Internet Changes Everything

Toronto turns on municipal Wi-Fi service

IT Business

After technical delays and concerns from authorities, the city begins reinventing itself as a giant hot spot. Find out what the pricing plans and potential public sector applications are
Wi-Fi in Toronto: Should it stay free?
Why more Canadian cities aren't wireless
9/6/2006 4:50:00 PM
by Neil Sutton

TORONTO – Toronto Hydro Telecom Wednesday launched its downtown Wi-Fi service with pricing it claims is 35 per cent below the average for high-speed Internet service in the city.

The first area to go live is Toronto’s financial district. Four other areas will be switched on before the end of this year, culminating in a New Year’s Eve launch for the final phase in Toronto’s entertainment district. The service, which is being called “One Zone” will be free for its first six months of operation (until March 6, 2007). After that, three pricing packages will be available: a pre-paid monthly subscription rate of $29; a 24-hour rate of $10; and an hourly fee of $10.

The pricing plan is based on the usage patterns of its potential audience: permanent users, occasional users and visitors to the city. Toronto Hydro Telecom president David Dobbin said, “we have a wide pool of users available to us,” but admitted the key to the service’s financial success will be the number of business customers it can win.

Dobbin said the pricing is competitive with existing rates for DSL and cable-based high-speed Internet service. Wi-Fi is also mobile – a selling point Dobbin hopes will draw users.

“You don’t have to pay an additional charge. The service follows you wherever you go,” he said during a press conference held at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Gartner Canada telecommunications analyst Elroy Jopling called the rates “(not) bad but they’re not great. I think that’s the thing that jumps out.”

Jopling said he was surprised that Toronto Hydro Telecom didn’t take the opportunity to set its rates significantly below that of its competition.

“If you’re a new kid on the block, or you’re late coming onto the block, I think you have to bring something more,” he said.

He pointed out that the voice-over IP wars are being waged over price. Montreal-based Videotron, for example, undercut the market by 30 per cent, garnering the company immediate customer acceptance.

The Toronto wireless hot zone has come across a number of obstacles since the project was first announced in March. Originally, the service was to have gone live in June, but there were problems with the street light poles that were used to attach wireless antennas. There were also concerns from police services that the wireless service could be used for drug trafficking communications and other illegal purposes.

Despite the delays, Dobbin said Toronto is the first major North American city to get its Wi-Fi service off the ground. Similar initiatives in San Francisco and Philadelphia are still in planning or implementation stages.

Toronto Hydro Telecom is also in talks with the City of Toronto to use the network for municipal services. Possible uses include Wi-Fi parking meters, vehicle management systems and surveillance for law enforcement. “Those will unfold over time,” said Toronto mayor David Miller, who also attended the press conference.

Dobbin said Toronto Hydro Telecom did not have any estimates of the service’s eventual audience, but said the outlook was positive. The service was quietly turned on last week to allow for last-minute tests and had 200 users online the morning of the launch. “Our take rate is going to be stronger than we thought,” he said.

The next move may be up to Hydro’s competitors, said Jopling. If they choose to lower their Internet rates in response, Toronto Hydro could have a price war on its hands.

“This probably one where the winner will be the consumer,” he said.

September 6, 2006 at 08:44 PM in Wireless | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Firm: Apple to ship $4.2B in wireless iPods by 2010

AppleInsider | Firm: Apple to ship $4.2B in wireless iPods by 2010

By Katie Marsal
Published: 12:00 PM EST

New research carried out by the independent research provider, Generator, illustrates that Apple's iPod business could soon give second-tier mobile phone makers a run for their money.

"A lot of people don't realise that Apple's iPod business is already bigger than Sony Ericsson. What's more, Apple is the market leader in a growth market while Sony Ericsson is a second-tier player in a mature industry," said Andrew Sheehy, Research Director at the firm.

According to Sheehy, Apple's scale now means that the company can go out and negotiate deals with suppliers of miniature cameras, video recorders and wireless modems -- items normally used in mobile phones -- that are competitive with what many mobile handset makers can secure.

"Things change when you're buying in that sort of volume. A lot of people who supply components for use in mobile handsets are licking their chops right now: there's lots of new business up for grabs and we know that people are talking to Apple right now about doing this," said Sheehy.

Although Wi-Fi modems could be used instead, the report explains that the best way to implement a wireless iPod would be via wholesale data agreements with one mobile operator in each iTunes market.

Apart from being able to take pictures and shoot movies with their wireless iPods, users could wirelessly publish their self-generated digital content on iTunes, the firm speculates.

"The mobile content side is interesting but you could also offer knock-out voice service with this approach -- Apple could offer free WiPod to WiPod calls, using a Skype-like software application. A lot of people in the mobile industry will be worried when this starts happening," Sheehy added.

Last month, iPod chipmaker PortalPlayer said it had teamed with wireless solutions provider CRS to deliver Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity on its next-generation system-on-chip scheduled to make its debut in the second half of the year.

The San Jose, Calif.-based PortalPlayer, whose system-on-chip audio controllers have been a fixture in the iPod since its inception, currently supplies Apple with chips for all varieties of the digital music player with the exception of the low-end iPod shuffle.

This news has brought on industry speculation that Apple could launch its first wireless iPods in late 2006 or early 2007.

March 19, 2006 at 10:42 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (43) | Top of page | Blog Home

T.O. to become wireless hotspot

TheStar.com - T.O. to become wireless hotspot

Mar. 6, 2006. 08:30 AM
TYLER HAMILTON
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Toronto Hydro Corp. will announce Tuesday that it plans to turn Canada's largest city into one giant wireless hotspot, directly challenging the country's major mobile phone carriers for a chunk of the $8 billion a year wireless market.

With the deployment, which sources say could be available in the downtown core as early as this fall, Toronto joins a growing list of North American cities, including Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco, that have announced plans to bring low-cost, broadband wireless access to their citizens and businesses.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you see it in September or October of this year," said a source close to the project.

Mayor David Miller will join Toronto Hydro executives on Tuesday to officially announce the initiative, which will be the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Canada and could undermine commercial product offerings from Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility.

"I've heard that Ted Rogers is not very happy," said the source, referring to the founder of Toronto-based Rogers Communications Inc., parent company of Rogers Wireless, the country's largest mobile phone provider.

So-called municipal Wi-Fi, which blankets entire cities with the same wireless network technology found in many homes and small businesses, makes broadband access virtually ubiquitous and gives municipalities a way of generating revenue while offering affordable high-speed Internet access to low-income persons and neighbourhoods.

It also gives cities a way to attract tourists and business professionals, provides local police with better access to law enforcement databases while on the road, and helps city officials remotely monitor parking meters and other automated services. Toronto Hydro might also choose to sell a wholesale version of the service to other service providers.

In Ontario, where smart meters have been mandated, electrical utilities are looking at various telecommunications technologies for retrieving data from people's homes and businesses for time-of-day billing purposes.

Sources say Toronto Hydro has decided to support its smart meter plan using Wi-Fi technology, which can be accessed by any properly equipped laptop or handheld computing device.

Brian Sharwood, a telecom analyst with the Seaboard Group in Toronto, said it makes sense for a utility to recoup the cost of supporting smart meters by also selling wireless broadband services. "In a way that's the excuse to do all of this," he said. "You're going to run it past a lot of people anyway."

He said Canada's largest municipal electrical utility, which last year purchased Toronto's street light system for $60 million, will likely install the necessary wireless transmitters and receivers atop every fourth or fifth lamp post as a way to blanket the city with coverage -- what the industry describes as "wireless mesh networking."

Several companies offer the technology, including Kanata, Ont.-based BelAir Networks and Brampton-based Nortel Networks. Utilities in Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie are pursuing similar Wi-Fi strategies for their respective smart meter programs.

Municipal Wi-Fi projects aren't without controversy. In the United States, major wireless carriers say municipalities have no experience selling consumer services and are abusing their monopoly over taxpayers' funds. They also fear that their own Wi-Fi services, increasingly offered in airports, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels, will be undercut when it comes to price.

But municipalities argue that competition is healthy and that blanketing communities with low-cost broadband access helps bridge the digital divide.

The announcement Tuesday by Toronto Hydro will follow VIA Rail Canada's decision to begin offering Wi-Fi service on all its trains between Windsor and Quebec City over the course of the year.

March 6, 2006 at 05:50 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

Advocates of Wi-Fi in Cities Learn Art of Politics

Advocates of Wi-Fi in Cities Learn Art of Politics - New York Times

By GLENN FLEISHMAN
Published: January 19, 2006

SEATTLE, Jan. 18 - The idea of building citywide wireless networks from the community level was suspiciously simple back in 2000, although the plans sounded like the work of underground revolutionaries. "All of us were very idealistic, and all quite strongly opinionated," said Adam Shand, founder of Personal Telco, which had visions of such a network in Portland, Ore.
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Kevin P. Casey for The New York Times

Matt Westervelt, the founder of Seattle Wireless, raised $2,500 for a climber to place Wi-Fi relay equipment atop a cellular tower on Capitol Hill, one of the highest points in Seattle.

