Saturday, February 20, 2010

10 Very Useful Google Services You Should Know


From Lost in Technology: In only a few years Google has become the king of the Web. It went from a college research project to the most popular search engine that rakes in billions of dollars every year. They’ve expanded to mobile, OSs and, in the past few days, promising the fastest broadband Internet to thousands of homes in the States...

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Moto splits in two


From Fierce IPTV: Motorola's announcement this week that it would split two firms--one a mobile devices and home solutions group, the other an enterprise mobility venture--seemed to catch the telecom industry by surprise. That's a nifty trick, considering the announcement had been rumored and expected since last fall.

But, the overall reaction, mostly a mix of approval and confusion, with just a enough disappointment to spice things up, reflects that many Motorola observers had assumed a different outcome. Specifically, a good number of them had assumed that the company's set-top box unit (the "home" part of its existing Home and Networks Mobility unit) would be sold to a competitor or a private equity firm.

Instead, Motorola, under the split to be completed by early next year, is matching its STB solutions with its mobile phones products, which are looking somewhat revitalized by Android, and its cable modem offerings. Though the effort has confused some observers, it aligns various types of broadband consumer electronic devices under the same roof. It wasn't always the case, but increasingly all of these devices are moving both communications traffic and content traffic, and in some cases might being doing so between one another. They may even start using some of the same technologies. In the consumer devices firm, for example, you could see benefits such as mobile phone experts sharing Android knowledge with STB experts. Creating a consumer devices firm brings that part of Motorola into greater focus, an idea that brings the company closer to its roots and to an expectant future at the same time.

Dan's take: As mentioned in the article, Moto has revived it's sagging cell phone business by adopting Android as the operating system of choice. At the Mobile World Congress this week, Ericsson unveiled a remote that runs Android. Could Motorola be far behind with their own version?

For more:
Light Reading Cable has this report

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What is 4G, anyway?


This is one of the best explanations of the new wireless technologoes I've seen. It explains in laymen's tems LTE, WiMAX, HSPA+ etc. and why you want it.
Gizmodo - Giz Explains: Why WiMax and LTE Wireless 4G Data Will Blow Your Mind

Reports of the death of the PSTN greatly exaggerated


Richard Martin, the Editor of VON whom I've quoted before in this blog, discusses the death of the PSTN as we all move to VoIP based solution. He mentions the AT&T's 2009 filing of a 'comment' to the FCC suggesting a timeline to sunset to the PSTN. Martin argues that this is not only premature, but wrong-headed.




Saturday, February 6, 2010

Enjoy my new video

I made a new video! I'm always trying to explain what I do in an interesting way. Although this doesn't come close, it's a fun attempt. It's short and fun:


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Clearwire In No Rush To Test "WiMax 2"


From Broadbandreports.com: According to sources at the IEEE, the 802.16m Mobile WiMax standard should be finalized sometime in the middle of this year. According to the WiMax forum, the technology can deliver 120 Mbps downstream and 60 Mbps upstream by using a 4X2 MIMO antenna configuration with a single 20 MHz TDD channel -- with even faster speeds possible using more sophisticated antenna configurations. However, according to Clearwire, the States' biggest Mobile WiMax carrier, they aren't in any hurry to test or deploy the technology, and company executives get vague when asked for a solid date:
Clearwire's CTO, John Saw, told Unstrung last week that the Kirkland, Wash.-based operator is watching the specification and won't be rushing to test the technology. "I don't think it's going to be this year. I think it's going to be much more likely 2011," says Saw of any trial timeline. Saw thinks that 2012 is "possible" for commercial deployment of 802.16m. One of the chief benefits of the new specifications would be more "spectrally efficient" 20MHz channels -- as opposed to current 10MHz channels -- for delivering voice, video, and data.
Samsung and Russian WiMax operator Yota are already testing the technology overseas, and Yota hopes to offer service sometime this year. Still, serious deployment of "WiMax 2" isn't expected until 2011 -- right around the time LTE technology will begin ramping up here in the States courtesy of Verizon and AT&T.

My thoughts: Clearwire really has no reason to rush. From what I hear, they are deploying 802.16e WiMAX base stations that are upgradeable to 802.16m this summer. Remember too, that they are currently the only 4G game in town! When LTE is finally deployed, perhaps a different situation will emerge.