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Hmm, interesting - Broadband-in-gas (BiG) uses natural gas pipelines to deliver broadband Internet access? Guess this means you can serve up some ham & eggs and Web access too, on your gas oven range! Boy, first it was the Internet over the phone wires, then it was Internet over cable, then it was Internet over power lines, what'll they think of next? Broadband-over-sewer lines?

Oh wait, they thought of that too! Apparently, thousands of Scottish homes could soon get high-speed internet access through the sewerage system. I will defer any "broadband in the bathroom jokes" here and simply share the BiG news.

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Broadband-in-Gas (BiG) will hit the news when Nethercom Inc holds its BiG Executive Seminar in San Diego this weekend. Over 40 utility companies and other potential players are expected to participate. WTRS will be present to outline findings from its major new flagship report on BiG, perhaps the real answer to the “last mile” delivery problem for broadband services. The WTRS report shows that Broadband services using Ultrawideband (UWB) transmission technology delivered through natural gas pipelines may soon be provided to as much as 70% of the US population.

The completely empty spectral environment inside a natural gas pipeline provides maximum flexibility to select transmission power, spectral bandwidth and coding. Broadband service providers that adopt BiG can deliver twice the bandwidth to the end customer for the same installed cost as DSL.

The study finds that BiG alone stands to add nearly 20 million subscribers to the overall market by 2010, as compared to an overall subscriber forecast of 455 million subscribers globally. The study also finds that BiG CPE equipment revenues will account for more than $6.8 billion annually in 2009, with a compound annual growth rate of 194%.

BiG will provide additional profitability for broadband service providers, enhanced delivery to all individual user sites, as well as enable meter-less gas monitoring, and pipeline break detection. As William of Okham defined the famous “Okham’s Razor Principle”: Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate, which translates as "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily". Or, if you’ve already got pipelines in the ground, why not use them?

Report Excerpts

Growth in U.S. and Americas likely primary BiG market areas

Regulatory rule changes in the U.S. that have paved the way for the development of Broadband over Powerline will likely serve to encourage growth of Broadband in Gas infrastructure and value chain development at a pace far beyond that possible in other geographic regions. Adjacent countries such as Canada are likely to benefit from these BiG developments as the utilities infrastructures are linked loosely through international trade agreements, such as NAFTA, and are not physically separated by oceans as is the case with Asia and Europe.

A key advantage of Broadband-in-Gas derives from the use of the natural gas pipelines as transmission “pipes” for the UWB signal that will deliver broadband services. Leveraging both existing pipelines as well as existing fiber backbone infrastructure allows players in the industry to theoretically address as much as 70% of the US population with Broadband in Gas as a “last mile” solution.

Every company in the broadband market today is a potential player in the Broadband in Gas market. If the technology is embraced by enough large players, there is a very real possibility that BiG could become the ubiquitous POTS (plain old telephone service) line of the 21st century.

About West Technology Research Solutions LLC: WTRS is a market research and consulting company focused the last 5 years on emerging wireless technologies. A unique approach generates market forecasts using macro-economic methodologies that provide historically more accurate forecasts. Services include market research reports, concise market briefs, custom research and consulting.

Joe Williams Sr. believes he has a machine that will increase fuel efficiency in all cars by converting distilled water into hydrogen which is then mixed with gasoline vapors (thus existing vehicles can be retro-fitted). The device is called the Hydrogen Generating Module, or H2N-Gen for short and according to Canada.com's article, it is "smaller than a DVD player - small enough to sit comfortably under the hood of any truck or car - it could be big enough to solve the world's greenhouse gas emission problems... It's a scientific fact that adding hydrogen to a combustion chamber will cause a cleaner burn. The challenge has always been to find a way to get the hydrogen gas into the combustion chamber in a safe, reliable and cost-effective way. "

In fact according to the article the H2N reduces fuel consumption by 10 to 40 per cent - and pollutants by up to 100 per cent. Wow! Sign me up for the beta trial, one of my vehicles only gets 4MPG in the city.