There as elsewhere, it was seen as a three-step process

First, build home-brew Wi-Fi antennas and develop software to make outdoor wireless networks affordable and practical.

Second, persuade thousands of people in each city to stick Wi-Fi antennas out their windows, on their roofs or in their places of business to serve collectively as the nodes of a network. (Some groups sought to share existing commercial broadband Internet access - often regardless of whether an Internet service provider allowed that kind of sharing - while others wanted to build a separate community network.)

Third, link those thousands of nodes into neighborhood networks that would themselves connect into a cloud of free citywide Wi-Fi coverage. That's free as in free beer as well as free as in freedom: most advocates envisioned no restrictions on content or participation, and no access charges. In contrast, almost all early Wi-Fi hot spots were pinpoints of service, had fees attached and restricted use.

Step 2 was never completed, which is why victory speeches seem, at first glance, out of place. Nonetheless, "community wireless accomplished spectacularly well what it set out to do," said Dana Spiegel, president of NYCwireless, a volunteer wireless advocacy group in Manhattan.

While attendance at some community networking groups has plummeted and some smaller groups have disappeared, their technical and political impact has never been higher. Wireless advocates no longer dangle dangerously from rooftops mounting antennas built inside potato-chip cans, although some still provide technical help to business owners and nonprofit groups in creating free Wi-Fi hot spots.

"The problems that were hard in 2001 were technical ones," Mr. Spiegel said. "Now, they're personal and relationship and political ones. The technology, we almost don't even think about it anymore."

Greg Richardson, president of Civitium, a consulting firm, says that movement was the impetus for government-run citywide wireless Internet plans. Mr. Richardson has been a consultant on municipal wireless policy and technical issues for Philadelphia, San Francisco and other cities.

Community wireless gave municipal planners "the validation that a lot of those ideas could work," Mr. Richardson said. Early and continuing municipal efforts to provide small areas of free access in parks and downtown districts were and still are often created in conjunction with these community groups.

The move from building physical networks to building political influence, many advocates say, stems in part from an August 2004 forum organized by the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network in Illinois.

At the event, many community wireless leaders met for the first time. Sessions were conducted with politicians and members of nonprofit groups interested in diversifying media ownership. Sascha D. Meinrath, the network's project coordinator, said he saw a political awakening hit the technically focused participants.

"We could develop all of these technologies, we could come up with the holy grail of wireless technologies, and then it would be illegal to deploy it," he said. After they returned from the conference, several wireless advocates became involved in the political debates over municipal broadband. These debates intensified after Philadelphia announced in late 2004 that it would build a citywide Wi-Fi network.

In quick succession, other cities announced their own plans, including Minneapolis; San Francisco; Anaheim, Calif.; and Tempe, Ariz.

Much of the advocates' involvement has centered on stressing network neutrality, in which a network operator has little say over what devices are used on a network and for what purpose.

The issue became more prominent after recent statements by the chief executive of AT&T (the former SBC) suggesting that content providers like Google might be required to pay fees to reach AT&T's Internet access customers. Scattered reports also indicate that some access providers may be blocking or interrupting Internet phone services.

Michael Oh of NewburyOpen.net, a commercially sponsored free Wi-Fi zone on Newbury Street in Boston, said, "I don't think anyone in the SBC world or the policy-making world would have anticipated that there would have been anyone at the table like us when it came to municipal wireless."

Many wireless advocates said they already had relationships with local politicians, and now were stepping up to the state level; some were contacted by officials trying to make sense of broadband policy. Richard MacKinnon, founder of the Austin Wireless City Project, testified at state hearings in Texas and joined in a successful fight against a bill to restrict municipal broadband service.

Wireless advocates "have done more to bring forward the concerns of network neutrality as well as open access" than anyone else in the political process, Mr. Richardson said. "They have a very loud voice in an advocacy role."

A policy statement by NYCwireless lists several principles that define network neutrality: a city or network builder must resell service to other Internet service providers, avoid restrictions on content or types of service (like Internet phone service) and allow all legal devices to be connected to the network - meaning that Internet telephone adapters and wireless cameras would be as legitimate as laptop Wi-Fi cards.

Because of concerns over neutrality, many community groups have focused on how to create independent networks that require neither government support nor an Internet connection to be useful.

The Champaign-Urbana network is developing software that allows computers and Wi-Fi gateways to organize into a larger network as they find other nodes. The approach is called mesh networking; the software would be open sourced and distributed at no cost. (Mesh networks are to be the basis of all the municipal Wi-Fi networks currently planned, but are to use commercial equipment and proprietary software.)

Seattle Wireless is taking a different approach to creating fixed networks using wireless equipment. Since 2000, its founder, Matt Westervelt, and other members have planned to create a central point that would act as a relay medium for local groups seeking to connect their offices, create temporary networks for events or offer Internet connections to others.

His organization raised $2,500 for a climber to place network equipment on a cellular tower on Capitol Hill, one of the highest spots in Seattle. The cost of upkeep is to be donated by a private company.

Community advocates want to use both these independent networks and municipal broadband to carry new kinds of locally focused services and data.

Mr. Oh and The Boston Globe (a division of The New York Times Company) are experimenting in locations around Boston with what they call Pulse Points: freestanding Wi-Fi nodes with no Internet connections. These nodes carry only local discussion boards and information.

At a Pulse Point in the South Station train terminal, every other board posting in the early days "was a flame about why there was no free Internet access," Mr. Oh said. Now, the spot is routinely used to exchange information and personal stories.

Mr. Spiegel said that the transition from hardware and networks to the higher level of programs and politics was inevitable as networks spread.

"In the end, what all of us were trying to do was to change the way people thought about communications," he said. "The Internet wasn't something that you sat down at the computer to use, but that it was something that permeated our lives - it just didn't have the distribution to permeate our lives."

January 19, 2006 at 09:14 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (43) | Top of page | Blog Home

A system to make Jove proud

A system to make Jove proud | Economist.com

Dec 29th 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda
Europe has launched the first of the satellites of its Galileo navigation system. Will it be a huge waste of money, a boost for the economy or a friend to Big Brother?

BY GIOVE, they’ve done it. On Wednesday December 28th, the Giove-A satellite was launched into space from Kazakhstan, kicking off the biggest-ever European space project. The Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (the acronym is also Italian for Jove, the king of the Roman gods) is a crucial first step in the roll-out of Galileo, a satellite-based navigation system. Giove-A will test several key technologies for Galileo. If all goes well, the system will be operational in 2008.

European boosters are celebrating a technological leap forward that they say will give them economic and strategic independence from America’s Global Positioning System. GPS, a project of the American military begun in the 1970s, is provided as a free service worldwide, causing some to say that the €3.6 billion ($4.3 billion) Galileo project is unnecessary—it has even been dubbed “the common agricultural policy in space”. Projects like this tend to run over their estimated costs, and once the system is in place, Europe will feel bound to maintain it, whatever the cost.

But Galileo’s backers make several arguments in its favour. One is that GPS service is patchy, particularly in urban areas, and is accurate only to about ten metres. (The American military’s enhanced and exclusive service brings this down to three, and some 60% of air-to-ground bombs in the 2003 Iraq war were guided by GPS.) Galileo’s atomic clocks, which make the system work by triangulation of signals between satellites, are more accurate than those of the GPS system. They will give accuracy to about one metre for those with free access to the system, and down to centimetres for paying commercial users. The GPS system is being upgraded, but the new version won’t be ready until 2012.

Galileo, meanwhile, could have all kinds of nifty uses. It would allow easier and more widespread use of road-charging. Mobile-phone users could use it to find a restaurant or the nearest cash-dispensing machine. Emergency services could find people in distress more quickly and easily. People with precarious medical conditions could wear locators that make them easy to track down. Airline pilots could set their own routes (and separations from other aircraft), rather than relying on ground-based air-traffic controllers.
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Another rationale is economic. Galileo is a joint project of the European Union and the European Space Agency, with backing also from China, Ukraine, Israel and India. In a year when “political Europe” suffered from the collapse of the proposed EU constitution after referendums in France and the Netherlands, Galileo can be rightly counted as a big step forward for pan-European economic efforts. A rainbow of European engineering and aerospace companies are involved, including EADS, France’s Thales and Alcatel, Britain’s Inmarsat, Italy’s Finmeccanica and others. Though user fees will not, by themselves, pay for the project, it is hoped that Galileo will create jobs and economic growth (including tax revenues) as industries develop new services based around the satellite system. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2001 estimated that Galileo could produce a benefit-to-cost ratio of 4.6 to one.

America, naturally, is uneasy. Galileo will be interoperable with GPS, and also with Russia’s ageing GLONASS system. But American defence chiefs fret that Galileo’s signals could interfere with GPS. More worrying, from the superpower’s point of view, is the possibility that Galileo could be used as America uses GPS—to guide missiles, perhaps those aimed at America itself. Why, the Americans wonder, is China backing it?

