Around TMCnet:

Imagine if, when you wanted to make a call on your cell phone, you could pick the best rate and most appropriate connection method by choosing between a group of providers bidding for your business? That would beat being locked into a rigid carrier contract. It might also introduce some unforeseen complexities, but hey  -- an appropriately-designed technology system can handle that!

 

That essentially is the message in Google's new patent (#20080232574), "Flexible Communication Systems and Methods," which describes a system where one or more telecom carriers bid to provide connectivity for a communications "session" (think phone call).

Continue Reading...

If you're like me and find most Bluetooth headsets uncomfortable and/or inconvenient to use, the AXVisor (model TRIBC200) from Tritton Technologies might be just what you're looking for. This is a Bluetooth speakerphone unit that, as its name suggests, clips to the sun visor in your car for hands-free conversations.

 

 

AXVisor_02_BoxContents.jpg 


I tested out the Tritton AXVisor with my AT&T phone, a Nokia 2085 clamshell. I quickly discovered that, as with any Bluetooth device, the functionality of the Visor is limited mostly by the hands-free function on the phone you have.

Continue Reading...

I got a call this morning from a rep at Avanquest Software, alerting me to the fact that the company is offering free consumer downloads of its new wireless networking tool for laptop users, Connection Manager. (The software has a retail value of $29.95.)

 

Connection Manager is designed for anyone living the "mobile lifestyle" with a laptop in tow. Its function is to provide users with quick, secure Internet/network access regardless of the connectivity method being used.

 

"Connection Manager automatically identifies and stores necessary network and security parameters for virtually every type of publicly used connection standard, including standard Ethernet, WiFi, ADSL and WiMAX," the company said in a July 22 announcement.

Continue Reading...

One of the challenges for manufacturers of consumer electronics products is how to minimize the cost of building a particular gadget, while maximizing profits. Cut too many corners, and there's the risk of losing potential customers. Spend too much on features people don't really care about, and it's likely the result will be unnecessary costs.

 

It appears that Apple has struck a pretty good balance between these two extremes in the new iPhone 3G.

Continue Reading...
I got a note the other day from Craig Settles, an expert in the area of municipal WiFi networks, who wanted to make sure I’d seen the news about EarthLink pulling out of the muni WiFI network in Philadelphia. (Incidentally, last month EarthLink also made known its plans to pull out of the muni WiFi project in New Orleans, effective May 18.)
 
In a press announcement dated May 13, EarthLink made clear its plans to terminate WiFi service in Philadelphia, following months of unsuccessful negotiations with the city government to transfer management of the entire network — worth $17 million — to the municipality or to Wireless Philadelphia, a non-profit.
 
“EarthLink has worked diligently for many months to transfer our WiFi network to a new owner -- at no cost," said Rolla Huff, EarthLink's chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Unfortunately, our hope that we could transfer our network to a non-profit organization that had planned to offer free WiFi throughout Philadelphia will not be realized.
Continue Reading...
Trackstick IINow here’s a cool wireless gadget: the Trackstick II Personal GPS Tracker. This little device uses GPS to track its own location, time, data, speed, heading and altitude at present intervals. Since you can pop it in your pocket or purse, that means it also can track your location — or the location of anything that moves.
 
That’s great, but what do you do with the location data gathered?
Continue Reading...
This week (April 1-3) was the CTIA Wireless 2008 show in Las Vegas. All week TMCnet has been reporting on news from the show, which is put on (as the name suggests) by CTIA, an organization whose acronym formerly stood for “Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Assocation,” but now simply goes by CTIA  —  The Wireless Association.
 
The show’s Web site has a full roster of news highlights from this week, but here are a few that caught my eye from TMCnet’s coverage.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For even more coverage of the show, check out the blogs for Rich Tehrani and Greg Galitzine.
Continue Reading...
Uploading digital photos from a camera to a computer is a task that lots of people (myself included) tend to put off since it takes time and requires digging for the USB cable. (Which drawer did I put it in again?) Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way to get photos from camera to computer hard drive—or better yet, directly to a bogging or social networking site?
 
A startup called Eye-Fi thought so, too. And they did something about it: developed the Eye-Fi wireless SD card. This is a 2B SD card that pops into a digital camera just a like a regular card.
Continue Reading...
I’ve long held the belief that driving while talking on a cell phone is dangerous, even if one is using a headset or switching on the speakerphone function. (Although I’m as guilty as the next person of talking while driving anyway.) Now some recent research adds more backing to that argument.
 
Marcel Just, director at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, decided to find out the extend to which non-driving activities distract drivers from their primary task of steering a vehicle down the road.
 
