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Index 2005
Wireless News 2004 July to December Wireless News
January to June 2004 Wireless
News
June, 2004
Texas to set up free wireless Internet access at highway
rest stops and information centers to encourage drivers to take
more frequent breaks
Keith said the state hopes to reduce fatigue-related accidents by encouraging
drivers to stop more often. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, about 1,500 people die annually in fatigue-related crashes
in the United States. Full
Story AP/CNN_ 6/18/04
Scientists applying Wi-Fi technology to farm management
Farms of the not-too-distant future could be managed through wireless computer
networks that allow farmers to sit in their pickups with a laptop and drive
tractors, monitor soil moisture and even feed the hogs remotely. Stuart Pocknee,
leader of advanced technologies at a University of Georgia agricultural lab,
believes some aspects of wireless networks will be common on farms in about
five years, helping growers with insect control, opening gates for livestock
and controlling irrigation pumps. Full
Story AP/CNN_ 6/18/04
Five short-range wireless
standards seen combining
Sector specialists say companies will eventually combine the five to make life
easier. Automatic wireless connections between electronic devices are the Holy
Grail of the computer and consumer electronics industry. Full
Story Reuters_ 6/11/04
France Telecom-owned
mobile operator Orange launches world's smallest smartphone
The new smartphoneis one third
smaller than its predecessor and the handset is the world's smallest
that can handle computer applications. The carrier also said that by
the second half of 2004 it would have specially designed "Orange-signature" phones
from all six major vendors, adding models from South Korea's Samsung
Electronics and Germany's Siemens. The telephones have functions unique
to Orange. The new phone, the SPV C500, is contract manufactured for
Orange by Taiwan-based High Tech Computer Corp and runs on Microsoft
Windows for smartphones. Full
Story Reuters_ 6/8/04
May, 2004
Wi-Fi popularity opens
security holes
Wi-Fi hot, security
not
Makers of Wi-Fi routers, access
points and other gadgets say that as many as 80 percent of home and office
users don't bother to enable basic encryption or other protections against
connection theft, eavesdropping and network invasion.
Experts say that while Wi-Fi hardware makers have made initial setup easy,
the enabling of security is anything but. Full
Story CNN 5/31/04
AT&T Corp. to restart its mobile phone service using
Sprint Corp.'s network
AT&T, under pressure from a price war with Baby Bells such as Verizon Communications
Inc. and SBC Communications Inc., said the deal would allow it to match Baby
Bells' offers to consumers that bundle local, long-distance and wireless phones
services. Full
Story Reuters_ 5/18/04
Wireless medicine:
From the frontiers of space to the locker room
A trial on the international space station is using ultrasound to look for
injuries inside the body during spaceflight. Researchers recently installed
one of the devices in the locker room of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team.
The technology also has been used by the U.S. armed forces to diagnose casualties
on the front lines of in Iraq. Full
Story CNN_ 5/12/04
FCC proposes using
empty TV slots for wireless
New wireless communications services could be deployed using vacant television
airwaves in cities and rural areas, under a proposal issued by the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission. The additional airwaves could help meet growing
demand and spur innovations like the Wi-Fi wireless Internet services that
now connect consumers to the Web in airports and coffee shops. Full
Story Reuters_ 5/13/04
From CBs to Wi-Fi:
Truckstops go wireless to draw in customers
Wireless Internet is fast becoming as vital a communications tool for drivers
as CB radio, truckers say, giving them a way to stay in closer touch with home
and to entertain themselves. Industry analysts say there are now about 695,000
wireless networks operating in the United States, with roughly $1.7 billion
spent on Wi-Fi equipment in 2003. Full
Story AP/MSNBC_ 5/6/04
African rush for mobile
phones makes it world's fastest-growing market
The International Telecommunication Union says more Africans have begun using
phones since 2000 than in the whole of the previous century and more use mobile
phones than traditional fixed lines. However, only about half of sub-Saharan
Africa is covered by a mobile signal, and many people remain too poor to buy
their own phone. Full
Story BBC News_ 5/5/04
BBC to test making
all television programmes available on the internet
They could be viewed on a
computer screen, burned to a DVD and watched on a television set or downloaded
to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). "If we don't enter this market,
then exactly what happened to the music industry could happen to us, " said
Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of new media and technology. Full