But the Europeans fire similar arguments back at America in supporting Galileo. Those of a Gaullist bent, including France’s president, Jacques Chirac, want strategic insurance against the possibility that America might switch GPS off or restrict or degrade its service. Mr Chirac has said that European companies could be American “vassals” without their own navigation system. For him, a grand projet like Galileo accomplishes several treasured goals: creating jobs in France, reducing its reliance on America, and bringing glory to European (including French) technology. The cost, in this calculation, is well worth it. (Despite the comparison made by Galileo’s critics, it will consume only a fraction of the funds taken by common agricultural policy, France’s favourite European project, which gobbles up tens of billions of euros each year.)

But there is another worry. Civil-liberties enthusiasts see the possibility that Galileo would allow unprecedented tracking of ordinary citizens’ movements. In an unrelated story, the Chicago Tribune reported this week that CIA agents lazily left their mobile-phone batteries in when abducting a terror suspect in Italy before “rendering” him to Egypt. This allowed the Italian police to retrace the agents’ movements during the incident. In future, systems such as Galileo and GPS could make it increasingly easy for police to track ordinary criminals (at least, those that are as sloppy as the CIA was in Milan). But as with every tool that can be used to keep tabs on people, it could be abused. Jove, after all, used his divine power not only to punish the wicked, but sometimes for his own capricious and selfish ends.

December 30, 2005 at 01:56 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (32) | Top of page | Blog Home

Ariz. Town Will Go Wall-To-Wall Wireless

Ariz. Town Will Go Wall-To-Wall Wireless - Yahoo! News

Sun Dec 11, 9:41 PM ET
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. - Call it a municipal status symbol in the digital age: a city blanketed by a wireless Internet network, accessible at competitive prices throughout the town's homes, cafes, offices and parks.

Tempe, the Phoenix suburb that is home to Arizona State University, is due to have wireless Internet available for all of its 160,000 residents in February, becoming the first city of its size in the United States to have Wi-Fi throughout.

Tempe officials hope that by making high-speed Internet as accessible as water or electricity across its 40 square miles, it will attract more technology and biotech companies — and the young, upwardly mobile employees they bring.

An increasing number of the nation's cities are looking at using Internet access as an economic development tool. Few cities have gotten as far as installing systems, "but most cities are realizing that it may be something that they want to do," said Cheryl Leanza, legislative counsel for the National League of Cities.

Philadelphia is developing a citywide high-speed system with EarthLink Inc. Unlike Philly or Tempe, New Orleans is building a free system, though the network speed will be limited.

The Tempe network is being installed by NeoReach Wireless, a subsidiary of Bethesda, Md.-based MobilePro Corp. Roughly 400 antenna boxes mounted on light poles throughout the city will be used to stitch together the network, to which NeoReach will sell access, primarily through other providers.

The network uses a so-called "mesh" setup, meaning it passes wireless signals from pole to pole and automatically reroutes transmissions if one of the transmitters breaks down.

Speeds will vary depending on the number of users logged into the same access point.

The network is strong enough only to be picked up outdoors or through one wall, meaning those who want service in their businesses or homes will need a box that serves as a signal booster and router.

The city of Tempe gave the company access to its light poles in exchange for use of the network in transmitting data to and from city offices and vehicles, said Karrie Rockwell, a spokeswoman for NeoReach.

Two hours of free access each day also will be available for Internet users on the Arizona State campus or the nearby Mill Avenue retail district, where the network began a year ago as a pilot project and has proven popular.

Robert Jenkins, 50, sits at a coffee house on Mill Avenue a couple of times a week with his laptop, downloading larger files that take too long at home when he uses his mobile phone to access the Internet.

NeoReach will directly sell service to outdoor users for $3.95 per hour or $29.95 per month. The resellers of NeoReach access have not yet announced pricing, but Rockwell said it will be cheaper than DSL or cable Internet access. Cable operator Cox Communications Inc. charges $49.95 per month for customers who don't get Cox phone or TV service. Qwest Communications International Inc. charges $44.99 and $54.99 per month, depending on the speed.

Tempe signed a contract with NeoReach after asking for bids — which prevented it from having to start its own utility and probably quelled potential objections to the city's involvement in a Wi-Fi network.

Elsewhere in the nation, cities have run into heavy resistance from telecom companies, which argue that the free market should dictate the cost and availability of service.

At least 14 states have passed laws limiting municipal Internet service, and other states are expected to consider similar limits, Leanza said. Arizona does not have such a law.

___

December 12, 2005 at 11:15 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (30) | Top of page | Blog Home

Nokia Buys a Mobile E-Mail Strategy

Business 2.0 :: Online Article :: Wireless Report :: Nokia Buys a Mobile E-Mail Strategy

Spending $440 million on Intellisync gets the cell-phone maker into the lucrative corporate e-mail market. Just one question: Did it wait too long to jump in?

By Matthew Maier, December 06, 2005
Nokia's (NOK) move to buy Intellisync, a Silicon Valley-based developer of e-mail software for cell phones, highlights the company's strategic dilemma: Wireless carriers control most of its sales, and it derives little profit from the services its phones deliver. With Intellisync under its wing, Nokia hopes to crack the lucrative market for mobile e-mail, which is forecast to grow from $400 million this year to $2 billion before the end of the decade.

Just selling hardware puts Nokia in a three-way race to the bottom with Motorola (MOT) and Samsung to see who can make the cheapest phones. And while Nokia has marvelously efficient manufacturing operations, the Finnish giant has aspirations that go beyond being the Dell (DELL) of cell phones.

But what did Nokia get for the $440 million it spent on Intellisync? The startup was just one of several companies in the fragmented market for mobile e-mail services, a sector that includes Good Technology, Seven Networks, Visto, and the current leader, Research in Motion -- not to mention Microsoft (MSFT), the world's largest software company. RIM, which started out selling e-mail-only BlackBerry devices, has in recent years moved aggressively into the phone market. A big selling point of RIM's BlackBerry phones is the e-mail software and services that come with them. With Intellisync, Nokia, the world's largest phone maker, plans to sell companies phones, software, and services to link them all. Most important, Nokia, like RIM, will now be able to extract a steady service revenue stream for its clients instead of just relying on selling phones.

On the surface Nokia's timing looks good. RIM is practically synonymous with mobile e-mail, but the Waterloo, Ontario, company is facing a patent lawsuit that could threaten its core product. And delivering e-mail to cell phones is quickly becoming one of the most important services for today's mobile workforce. While the number of users checking corporate e-mail on their phones today is small -- about 7 million -- that figure is expected to explode next year.

But that explosive growth means Nokia has no shortage of competition -- and Microsoft presents the biggest threat. Though it was late to the market, it has a ready-made customer base. Nearly half of all business customers use Microsoft's Exchange software to access their e-mail. E-mail administrators can install Nokia's e-mail software on top of their existing Exchange servers or just stick with Microsoft's own mobile e-mail solution, which is increasingly becoming compatible with a wide range of devices, including ones from Palm and Motorola.

Was Nokia's money put to good use buying Intellisync? That is -- pardon the expression -- a tough call. For a company with $39 billion in revenues, a $440 million acquisition is practically spare change, and the deal gives Nokia a stake in the mobile e-mail market. It will likely have to spend more than that, however, as it retools Intellisync's software and gears up an enterprise sales force. Selling to corporate IT managers is very different from selling to wireless carriers. And providing a service -- especially one like mobile e-mail that users depend on -- requires a different mind-set than engineering a cell phone. We'll have to watch closely to see if Nokia delivers.

December 10, 2005 at 01:00 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (10) | Top of page | Blog Home

Egg to launch m-banking service with O2

Finextra: Egg to launch m-banking service with O2

UK Web bank Egg has teamed with mobile network operator O2 to launch a wireless banking service over the i-mode platform.

O2 plans to launch a UK version of the i-mode mobile Internet service, which was developed by Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, in October. The service has over 55 million users worldwide, and over a million consumers use the system to access their Internet banking service every month.

Egg is the first banking provider on the Uk version of the i-mode service. Egg customers with i-mode phones will be able to use their current login to access details of balances, transactions and information on their accounts.

The bank says it may also develop the m-banking service further in the coming months to enable customers to transfer funds to other providers' accounts, or make personal payments via their mobile phones to other i-mode users.

Andy Thompson, director of propositions at Egg, says in-house research shows that over 50% of the bank's customers want mobile access to accounts.

"Consumers do not know at any given time how much money they have available to spend and over half are keen to embrace mobile internet banking as a method of managing their money," says Thompson. "Our service on i-mode is the start of a revolution in how consumers interact with their finances, providing them with immediate, convenient and fast access to their money wherever they are."

O2 says the UK-version of the i-mode service will also include news sites such as Financial Times, The Times Online and Sky News, along with entertainment sites such as Channel 4, the National Lottery and F1-Live.com.