It's still in the trial/testing phase, but the technology looks promising.

Sensory sent me an email about their RSC-4128 IC which is the heart of one of the best selling toys of all time, Hasbro's new Furby creature. Their chip controls all of the creature's motor, speech and hearing function and can do things that are really scary. The damn thing can recognize your voice and respond accordingly. It's even speaker independent and male/female agnostic. I can't help but think of that movie with the possessed doll that sat in a rockng chair and would mysteriously move. Had nightmares over that one! The way technology is going it won't take a supernatural act to have these dolls perform life-like actions. I love my gadgets, but I'm a bit frightened if I have to buy my "baby on the way" one of thse high-tech dolls. I just hope Barney and Pokemon fall out of favor by the time my child reaches TV watching age.

The new FURBY creatures' speech capabilities were developed using Sensory's Quick Text to Speaker Independent(TM) (Quick T2SI) recognition technology, which allows vocabularies in multiple languages to be built for an RSC-4128-enabled product using text models that can be fine-tuned for a particular dialect, including invented ones like "Furbish." The command words are referred to as speaker independent - they work with any speaker (male, female, child or adult) in a given language, and they even recognize different accents, such as the difference between American and British English. Hasbro's new FURBY creature is currently available in the US. and will be rolling out across the globe throughout the early fall. In addition to English, versions will be available that also speak Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Italian. According to Mr. Mozer, "The new Sensory-energized FURBY creatures promise to set a new standard for realistic, low-cost interactive toys around the globe."

Here's an excerptof the release on it it

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SENSORY CHIP PROVIDES BRAINS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF INTELLIGENT TOYS - HASBRO'S NEW FURBY IS FIRST

Single RSC-4128 IC from Sensory Controls all Motor, Speech and Hearing Functions Santa

There is a new wave of interactive toys ready to explode on the marketplace this fall, and they are arriving just in the nick of time for the holiday buying season. If it talks, hears and "understands" you, it is probably using an integrated circuit developed by Sensory, Inc., a Silicon Valley innovative force with over ten years experience in designing low-cost speech technologies into consumer electronics. Featuring highly accurate voice recognition, speech synthesis and command and control capability, Sensory's RSC-4128 integrated circuit is being utilized as the main brain unit for a new generation of low-priced interactive consumer products.

New FURBY Features Single Processor for all Advanced Functions

One of the best selling toys of all time, with 40 million units sold, is back! Hasbro, Inc.'s [NYSE:HAS] Tiger Electronics division has developed an all-new FURBY creature that has been engineered with Sensory's RSC-4128 microcontroller providing the brains necessary for its many advanced new functions. Todd Mozer, CEO of Sensory notes "The newly-released FURBY creature uses the RSC-4128 as a complete single-chip solution providing all hearing, talking and CPU functions." The new FURBY is larger and uses 6 times more memory than its predecessor, allowing for complex motor controls (dancing, expressive eyes and moving ears), multiple sensors (tilt, tickling, petting and feeding), and advanced multilingual speech capabilities (talking and hearing). Most importantly, all of its brains are located on a single chip, which keeps the cost of a new FURBY under approximately $40 at retail.
EMOTO-TRONICS Showcases Multilingual Speech Recognition

Using a technology designed by Hasbro called EMOTO-TRONICS, the evolved FURBY creature displays many new personality characteristics that will make it more lifelike and globally loved than ever. "Because of advances in technology, we have been able to make the new FURBY with many of the features that we had wanted to put in the original but could not because of cost," said Leif Askeland, Vice President of Engineering and Technology Development for Hasbro. "Thanks to Sensory's cutting-edge ICs and speech technologies, the new FURBY creature can actually listen to what you say and respond in a very vibrant fashion."

The new FURBY creature "understands" requests to sing a favorite song, tell jokes, dance and play interactive games. It can also communicate with children and other FURBY creatures using human languages, as well as its native "Furbish," making it a uniquely multilingual product.

