Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
CTO
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Mobile Phones

Mobile Phones, cell phones

Jack Bauer now must contend with GPS and GSM jammers

January 30, 2007

Agent Jack Bauer CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) of FOX's 24 fame relies on his trusty GPS-enabled mobile phone to get him where he needs to go, as well as call in Curis Manning from tactical for backup or even airstrikes to specific GPS coordinates. Jack also relies heavily on GPS tracking devices to monitor the location of the bad guys.

But things just got a bit harrier for Jack.  DetectNu, a Holland-based company has come up with a GPS and GSM jammer that you simply plug into your car's cigarette lighter. It will block any planted GPS tracker in your vehicle from transmitting location data back to CTU (or Jack's phone).

It also shuts down GSM mobile phone devices. Hopefully, Jack has a triband mobile phone so he switch to CDMA or perish the thought - analog.



TomTom Go 910 GPS units infected with viruses

January 30, 2007

News reports from TomTom's own website reveal that some TomTom GO 910 GPS units were infected with a virus. The models affected were produced in one week in the last quarter of 2006 with software version 6.51. They claim the virus is qualified as low risk and does not affect the navigation performance of the TomTom GO 910 in any way. However, reports have surfaced of drivers being re-routed from Lowes to Home Depot, Burger King to McDonalds, and from Target to Walmart.

Wheeling and Dealing: Why iPhone Won't Be at Verizon

January 29, 2007

The art of the deal ...

Now it's not surprising that Apple's iPhone would wind up with Cingular (er, I mean AT&T), but wouldn't you like to know why -- or at least why it didn't end up with a different wireless service provider, like Verizon, for instance.

Well, your dreams have been answered ... (if you were dreaming about this at all.)

Celltop Goes Public

January 24, 2007

I keep thinking that Celltop reminds me of Carrot Top, but I will get over that soon.

Anyway, Alltel Wireless would like us to help choose the next “cell” that might be added to Celltop, their exclusive, patent-pending technology that promises to offer an easier way to access, manage and organize a wide range of information already available on our mobile phones.

(To get more on Alltel and Celltop, click here.)

Don't me shy!

Hey, It's Like Second Life for Your Cell Phone

January 23, 2007

Maybe there is something to this Second Life thing after all.

While IBM seems to think this is the next big thing (according to this report, many other companies are going their own way with bits and pieces of the "big idea." (Donny Deutsch may take that one ...)

U-Doo is a new program that lets you build personal ringtones with matching avatar characters. 

AT&T Unity brings voice minutes closer to free

January 19, 2007

The NY Times is reporting that AT&T customers who subscribe to both its Cingular Wireless and traditional phone services can now make and receive unlimited free calls to and from any other AT&T or Cingular customer. The new AT&T Unity service is yet another competitive advantage AT&T and the other phone companies will have over single-play VoIP providers, including Vonage, and even Skype. Of course, the race to "free" can't be good for the telecom sector.

According to the story, expanded ''free calling'' network will consist of 100 million phone numbers. That's a pretty large "free in-network" calling.

Jack Bauer's Perfect Mobile Phone for 24

January 15, 2007

The season of 24 kicked off last night with a 2-hour special premiere of 24 and continues tonight with yet another two hour kick-off to the 6th season of 24. I thought it would be cool to examine the perfect mobile phone to help Jack Bauer capture, torture, kill, (whatever) the terrorists.

  • Self-destruct with two destruct modes. One mode uses a small charge to simply destroy any classified CTU materials but won't harm anyone in the vicinity. The second mode uses a more powerful charge that can kill.


Cingular To Become AT&T (Say What?)

January 12, 2007

Honestly, who can keep track of all of the Baby Bells, Ma Bell, the wireless services providers -- wasn't it supposed to be easier after the breakup of AT&T that began in 1974 with the U.S. Department of Justice anti-trust suit against the telephone monopoly. (Thanks Wiki! -- and more on that later.)

Apple vs. Cisco over iPhone

January 11, 2007

I was just on the phone with Garvin Thomas, a reporter from NBC11 News who wanted my take on the iPhone lawsuit between Apple and Cisco and to discuss what he learned. First, when you search the US Patent and Trademark Office database for iPhone you will see 4 separate trademark applications for the term "iPhone". One is by Cisco, another by Teledex, another by Xtreme Mobile, and lastly a trademark application owned by "Ocean Telecom Services LLC" based out of Delaware. Apple is noticeably absent from this list, so perhaps one of these companies is a shell company acting on behalf of Apple.

The Straight Skinny on the Cisco/Apple Lawsuit

January 11, 2007

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