September 27, 2005 at 07:06 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (13) | Top of page | Blog Home

Rogers test drives WiMax connectivity

ITBusiness.ca

8/24/2005 5:00:00 PM - Company calls it first Canadian example of Wi-Fi's successor

by Shane Schick
SAN FRANCISCO – Rogers Communications Inc. made a cameo appearance at Intel’s Developer Forum this week when it demonstrated what executives called the first ever WiMax connection in Canada.

s part of a keynote presentation
hosted Tuesday afternoon by Sean Maloney, executive vice-president for Intel’s mobility group, hundreds of developers were shown a live video feed from a cottage on Lake Rosseau in the Muskoka area north of Toronto featuring David Robinson, Rogers’s vice-president of business implementation. Rogers set up the connection through Redline Communication’s RedMax equipment, which incorporates the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 WiMax modem silicon.

WiMax refers to a protocol based on the 802.16 standard that allows mobile devices to connect at broadband speeds and over a longer distance than Wi-Fi, which are usually confined to short-range areas called hotspots. Intel has been working on a system-on-a-chip design supporting WiMax code-named Rosedale that was discussed at last year’s IDF.

In his brief video conversation with Maloney, Robinson called wireless broadband the next stage of high-speed Internet access, adding that Rogers has high hopes for WiMax. “It will allow (us) to offer access in underserved parts of the country, both in and out of Rogers Cable areas,” he said.

Other WiMax connections demonstrated during the keynote included a cargo ship in the Netherlands, a school in Argentina and an Intel factory in China. Maloney said it was important that WiMax development follow the same open standards-based approach that has allowed Wi-Fi access to thrive in major metropolitan areas.

Intel also used IDF to announce an extension of its mobility and security partnership with Cisco, which will see the two firms collaborate on what executives called the Business Class Wireless Suite. The software will be designed to make it easier to set up wireless networks using Intel-powered laptops, said Charles Giancarlo, chief development officer at Cisco.

“We could try to make it easy to use inside the network, but if it’s not easy to use on the notebook, we’re not getting anywhere,” Giancarlo said.

Maloney said Intel and Cisco will be working on enhanced voice-over-IP over Wi-Fi, as well as optimal access point selection, which he described as a “handshake guarantee” that the wireless connection a mobile system finds will have the appropriate bandwidth to run a user’s applications effectively.

“Most of the time your device is searching for the closest connection, but it’s not necessarily the strongest connection,” Maloney said, adding that mobile users need to make better use of broadband. “Your notebook is multi-tasking, whether you like it or not.”

Intel’s next-generation mobile processors will be grouped under a platform called Napa, and will include energy-saving features that tie in with the “performance per watt” theme that is running through this year’s IDF. Napa will include a dual-core processor code-named Yonah, for example, that will consume much less power than its predecessor.

Other components of Napa include a version of its 945 Express chipset that will offer enhanced 3D graphics capabilities. On the IDF exhibit floor, meanwhile, Canada’s ATI Graphics is quietly telling customers that it will be allowing its CrossFire boards will work with Intel’s Express 945 chip set, marking the first time the Toronto-based firm has offered interoperability with a third-party board.

“We wanted to reach a broader market. It hasn’t been formally announced yet,” said ATI spokeswoman Carrie Maynard, who added that while the company’s roadmap is not closely tied to Intel’s mobile strategy,“we’re always watching what they do.”

IDF continues through Thursday.

August 24, 2005 at 07:23 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home

Why broadband, neutrality, privacy deserve policy boost

TheStar.com - Why broadband, neutrality, privacy deserve policy boost

MICHAEL GEIST

This year's federal budget generated more than its fair share of attention. Between Belinda Stronach's switch to the Liberal Party and the drama surrounding the late Chuck Cadman's vote, a single paragraph in the budget that called for a review of Canada's telecommunication regulatory framework was understandably overlooked.

Led by a trio of experts, that policy review completes its first phase today as all initial submissions are due by midnight. The final report is expected by year end.

The breadth of the review is staggering as the supporting consultation document poses more than 100 questions — ranging from the rules pertaining to traditional local phone service to the regulation of the Internet.

While many telecommunications companies focus on the current regulatory environment, the critical public interest issue involves the Internet, which, led by Voice-over-IP telephony (VoIP), email, and instant messaging, plays an ever-increasing role in Canadian telecommunications.

Given the extensive range of Internet regulatory approaches worldwide, there is no consensus on how to approach the issue. As the panel examines the effectiveness of the current Telecommunications Act, it would do well to focus on three questions:

What key principles should form the core of Internet telecommunications policy? Are those found in the current act? and if so, are they effectively being implemented into law?

I believe that the answer to the first question rests with three needs: universal broadband access, network neutrality, and privacy. While high-speed Internet access (often referred to as broadband) is available in most urban areas in Canada, the majority of communities, particularly those on the outskirts of major cities as well as in rural areas, are still without broadband access.

The government must move to bridge this Canadian digital divide. Where cable and telephone providers are unwilling to offer commercial broadband services, federal, provincial and local governments should fill the void to ensure that all Canadians enjoy access to e-commerce, distance education opportunities, tele-health, and e-government services.

Second, the government should establish a legislative principle of network neutrality that prohibits Internet service providers from blocking content or placing competing services at a disadvantage.

This need has become increasingly evident.

Just last month Telus, locked in a contentious labour dispute with its union, briefly blocked access to a website that offered support to the union. In the process, Canada's second largest telecommunications company blocked access for its more than one million customers as well as customers from other ISPs that rely on Telus connectivity. Moreover, a University of Toronto study found that an additional 766 sites that shared the same IP address were blocked in the process.

Similar concerns have arisen within the context of Internet telephony. Third-party providers fear that the established telephone and cable companies will use their advantageous positions to favour their own services to the detriment of competing, low-cost services. Such conduct has already occurred in the U.S., however, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission disappointingly declined to prohibit the practice in its May VoIP decision.

Third, Canada's telecommunications framework must fully protect Internet privacy. As Justice LeBel of the Canadian Supreme Court warned last summer, "monitoring of an individual's surfing and downloading activities . . . tend to reveal core biographical information about a person."

The sensitive nature of Internet usage data places ISPs in a particularly critical position as the guardians of that information.

It is essential that Canadian law ensure that subscriber information is only disclosed under court order with the privacy interests of the individual fully considered and protected.

Moreover, strong Internet privacy protections will be needed in the face of Ottawa's lawful access plans, which will reportedly require ISPs to implement new network interception and surveillance capabilities.

The Telecommunications Act was not drafted with the Internet in mind, however its stated objectives are broad enough to cover universal broadband access, network neutrality, and Internet privacy. Section 7 of the act identifies nine objectives.

These include "reliable and affordable telecommunications services of high quality accessible to Canadians in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Canada," response to "economic and social requirements of users of telecommunications services," and contribution to "protection of the privacy of persons."

Although the telecommunications framework can accommodate Internet issues, reforms are still needed to implement these issues into Canadian law.

A new policy framework could be established to facilitate universal access to broadband much like policies of an earlier era ensured comprehensive local phone service. Similarly, the act's privacy provisions require updating since they focus on traditional phone services.

The network neutrality issue recently caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission, the CRTC's U.S. counterpart, which established the principle earlier this month. Canada would do well to follow the U.S. lead by acknowledging that the act's current provisions on this issue are insufficient.

Canada has prided itself in being a telecommunications leader. That position is being challenged, however, as other countries, recognizing the importance of the Internet, introduce supportive new policies.

The Canadian telecommunications policy review may have gone unnoticed, but its recommendations will have a major impact on Canadians' access to knowledge, education, and communication for years to come.

Michael Geist holds the Canada

Research Chair in Internet and

E-commerce Law at the University

of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca

or online at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.

August 15, 2005 at 08:38 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (23) | Top of page | Blog Home

PluggedIn: Wireless networks --easy hacker pickings

PluggedIn: Wireless networks --easy hacker pickings - Yahoo! News

By Andy Sullivan Fri Aug 5, 2:32 PM ET

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Wireless Internet users may not know that it's easy for outsiders to read their email or scoop up passwords or other sensitive information.

Secretly using a stranger's Wi-Fi connection is so easy that sniffing out open connections has become a sport among computer hackers.

At a recent conference in Las Vegas, wireless network enthusiasts, known as "wardrivers," had two hours to find 1,000 wireless networks in one of many contests that test their prowess.

Hackers ogled high-powered antennas that can pick up signals from over a mile away, and promoted wardriving Web sites like Wigle.net that map millions of wireless access points, or "hotspots," around the globe.

Hacking the Defcon conference's own wireless network proved popular as well -- organizers said they fended off some 1,200 attempts to compromise network security.

Wardrivers say the goal is not to steal bandwidth or spy on unsuspecting Internet users, and they frown upon those who do so. Rather, they hope to convince consumers and equipment manufacturers to improve the dismal state of wireless security.

"We're trying to raise awareness. Security, by default, should not be turned off," said an Edmonton, Alberta wardriver who goes by the name Panthera.

Wireless routers, many costing less than $100, enable consumers to surf the Web from their back yard or living room couch. With a range of several hundred feet, a Wi-Fi signal can reach to the street or surrounding houses, allowing neighbors to get online too.

