Wireless

wireless, WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, EVDO

R2-D2 Webcam & VoIP Phone

November 26, 2007

I got my Christmas edition of the Sharper Image catalog over the Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend and saw some cool gadgets. One of my favorites was a 8" tall Star Wars R2-D2 droid that is a roving webcam transmitting real-time video to your computer with the camera atop R2-D2's dome. The video specs include 62 degree viewing angle, 628x582 resolution, and zoom in/out. Also part of the package is a full-scale light-saber that acts as a USB telephone with its built-in microphone.

It works with Skype and can automatically launch Skype with the 'S' button on the keypad (image right).

Posted in Gadgets, Skype, VoIP, Wireless

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet - woohoo!

November 21, 2007

The multi-faceted Nokia N810 internet tablet has finally arrived on store shelves. This highly anticipated Linux-based gadget has more gadgety features than you can shake a stick at - including a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, built-in GPS, digital audio/video playback, Bluetooth, camera, MP3 player and even Wi-Fi capability for surfing and VoIP calling. Like the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, its predecessor which runs Skype (with the latest firmware), the N810 will come pre-bundled with Skype, making it one of the most powerful portable VoIP devices out there.

The Nokia N810 gives you a truly portable Internet experience that's actually useful due to its large 4.13" color wide-screen display and touchpad screen navigation. It sports a 400MHz processor, Mozilla-based Web browser, and up to 10GB of memory (which comes as 2GB of internal memory with an optional 8GB memory card combined).

Battery Life:

Continuous usage (display on, wireless LAN active): up to 4 hours
Music playback: up to 10 hours
Always online time: up to 5 days
Standby time: up to 14 days

Connectivity:

WLAN standard: IEEE 802.11b/g
Bluetooth specification v.2.0 .

Posted in GPS, Gadgets, Linux, Skype, VoIP, Wireless

VoIPo3G Will Reach 250M Cell Phone Users by 2012?

November 13, 2007

According to the Disruptive Analysis report there will be over 250m VoIP Users Over 3G Mobile Networks by 2012. Call me a cynic, but this seems overly optimistic for 250 million users to be making VoIP over 3G calls.

6 Reasons why we Won't Reach 250M VoIPo3G users:

1) You need phones with softphone clients such as Skype, Google Talk, MSN Messenger to run on cellphones You can count on 1 hand the number of phones that can run these apps today.
2) You need phones with the processing horsepower to handle the encoding of the voice packets - possible with high-end smart phones yes, but most cellphones use slow processors to save on battery life.
3) Most people aren't going to spend $600 for an iPhone or some other high-end smartphone just to make VoIPo3G calls. Most cell phones purchased are in the $80-$180 range and are "simple" cell phones - no VoIP application support.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

Google to Acquire Sprint Nextel?

November 12, 2007

Rich Tehrani reported on Saturday that he's hearing rumors that Google may acquire Sprint Nextel. Techcrunch picked up Rich's story and provided their own analysis. Matthew Ingram also has an interesting take on Rich's rumor with an interesting line - "Google has effectively become the saviour of everything."

Why would an acquisition of a phone service provider (carrier) make sense? Well, for one, carriers sign exclusive deals with phone manufacturers, i.e.

Posted in Google, Wireless

Google Phone Mania

October 31, 2007

There is so much hype and hysteria surrounding the Google Phone that I can't keep up with all the various rumors and speculative articles. There's so much to read and so little time. Fortunately, I have a "proxy" to filter through the noise. Rich has a deep interest in the Google Phone so he's been reading up on all the various articles and making brief summaries of what the experts say the Google Phone will and won't be.

Posted in Google, Mobile Phones, News, TMCnet, Technology and Science, Wireless

Mundu IM supports Pocket PC and Sony Ericsson Phones

October 29, 2007

Geodesic, makers of comprehensive mobile instant messaging products today announced Mundu IM for Pocket PC and select Sony Ericsson devices that works with AIM, MSN and Yahoo! IM services through a single chat window on Pocket PC, Sony Ericsson J2ME, Palm OS, Windows Mobile Smartphone and iPhone devices. It also supports ICQ, Google Talk and Jabber from a single user interface. People with popular phones such as the Sony Ericsson W300i and K550i, HTC Mogul, Samsung BlackJack, Motorola Q, Palm Treo 750, Palm 700p and the iPhone will find Mundu IM useful.

Mundu IM V4 features include:

• Photo blogging and video sharing - Instant sharing of photos and videos taken from camera phones to contacts across all popular IM services, making collaboration and social networking easier than ever.

• File and music sharing - Ability to send files and music on mobile devices to buddies.

Posted in Wireless

Jajah native SIP client for EM-ONE phone

October 25, 2007

Jajah just announced a very cool pre-installed VoIP client for the EM-ONE α device for the Japanese mobile carrier EMOBILE which was co-developed with Sharp and Microsoft. Their software uses the data channel (HSDPA) to deliver voice services for EMOBILE's mobile broadband customers. As of March of this year, EMOBILE offers flat rate mobile broadband data service which is perfect for VoIP calls without incurring a data charge. "EM Mobile Broadband" adopts 3.5G HSDPA technology offering 3.6Mbps maximum downlink speed and 384kbps maximum uplink speed.

Posted in Skype, VoIP, Wireless

Verizon sells confidential customer data without consent for targeted ads

October 24, 2007

According to Network Observations, Verizon Wireless is going to start targeting ads to its customers based upon the calls you place or receive, call duration, date/time, and other information. Federal law prohibits the sharing of your CPNI, but Verizon has decided to exploit a loophole by forcing you to opt-out instead of opt-in.

According to Network Observations:

Verizon Wireless is mailing a notice advising wireless subscribers that if they fail to Opt Out within 30 days, Verizon will begin SELLING their Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) to “third parties and affiliates”. CPNI information includes all the calls you place or receive on your cell phone (along with date, time and call duration). Verizon intends to allow “targeted ads” created by their affiliates sent to your phone.

Like Network Observations points out, most people throw away all the flyer insert garbage in their monthly bill and don't pay attention to the inserts.

Posted in Wireless

Minimizing network load when routing to Ported Mobile Phone Numbers

October 17, 2007

Tyntec launched their new Voice Network Query service that enables major carriers to route voice calls to mobile phones directly to destination operator, minimizing network load. Now that regulations force the carriers to allow customers to port their mobile phone numbers, this introduces some network traffic issues. Of course, I should mention that you can port your traditional landline phone number to a VoIP provider such as Vonage or Packet8, but that introduces its own series of number portability problems.

in any case, mobile messaging services provider TynTec, announced Voice Network Query, a service which will allow major telecoms carriers to route voice calls to mobile phones directly to their destination network operator. The new service overcomes the issue of onward routing of voice calls to ported mobile numbers, thus reducing the issue of excess network traffic generated by voice calls misrouted due to mobile number portability.

When a mobile user switches network but retains their current phone number, calls have traditionally been routed via the user's former operator's infrastructure, which then routes calls to the operator which now provides service to the customer.

Posted in Mobile Phones, Packet8, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Apple to nuke unlocked iPhones

September 25, 2007

Apparently Steve Jobs has had enough of the hackers unlocking all those iPhones or AT&T got to him, because the next Apple iPhone update will "brick" unlocked iPhones. In a terse statement, Apple said, "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed."

Don't you mean unauthorized iPhone programs on the Internet cause unlimited freedom and choice in choosing a wireless carrier? Ok, I get that Apple has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S. and has to try and honor that contract, but c'mon, I have yet to hear of any unlocked iPhone causing "irreparable damage".

Posted in Gadgets, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

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