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Worlds Fastest IBM
2008-06-09 19:30:00 World's fastest: IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer breaks petaflop barrier using Cell and Opteron processorsby Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 4:07AMWhen you're looking to set a record this is how you do it. Not only has IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer come on-line, it's now the world's fastest -- twice as fast as the old BluGene/L champ -- and churning through 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. The $133 million supercomputer achieved the milestone with the help of 12,960 "improved" Cell processors (yes, like those powering your PS3) and a smaller number of AMD Opteron processors -- 116,640 processor cores in total. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon your perspective), Roadrunner is for military use only so you'll have to solve the traveling salesman problem on your own time. While not quite into Exaflop territory, we're definitely on the way.source : engadget.com More About: Worlds
JetBlue LiveTV
2008-06-09 19:27:00 JetBlue's LiveTV unit to snatch up Verizon's Airfone networkby Darren Murph, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 8:12AM Nary a week after JetBlue expanded its in-flight internet services on BetaBlue comes news that the airline's LiveTV unit will be picking up Verizon's Airfone network. As you can glean, the purchase is being made in order to further "develop in-flight email and internet services," and while no purchase price was disclosed by either outfit, we are told that LiveTV will receive "100 air-to-ground US communications towers and Airfone's corporate and government aviation clients on January 1st." That's nice and all, but can't we get something out of this sooner?source : engadget.com More About: Jetblue
Top Telecom Blogs
2008-05-18 02:02:00 Top 100+ Telecom Industry Blogs Posted in Features Update 5/8/08: Even more blogs added at the end. Thanks for all of your suggestions! When was the last time you looked for expert advice on a blog about VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) or WiMAX (the successor to WiFi)? Or, perhaps you sought an antique telephone or the latest gizmo that could connect you to your Aunt Sally through the Internet. The telecom industry has changed dramatically over the past few decades, and blogs provide one way to keep up with with transitions from traditional technology to the latest connectivity. To that end, the following 100 120 sites represent the most popular, unusual, informative and useful blogs within the telecom industry. The sites listed below are in alphabetical order beneath each category heading. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate any order of value. VoIP | Corporate Blogs | Mobile Blogs | Wireless Blogs | Outside the U.S. | Niche | Toys and Gad...
2.5 GHz Auction
2008-05-18 01:55:00 European 2.5 GHz Auction s & the Global Market Posted by Sam Churchill on May 9th, 2008 Sweden has concluded their auction of 2.6 GHz spectrum by the National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). Auctioning 190 MHz in the in the 2.6 GHz band raised a total of SEK 2.1 billion (USD 346 million). Five companies won licenses. Intel Capital acquired one block of 50 MHz TDD spectrum for USD 26.2 million. The blocks of FDD frequencies went to Tele2, Telenor, and TeliaSonera, each paying approximately USD 90 million each for 2×20 MHz, and 3G operator HI3G Access AB paid USD 49 million for 2×10 MHz. The licenses will be technology and service neutral, allowing use for mobile mobile telephone and wireless broadband. according to Analysys Mason, a telecom adviser. Swedish 2.5 GHz Auction Winners (2008)SOURCE: National Post and Telecom Agency Bidder Bandwidth MHz Revenue (in SEK) HI3G Access AB 2×10 MHz FDD 296,600,000 Intel Capital 50 MHz TDD 159...