Equipment sellers like Wardrivingworld.com say they do a lot of business with truckers and Winnebago owners as well as war drivers.

"People think truckers just drink beer and eat chili and belch, but 800 truck stops across the United States have wireless access," said Wardrivingworld.com co-founder Matthew Shuchman.

Hotspot owners can set passwords, encrypt their traffic to deter eavesdroppers, or limit network access only to specified computers.

But most don't have that kind of protection in place -- a June 2004 wardrive of some 230,000 hotspots conducted found that 62 percent were not encrypted.

Encryption won't stop a determined hacker. Wardrivers say that the WEP encryption standard used by many access points is easily crackable, though the recent WPA standard is tougher.

Open networks can expose sensitive information in homes, businesses and government offices.

A Michigan man in 2004 was convicted of using an unsecured network at a Lowe's home improvement store to steal credit card numbers, while a Toronto man was charged in 2003 with downloading child pornography using a nearby wireless connection.

Some wardrivers say that manufacturers like Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news), are to blame because they don't ship their products with security settings turned on and are more concerned with ease of use than security.

"They're not taking care of their customers -- they're intentionally putting them in harm's way," said RenderMan, a prominent wardriver who has logged some 20,000 access points in Edmonton.

New Linksys routers allow consumers to set up a secure connection with other Linksys devices by simply pushing a button, said Mike Wagner, the company's director of worldwide marketing. But Linksys, which accounts for 57 percent of the U.S. consumer market, can't ship its products with security settings turned on because most users won't bother to change the default password, Wagner said.

"That preconfigured password will be the exact same on 500,000 wireless products that we ship every month. So that's actually creating a false sense of security," he said.

Legal aspects of wardriving remain murky. While a variety of laws make it illegal to access a computer network without permission, very few have been tested in court.

Reading e-mail and other traffic on a wireless network could invite prosecution and it's unclear if wardrivers are breaking the law when they use open networks for Internet access, said San Francisco lawyer Robert Hale.

In Tampa, Florida, a man was arrested in April and charged with unauthorized access to a computer network after police found him using a nearby hotspot without permission.

"It comes down to a policy debate about whether the Internet is open or not," Hale said at a Defcon forum.

RenderMan and other prominent wardrivers say that people shouldn't tap into open networks even if the owners don't mind.

"We actively do not condone unauthorized use of people's networks," said Andy Carra, who helps run the Wigle.net wardriving Web site.

August 6, 2005 at 01:20 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (13) | Top of page | Blog Home

'Piggybackers' are logging into trouble

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online

By Sam Lister
COMPUTER users who log on to the internet by “piggybacking” on other people’s wireless connections risk prosecution after Britain’s first conviction for the offence.

Thousands of people who have computers with wireless technology (wi-fi) are known to access the internet free by using other people’s networks. The practice, known as piggybacking, has always been thought of as a victimless offence because most people who are exploited pay fixed monthly rates for their access, and incur no extra costs if others use their network.

But technology experts gave warning last night that thousands of prosecutions and hefty fines could follow the conviction of a man for accessing the internet via somebody else’s link.

Gregory Straszkiewicz, 24, appeared in court at the end of last month charged with dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service, for which he was given a £500 fine and a 12-month conditional discharge. He also had both his computer and wireless card confiscated.

Phil Cracknell, the chief technology officer at NetSurity, a computer security firm, said that the ruling set a precedent that would have repercussions for many of Britain’s estimated one million wi-fi users.

“The message is clear,” Mr Cracknell said. “This is a line in the sand. Individuals who feel that it is harmless to connect to an open network — or indeed even if they connect to one by accident — have to take heed and be very careful.”

He said that though some people deserved prosecution, the law was currently too crude to discern between different levels of abuse and could result in inappropriate court actions.

Mr Cracknell added that pressure should be put on computer manufacturers and software companies to prevent unauthorised wi-fi access. He said that many computer users inadvertently piggybacked on to other people’s networks after being invited to do so by the software programmes they were using.

Straszkiewicz is believed to have been caught after being discovered using his laptop while sitting in his car outside the home of a wi-fi user in Ealing, West London.

He had been seen in the area on several previous occasions over the past three months and was reported to police by a neighbour who had become concerned that he was acting suspiciously. Police arrested Straszkiewicz, also of Ealing, under the Computer Misuse Act and examined his laptop, which revealed that he had been in the area periodically for two to three months.

He was found guilty at a hearing two weeks ago at Isleworth Crown Court of two offences against the Communications Act 2003 for dishonestly obtaining an electronic communication service.

Stephen Rothwell, an officer based at Ealing CID, said: “This case is the first of its type in the UK and it sets an example to people who try and avoid paying for the internet.”

Until now, using other people’s wi-fi was considered more cheeky than criminal. With wi-fi operating at speeds up to 20 times faster than normal connections, a piggybacker is unlikely to slow down a user’s system unless they download huge files. But there are growing concerns about the ease with which networks can be accessed. In the US last year, Brian Salcedo, 21, was sentenced to nine years in prison for siphoning credit card numbers over a wireless network from a hardware store.

CYBERCRIMINALS

# More than a million people now use wi-fi to access the internet

# People who pay for wi-fi can ensure no one else hijacks their system by setting up security features including a password

# A survey found that more than a third of wi-fi networks in London and Frankfurt had no basic security features running

# Police are increasingly concerned about wi-fi cybercrime, including the theft of bank details from computers. Some criminals, such as paedophiles, are also known to leave their networks unprotected so that they can pretend that any illegal activities were not committed by them

August 6, 2005 at 01:23 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home

Motorola to add Yahoo Web services to mobile

Motorola to add Yahoo Web services to mobile - Yahoo! News

Tue Jul 26, 2:20 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news) will put Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) Web services such as search, instant messaging, e-mail and news on its handheld products in a new alliance to take advantage of increasingly powerful mobile devices, the companies said on Tuesday.

Yahoo's services will be available on Motorola's phones, broadband-enabled products for the home and its upcoming iRadio device, which will allow users to play Internet radio stations and their own digital music.

The companies expect products resulting from the deal to be available to consumers in major markets starting next year, although they are still finalizing details.

The deal is Yahoo's first with Motorola, which is best known as the No. 2 wireless phone maker, but also makes cable television set-top boxes and routers for home broadband.

The pact, one of Yahoo's most important with a device maker, is part of the company's ongoing work to extend its services beyond the personal computer to mobile customers and into homes, said Marco Boerries, senior vice president of Yahoo's Connected Life business unit.

This is Motorola's first large deal with an Internet company like Yahoo, operator of the Web's most-visited site.

Among other things, the agreement aims to have Motorola preinstall Yahoo's services on mobile handsets so carriers and consumers have no need to download or add the services later.

Shares of Yahoo were up 28 cents at $34.13 in early afternoon Nasdaq trade, while Motorola was up 2 cents at $20.56 on the
New York Stock Exchange.

July 27, 2005 at 10:49 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (5) | Top of page | Blog Home

Podcasting Spurs a Media 'Land Grab'

Podcasting Spurs a Media 'Land Grab' - Yahoo! News

By GREG SANDOVAL, AP Technology Writer Sat Jul 16, 9:45 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - The runaway popularity of blogging, which has turned everyday people into online news outlets, caught the media establishment off guard. The industry is trying not to make the same mistake with podcasting — which lets nearly anyone "broadcast" on the Internet.

Everyone from Disney to Newsweek to National Public Radio is now offering podcasts, and Apple Computer, Inc. last month made it a whole lot easier to find them and download them to iPods.

While profits remain elusive, there's a bigger prize out there — the company that manages to become the go-to Web site for podcasts could gain enough leverage to strike favorable deals with proven content providers, and generate cash by charging for subscriptions and advertising.

Podcasts are recorded audio files, distributed via Internet download. They can be stored on computers or digital music players and played back whenever the listener chooses. Like bloggers, podcasters can sound off on whatever they please — from politics and religion to gladiolas and glass-blowing.

For now, podcasts are mostly talk — the complexities of the music-licensing business make it exceedingly difficult to legally include songs in the audio files. Podcasting isn't likely to explode in popularity until companies figure out how to guarantee that music owners get paid.

But as tens of thousands of podcasters seek audiences, a growing number of companies are trying to make sense of what's out there and become magnets for the best of it. They include not just Apple but also Podcastalley.com, Podcast.net and as of last weekend, another startup — Odeo.com.

In Odeo's newly renovated loft across the street from the Giants' ballpark, Evan Williams and his first nine employees have hustled to launch the beta version, which creates directories of podcasts for downloading and provides studio-quality sound tools for podcasters to use.

Odeo encourages podcasters to upload their shows on its site. Recognizing that one of the main complaints about podcasting is the difficulty of finding them, Odeo organizes the shows by genre. Odeo's headings includes arts, food, religion, sex, and technology. There is even a one called "weird."

To help listeners discover new shows, Odeo employees scour the site for the best and display their recommendations on the "Featured Channels" page.

