that time, the company hopes to sell or lease the network to the city of Hood River.

Talks about transferring the network to the city are going well, according to Embarq, but the parties aren’t talking dollars and cents yet.

Several small Oregon cities, including Sandy, Sherwood and Hermiston, have wireless networks, and Portland has contracted to build a free Wi-Fi system covering 134 square miles. If the Portland City Council approves the privately funded project next month, construction of that network could start this summer.

The Henderson network is using BelAir mesh gear. The Hood River service is currently available City Hall, local parks, the port and downtown. The launch will be celebrated June 2. There are several other Wi-Fi Hotspots in the region as well as an optical fiber loop laid down by the city.

Embarq has approximately 20,000 employees and operates in 18 states offering local and long distance voice, data, high speed internet, wireless, and entertainment services.

Municipal Wireless, Wi-Fi Deployments | No Comments »

The 2006 Submarine Ring of Fire expedition on the research vessel Melville is the third in a series of explorative expeditions to the submarine volcanoes of the Mariana Arc. Some 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

Bob Embley gives us a short video briefing of this adventure. The volcano, called NW Rota-1, was discovered in 2004 and has since been visited several times by international teams of explorers.

A NOAA-led team of ocean explorers shot amazing footage of the eruption of an underwater volcano in the Mariana Arc, south of Guam. C/Net has a 5 minute clip. NOAA’s Daily Video Logs have lots more.

The first video shows billowing plumes of debris, gas and ash so rich in sulfur that a yellow tinge is visible.

A second video shows flashes of red as lava is fired from the vent. In both, scientists watching the footage describe in excited voices the submarine explosions, believed to be the first ever caught on record.

The interdisciplinary team of 21 scientists from the U.S., Japan, Canada and New Zealand will work closely with the Deep Submergence Operations Group of Woods Hole. They utilize the remotely operated vehicle Jason II to explore and collect samples at hot-springs on these active volcanoes.

Learn what Bob Embley hopes to discover on this expedition with video and audio podcasts and daily logs. This May 4th video (left), shows bubbling liquid sulfur and fire walking crabs.

“One of the most exciting discoveries of the 20th century was the discovery of active sulfur volcanism on Io, the innermost (major) moon of Jupiter.

“Last night we came across another extreme of sulfur volcanism in the Solar System, a convecting pool of liquid sulfur under more than 40 atmospheres of pressure”…

Meanwhile the Research Vessel Atlantis and the deep diving submarine Alvin (left) are headed up the West Coast this summer.

It’s far more interesting, relevant and exciting than any secret NASA/Air Force space program. That’s because it’s real science.

And you are there. Telepresence Now!

BULLETIN: Today a 6.2 earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing more than 3,000 people with at least 10,000 others believed to be injured.

Many people are still believed trapped under rubble and collapsed buildings.

The Indonesian Red Cross estimates some 200,000 people fled their homes after it hit early on Saturday morning

Indonesia is in a zone known as the Pacific “ring of fire”, which is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

In December 2004, a huge earthquake off Indonesia’s coast killed hundreds of thousands of people across the Indian Ocean by triggering a tsunami.

Indonesia contains over 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country on earth. They comprise the axis of the Indonesian island arc system, which is generated by northeastward subduction of the Indo-Australian plate. The great majority of these volcanoes lie along the topographic crest of the arc’s two largest islands - Java and Sumatra.

The cataclysmic blasts of Krakatau in 1883 (above) generated tsunamis, up to 40 m tall, and killed 36,000. Today’s earthquake is thought to have been tectonic in origin and not directly associated with the ongoing eruption of nearby Mount Merapi, although the earthquake is reported to have caused increased activity in the volcano.

Google News, Yahoo Full Coverage, CNN, The BBC, WikiNews and Indonesia Earthquake Information have more on this breaking story. CBS has comprehensive disaster links.

By the way, I am posting this update at 1:42 am (Sunday) PDT and The Pacific Disaster Center has, at this time, no word about this disaster on their web page. The last news update was on 19-May-2006. They’re undoubtly very busy. But people’s lives may be depending on news from this agency. They appear to have dropped the ball (again).

The Pacific Command (Pacom), has its headquarters in Honolulu. They said they need good communications with units operating in or offshore Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka because “if we can’t communicate, we can’t deliver the relief where it is needed.”

Homeland Security’s`website has nothing — but that’s no surprise — it’s not their job.