Speech Capabilities Made Possible by Sensory's Quick T2SI(TM)

A friend of mine told me he recently installed Firefox 1.5 beta 1. He told me about a problem he was having with one of his favorite Firefox extensions / plugins, namely Paste and Go, which wouldn't work with the new Firefox 1.5 beta 1. It was such an important extension that he actually uninstalled Firefox 1.5 beta 1 and went back to an older version. Thus, many of our "must have" extensions don't yet work on Firefox 1.5 beta 1.

I found a trick to make Firefox 1.0 extensions work in Firefox 1.5. (credit to The Extensions Mirror, LiewCF.com, and Evan Koblentz for this tip)

1. In the Firefox URL type: about:config This will show you a list of Firefox preferences.
2. Right click on the list, select New > String
3. At preference name enter "app.extensions.version" (no quotes).
4. Then, enter "1.0" (without quotes) as the value for app.extensions.version
5. Restart Firefox and enable the disabled Firefox extensions.
6. Restart Firefox again to activate the extensions.
   

I should point out that some of the extensions will not work in Firefox 1.5 and will cause errors when you enable them. Simply disable the malfunctioning Firefox plugins.

Liquid metal is no longer relegated to science fiction movies such as Terminator 2 with the T-1000 liquid metal terminator..Socket Communications, an innovative provider of mobile productivity products, and Liquidmetal Technologies announced an exclusive three-year agreement to develop and manufacture a line of ruggedized portable data collection products featuring the revolutionary Liquidmetal alloys.

"Liquidmetal alloys are over twice the strength of titanium, have ten-times better fabrication tolerances than standard molded plastic parts, can be designed for environmental sealing, and have a high material hardness rating, which translates to a product line being extremely durable and scratch resistant," said Kevin Mills, president and CEO at Socket Communications. "This exclusive relationship for data collection products enables Socket to create rugged, small, and light devices that not only address existing markets, but new opportunities in the wearable data collection area. We're very excited about the use of Liquidmetal in broadening our data collection products going forward."

Liquidmetal Technologies Chairman & CEO John Kang adds, "We are pleased that Socket Communications has chosen Liquidmetal to develop a line of ruggedized portable data collection devices. We believe the strength and the durability of Liquidmetal alloys truly add value to this line of products and will enhance Socket's customer's productivity in more ruggedized environments."

Ok, so maybe this liquid metal doesn't reform shapes like the T-1000, assume human personas, and have active intelligence, but hey we're one step closer to a war with the machines.

Socket Communications today announced the release of the CompactFlash (CF) RFID Reader-Scan Card Series 6. An industry first, the scanner combines RFID and barcode scanning technology in a single device to provide for data collection implementations requiring both technologies. Of course, there are those conspirists that claim RFIDs are the "mark of the beast".

In any event, St. Clair Hospital implemented a pilot of the dual function scanner which they claim has further improved the effectiveness of its 5-Rights Medication Verification solution, helping the organization increase staff productivity and save lives.

The 5-Rights Medication Verification solution at St.Clair uses Wi-Fi enabled wireless Pocket PCs along with the CF RFID Reader-Scan Card Series 6, ensuring the right patient is receiving the right medication and dose via the right route of administration at the right time. The nursing staff at St.Clair are scanning the patients quickly and easily via RFID while continuing to use the more cost effective barcode scanning for medication verification. The announcement is shown below.

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Socket Communications Delivers Industry First CF RFID Reader-Scan Card with Combined Bar Code and RFID Technology

Unique Multi-Functional Device Supports Both Technologies with a Single Plug-In Accessory for Pocket PC-Based Applications

NEWARK, CA ­ September 6, 2005 - Socket Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCKT), an innovative provider of mobile productivity products, today announced the availability of the CF RFID Reader-Scan Card Series 6. Designed for Pocket PCs or other mobile devices running Windows Mobile software, the CF RFID Reader-Scan Card is an industry first, and combines both RFID and bar code technology within the same CF housing, enabling users to scan bar codes and read/write to high frequency (13.56MHz) RFID tags with a single, affordable mobile device.