Williams, who co-founded Blogger.com before selling it off to Google three years ago, is enough of a believer in podcasts to bankroll Odeo out of his own pocket. And while he won't say exactly how he plans to make a profit, he says charging for premium content or for access to digital recording tools is a possibility.

Gaining legal access to popular music may be what's needed for podcasting to become profitable. Without music, skeptics doubt there is any money in it.

"There is no easy way to license music legally for podcasts," says Fred von Lohmann, an attorney for the online civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "You have to clear the rights one song at a time from record labels and artists and that's a painful process."

Williams, however, is optimistic: "If podcasting finds a large enough audience, the money will come."

Already, some podcasters are willing to pay for superior tools, according to Matt Galligan, who hosts a podcast called "The Spotlight" that promotes music from unsigned and little-known artists.

"If you don't have good audio quality, people won't listen to you," he said.

Podcast Alley is a typical Internet bootstrap operation, prized by fans of Internet "narrowcasting" not just for its podcast selection but also for free tools and tips.

Launched in November and featuring 4,100 podcasts, it has just one employee: founder Chris McIntyre, a 26-year-old programmer from Nashville, Tenn.

McIntyre says the number of podcasts has tripled in the past three months on his site and he's already begun selling enough ads to cover his expenses.

"Podcasts appeal to niche markets that can help advertisers zero in on their target audience," he said, adding that a podcast dedicated to endurance sports has received money from Gatorade for plugging the sports drink during the show.

In another sign that podcasting is attracting advertisers, Toyota has agreed to underwrite all the podcasts for Los Angeles-based radio station KCRW for six months in exchange for a 10-second mention in each of the shows, said Ruth Seymour, KCRW's general manager.

If anyone is positioned to win big on podcasting, it's Apple, which added an iPod directory that features more than 3,000 podcasts to the company's iTunes music-download site on June 28. Apple said more than a million podcasts were downloaded in the first two days the service was active.

With its marketing muscle and customer base — 16 million iPods sold — Apple has the clout and connections to strike deals to obtain music rights and collect licensing fees from podcasters wishing to become Web disc jockeys.

But it had better act fast.

NPR is negotiating with the music industry for podcasting rights as are other media companies, according to Seymour, whose station receives some of its programming from NPR.

She is eager for such a deal. Without one, KCRW is prevented from recording podcasts for shows that include music. That means fans of the popular "Morning Becomes Eclectic" must wait until music rights are obtained.

"The explosion for podcasting hasn't happened yet," said Seymour. "It takes off the second that someone gets the music rights."

___

On the Net:

Apple: http://www.apple.com/podcasting/

Odeo: http://odeo.com/

Podcast Alley: http://www.podcastalley.com/

Podcast.net: http://www.podcast.net

July 17, 2005 at 08:00 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

EU moves to speed up Europe's wireless Internet

EU moves to speed up Europe's wireless Internet - Yahoo! News

Thu Jul 14,11:03 AM ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The
European Commission opened access to a new radio frequency that it said will speed up wireless access to the Internet in coffee shops and airports throughout Europe.

The European Commission said on Thursday it was making available part of the 5 gigahertz (GHz) band for Wi-Fi, a technology used by laptops for high-speed, wireless connections to the Internet.

The new spectrum will allow data transfer at 50 megabits per second compared with 10 megabits on the current 2.4 GHz radio band, originally used for microwave ovens.

The new spectrum will be made available throughout the 25-nation
European Union and the Commission wants member states to implement the move before November.

"We are expecting from today's decision economies of scale to develop and European citizens and companies will profit from faster connections to the Internet," Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr told a daily briefing.

Japan and the United States are also implementing rules for the use of 5 GHz range for Wi-Fi, which is also used by military and satellite services, the Commission said.

The frequency will also give consumers access to Voice over IP in hotspots around the world, allowing them to avoid the high roaming charges imposed by mobile phone companies.

The Commission said the number of hotspots in western Europe is expected to rise to 45,000 by the end of this year from 26,000. This compares with a current number of 29,400 in Asia-Pacific and 22,700 in the United States.

"Today's Commission decision will help industry to create innovative services, such as wireless Voice over IP, for a single European market," said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.

According to market analysts, the number of Wi-Fi users worldwide should rise to more than 500 million over the next three years from 120 million currently, the Commission said.

Manufacturers have already started to ship equipment that can use part of the 5 GHz band and the existing band.

Separately, the Commission also asked for feedback on how to bridge the broadband digital divide between Europe's urban areas that have easy access to high-speed Internet compared with rural areas.

A survey recently showed that broadband was available to 90 percent of the urban population in western Europe but only 62 percent of the rural population.

July 16, 2005 at 03:47 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home

The CrackBerry backlash

Mobile e-mail | The CrackBerry backlash | Economist.com

Jun 23rd 2005
From The Economist print edition

You can have too much BlackBerry

THE BlackBerry, an iconic pocket-sized e-mail device, has millions of devoted fans—but increasingly has its critics, too. “My wife has banned me from using it at weekends,” moans one technology industry executive. At a recent technology conference organised by The Economist, the question of “CrackBerry” dependency, rather than grid computing or web services, was one of the hottest topics. The winner of the British version of “The Apprentice”, a reality TV show, has admitted that his wife has threatened to flush his BlackBerry down the toilet. Meanwhile bosses grumble that nobody pays attention in meetings any more, because they are so busy doing e-mail under the table. It takes over your life! It ruins your marriage! It distracts you at work! The BlackBerry backlash, it seems, has begun.

The rise of the BlackBerry is part of a wider trend, as wireless and broadband technologies make it possible to work any time, anywhere. But blaming communications technologies for their social consequences is shooting the messenger. This has been going on since the mid-19th century, when telegrams were introduced. “The businessman of the present day must be continually on the jump—he must use the telegraph,” grumbled one New York merchant in 1868. With each new gizmo, most people eventually discover a sensible work/life balance. It just takes time to adjust.

True, wireless devices pose a particular challenge, because they work anywhere. As a result, users themselves must decide when to use them for work and when not to—and many people, it seems, are so far unable to decide where to draw the line. “It's wonderful that we can work anywhere now, but at the same time we need rules for ourselves,” says Andrew Brown, a mobile-computing specialist at IDC, a consultancy. In some cases, he says, workers have refused to use mobile e-mail devices, or have given them back. Less drastically, P. Diddy, a rap star, is reported to have switched off his BlackBerry for a few weeks while he appears in a Broadway play. Is he the first celebrity member of the growing, happy band of recovering CrackBerry addicts?

July 5, 2005 at 12:31 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home

New wireless broadband 'whispers' below the radar

New wireless broadband 'whispers' below the radar - Yahoo! News

By Lucas van Grinsven, European Technology Correspondent Mon Jul 4,11:57 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A new communications tool that "whispers" on busy radio channels could enable broadband Internet services for on-the-go wireless devices or hook-up homes that cannot yet get fast Web access, its inventor said.

xMax, the latest innovation in broadband communications, is a very quiet radio system that uses radio channels already filled up with noisy pager or TV signals, said inventor Joe Bobier.

"xMax is trespassing radio frequencies, although trespassing is not the right word, because we're allowed to transmit a signal if it doesn't interfere with other, stronger signals," said Bobier.

What is unique about the system is that it can emit signals that are too weak to be picked up by normal antennas, but that can be "heard" by special aerials which know where to "listen," thus enabling dual usage of the same scarce radio spectrum.

The technology could interest a telecoms or Internet operator with no radio spectrum because it can begin a wireless broadband service with very few base stations and add more stations and increase density as demand rises.

It is also appealing for rural areas which operators find too costly to cover with the current third generation mobile phone networks which need base stations every few miles.

"We're talking about a 400 to 500 percent improvement in range," Bobier said, adding that this was still much better than Flash-OFDM, also touted as a rural area broadband system.

XG Technology, the Florida-based company which owns xMax, is in discussions with several chip makers and equipment makers to build the hardware.

Radio chips for devices should be in the $5-$6 range when built in volume while base stations will be around $350,000. Those prices are competitive considering the range covered.

LOW FREQUENCY BANDS

Stuart Schwartz, an electrical engineering professor at Princeton University, said xMax is not an efficient system to transport data through the airwaves, "but it is doing it in a benign way. You won't even know it's there. It's very clever."

The advantage is not only that radio spectrum can be used twice and that xMax needs no special radio band of its own, but especially that it can sit in the valuable low frequency bands which characteristically carry very far and through buildings.

Other new broadband Internet technologies, such as WiMAX and Flash-OFDM, need dedicated radio frequency bands. If they are situated in frequency ranges above 1 Gigahertz, the signal has trouble penetrating buildings and other obstacles, or traveling over distances longer than a few miles.

"We offer long range as well as high speed," Bobier said.

The radio technology can also be used in higher frequencies, and even in wired systems, but the company aims at low frequency wireless networks first.

"The sweet spot for xMax happens to be in the lower frequencies," said Rick Mooers, executive chairman of XG Technology.

Bobier found a way to put one bit of data on one radio frequency cycle and recover that weak signal with a newly invented filter. If xMax uses a powerful carrier signal -- which does require a dedicated, albeit very narrow radio band -- it can even extend its range and capacity.