Touch Wall
2008-05-18 01:49:00 Touch Wall Posted by Sam Churchill on May 14th, 2008 Microsoft’s annual CEO Summit today is bringing 115 CEOs from 26 countries, to Redmond. Bill Gates will demo a new prototype touch computing device called TouchWall and Plex, which envisions a new “Minority Report” type touch screen. Tech Crunch has more details on the interactive, rear-screen white board. Yes, it doesn’t have much to do with wireless, but the user interface is innovative, and is said to be simpler and cheaper than the table version. Microsoft’s Surface computing, used in their interactive table, requires a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a 256MB graphics card. Wireless communication with devices on the surface is handled using WiFi and Bluetooth. A modified version of Microsoft Vista runs it. The TouchWall eliminates much of complexity. Imagine TouchWall teamed with the World Wide Telescope (worldwidetelescope.org). The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 vis... More About: Touch
DVB-SH
2008-05-18 01:48:00 Dish Network Testing DVB-SH DISH Network (Echostar) and Alcatel-Lucent today announced that DISH Network will test the DVB-SH mobile broadcast technology in the United States. The ultimate objective is to validate the performance and cost-efficiency of the DVB-SH standard. The DVB-SH standard (Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite services to Handhelds), is an evolution of DVB-H mobile television standard, and has been adopted by ICO which earlier this month launched a massive satellite to deliver mobile television direct to handheld devices across the United States. DVB’s Peter MacAvock explains why DVB-SH was developed. DVB-SH (pdf) can be used in any frequency spectrum below 3GHz, including UHF, L band and S band, and in terrestrial repeater networks, that re-broadcast the signal (similar to Sirius satellite radio). “Considering the global momentum of DVB-SH, we decided that performing a critical analysis of this new open ...
2155-2175MHz
2008-04-18 09:48:00 Free 2155-2175 MHz! Posted by Sam Churchill on April 11th, 2008 Ladies and gentlemen… I’ve traveled over half our state to be here tonight. I couldn’t get away sooner because my new well was coming in at Coyote Hills and I had to see about it. That well is now flowing at two thousand barrels and it’s paying me an income of five thousand dollars a week. I have two others drilling and I have sixteen producing at Antelope. So, ladies and gentlemen… if I say I’m an oil man you will agree. — There Will Be Blood In the wake of failed municipal wireless projects that hoped to “bridge the digital divide”, One Economy announced this week that it is a launching a two-year program to bring internet access to 500,000 low-income Americans in more than 50 communities, backed in part by $36 million from AT&T and its foundation (pdf). Then on Thursday, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation said it will put up $15 million over five years to cre...
MobiTV
2008-04-18 09:47:00 MobiTV Combines Unicast & Multicast Posted by Sam Churchill on April 14th, 2008 MobiTV (blog) says it will speed up the time between channel changes to less than a second and optimize cellular network backhaul by automatically switching video streams from unicast to multicast. “We have more users in our system than all the IPTV users in Europe,” Kay Johansson, the company’s CTO, said in an interview with RCR Wireless News. The company said it has 4-million subscribers. The company’s new Optimized Delivery Server will combine unicast and multicast distribution. If 50 subscribers are watching the same channel in one sector, the server will automatically begin streaming that channel in multicast to that group of customers, rather than relying on a solely unicast approach, which can be cumbersome and costly. This new hybrid approach is expected to lower the cost of distribution and optimize backhaul requirements. In-stream insertions for live and ...