Story The Independent_ 5/3/04
Boom Time Back in Mobile
Market
The mobile phone market is booming again, a study has indicated. World sales
of handsets leapt by an annual 40% to 153 million in the first three months
of 2004, according to the report. The boom in cheaper camera phones combined
with a surge in upgrades in the US, Europe and Korea are driving the resurgence. Full
Story BBC_ 5/2/04
April, 2004
Wal-Mart Begins Using
RFID Product Tags
Pilot program begins in Dallas stores for a technology that's targeted to one
day replace the bar code. Radio frequency information, or RFID, tags provide
automatic tracking of pallets and cases of goods. Wal-Mart says the tags will
help reduce theft and counterfeiting, the latter particularly affecting prescription
medicines. Full
Story MSNBC_4/30/04
Senate Extends Internet
Tax Moratorium
After months of debate, the U.S. Senate has extended a moratorium on Internet
access taxes, but stopped short of permanently extending the ban on taxes specific
to the Internet. Full
Story Computerworld_ 4/30/04
EFJohnson receives
additional $986,000 orders from the U. S. Air Force for mobile and
portable radios: it's the fifth order this month from the Air Force
The equipment - the company’s 5100 series Project 25 Portable Radios
- is being deployed to meet National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) mandated narrowband standards and expanded operational requirements. Full
Story Press Release_ 4/26/04
China drops plan to impose own wireless technology standard
The Chinese said they would
indefinitely postpone a plan, scheduled to go into effect on June 1,
to impose a software encryption standard for wireless computers that
American giants like Intel and Microsoft regarded as an unfair trade
barrier. Full
Story New York Times_ 4/22/04 (logon required)
Delayed after post-September 11 airline turoil and bumped
by its original U.S. patrons, Boeing Co.'s Internet service for
commercial airplanes is finally getting airborne
Connexion's launch follows that of rival Tenzing Communications, which has
for months been offering e-mail and text-messaging -- but not Web browsing
- on about 800 U.S. and overseas airplanes. Full
Story AP/CNN_ 4/21/04
Police action to go live in Tyler, Texas thanks to digital
video cameras in the city's patrol cars linked through a wireless
network
The IBM digital video system is the first for cruisers in a U.S. police force.
Numerous police forces currently use dashboard-mounted video cameras that record
police stops on tape. Full
Story Reuters_ 4/20/04
Star Trek communicator ready to go
The US firm Vocera created the lapel wireless voice communicator just like
they use in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The wi-fi gadget is proving popular
in hospitals to make it easier for nurses to find and get advice from doctors. Full
Story BBC News 4/17/04
Intel's new chips target future phones
Previously code-named Bulverde, the chips have been built to support the growing
number of wireless technologies phones are being expected to handle. Full
Story BBC
News_ 4/13/04
American Municipal
Power-Ohio uses Spacenet to monitor and control power network
Gilat Satellite Networks' subsidiary Spacenet has been chosen by American Municipal
Power Ohio (AMP-Ohio) to provide a high-speed VSAT data network. The Spacenet
Connexstar service will provide remote control for more than 100 transmission
substations and carry vital data to AMP-Ohio's SCADA network. Full
Story Space Daily_4/6/04
Office for Domestic Preparedness/Department of Homeland
Security to purchase Aegis SafetyNet™ Radio Bridge
Aegis Assessments, Inc. announced that, after a successful demonstration on
March 25, 2004 at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) - San Diego,
the Office for Domestic Preparedness, the principal component of the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for preparing the United States for
acts of terrorism, has agreed to purchase the SafetyNet™ Radio Bridge
for further testing and evaluation through SSC - San Diego. The SafetyNet™ Radio
Bridge interconnects incompatible radios and bridges them beyond their normal
capabilities to provide immediate radio interoperability at an emergency site. Full
Story Press Release 4/6/04
Oil exploration by
remote control: wireless brings off-shore crews to dry land
A geologist wearing 3D glasses stands in front of a giant screen showing a
computer generated model of the sea bed under an oil rig in the Norwegian North
Sea. This is the future of oil and gas exploration. Now crews don't have to
spend weeks at sea. And it saves money. Full
Story BBC News_ 4/5/04
Military Spec, Multi-mode
802.11 WLAN Solutions for Indoor, Outdoor & Harsh Environments:
The Most Secure, Ruggedized Wireless APs Introduced by 3e Technologies
International
3e Technologies International, Inc., the leading provider of FIPS 140-2 secure
wireless solutions to the US Navy and Army, today announced a new generation
of multi-mode, extremely secure and ruggedized wireless access points (APs).