The first xMax network is currently being built in Miami and Fort Lauderdale where one base station can deliver broadband Internet over a 40 square mile area.

The capacity of that wireless network is not bigger than any other wireless technology, which means that more base stations need to be added if a certain number of people are using the network -- typically several hundreds to a 1,000 users.

July 4, 2005 at 09:42 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (5) | Top of page | Blog Home

Nextel Tests High-Speed Wireless Internet

Nextel Tests High-Speed Wireless Internet - Yahoo! News

By Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post Staff Writer Thu Jun 30, 1:00 AM ET

Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston said yesterday it would test a new high-speed wireless technology in the Washington area. The trial, which is scheduled to begin in the fall, will take place in the District, Arlington, Alexandria, Reston and Bethesda, but the service will not be commercially available.

Nextel, which is expected to merge with Sprint Corp. later this summer, is testing the service over various devices, including laptops, desktops and handheld devices. The service, provided through San Bruno, Calif.-based IPWireless, will allow video streaming, online gaming and video conferencing; it is about as fast as cable modem service. The company plans to use airwaves in the 2.5 gigahertz frequency range, which are currently not used for cellular service.

The trial is expected to last at least six months, and it follows another Nextel trial of a similar high-speed service from Flarion Technologies Inc. in Raleigh, N.C. Nextel said it has not committed to making such services available commercially.

The companies declined to disclose the financial arrangement between Nextel and IPWireless during the course of the trial.

July 3, 2005 at 10:39 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

A Wireless World, Bound To Sockets

A Wireless World, Bound To Sockets - Yahoo! News

By Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post Staff Writer Sun Jun 19, 1:00 AM ET

Here's the paradox of the portable age: The electronic devices that free people to go anywhere but never lose touch also keep them bound by cords and plugs to electric sockets. Sophisticated devices with color screens, video and gaming features demand more of the batteries that power them and, without steady recharging, their users plunge from being in touch to feeling impotent.

"I usually have to recharge it at two-hour intervals," salesman Joe Kammerer said of his laptop computer. "Then it starts complaining that it needs food. . . . It stresses me out."

So Kammerer learned the art of socket-seeking. "I sit strategically in the corner of a conference room," which is close enough to a wall to use a plug, the Washington resident said. "Sit on the floor at the airport? I totally do that."

So do his fellow travelers. "I've gotten, 'Are you going to be long?' and I say, 'Sorry. I just got here.'"

The cycle of renewing battery life has introduced new rituals around the modern trough -- a power strip -- where devices are hooked up to charge overnight like animals watering in a stable. Handhelds and cell phones go in their cradles before bed. Bookcases and beds shift to make way for bulky chargers that cover both sockets, leaving the bedside lamp without power. The laptop, digital camera and iPod play musical chairs on the wall. Drive time becomes critical charge time.

The cycle is irksome for some. Darcy Travlos, a senior analyst for the research firm CreditSights, said she keeps her devices charged in the kitchen, where the toaster and coffee maker take a back seat to the cell phone and iPod. On the road, it's less predictable. "You're a well-dressed professional, and you end up sitting on the floor next to whatever is needing to be charged," she said.

"It's the most important and least-talked-about issue in consumer electronics," said Travlos, who carries a bag full of chargers when she travels. "Everybody's working on battery life."

Each year, batteries become more powerful and circuitry improvements make devices more energy-efficient. Still, batteries can't keep up with of rising expectations for longer life.

Thousands of consumers settled with Apple Inc. this month, after owners of early versions of the iPod complained about its built-in battery.

PalmOne Inc., Intel Corp., Motorola Inc. and many others are putting muscle behind making batteries last longer. In the past few years, Intel started investing in small companies that work on prolonging or preserving battery life, and now has five such investments. Motorola Ventures, Motorola's investment unit, funded A123 Systems, a company developing more-efficient lithium-ion batteries.

Venture-capital companies are getting more interested in battery-power-related investments, said R. Philip Herget, a partner in Alexandria-based Columbia Capital LLC. The company invested in a start-up called Enpirion that manages power in devices, he said, and is looking at other companies. "Power management is critical," he said.

"Battery life is one of the most important things for our customers," said Raj Doshi, product line manager for handhelds at PalmOne Inc., which in April released the Tungsten E2 handheld, lighter and with double the battery life of the previous version. The new handheld is 4.7 ounces, compared with its five-ounce predecessor. "I tell the engineers I want the most battery in a smaller battery size," Doshi said, but that simple request requires huge technological advances.

Scientists are getting better at mixing the right chemicals to get more power out of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, but there are cost and physical limitations on how much energy can go into a small cell. Intel is testing battery technology and working with hardware manufacturers to introduce laptops usable for roughly eight hours without external power. Those computers could be on the market by 2008.

Today, people are still locked in a power struggle. David Wochner, a lawyer in Washington, last week called the tech department at his firm because his BlackBerry appeared not to be taking a charge. "I'm now down to two bars and I'm getting really nervous," he said. "The fact that you have to keep track of charging and making sure you're getting it done is a pain. The phone is driving me bananas."

In technology circles, experts sing about the promise of convergence -- phone, computing, e-mail, television, gaming and photography on one device -- yet most people still carry separate gadgets for each function. And that requires a host of different chargers.

"I have so many chargers, can I just tell you?" Kammerer said, rattling off the list: Two laptop chargers -- one at work, one in the briefcase. Another for the iPod, "although the cord is too short, so you can't plug it in and put it on the table, so it mostly stays on the floor."

He has more than a dozen chargers for his cell phone. There's one in the bedroom, where he puts his spare change, so that he won't forget to stick the phone in his pocket each morning. "I leave one in my suitcase in the front pocket. It kind of lives there" so he won't forget it when he travels. He remembers running to stores between meetings to replace forgotten chargers, or bumming one off of a client. Kammerer has "a charger graveyard" of a dozen or more spares he bought on business trips.

"If you switch [cell phone] brands, it won't work," Kammerer said of his many chargers. "I wish they were standardized. My briefcase gets heavy."

Manufacturers argue that providing their own chargers ensures the quality of the service, said Jeff Joseph, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. Also, at $30 to $50 for a charger, "it's an important revenue source."

There is a new universal power adapter called iGo that comes with specialized tips, each about the size of a bottle cap, that can be exchanged to fit different devices -- iPods, almost any cell phone, laptops, BlackBerrys. It can also charge several devices at once.

"The average consumer carries 5.5 power devices," said Charles R. Mollo, president and chief executive of Mobility Electronics Inc., which makes the iGo. "The key problem we solve is to make life easier."

All griping about battery power aside, many users agree that today's mobile devices are an improvement on what came before. Remember the days of 20-pound "portable" computers and breadbox-size boomboxes weighted down with D-size batteries?

"There's no way I'd ever be willing to go back to the way it used to be," Wochner said.

June 21, 2005 at 10:40 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (2) | Top of page | Blog Home

Nokia and Intel push to get WiMAX out this year

Nokia and Intel push to get WiMAX out this year - Yahoo! News

By Lucas van Grinsven, European Technology Correspondent Fri Jun 10, 1:16 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Mobile phone and network company
Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and chip giant Intel (INTC - news) said on Friday they would step up their efforts and collaboration to make WiMAX a new standard in mobile broadband Internet access.

Intel has been the driving force behind WiMAX, touting it as the long-distance broadband Internet sibling of Wi-Fi which it turned into a success with its Centrino chipsets for laptops.

The support of Nokia, which has not always been a WiMAX believer, shows that the world's biggest mobile phone maker and one of the leading wireless networks makers also sees a future.

Interestingly, Nokia sees WiMAX demand from mobile telecoms operators, for which the Finnish firm is already building third generation mobile phone networks with, also, fast Web access.

"There is interest from operators. It's still too early to tell who and what, but we (Intel and Nokia) are making sure it is working," said Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's chief strategy officer.

"The key thing is to get the WiMAX standard ready," he said, adding that despite the additional research efforts from Nokia, it will be toward the end of the year before there is an open standard that can be used by all chip and mobile device makers.

Instead of an overlap, Nokia now believes WiMAX may be complementary to its third generation mobile phone networks, and Nokia will make sure the WiMAX base stations can sit peacefully alongside the cell phone base stations in radio masts.

"For instance in hot zones," Ojanpera said in a telephone interview, referring to congested areas where the cell phone network would be quickly overloaded if many users started downloading film clips and making video calls.

In those areas, a dedicated Internet network such as WiMAX would be more efficient in dealing with such data services.

THE RIGHT CHIPS FOR THE RIGHT DEVICES

By coming together, the biggest chip maker and the biggest cell phone maker, want to accelerate the development of the right, energy efficient chips for both mobile devices as well as laptop computers, in addition to the base station chips.

Intel, which makes more than four out of every five personal computer processors, has been struggling to break into the cell phone market. Nokia, like all of the other major handset vendors, is no customer of its key baseband chips. The WiMAX agreement may contribute to Nokia warming up to Intel.