ICO G-1 Rocket
2008-04-18 09:46:00 ICO G-1 In Space Posted by Sam Churchill on April 14th, 2008 The heaviest payload ever launched by an Atlas rocket, Craig McCaw’s ICO G-1 (pdf), achieved successful separation today (video), one of the biggest gambles yet for the telecom entrepreneur, as Telephony Online reports. Ground controllers have acquired the first signals from the ICO G1 spacecraft and delivered the ICO G1 within one nautical mile of the target orbit. The cost of the ICO-1 satellite, constructed by Space Systems/Loral, the booster rocket (built by Lockheed Martin) and the launch mission itself (handled by United Launch Alliance) is running half a billion dollars, and ICO hasn’t even started building the terrestrial system yet. ICO G1 is over 27 feet tall, with a 39 foot mesh reflector that will be unfurled in space and a pair of power-generating solar wings to span over 100 feet. Weighing 14,625 pounds, it is the heaviest satellite ever launched aboard an Atlas V booster and... More About: Rocket
Unlimited Cellular
2008-04-18 09:45:00 Cellular Goes Unlimited Posted by Sam Churchill on April 15th, 2008 Verizon Wireless this week unveiled two all-you-can-eat plans for smartphones. The carrier, taking on rivals AT&T and Sprint, is adding unlimited mobile email and browsing plans for small business users and everyday consumers respectively. For $30 a month, Verizon subscribers will be able to surf and send emails from their phones until their fingers ache, says Unstrung. It requires a qualifying voice plan through business sales channels. The plan will work with the Verizon SMT5800, the XV6800, and the Motorola Q9m. The operator already has a similar offering for the BlackBerry and promises to offer the plan for more smartphone models soon. The hosted VZEmail service, meanwhile, is aimed at the small business owner. It adds “storage, capacity, and speed” of an enterprise system, without the expense. The plan starts at $8 a month for a basic email setup. The big three operators are... More About: Cellular
700MHz Plan
2008-04-18 09:30:00 Public Safety: We Like 700MHz Public/Private Plan Posted by Sam Churchill on April 17th, 2008 Public-safety groups scrambled to salvage support for a shared public/private national wireless broadband network, following calls by some House Republicans to abandon in the 700 MHz D-Block re-auction, reports RCR Wireless News. “APCO International believes a public-private partnership between the D Block and public safety is currently the most viable option for funding and deployment of a national interoperable broadband network for public safety,” said Willis Carter, president of the Association of Public-Safety Officials International. “The FCC should move with all deliberative speed while ensuring that public-safety needs are addressed.” No bidder put up the $1.3 billion minimum for the D Block in the recently completed 700 MHz auction. Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas), ranking minority member of the House Commerce Committee, Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), and...
Sanyo Waterproof camcorder
2008-04-18 09:28:00 Sanyo's Xacti DMX-CA8 waterproof camcorder drips VGA weak sauceby Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 1:48AMNot much to get excited about here unless you've got a thing for shooting 640 x 480 VGA video underwater. Shipping in May for a bit less than $500, Sanyo's latest waterproof Xacti packs a 5x optical zoom and 8 megapixel CMOS sensor for stills and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video recordings at 60fps to SDHC media. It also carries JIS IPX5 and IPX8 waterproof ratings which means it'll go to a depth of 1.5-meters for up to 1-hour without electronic seizure. Video riot after the break.source : engadget.com More About: Camcorder , Waterproof , Sanyo
Sony mylo 2
2008-04-14 05:51:00 Sony mylo 2 firmware version 1.100 adds WMV and SHOUTcast supportby Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Apr 12th 2008 at 3:01PMSony's do-everything-except-for-make-calls mylo has been updated to firmware version 1.100, and is now available at Sony's support site as a 61MB download. Because you ran out of things to do with your mylo about, say, ten minutes after unboxing it, rejoice -- the update adds WMV file support, SHOUTcast widget support (the widget is a separate download), a "Game" item on the HOME menu for easier access to all those games you downloaded to the COM-2 unit, and, of course, improved "system stability".source : engadget.com More About: Sony , Mylo
measure your smile
