Friday, April 18, 2003

Danger to use Intel chips in Hiptops [CNET News.com]
6:05:40 PM    comment   

IDC: Dell back on top of worldwide PC shipments. HP is overtaken [InfoWorld: Top News]
6:05:17 PM    comment   

Sybase to launch beta of Pocket PowerBuilder. Apps can be built for Win CE [InfoWorld: Top News]
6:04:56 PM    comment   

IT services head offshore. Passage to India [The Register]
6:02:53 PM    comment   

The building blocks of a mobile/wireless strategy. XcelleNet CTO Joe Owen discusses the building blocks of a successful wireless strategy, including ownership costs, security and bandwidth issues. [Computerworld Mobile/Wireless News]
6:02:23 PM    comment   

Intel Jumpstarts STSN. Money makes the hot spots zing as STSN unwires 370 hotels with Intel's cold hard cash: STSN had originally planned a more leisurely schedule, but Intel Capital's investment jumpstarted the initiative. STSN says 420 hotels by June 2003. Unfortunately for me, Mr. Selfish, the Santa Clara Marriott has unwired service (as does a Holiday Inn in the vicinity), but the nearby Westin has Concentric's wired service -- I'll be staying there during next week's fantastic, exceptional, still-room-available Emerging Technology 2003 conference.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
6:01:52 PM    comment   

From Shadows of War, a New Broadband. USA Today speculates that Iraq's rebuilt infrastructure could use Wi-Fi instead of copper: It's an odd article with the current events unfolding in Iraq, but it makes some sense. It might take billions and years to install copper (or fiber) infrastructure, where Wi-Fi could be operating in days or weeks to offer critical business, education, and governmental connectivity. (And not just Wi-Fi: other low-powered data protocols like 802.16a.)... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
6:01:20 PM    comment   

Intel's Specious Wi-Fi vs 802.16a Comparison. Business Week interviews Intel Wi-Fi guy: The article has its ups and downs. For instance, it intros with the interviewer mentioning that Wi-Fi is a $1.67 billion business in 2003, but then says we have Intel to thank for it. Odd because the vast majority of that money this year (not next) will have little to do with Intel. In the interview proper, Jim Johnson says Our Centrino products, enabling mobility, will speed up Wi-Fi adoption. And with millions of Centrino notebooks out, carriers will be motivated to resolve these issues... This is absolutely true: many changes have already been made due to Centrino verification by Intel. But then Johnson talks about 802.16a: [it] will have a 31-mile linear service range -- a huge improvement over Wi-Fi's 300-foot radius. It will also offer much higher speeds, of up to 70 megabits per second, vs. 11 for Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi has been run over 20 to 40 miles, depending on speed. And non-Wi-Fi FH and DS have run the same distances. So that's not a real parameter even though Wi-Fi isn't designed for those long distances and 802.16a can certainly improve on that. The 70 Mbps versus 11 Mbps is an Intel-ism: because Intel doesn't offer 54 Mbps a or g flavors, Wi-Fi is 11 Mbps -- even though Wi-Fi, the trademark, includes 54 Mbps 802.11a as one of its two current certified standards. Intel is a Wi-Fi Alliance board member. (Interestingly, Johnson's predecessor is now in charge of Intel Capital's wireless investments.)... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
6:00:56 PM    comment   

Cell phones turn up the interaction. Several carriers let TV viewers interact with shows, but AT&T Wireless says to expect even more possibilities, like sending text messages to Hollywood movies and the radio. [CNET News.com]
5:59:31 PM    comment   

Transmeta to Ship Astro This Summer. The low-power chipmaker sees great potential for its next-generation TM8000 semiconductor and growth for its Crusoe line of processors. [allNetDevices Wireless News]
5:59:06 PM    comment   

A Braille Phone Organizer Connects the Dots and the User. For people with impaired vision, a combination cellphone, note-taker and wireless Internet device is on the way, melding cutting-edge features with tools familiar to the blind. By Mark Glassman. [New York Times: Technology]
5:58:28 PM    comment   

Camera-Cellphones Reviewed. Combination gadgets have come and gone, but the camera-cellphone seems to be finding a foothold. Four new models are as sleek as the camera-less cellphones they replace. By David Pogue. [New York Times: Technology]
5:57:50 PM    comment   

