Technology and Science

Sirius Censorship

August 16, 2005

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".

Posted in Technology and Science

WiMAX Meet DirecTV

August 10, 2005

Wow, just came across this blog post "DIRECTV EYEING WIMAX FOR BROADBAND RETURN PATH CONTENT FROM SUBSCRIBERS" on Russell Shaw's Streaming Media blog where Russell states that satellite carriers are looking into using WiMAX instead of dial-up for the "return path".

As you may or may not know, broadband Internet satellite requires a phone line for transmitting where you're going on the Internet. Typically it's a slow dial-up connection that transmits which URLs (upstream/return-path) you are trying to get to, and then the satellite "beams" (downstream) the web page you wish to view.

But this got me wondering... If you can use WiMAX for the "upstream" bandwidth, why not just use WiMAX for the downstream as well? WiMAX providers could "cut" the satellite providers "in the middle" and take the revenue for themselves.

Posted in Technology and Science, Wireless

Rotani Solves WiFi Interference

August 10, 2005

Rotani claims to have solved the issue of WiFi interference, thus allowing for better performance for gaming, video streaming, and VoIP applications. In fact, they told TMC, "AirReferee is a turnkey access point reference design, providing the uninterrupted throughput needed for multiple video streams, online gaming, VoIP and other latency and throughput-sensitive applications"

According to Rotani, "There are emerging products/technologies that address the problem of throughput and maximize the speed from the Access Point to a Client. In pristine wireless networking environments they perform well. However, when faced with interference (noise) from other WiFi networks or other devices (a more realistic situation) the performance drops dramatically."

Their AirReferee technology solves inference, making wireless networks scalable.

Posted in Technology and Science, VoIP

PICMG Releases new CompactPCI Express Specification

August 9, 2005

This new CompactPCI specification affects VoIP hardware. From the news wires - PICMG has released the CompactPCI Express Specification denoted EXP.0. CompactPCI Express brings PCI Express technology to the popular PICMG 2.0 CompactPCI form factor, while maintaining compatibility with CompactPCI hardware and software.

More than 40 companies participated in the CompactPCI Express specification development process. The participating companies worked to develop a specification that would meet the future market needs of the CompactPCI, PXI, military, and aerospace markets.

Posted in Technology and Science

Home Networking Gear Jumps to $21 billion

August 9, 2005

According to In-Stat, revenue derived from annual networking hardware shipments and from equipment that incorporates a home networking connection will jump from almost $9 billion in 2004 to over $21 billion in 2009. Wow, guess I'd better go buy some Linksys, NetGear, and D-Link stock!

According to Instat:
A push for higher speeds, lower prices, and increasing network areas in the home is driving the market, the high-tech market research firm says. However, one highly touted use, the storage and streaming of multimedia files, may take years to catch on with the mass consumer.

“Our research shows that there is growing interest among US consumers to use home networks to connect their increasing library of digital entertainment audio and video files with their traditional entertainment equipment (i.e.

Posted in Technology and Science

AOL Wireless

August 8, 2005

AOL is breaking into the wireless space via their Wildseed, Ltd. acquisition, a provider of advanced wireless technologies and is also forming an expanded AOL Wireless division. It's an innovative technology that uses a small chip embedded on a SmartSkin which you simply snap onto your mobile phone. However, as far as I can tell, their "SmartSkin" technology only works with specific mobile phones made by Curitel, a Korean-based mobile phone manufacturer, but according to their website, they are looking for more mobile partners.

This acquisition certainly fits AOL's "provide the best or unique content" mantra.

Posted in Technology and Science

Secret Agent outed by Karl Rove?

July 27, 2005

No, this isn't a political post, just some news from Information Security Corporation (ISC) who announced the immediate availability of SecretAgent 5.9, the latest version of its file encryption and digital signature utility. SecretAgent 5.9 adds four significant enhancements: the ability to replace recipients on existing encrypted archives, support for server-mediated decryption using SecretAgent Document Access Servlet (DAS), optional plaintext disposition controls, and support for Entrust profiles.

Widely recognized for its ease of use, scalability, interoperability, and platform independence, SecretAgent ensures the confidentiality and authenticity of sensitive files whether they are stored on a local hard drive or transmitted between systems, with or without a formal PKI. In an enterprise setting, SecretAgent supports centralized security policy and software updating, emergency key recovery, as well as state-of-the-art PKI and LDAP directory support. Support for DAS-mediated decryption allows sensitive documents to be easily shared among the members of one or more Communities of Interest.

“SecretAgent has helped our government and corporate customers protect their most sensitive data for over a decade.” said ISC President Thomas J. Venn.

“SecretAgent 5.9 represents the beginning of a transformation from simple file encryption and digital signature utilities to secure document sharing applications that allows users to seamlessly access data to which they’ve been granted access whether individually or as a member of a group.

Posted in Technology and Science

Verizon Supportsoft Deal

July 26, 2005

Supportsoft is going to announce a major deal with Verizon aftermarket today in conjunction with the company’s second quarter 2005 earnings. Verizon has nearly 4 million high-speed data subscribers, and they have selected SupportSoft’s SmartAccess software to assist in automating the installation process for new data customers for their DSL and fiber-based high-speed data services.

SmartAccess, is a Web-based technology which automates installation of a high-speed connection by eliminating the need for an installation CD. The software lets Verizon subscribers determine if their computer system qualifies for a high-speed connection and, if so, speeds installation by automating the activation process. Everything needed for a successful installation can be managed online, reducing time-consuming expensive customer calls and truck rolls to the customer premises.

Posted in Technology and Science

Sensory Speech Recognition on a Chip

July 25, 2005

With minitiarized speech-recognition capability squeezed onto a single chip, it won't be long know before you can speak to your TV and command it to record a TV show, speak to your car and have it follow your commands (ala Knight Rider). Actually, I was recently in a Mercedes that featured speech-recognition for phone dialing. In any case, there are lots of possibilities for speech-recognition in smaller devices, which requires a lot of horsepower in a single chip..

Sensory, Inc., a leader in embedded speech technologies, today released the VR Stamp module, providing easy integration of voice recognition (VR) into consumer, industrial, automotive and medical electronics. The heart of the VR Stamp module is the RSC-4128 integrated circuit, the latest member of Sensory's RSC Family of mixed signal processors that provide speech recognition, synthesis and system control on a single chip.

Posted in Technology and Science

Download Movies at the Movies!

July 20, 2005

Looks like while your standing in line getting your popcorn and candy you can now download content, including movie trailers via Bluetooth. Hmmm, at the movies downloading movies? As a programmer, I can't help but think of recursion.

Twentieth Century Fox and Loews Theatres will be offering free content from Fox’s summer blockbusters, in select Loews theatres. Fox and Loews are utilizing WideRay's technology, a provider of on-location content distribution platforms, to provide the technology that will power the fast, free and simple in-theatre download stations and back-end content management system.

Posted in Technology and Science

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