2008-04-14 05:50:00 Omron's Okao Catch measures the intensity of your smileby Darren Murph, posted Apr 12th 2008 at 7:42PM It was inevitable, really. Not even two months after jolly researchers at Kansai University developed a machine to calculate the quantity of a person's laughter comes a new method of measuring just how hard you're cheesing. According to Omron's Yasushi Kawamoto, the Okao Catch technology is able to closely analyze "the curves of the lips, eye movement and other facial characteristics to decide how much a person is smiling." In a recent demonstration, it threw up percentages as people moved in front of a camcorder and began to grin, and while a somber individual did net an astounding score of zero, it doesn't seem that negative numbers are doled out for frowners. Besides being incredibly novel, the creators are hoping that it can be used in the medical field for accurately judging the "emotional state of patients," in robotics for helping androids "decipher human reactions" and... More About: Smile
LG Touch Screen Phone
2008-04-14 05:49:00 LG's touchscreen T80 media player only has 4GBby Ryan Block, posted Apr 13th 2008 at 2:36AM LG's giving our Danish friends a little something to look forward to: the 3-inch 400 x 240 touchscreen T80, which has 4GB of storage, DVB-T and FM tuners, and OGG support (as well as the usual MP3, WMA, MPEG-4, etc.) in a chubby 0.5-inch thick package. We hear it's priced at a hefty €299 (~$470 US), which might prove a tad prohibitive to sales among the intelligent. More About: Screen , Phone , Touch , Touch Screen
North American Union
2008-04-11 22:42:00 North American Union - US House of Rep. More About: North , North American Union
Total Surveillance - NWO
2008-04-11 22:39:00 Read this doc on Scribd: The New World Order More About: Surveillance , Total
Nokia Tablet
2008-04-11 22:27:00 Nokia Tablet as PVR Posted by Sam Churchill on April 10th, 2008 Nokia announced the WiMAX-enabled version of the N810 tablet at CTIA Wireless 2008 last week. It can be used on the Sprint/Clearwire XOHM network later this year. Now Monsoon Multimedia has announced support its HAVA player on the tablet, allowing customers to view and control their home TV from anywhere in the world over WiMAX or Wi-Fi. It will be available by June for the Nokia Webtablet as a free direct download. The TV source is connected to the HAVA device installed in your home (which costs $99-$250).Users can view their home TV on multiple PCs within the home network or simultaneously on a Nokia Internet Tablet at home or anywhere in the world over the internet. The company says it has “all the functionality of a Slingbox, but with many more features.” The SlingPlayer Mobile also runs on Symbian phones. HAVA provides controls for Pause, Play, Rewind, Skip, Record, Guide, Men... More About: Nokia
Google - Page you are the man!
2008-04-11 22:10:00 Google Transit Maps + WiFi Posted by Sam Churchill on April 11th, 2008 Google Transit covers some 23 U.S. cities and the national mass transit system of Japan and bigger cities in Australia and Europe. Go to Google Maps. Type in a query for directions. If your results include a button for “Take Public Transit,” Google Transit will spell out directions to the closest station or bus stop, including schedule information. In the United States. Google Transit Maps are available for; Bay Area, CA BART, Caltrain, VTABurbank, CA Burbank BusHumboldt County, CA VariousModoc County, CA Sage StageOrange County, CA OCTASacramento, CA Regional TransitSan Diego, CA MTSThousand Oaks, CA Thousand Oaks Transit Grand Junction, CO Grand Valley Transit Tampa, FL HART Honolulu, HI TheBus Chicago, IL CTA Pioneer Valley, MA PVTA Detroit, MI SMART Duluth, MN Duluth Transit Statewide, NJ NJ TRANSIT - trains only Las Vegas, NV MonorailReno, NV RTC RIDE Eugene, OR Lane Trans... More About: Google , Page
PS3 Laptop
2008-04-11 21:21:00 The PS3 Laptop : from Ben Heck to Engadget with loveby Ryan Block, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 10:41PM Rewind back to late 2006. The PS3 was launching alongside the Wii and geeky editors like ourselves were having a field day. We'd already managed to convince our good pal Ben Heck to build another Xbox 360 laptop and the Wii Laptop, so it was only a matter of time before we started brainstorming on how the hell we could possibly fit a PS3 into a "portable" enclosure. That's the part where Ben stepped up his game and worked his magic -- on and off for almost a year and a half -- to build... the PS3 Laptop!The essential specs:Original backwards compatible 60GB model 17-inch LCD HDTV screen: 720pHDMI-DVI connection (same as last Xbox 360 laptop)Built-in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, headphone jackSize: 17 x 13.75 x 3-inchesWeight: 16 pounds! You want this one of a kind piece of kit for your very own, PlayStation fanboys? You got it. We're auctioning this thing for charity real so...