Gadgets That Warm to the Real You. Consumer electronics makers large and small are turning their attention to biometric security: identifying people by their physical and behavioral markers. By Sam Lubell. [New York Times: Technology]
5:57:24 PM    comment   

Disney Adds Biz-Fi. Disney offers wireless in several of its Florida resort properties: Disney, via Smart City, is offering wireless service at the Grand Floridian, Contemporary Resort, the Yacht and Beach Clubs, and Coronado Springs properties. The cost is about $5 for an hour or $10 for a day. Service is available in common areas, and some concierge suites, but not guest rooms. Because Disney refers to its employeees as "cast members" -- a fact I learned from Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom -- there's a wonderful phrase in the release: Cast communication and training efforts are underway in each resort. The business desks will also be selling Wi-Fi cards Disney will consider adding Wi-Fi at pools and other areas, and is working to decide on which of its next properties it adds.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
5:56:25 PM    comment   

EFF Links Unlicensed Spectrum with Free Speech. Cory Doctorow of the EFF argues that more unlicensed spectrum would result in greater individual expression: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says that the proliferation of cheap and interesting devices in the 2.4 GHz band due to the availability of unlicensed free uses has led to more and varied forms of expression. ...these devices are permitting more communication--more speech--from a greater variety of speakers, than the traditional command-and-control exclusive-use allocations have ever fostered. You can download the full brief here via a link to the PDF version.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
5:55:19 PM    comment   

Cisco Wi-Fi Phone. Cisco to ship Wi-Fi cordless phone in June: The Cisco phone requires some kind of PBX (phone exchange), but it's unclear from any of the articles I've read whether there's a gateway box you need to interface with specific PBX models. Cisco might later release a version of the phone that does Wi-Fi in the enterprise and cell flavors when roaming.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
5:55:03 PM    comment   

One Chip Wi-Fi. Via to offer one-chip Wi-Fi: It's not precisely the holy grail, but putting Wi-Fi's radio, baseband processor, and MAC on a single chip does reduce power consumption, signal loss, and physical space, not to mention manufacturing processes. Gigabit Ethernet continues to pace Wi-Fi: both are benefitting from enormous competition, and have become nearly standard on many computer models. All of Apple's professional systems now have at least one gigabit Ethernet port, and all high-end models except the server line have 802.11g slots.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
5:54:46 PM    comment   

Marriott Launches April 26. A little birdie leaked to me that Marriott is geared up for an April 26 hot spot launch: This is part of STSN's Intel Capital-funded rush to push out access now instead of gradually. The cost is $10 per day with discounts of up to 50 percent negotiated for large groups. Marriott will have most properties unwired by April 26 in these areas: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles/Orange County, Miami, New York City/New Jersey, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Francisco Bay Area. The rest of their properties will follow by May 24.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
5:45:49 PM    comment   

BusinessWeek Blowout on Wi-Fi. BusinessWeek devotes huge section to Wi-Fi One of the most succinct and excellent comments on the relationship of 3G cellular to Wi-Fi was in an interview with Nicholas Negroponte: If you give me broadband...[2-5 Mbp+]...I cannot really use it without devoting my fullest attention (which means my hands and eyes, not just my ears)...many of the issues that face cell-phone operators aren't present (like hand-off). The problem is different. There really is room to cohabitate. Exactly! Oddly, Andy Reinhardt's commentary in the same section ignores that critical difference. Wi-Fi can provide a virtual desktop experience: you can act not too far off from being in your office. 3G, even in its best possible incarnation in the next zero to two years, will be a slow data interchange format for making quick email retrievals and spooling, or for queuing data through slow pull (i.e., grab my email over the next 30 minutes as I drive to my destination). Some other good remarks-- A T-Mobile exec on how Wi-Fi and cell differs: With cell phones we had to give people devices to use it. Here [with Wi-Fi], people already have the devices. We just give them new areas where they can log on.... [Wi-Fi Networking News]
5:45:27 PM    comment   

Intel's famous chairman discusses decision making, intuition, and corporate governance with professor Clayton M. Christensen and Harvard Business School Publishing Editorial Director Walter Kiechel.
4:22:03 PM    comment   

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