³By 2010, the RFID technology market is expected to triple from what it is today,² said Peter Phillips, vice president of marketing at Socket Communications. ³Both bar code and RFID technologies will co-exist for several years to come and the CF RFID Reader-Scan Card offers an easy solution where both bar codes and RFID tags are used. This truly unique multi-function device is backed by Socket¹s reputation for reliable, easy-to-use energy efficient products that increase the productivity of mobile workers.²

To meet the rapidly growing demand for the use of RFID technology as a replacement of and/or supplement to bar codes, the Socket CF RFID Reader-Scan Card combines the functions of Socket¹s CF Scan Card for bar codes and the CF RFID Reader Card. Unlike large, bulky, ruggedized expensive data collection devices from other auto ID vendors, the CF RFID Reader-Scan Card scans linear bar codes and reads and writes to high frequency
(13.56MHz) RFID tags, enabling users to support both technologies with a single plug-in accessory for Pocket PC-based applications. Dual functionality is supported by SocketScan keyboard wedge software, which sends the RFID tag and/or bar code data to any Windows application as virtual keystrokes. The product is ideally suited for data collection implementations requiring both technologies, or for companies seeking ways to future-proof solutions with a migration path from bar codes to RFID.

³At St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, Socket¹s bar code scanners have done a great job to significantly reduce medication errors, streamline workflow and improve patient safety over the past eighteen months,² said Tom Ague, executive vice president and chief operating officer at St. Clair Hospital. ³To maximize the effectiveness of our VeriScan medication verification system, we wanted to utilize the re-usable read/write capabilities of RFID to improve patient and nurse identification. The nurse now logs into the VeriScan application more rapidly by using the RFID tag on her ID badge to authenticate. With RFID on the patient wristband, the nurse scans the patient without needing a direct line of sight to the bar code.
With the same device, the medication¹s bar code is then scanned to ensure the right patient is receiving the right medication and dose via the right route of administration at the right time. Bar codes aren¹t going away ­ since it is not yet cost-effective to use RFID tags on packaging for consumables such as medications. We see the dual-scanning capability of Socket¹s CF RFID Reader-Scan Card as a very effective approach.²

The CF RFID Reader-Scan Card is available with either a Class 1 laser (model
6M) that is extremely safe for patient care applications or a more powerful Class 2 laser (model 6P) for more demanding scanning requirements. A single software developer¹s kit (SDK) supports all Socket Auto ID products, making it easy for developers to incorporate support for any and all products in their applications, and allows end users to use the Socket Auto ID product that best addresses their needs.

Specifications
Socket¹s CF RFID Reader-Scan Card Series 6 is supported on Pocket PC 2003 (Windows Mobile) and soon to be released Windows Mobile 5.0.

Pricing and Availability
Socket¹s CF RFID Reader-Scan Card Series 6 will be available September 12,
2005 through Socket¹s worldwide distribution channels with an MSRP of $729 (version 6M) and $799 (version 6P).

About Socket Communications
Socket Communications (NASDAQ: SCKT) develops and distributes a broad range of data collection and network connectivity products for mobile devices such as PDA¹s, Smartphones and tablet notebooks. Working collaboratively with mobile solutions from leading Strategic Vertical Integrators, world-class 3rd party software developers and OEM's, Socket's products are proven to drive operational efficiencies, increase mobile workforce productivity, boost corporate performance and improve customer satisfaction. Socket is headquartered in Newark, California and can be reached at 510-744-2700 or www.socketcom.com.

Came across some interesting news from my alma mater, the University of Connecticut on TMCnet.com, that will basketball season just around the corner it seemed appropriate.