"To have innovators like Nokia working to bring WiMAX and other broadband wireless technologies to the masses is very encouraging," Sean Maloney, who leads Intel's Mobility Group, said in a statement.

Nokia and Intel are members of the WiMAX forum, which is an industry-led non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of WiMAX.

Nokia was a founding member, but left the forum temporarily when it appeared that WiMAX would only be a long-distance replacement for broadband Internet cables to fixed locations, such as rural villages which could not otherwise get broadband.

It rejoined the forum last year when it emerged that a new variant of WiMAX, dubbed 802.16e, would give consumers the opportunity to move around. The specifications for this standard still need to be approved by the forum, expected late this year.

The mobile version of WiMAX can be built into mobile devices such as those made by Nokia, alongside the cellphone chipsets.

Intel, in any case, plans to build WiMAX chips into laptop chipsets, just like it started selling Wi-Fi chips as an integrated part of its Centrino chipsets two years ago.

June 12, 2005 at 02:02 AM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (4) | Top of page | Blog Home

Seattle tops list of wireless Web communities

Seattle tops list of wireless Web communities - Yahoo! News

Tue Jun 7,12:32 PM ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Maybe it's the rain that encouraged Seattle's residents to stay indoors, sipping their lattes and surfing the Web wirelessly, that made the northwest city this year's most 'unwired' city, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The study, sponsored by Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), showed that Seattle had more places for its residents to connect to the Internet via wireless, or Wi-Fi, hot spots than any other U.S. city.

Coffee-sipping laptop users are a common sight in Seattle, Washington, the birthplace of Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq:SBUX - news) that also has software giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) in the nearby suburb of Redmond.

Second on the list was San Francisco's metropolitan area, followed by Austin, Texas. Fourth was another northwestern city, Portland, Oregon, and fifth was Toledo, Ohio.

The survey for 2005's "Most Unwired Cities" was based on the number of access points at commercial, public, airport, and other locations among the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States.

Following is a complete list of the top ten unwired places in the United States:

1. Seattle, Washington

2. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, California

3. Austin, Texas

4. Portland, Oregon-Vancouver, Washington

5. Toledo, Ohio

6. Atlanta, Georgia

7. Denver, Colorado

8. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

9. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota

10. Orange County, California

June 8, 2005 at 01:57 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (3) | Top of page | Blog Home

Bluetooth wireless tech starts to show some bite

Bluetooth wireless tech starts to show some bite - Yahoo! News

By Doug Young Fri Jun 3, 6:25 AM ET

TAIPEI (Reuters) - After a decade of empty chatter, the short-range wireless technology known as Bluetooth is finally getting some bite.

Many of the niche vendors at this year's Computex, the world's second largest computer show, were displaying Bluetooth -- named after a Danish king who united Norway and Denmark in the 10th century -- versions of their wares this week in Taipei.

They are joining a growing number of top industry players, like peripherals makers Logitech (LOGN.S) and BenQ (2352.TW), and cellphone makers
Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news), in adding the colorful technology to their lineups.

Despite many enthusiastic boosters, Bluetooth has been slow to take off due to a lack of standardisation in its early days and the absence of any "killer applications" that could take advantage of its clarity, high bandwidth and ability to transmit through walls.

But rising standardisation has helped to ease the growing pains. A number of applications have given the technology new momentum in the last year, most notably wireless headsets used in conjunction with music players and cellphones.

As the trend catches on, sales of Bluetooth chips have grown sharply, with 264 million expected to sell this year -- more than three times the 69 million for 2003, according to Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center (IEK), a Taiwan research group.

As the technology has matured, average prices have dropped to an estimated $3.80 per chip from $6.40 over the same period, according to IEK data.

"This year our Bluetooth sales will probably be up several times over last year," said Kelly Wang, assistant manager of business development for In-Tech Electronics, one of the many companies displaying Bluetooth products at Computex.

"It's definitely growing very fast.

DONGLE JINGLE

In-Tech's Bluetooth products on display included wireless headsets for music players, as well as external speakers that can be positioned at a distance from a Bluetooth-enabled hi-fi or PC.

The company also had a Bluetooth hands-free device for mobile phone use in the car, along with "dongles" -- the simple adapters that fit into a universal serial buses (USB) on the back of a PC that act as an add-on receiver for Bluetooth signals.

Across the aisle from In-Tech, T-Pro International Co. Ltd. racked up sales of about 15,000 dongles in the first quarter, with its Bluetooth devices selling to U.S. retailer CompUSA and attracting interest at the show from the Sharper Image chain of stores, said international sales director Andrew Huang.

In addition to dongles, T-Pro also offers Bluetooth light pointers that allow for wireless scrolling across computer screens, as well as more common wireless speakers and headsets.

"There's been a lot interest," said Huang. "We've had interest from 20 to 30 customers at the show."

Bluetooth was slow to catch on after its roll-out in 1994 due to high prices, said Jay Marsden, technical marketing engineer at ATI Technologies (Toronto:ATY.TO - news), a top maker of PC graphic chips whose biggest fans include gaming enthusiasts.

"Bluetooth peripherals on the PC market are pretty limited right now for gaming," he said.

The absence of a killer application has also kept the technology from developing faster, said Brian Ma, an analyst at International Data Corp.

"The search is for the main application beyond the headsets, along with making sure it's as easy to use as possible," he said.

June 4, 2005 at 02:54 PM in Wireless | Permalink | TrackBack (21) | Top of page | Blog Home

Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path for Thieves

The New York Times > Technology > Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path for Thieves

By SETH SCHIESEL

Published: March 19, 2005

The spread of the wireless data technology known as Wi-Fi has reshaped the way millions of Americans go online, letting them tap into high-speed Internet connections effortlessly at home and in many public places.

But every convenience has its cost. Federal and state law enforcement officials say sophisticated criminals have begun to use the unsecured Wi-Fi networks of unsuspecting consumers and businesses to help cover their tracks in cyberspace.

In the wired world, it was often difficult for lawbreakers to make themselves untraceable on the Internet. In the wireless world, with scores of open Wi-Fi networks in some neighborhoods, it could hardly be easier.

Law enforcement officials warn that such connections are being commandeered for child pornography, fraud, death threats and identity and credit card theft.

"We have known for a long time that the criminal use of the Internet was progressing at a greater rate than law enforcement had the knowledge or ability to catch up," said Jan H. Gilhooly, who retired last month as special agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Newark and now helps coordinate New Jersey operations for the Department of Homeland Security. "Now it's the same with the wireless technologies."

In 2003, the Secret Service office in Newark began an investigation that infiltrated the Web sites and computer networks of suspected professional data thieves. Since October, more than 30 people around the world have been arrested in connection with the operation and accused of trafficking in hundreds of thousands of stolen credit card numbers online.

Of those suspects, half regularly used the open Wi-Fi connections of unsuspecting neighbors. Four suspects, in Canada, California and Florida, were logged in to neighbors' Wi-Fi networks at the moment law enforcement agents, having tracked them by other means, entered their homes and arrested them, Secret Service agents involved in the case said.

More than 10 million homes in the United States now have a Wi-Fi base station providing a wireless Internet connection, according to ABI, a technology research firm in Oyster Bay, N.Y. There were essentially none as recently as 2000, the firm said. Those base stations, or routers, allow several computers to share a high-speed Internet connection and let users maintain that connection as they move about with laptops or other mobile devices. The routers are also used to connect computers with printers and other devices.

Experts say most of those households never turn on any of the features, available in almost all Wi-Fi routers, that change the system's default settings, conceal the connection from others and encrypt the data sent over it. Failure to secure the network in those ways can allow anyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled computer within about 200 feet to tap into the base station's Internet connection, typically a digital subscriber line or a cable modem.

Wi-Fi connections are also popping up in retail locations across the country. But while national chains like Starbucks take steps to protect their networks, independent coffee shops that offer Wi-Fi often leave their connections wide open, law enforcement officials say.

In addition, many universities are now blanketing campuses with open Wi-Fi networks, and dozens of cities and towns are creating wireless grids. While some locations charge a fee or otherwise force users to register, others leave the network open. All that is needed to tap in is a Wi-Fi card, typically costing $30 or less, for the user's PC or laptop. (Wi-Fi cards contain an identification code that is potentially traceable, but that information is not retained by most consumer routers, and the cards can in any case be readily removed and thrown away.)

When criminals operate online through a Wi-Fi network, law enforcement agents can track their activity to the numeric Internet Protocol address corresponding to that connection. But from there the trail may go cold, in the case of a public network, or lead to an innocent owner of a wireless home network.

"We had this whole network set up to identify these guys, but the one thing we had to take into consideration was Wi-Fi," Mr. Gilhooly said. "If I get to an Internet address and I send a subpoena to the Internet provider and it gets me a name and physical address, how do I know that that person isn't actually bouncing in from next door?"

Mr. Gilhooly said the possibility of crashing into an innocent person's home forced his team to spend additional time conducting in-person surveillance before making arrests. He said the suspects tracked in his investigation would regula