In a March 9 report that’s been making the rounds online, USA Today explained what happened when 29 volunteer subjects were hooked up to an MRI brain scanner while engaging in a simulated driving exercise.
Continue Reading...
WiMAX is hot and getting hotter. That’s essentially the conclusion reached by Infonetics in its recent WiMAX and Mesh Network Equipment and Devices report.
 
Just how hot? During 2007, the WiMAX market grew sequentially 46 percent (for the year), with worldwide sales (fixed and mobile) just shy of $800 million.
Continue Reading...
Yesterday I blogged about a company called Radar Networks that just completed Round B of its financing series. Well, it turns out that Radar must be a winning name. Another company, Tiny Pictures—which offers a mobile photo and video sharing service called Radar—also just completed Round B of its financing series, pulling in $7.2 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Mohr Davidow Ventures.
 
Previously, Tiny Pictures raised $4 million from Mohr Davidow Ventures and “angel invetors” Reid Hoffman and Joichi Ito. Funds raised during Round B, the company said, will be used for international growth and development of its recently launched ad platform.
 
Radar from Tiny Pictures enables real-time sharing of photos and videos between cameraphone users.
Continue Reading...
Radar Networks is on a role. The company announced Monday completion of Round B financing series, during which it brought in $13 million from several venture capital firms. This brings total venture capital funding for the company to $18 million, including Round B and Round A (which closed in April, 2006).
 
What’s drawing venture capital firms to invest in Radar?
Continue Reading...
The power of Google’s ability to perform fast and accurate Web searches comes in large part from the its distributed nature—using a geographically dispersed network of computing power to deliver results to users quickly. Distributed systems like Google’s have another advantage, too: they inherently protect against any single point of failure since if equipment in one location goes down the slack can be picked up somewhere else.
 
In a Thursday post, ZDNet MobileTech blogger Eric Everson suggested that, in light of two major outages within a year, RIM might want to consider a more distributed type of architecture to provide service for its BlackBerry devices, rather than feeding everything through a centralized system.
 
Everson quoted a Canadian Press report as pointing out that, “The concentration of RIM's BlackBerry service at a single network operation centre in the Ontario city of Waterloo, through which traffic such as e-mails are routed, exacerbates such problems and leaves it open to more crashes.”
 
Everson added in his post, “If at a network level everything is routed through a bottleneck configuration it likely doesn’t take the Founder of MyMobiSafe.com to point out that there may be some mobile security issues users should consider.”
 
In other words, there is power in numbers and RIM might do well to consider adopting a distributed network architecture to avoid such a major outage again in the future.
Continue Reading...
The rumor mill is in full gear this week suggesting that AT&T will be introducing its own “branded” model of Palm’s Centro smartphone, till now available exclusively through Sprint.
 
The PalmAddicts blog said Sprint’s exclusive hold on the Centro, which began shipping in early October, was rumored to be a three-month deal, so now’s about the time you’d expect to see it start being offered by other carriers.
 
Engadget seemed very confident in a Thursday post that AT&T’s Centro is set being shipping on February 19. The price likely will be $99, and the color probably white.
If you’re among those considering whether or not to buy Apple’s new MacBook Air laptop, there are now some pretty thorough reviews available to help with the decision. One of those is from Engadget.
 
Engadget’s review examines all aspects of the new laptop, including hardware (processor, battery life, display, keyboard, audio, wireless connectivity, ports, etc.) and software (OS, multi-touch gestures, Remote Disc, etc.).
 
The review is quite thorough, and concludes that although MacBook Air is supposed to appeal to road warriors, it compromises on some of the things such users most need (like ability to swap out a second battery). Given the laptop’s limitations, Engadget thinks it’s unlikely road warriors will pick the Air to replace their primary computer (which may very well be a laptop with more connectivity options), and as such Apple might be more successful if it lowered the price to roughly $1500 and included an Ethernet dongle and SuperDrive into the package.
 
“The Air isn't supposed to be everything for everyone,” Engadget said in its review.
Continue Reading...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next

Recent Comments

  • sex shop: he MS fanboys need to step back and realise that read more
  • Georg: Fantastic or Foolhardy - or both at the same time? read more
  • Mirko: As you already mentioned: some methods are more practical than read more
  • Anniversary gift: Based on your article, it seems that the only significant read more
  • oil portraits: I also noticed the same trend here in our place. read more
  • G. Aasen: Interesting indeed. Let's hope they are more successful in Japan read more
  • Bahamut: If earthlink is going into difficulty, it will certainly affect read more
  • Free Flash Clock: Earthlink restructuring will definitely affect the wifi market. But wifi read more
  • Polin Armsley: niceSecond, the amount Li is suing Apple for seems rather read more
  • www.r10.net küresel seo yarismasi: obviously still no iPhone nano around, but plenty of iPods. read more

Around TMCnet Blogs

Latest Whitepapers

TMCnet Videos