Meanwhile, at 1:46 am (Sunday), PDT, Wikipedia’s 2006 Java earthquake, has a comprehensive page of details and links. The Red Cross, Northwest Medical Teams and Mercy Corps have details on today’s quake on their websites and are on scene. Right now.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is deploying 32 new advanced technology Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) buoys for a fully operational tsunami warning system by mid-2007.

In addition, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) will enhance its seismic monitoring and information delivery from the Global Seismic Network, a partnership with the National Science Foundation.

The new system will provide the United States with nearly 100% detection capability for a U.S. coastal tsunami, allowing response within minutes.

The new system will also expand monitoring capabilities throughout the entire Pacific and Caribbean basins, providing tsunami warning for regions bordering half of the world’s oceans.

The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS), conducted its first end-to-end Pacific-wide tsunami exercise for the Pacific Ocean just last week, on 16-17 May 2006.

The United States has led the GEOSS effort since 2003 when the G-8 called for establishing a global observation system.

INMARSAT is frequently used to provide direct-dial voice, fax, and telex to and from the international public telecommunications networks. A fast deployable WiFi network can be airdropped to support emergency relief work after a natural disaster.

Wideye Sabre I Satellite Modem Service> Inmarsat-BGAN	Nera Worldphone Portable (Land) Service > Inmarsat Mini-M Nera Saturn Bt2 Service > Inmarsat-B Nera World Communicator (Land) Service > Inmarsat GAN/M4	T T Capsat Mobile Telephone Service > Inmarsat Mini M T T Capsat Messenger Service > Inmarsat GAN/M4 T T Small Dish Antenna Service > Inmarsat GAN/M4 Explorer™ 500 Service > Inmarsat BGAN	EMS Storm Service > Inmarsat GAN/M4	Imnarsat RBGAN Service > Inmarsat RBGAN Hughes HNS 9201 BGAN Satellite IP Modem Unit Service > Inmarsat BGAN

DailyWireless has more on Global Tsunami Warning System Announced, Biggest Spotbeam Sat Launched, Global Satellite Providers Now Three, iPSTAR-1 & The Global HotSpot, Inmarsat F2 Launched, Tsunami Monitoring, Tsunami Mapping, WiMax: Trial By Fire, 700 MHz On The Line, More News Maps, Solar Electric to Go, FCC Talks Katrina, Pronto Managing Katrina Network, Georgia COWs, Mobile COWs & COLTs, Hurricane Frances Lineworkers, Earthquake First Responders, Hurricane Help, Public Service Bands, Corpus Christi Cloud, More Solar WiFi, USGS Aero Wireless, Wireless Recon Airplanes, More 700 Mhz Testimony, ISP in a Trailer, Getto Antenna, WiMax Vrs WiFi, Strix Satellite Mesh, D-Link Hotspot with Cell Backbone, Flarion & Netgear = Mobile Hotspot, Camphones For Journalists, GPS Blogging Phones, Map Space, Meetro Location Net, More Google Map Hacks, and Tsunami Warning Ideas.

Applications, Fiber Optics, Public Service, Virtual Worlds | 1 Comment »

Municipal wireless networks are now being built or planned in hundreds of cities. But what will be “on” it?

The hardware infrastructure must come first, but it’s software that does the real work. Cellular, WiFi and hard-wired networks are now becoming testbeds of groupware.

Navigation, social networking, location-based advertising, community service, games and other applications are exploding.

Nintendo’s “DS Lite”, available on June 11th, costs $129.99. It plays games, video and surfs the web with built-in WiFi. So does Sony’s Playstation Portable ($199) and Nokia’s Tablet ($350). Cellphones are also becoming WiFi enabled. They’ve already got Bluetooth.

MySpace has some 80 million registered users. Now they’re getting wireless social networking. Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook, the college and high school community site, are going mobile, too.

Business 2.0 offers a peek where wireless technology is headed. Let’s tour the latest Web 2.0 innovations.

Your mission: find social networking, navigation and location-based services and imagine how they could make city clouds more fun and useful.

South Korea has become the world’s best laboratory for broadband services. Cyworld, a social network owned by a subsidiary of SK Telecom, is a mixture of MySpace, Flickr, Blogger, AIM and Second Life. Helio, a joint venture between SK Telecom and EarthLink, is launching a full fledged marketing effort for its service in the US.