It reads:

Wow, you're telling me you can be in the "UCONN boonies" and get high-speed cell phone data service now? You mean to tell me I can stream a live UCONN game while walking the campus? Geez, back when I was in college my freshman year (1989) they just installed cable, so we were just happy to get cable television on a campus that essentially is located in dairy country. There are lots of farms around the campus and UCONN actually used to be predominantly an agricultural school.

However, last I checked they were ranked in the Top 16 for Engineering - not too shabby and of course UCONN has arguable the best 1-2 tandem in college basketball with their highly successful men's basketball team and their ridiculously successful women's basketball team. The UCONN men's and women's teams both won the NCAA Championship in the same year, which if you were a bookie at the beginning of the 2004 season, I wonder what odds you would have laid on the table for this happening? If anyone took that bet, they would have made a fortune considering it has never been done before.

UCONN basketball is HUGE in Connecticut, since unlike most states Connecticut doesn't have a single major professional sports team. (We used to have the Whalers hockey team) It's why UCONN has the most fanatical fans in the Big East - they've got an entire state behind them. Like Kentucky, UCONN basketball has become a religion, though the Kentuckians may be a tad more fanatical - might be a toss-up. Still, the state's overwhelming response to the Huskies' accomplishments in 2004 was stunning. After their historic dual championships, nearly 300,000 people jammed the streets of Hartford for a parade honoring the teams. Officials described it as the largest outdoor event in the state capital since veterans returned home from World War II nearly half a century ago.

In any case, in addition to putting coaxial outlets in every room they also installed two RJ45 network jacks. I thought for sure they were going to connect us up to the college network which pre-dated the World Wide Web (though not the Internet - a subtle but important distinction). Unfortunately, they never lit up these RJ45 jacks, so I was never able to logon to my UCONN .edu email account from my room - I had to go to the computer lab. I guess I didn't miss much since I graduated in 1993 before the WWW explosion occurred.

Still, I can't help but be a little jealous of what college kids get nowadays. They all have color LCD cell phones with built-in IM and Web-browsing capability, they have digital cable TV, and now they even have high-speed wireless enabling them to download or stream content including music and videos. <sigh>

When I start saying "Back in my day..." just shoot me. Oh wait, I guess this whole post is pretty much saying that. Well, at least unlike the prior generation I'm not saying "Back in my day we walked 3 miles to school in 8 inches of snow with 40mph gusts."

p.s. Any Dookies (Duke) reading this blog, I'm really sorry about what UCONN did to you in 1999 (beating you in the Finals) and 2004 (beating you in the Final Four). The 1999 championship was especially sweet since you were heavily favored and expected to win, and which more than made up for Christian Laettner's buzzer beater in 1990.

Coaxsys, Inc., makers of multimedia-over-coax solutions, will announce tomorrow that it has reached an agreement with ConFocus Technologies, Inc., to provide set-top box reference designs with integrated TVnet. TVnet, the standard for Ethernet-over-Coax, is already deployed by more than fifty Telcos, cable operators, and service providers to deliver IPTV and in-home multimedia networking. TVnet has, to date, been available in adapter form; this announcement marks the first publicly announced set-top box (STB) client integrations.

Atlanta-based ConFocus specializes in STB software products and services and has produced set-top client software and custom drivers for leading manufacturers and chip providers.

ConFocus’ FocusWare client with TVnet enabled reference software will make it easy for market-leading set-top box manufacturers to incorporate Coaxsys’ new OEM TVnet components into their set-top boxes. The first-of-its-kind agreement between the two companies is a leap forward in the IPTV and in-home IP networking arenas. Licensing TVnet permits set-top box manufacturers to deliver integrated Ethernet-over-Coax, which in turn will enable operators and service providers to deliver IPTV and in-home device networking without rewiring homes or adding additional devices to a home’s network.