wooden laptop
2008-04-11 21:20:00 Fujitsu's WoodShell laptop: go ahead hippie, hug itby Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 7:47AM That's Fujitsu's WoodShell concept PC. It joins an increasingly common trend of so called "natural" products already demonstrated by MSI, ASUS, Olympus, LG and others. No specs are provided on this feel-good piece. However, we presume it's powered by the blood and tears wrung from the baby Gore's heartbreak.source : engadget.com More About: Laptop , Wooden
Eyeglass mountable scanner
2008-04-11 21:19:00 Brother Industries shows off eyeglass-mountable retina scanning displayby Donald Melanson, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 12:26PM While it's yet to be seen if eyeglass-mountable displays will become as commonly used as, say, Bluetooth headsets anytime soon, Brother Industries at least looks to be making some steady progress at shrinking 'em down to a reasonable size, and it's got a few other tricks up its sleeve to boot. That latter bit comes from its use of a retina-scanning system as opposed to a simple LCD mounted in front of your eye, which effectively uses your retina as a screen to make it appear like images are actually floating in space in front of you. What's more, while the eyepiece currently needs to be wired to a rather sizable contraption in order to pump out those free-floating images, the company says it expects to be able to switch to a wireless system and shrink things down to a decidedly more wearable size by 2010.source : engadget.com More About: Scanner
1TB Laptop
2008-04-11 21:18:00 ASUS lets loose terabyte-packin' M70 laptopby Donald Melanson, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 2:58PMWe got our hands on ASUS's beefy M70 laptop way back at CES earlier this year, but it looks like the company has just now gotten around to letting the monster loose on the general populace. In case you missed it, this one packs up to one terabyte of storage (in the form of two 500GB drives), along with a 17-inch WUXGA display, your choice of Core 2 Duo processors up to a T9300, ATI Mobile Radeon HD3650 or HD3470 graphics, and an optional Blu-ray drive, among other expectedly top-end features. To make sure no one else but you gets to toy around with all that, ASUS has also seen fit to include not one but two security measures, including the usual fingerprint scanner and ASUS's trademark SmartLogon face-scanning technology. No word on a price, but we're guessing that's a detail best kept on a need to know basis.source : engadget.com More About: Laptop
ONE DAY YOU WAKE UP
2008-04-01 04:47:00 ONE DAY YOU WAKE UP and...Let's Co-Create together NOW One day it happens. We look at the world around us in a completely new light. Something inside us that has been nagging at our inner most being says, "enough". What do we do then?source : ekbtv.blogspot.com More About: Wake , Wake up
Ericsson ; HPSA with MIMO
2008-04-01 04:44:00 Ericsson: HSPA with MIMO Posted by Sam Churchill on March 27th, 2008 Ericsson will conduct the world’s first demonstration of end-to-end HSPA Evolution technology with speeds of up to 42 Mbps at CTIA Wireless 2008, next week HSPA Evolution can provide speeds of up to 42 Mbps, says Ericsson. It is currently being standardized by 3GPP in Releases 7 and 8 of the WCDMA specification (pdf). It achieves those speeds using higher order modulation (64QAM), combined with 2×2 MIMO antennas. The first step of the HSPA evolution will be introduced during 2008. Ericsson says their 3G solutions offer a path for evolution. Their RBS 3000 family of Ericsson base stations has support for both HSPA Evolution and LTE the COFDM-based standard for “4G”. Ericsson’s recently launched next-generation radio base station family, the RBS 6000 series, is said to offer a enhanced multi-standard solution that supports GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA Evolution and LTE, all in a single... More About: Ericsson
Chrysler : WiFi car
2008-04-01 04:43:00 Chrysler: Wi-Fi Car This Year Posted by Sam Churchill on March 27th, 2008 Chrysler says it will be the first auto manufacturer to provide in-car internet access—and plan to offer a system by the end of this year. Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s product development chief noted: “we want to make the radio itself a WiFi port.” In order for the service to work, it would have to utilize a broadband connection from cellphone towers. Chrysler will initiate the effort by offering an off-road navigation system for its Jeep Wrangler. Chrysler will be forced to pick one cellular carrier for the backhaul, although which one isn’t certain. Chrysler earlier said it is working aggressively to develop an advanced, in-vehicle wireless communications systems that go beyond current systems. Chrysler envisions future GPS systems with satellite imagery downloaded from the Internet as well as automatic wireless map updates, real time weather information. Downloads to i... More About: Chrysler , Wifi