Cyworld has 90% penetration rates for South Koreans in their 20s, using avatars that visit and link to each other’s “minihompy” - a miniature homepage that’s actually a 3-D room containing a users’ blog, photos, and virtual items for sale.

NCSoft, the company that runs Korea’s most popular multiplayer online role-playing game, Lineage, has found a string of successes in the U.S. with its City of Heroes online games. Starcraft by Blizzard is so widely played in South Korea that two TV channels broadcast Starcraft matches between professional players.

With over 135 million mobile subscribers in the U.S., mobile games are a force to be reckoned with.

Mobile development uses software platforms like Qualcomm’s BREW, Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), MacroMedia’s Spotlight and TI’s Open Multimedia Applications Platform. The Python programming language, Palm OS and Windows Mobile can also be used.

Mobile applications can be played on Verizon’s V-Cast, Sprint’s PowerVision, Cingular’s MEdia and Nokia’s N-Gage and many can be ported to Wi-Fi enabled devices like the Nokia Tablet, Playstation Portable, the Nintendo DS or UltraMobilePCs. WiFi-enabled devices will be everywhere; in taxis, buses and train stations, as well as pockets and purses.

Soon they’ll be WiMAX-enabled. Using open standards.

Verizon is offering the VZ Navigator (above), which provides directions, like a regular GPS, on the LG VX9800, the RAZR and the Motorola V325. It costs $2.99 a day or $9.99 a month. The MG FuelFinder shows the cheapest gas stations near your location for $1.99 a month or $5 for the Wireless Mobile Web version while the Vindigo City Guide points out restaurants and stuff for $2.99 a month.

VOCEL’s push technology sends targeted advertising to mobile phones. Perhaps a guided tour (via Bluetooth or WiFi) could also be an option for cellphones or PDAs. Perhaps chirping birdhouses could be the cue for wireless kiosk info tours (also delivered by FM radio).

Bluetooth enabled posters in London’s Underground deliver mini documentaries to cell phones.

On the other hand, municipal wireless pioneer, Chaska, 27 miles southwest of Minneapolis, hasn’t morphed into some sort of cyber village…yet.

City Cloud Applications are being developed by university researchers at the University of Georgia’s Wireless Athens Project, UCSD’s Active Campus Project, Berkeley’s Project PlaceSite and Dartmouth’s Wireless Campus which tracks friends (with their permission) using Wi-Fi.

Look what’s available for free…it’s just amazing.

Recent Web 2.0 applications include:

• Flagr (Flags locations from mobile phones)
• Bones in Motion (Use GPS to turn mobile phones into exercise-tracking devices)
• Kamida (Tag a location with notes or images)
• Plazes (Tag locations to find other users or related places nearby)



• Semacode (Use camera phones as bar-code readers)
• Platial.com (a free mashup that lets you easily make your own clickable city map)
• Wayfaring (like Wikipedia, you build and share your own maps)
• Communitywalk (a site for mapping communities).

Rafe Needleman at C/Net says Jambo tells you who in your social or business network is nearby by checking to see if people you know are attached to the same Wi-Fi access point.

It doesn’t actually know where you or they are–it just knows who’s close. If you want to connect with somebody you know is in your area, you can either shout their name real loud or use Jambo’s built-in instant-messaging client.

The service is in early testing on Windows Mobile phones, and cofounder Jim Young told me the company is working on supporting Symbian, RIM, and Palm OS. He wants Jambo to be radio-agnostic–it should help you find your buddies (if they are open to being found) no matter what wireless technology they have.

When the service launched in early 2005, the company intended to build out its own social network, which would link its members together with the Jambo proximity technology. Since then, the founders have realized that expecting people to sign up for yet another social network (technical term: YASN) was not a reasonable model for growth.

So they’ve reset their model and are now selling Jambo technology to existing social network sites.

Other social networking projects that track people and their locations include Dodgeball and Plazes. Other interesting experiments in finding Wi-Fi access point locations are SkyHook, Wigle, and Microsoft’s Location Finder (part of Windows Live Local).

Microsoft’s new Street-Side (above) augments Microsoft’s Live Local service with a street level, through-the-window view of a city. Walk or drive. Microsoft is bringing Xbox Live to mobile phones with Live Anywhere.

An open interface might allow bloggers and others to build 2D, 3D and mobile extensions in a “virtual” city.

Pew/Internet says at the end of March 2006, 42% of Americans had high-speed at home, up from 30% in March 2005. About 84 million U.S. residents now have broadband Internet access at home, up from 60 million last year, says the Pew Internet & American Life Project study (pdf). There are about 110 million households in the United States — television is in about 108 of them.