Gary Hoffman, Coaxsys VP of Business Development, noted the significance of the agreement: “ConFocus is a leader in IPTV set-top software designs, so we are excited by their decision to incorporate support for TVnet. For some time we have heard operators and equipment manufacturers ask for a truly integrated IP networking solution. ConFocus is now helping to make this a reality. Operators will have set-top boxes that enable 100Mbps IPTV, multi-room PVR, and other Ethernet device networking—over the same coax that delivers cable television.”

ConFocus’ VP of Business Development, Charlie Bramhall, claimed that the agreement “sets the standard for IP networking in set-top boxes.” He continued, “Operators deploying IPTV or enabling in-home device networking have rapidly made Coaxsys’ TVnet the standard for Ethernet-over-Coax. They want, however, an integrated solution that incorporates TVnet into IP set-top clients. We believe that our FocusWare client software enabled with TVnet will not only make set-top box manufacturers and application developers more competitive, but also speed the deployment of IPTV products and services with IP networking within the home.”

The two companies noted that ConFocus’ reference designs will integrate advanced functionality featuring Coaxsys’ CATV-compatible TVnet/C technology. The technology delivers a true 100Mbps high-speed network capable of delivering multiple HD video streams throughout a premise, networking PVRs and other devices, and providing high-speed data and VoIP networking. The companies said that the first TVnet reference implementations will be available this year.

Bluetooth headsets have reached critical mass - or at least I think so. Let me give you an example of why I think Bluetooth headsets, specifically the one-ear piece Bluetooth headsets are a fast growing technology. Last week, I was in 3 different airports and I couldn't believe how many people I saw walking in each of these airports with their Bluetooth headsets on their ears. Further, as far as I could tell, these Bluetooth headset wearers weren't even on a phone call. They were wearing the headset just like any other piece of clothing or jewelry - perhaps somewhat of a tech-fashion statement since many of these Bluetooth headsets run in the hundreds of dollars. Not to sound sexist, but usually the uber-geeks are male, so I was pleasantly surprised to see several females wearing Bluetooth headsets.



I couldn't help but be reminded of Star Trek's Lieutenant Uhura with the ear piece she wore while sitting at the comm station. Although, her ear piece is much larger than Bluetooth headsets that exist already today in the 21st and not the 24th Star Trekkian century. Guess even Gene Roddenbery couldn't predict how fast miniaturization technology would progress.

Sirius Satellite Radio is now censoring their broadcasts? Who would have thought that Sirius, which made a name for itself by signing the controversial Howard Stern to its radio line-up (after the FCC fined Howard and forced him to go to satellite radio) would decide to censor its broadcasts?

Well, if my tip is correct, this is indeed the case. According to my source, he is a daily listener of Alt-Nation Sirius 21 and all of a sudden swear words, vulgarity, etc. was "bleeped out". He points out that Sprint and Sirius just partnered up to offer satellite radio over the phones. Apparently, Sprint didn't like the explicit lingo and had Sirius censor their own channels despite their subscribers. He also confirmed it by talking with Sirius's customer service.

Now, this isn't technically "censoring" of the satellite feed that you receive in your Sirius car receiver, but if Sirius is offering their infamously "uncensored" content to third parties such as Sprint, why would the Sirius subscribers think any differently? They would expect the same level of non-censorship.

Here is an email sent to SIRIUS:
Thank you for writing us here at SIRIUS. We appreciate your comments about our censored music channels on SIRIUS. Due to our new partnership with Sprint, some of our music programming lineup will now be offering censored music. These channels include:

-Faction // Channel 28

-Alt Nation // Channel 21

-First Wave // Channel 22

-Hot Jamz // Channel 50

SIRIUS remains fully dedicated to providing an unparalleled variety of music programming on our 65 commercial free music channels in virtually every genre. Our channels are designed to please subscribers of every listening preference.

Why does Sprint care what people listen to on their phones? What if I call my wife, we get into an argument and I say the f- word? Are you going to "bleep" that out too? C'mon Sprint, you're a carrier - your job is to "carry" the voice, not censor it!