700MHz auction
2008-04-01 04:40:00 700MHz: Money Talks Verizon and AT&T, now own the bulk of the frequencies in the 700-megahertz band, formerly used by UHF television stations. Signals at these frequencies penetrate buildings better than current cellular service, which operates at 850 and 1900 megahertz. KB Enterprises has maps of the winning bidders. The FCC’s 700 MHz auction raised $19.6 billion for the U.S. Treasury with AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless accounting for the bulk ($16 billion). Google acquired no spectrum. Here’s the FCC’s full list of 700 MHz winners. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein issued separate statements; (Copps and Adelstein). Verizon’s C-Block coverage (right) appears nearly total. AT&T will cover 100 percent of the top 200 markets when their auction winnings are combined with their purchase of Aloha Partners’ 700 MHz spectrum. Combined with their AWS spectrum coverage, AT&T will now ... More About: Auction
3.65GHz Mapping Service
2008-04-01 04:29:00 Free 3.65GHz Mapping Service The 3.65 GHz [semi] licensed band that the FCC enacted last summer, may provide a real opportunity to provide broadband wireless, especially in rural areas. It is “lightly” licensed with WiMAX gear available from several providers. Alzustar is planning to use 3.65 GHz in some of their municipal wireless projects using equipment from Airspan and Redline. One catch; there is an exclusion zone around certain satellite earth stations that use nearby frequencies. But, reports Tim Sanders, there is no easy way on the FCC site to search via zip code, GPS coordinate or city name to find a listing of these Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) operators. Now two groups Zing Wireless (an independent wireless ISP) and WirelessGuys (an equipment distributor and integrator) have collaborated on a simple solution — here. Their free mapping site at zing.naviciti.com uses Microsoft’s Virtual Earth maps with ...
LiMo Foundation
2008-04-01 04:28:00 LiMo Platform Release 1 gets loosed, R2 to come later this yearPosted Mar 31st 2008 3:14PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Cellphones Don't look now, but mid-2008 is almost here, and for those waiting intently for the release of a LiMo SDK, you're one step closer to having your dreams realized. Announced today, the LiMo Foundation has made available what it calls the "first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices." According to Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation, the consortium is hoping that R1 will "spur rapid innovation and contributions from all LiMo members," and it's restated that software development kits for Native, WebKit and Java operating environments are set to launch during the second half of this year. Not one to sit idly, the entity has also announced that Release 2 is currently "being specified and developed," and should escape testing and greet the real world in late 2008.source : engadget.com More About: Limo
General Dynamics realtime 3D maping
More articles from this author:2008-04-01 04:26:00 General Dynamics UK touts near real-time 3D maps for soldiersPosted Mar 31st 2008 4:53PM by Donald MelansonFiled under: Misc. GadgetsIt looks like soldiers could one day have their own tab key of sorts to call up detailed, 3D maps at will, at least if the folks at General Dynamics UK have their way. As Physorg reports, they've developed a "near real-time" 3D map system that makes use of an array of different technologies including LIDAR, thermal imaging and x-ray backscatter techniques to not only display buildings and streets, but objects and people inside buildings as well. The use of LIDAR also promises to provide measurements of doors, windows, and alleys with "millimeter accuracy." All that obviously makes the system, dubbed Masthead, slightly less than portable, however, although General Dynamics says it'd be able to be carried in the back of a military vehicle or civilian 4x4, or in a plane for that matter. Of course, like most such projects, General Dynamics isn't just se... More About: General 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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