Advertising linked to online video is estimated to be currently worth about $300m but this is expected to grow to $1bn within the next few years, according to Merrill Lynch. Of the record $12.5bn spent on internet advertising last year, most of it was spent on search and this remains the biggest source of online ad revenue.

The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) states that in 2002, radio’s revenue reached about $20 billion. Local television revenues in 2006 are expected to total $22.2 billion, says the BIA Financial Network. Parks Associates says over $60 billion was spent on TV advertising last year. With 108 million TV households, that’s a total investment of $45 - 50/mo per household.

Public WiFi networks, if they were “free” would need to generate about $10/mo to break even on advertising revenue. That’s about 30 clickthroughs a month at 30 cents/each. Eyeballs are the thing. Relevant eyeballs.

That implies compelling content tied in with location-based services and social networking.

Dramatic stories can be told through oral history, adventure guides, shared interests, Public Radio, Arts Events and Maps. Google’s Green Tour a case in point. The riches of a city come from Portland Stories, Altportland, Metro Blogging, Portland Bloggers and Portland Podcasters. Tom Chamberlain guides us on a walking tour of Portland filmmakers.

Google Earth projects abound. Whole states are now covered with high resolution, color data including Indiana, Missouri, and New Jersey. Google Earth partners include Razor Fish, for dashboard applications. The Google Earth Community has 3D Models built from Sketchup. 3D browsers include 3B, Browse3D and SphereXPlorer.

Open Croquet (WikiPedia), is a 3D world similar to Second Life, but is open source and runs P2P. Within the 3D, virtual reality environments, participants can enjoy synchronous telepresence, shared access to the internet and can design complex spaces individually or while working with others.

The Socialsoftwareweblog covers centralized social software like Friendster, Tribe.net and Orkut (Google), which let you find people of similar interests (& friends). Fandango’s Evite lets you pick a movie, invite friends, and let everyone vote on a time and place, and then everyone can click back to Fandango to purchase their tickets in advance.

Friend of a Friend (FOAF) takes a decentralized approach. FOAF profiles are normal XML text files that are stored on your website. This means that the data about yourself belongs to you and not to the social software site. It gives you the power to put the data back in your control, and on a server/website that is controlled by you.

XFN (XHTML Friends Network) is a simple way to represent human relationships using hyperlinks. XFN enables web authors to indicate their relationship(s) to the people in their blogrolls simply by adding a ‘rel’ attribute to their tags.

Other related projects include:

• Meetro, a location-based community building software, uses WiFi signals to discover the general location of a user without GPS. City residents are then visually shown exactly who’s in their vicinity and the general interests they share.

• TagWorld provides an all-in-one web destination where users can organize and present their personalized online content via blogs, which can include photo albums, music, video, personal files, and user profile information.

  

• Mates, a location-based social networking system developed at the University of Michigan.

• Neighbornodes are group message boards on wireless nodes, placed in residential areas and open to the public. These nodes transmit signal for around 300 feet, so everyone within that range has access to the board and can read and post to it.

• Yahoo bought local events-listing site, Upcoming.org to integrate with its own Yahoo Local search capabilities while Google Local is merging with Google Maps.

• Blogdigger is a blog search engine like Technorati and Google Blog Search. Google Local and A9’s Yellow Pages can locate individual bloggers writing from specific U.S. cities or zip codes.

• gFeedMap displays the location of blogs on a Google map while LocalFeeds finds nearby RSS News feeds.

• Other Location Based Services might also develop around Blogmapper (links blog entries to clickable locations on a map), GeoURL ICBM Address Server (add Lat/Long to webpages), GeoNotes, (a free JAVA app that automatically detects your position for location-tagged messages), as used in Annotate Space, Trepia (a location-based list of other nearby Instant Messaging users), the VideoBlogMap uses GoogleMaps, and WWMX Travelogue (GPS tagged maps, photographs and text).

• Skyhook Wireless, a software-only positioning system, uses a nationwide database of known Wi-Fi access points to calculate the precise location of any Wi-Fi device - without new hardware. Skyhook says they created a reference database of over 1.5 million private and public access points and can calculate a device’s location to within 20-40 meters. It’s being rolled out in 25 metropolitan areas.

• Navizon provides your exact location in real time, and companies can send you messages about a restaurant of a film opening near the place where you are. Navizon knows the geographic locations of Hotspots and Cellular Towers in a specified city, and is able to determine your Latitude and Longitude via the software.

• Red Hat has a new open source social networking service called Mugshot. Mugshot emphasizes communication and entertainment on the desktop. Still largely under development and accessible by invitation only, it enables users to chat, share links, and share information about their favorite music. It runs on Windows and Linux and partially supported on OS X, it’s designed for mainstream computer users.

Supplying a city-wide connection is not enough. Cities in Asia are already moving well beyond broadband wireless, to become economic clusters. They’re now crackling powerhouses with a global presence. And they’re coming to your town.

The $220 million SK Telecom/Earthlink venture may be just the start. Asia-Pacific has 40% of the world’s 209.3 million broadband lines and a good chunk of the world’s 2 billion wireless users. India’s VSNL and Reliance have both picked up huge network assets on the cheap with VSNL now the world’s biggest IP wholesaler. When China moves, the world market surely will shift. East.

We can re-envision the city. Enriching shared memory is one strategy. It can bring people together under “the cloud”, while maintaining the continuity and viability of our institutions.

A city-sponsored web experience could be like a World’s Fair. Innovative, memorable and world-class. It must provide inspiration and real benefits for all citizens. A managed backend with an open source interface for blogging software like WordPress or 3D browsers (via plug-ins) might allow individuals and organizations to contribute thematic or localized content in a 3D walk-through environment.

The Web3D Consortium (WikiPedia), is developing X3D, a royalty-free, open standards file format and run-time architecture to represent and communicate 3D scenes and objects using XML.

Mobile X3D could be supported by both cellphones and Microsoft’s Vista. The Octaga X3D Player is a free application or browser plug-in. ATI and Nvidia chips for cellphones will expand handheld television and games.

The experience must be compelling, vital and dynamic. Open source. Free admission.

Soon entire cities will be online, sharing space. They can become a model and a destination. They can generate revenue in the global marketplace. Every citizen can be a hero (or a criminal).

Architecture and image are important. They shape the city.

Planet 9 Studios, the largest supplier of accurate 3D city data, has produced more than 40 virtual cities. They produce custom databases in all common formats including 3D Studio Max, Maya, VRML, X3D, OpenFlight, Xbox and PlayStation 2.

Creatures of the Deep, a fishing game for Nokia’s mobile game platforms, was designed by Juicy Studios. Falcon Tracking might mix zoology with sociology. Birdcams could follow. Informatics and RF-ID could be utilized in a variety of applications. Pocket Gamer reviews mobile games.

Second Story, an interactive media studio based in Portland, creates work for National Geographic, Discover and other media companies and are currently looking for web designers to pioneer new forms of interactive storytelling.

Cities are living museums. Repositories of culture and context. Admittance is free with a cellphone. Soon a $129 Nintendo and $200 PSP will play. Wireless iPods and XBoxes are next up. The city as game grid.

The NY Times has a Special Network Edition of Circuits that describes how networked computing is allowing workers to work differently. In the wireless city.

Wireless clouds and the internet are opening up businesses and cities. Neighborhoods, communities and cities are brands. We must shape a compelling environment. It’s The World Cup.

Related DailyWireless articles include Mapping Cloud Users, Dartmouth Triple Play, MIT Location Conference, Seattle’s Place Lab, UCSD’s Stalker Net, UWB Tracing Tags, Location Services Hit the Street, Map Space, Social Networking Roundup, Map Bureau’s BlogMapper, Localizing Content, Homeless Roaming Hotspot, Revenue for the “Free” Cloud, Handheld Content, Seattle’s PlaceLab, Streaming Location Content, Handheld Tours, Wireless Museums, GPS Narrative Archaeology, Wireless Walking Tours, Electric Bike Tours, Mapping to Go Projects, My Pal Mickey, Cellular Walking Directions, Ekahau + ESRI, Linkspoint GPS + Symbol, MapInfo’s Hotspot Services, MapInfo’s Open LS, ATT + Microsoft + Maps, Location without GPS, Location By Triangulation - Not, Open GIS Magazine, Mapping Oral History, Poem Spots, Geocoding the Wiki, The Un-walled Garden, Tracking Individuals, Tracking Bryon, GPS+TV=Location and Location, Location, Location

Applications, Commentary, Games, Municipal Wireless, Society & Telecom, Virtual Worlds | 4 Comments »