The new APs – the 3e-525MP, 3e-526OAP, and 3e-527APH combine IEEE802.11b,
802.11g, and 802.11a functionality into multiple platforms for use indoors
and outdoors, as hotspots, stationary or mobile wireless bridges, repeaters,
and LAN switches. Full Story Press
Release_ 4/5/04
Quake Global announces
two new dual-mode satellite and terrestrial modems available through
Teletouch Communications in the United States
Both modems facilitate global wireless communication over Quake Global's connection
to a network of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, as well as either the CDMA
or GSM networks, making them ideal choices for fleet managers whose tracking
systems must be able to access the satellite network when the cellular network
is unavailable, and vice versa. The new dual-mode modems automatically switch
to the most effective and cost-efficient available network. Full
Story Press Release_4/5/04
Terrorists have been
using the built-in alarms in mobile phones to set off explosives
High profile figures like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf reportedly are
turning to radio jammers to block attacks on their cars. The U.S. Department
of Defense has plans to jam larger areas. Full
Story CNN 4/4/04
March, 2004
Alcatel, Intel team
in WiMAX push
FRENCH telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel and US chip giant Intel have
announced an alliance to push WiMAX, a broadband standard designed to compete
with current GSM and future UMTS mobile protocols. WiMAX technology stirred
interest this year at the CeBIT tech fair in Hannover, Germany, vowing to compete
with cable, ASDL and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems) or
third-generation mobile phone standards. Full
Story Australian IT 3/29/04
San Francisco ballpark
becomes first pro sports stadium WiFi internet hub
The San Francisco Giant's wired stadium is the latest in a growing world of
wireless connectivity. Earlier this month the city of San Jose, the capital
of Silicon Valley, began offering free WiFi service in its downtown areas. Full
Story Reuters 3/30/04
Mobile phones to operate
TV video recorders, says Opera
Opera Software said that the Mobile Interactive Programming Guide (IPG) would
allow clients to look up television schedules on a mobile phone and then press "record" to
a video recorder, no matter how far away.
Full
Story Reuters 3/30/04
Wal-Mart hits snags
in push to use radio tags to track goods
March deadline is moved to June. A radio identification system uses electronic
readers to retrieve digital data stored in microchips embedded in plastic product
tags, with metal grids around the chip that serve as an antenna. Full
Story New York Times 3/29/04
Tectonic Engineering
solves cell site selection and construction issues with new program
Tectonic, as program manager, and American Water, the leading water services
provider in the United States, have teamed up to make over two thousand facilities
(water tanks and towers, raw land, rooftops, etc.) in 19 states nationwide
available to the cellular industry. These locations involve some of the most
challenging states to obtain zoning approval, including New York, New Jersey,
Virginia and California. Full Story Press
Release 3/27/04
Cellular execs say
go slow on high-speed wireless
High-speed wireless data technology claimed much of the limelight at this year's
Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association industry show in Atlanta,
but before they pour billions into faster networks, executives want more time
to evaluate the technology and wait for more advanced consumer devices, such
as phones that can send and receive video clips. Full
Story Reuters 3/24/04
Cellular execs say
go slow on high-speed wireless
High-speed wireless data technology claimed much of the limelight at this year's
Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association industry show in Atlanta,
but before they pour billions into faster networks, executives want more time
to evaluate the technology and wait for more advanced consumer devices, such
as phones that can send and receive video clips. Full
Story Reuters 3/24/04
U.S. government wants
to approve some new online communication companies to ensure they offer
wiretapping tools
Critics, including some online businesses that are working with authorities
to make their services wiretap-capable, say the DOJ proposal isn't just unprecedented
and overzealous but also dangerously impractical. Full
story AP/CNN 3/23/04
Powerwave Technologies
introduces high performance MCPA for global network operators
The G3L-1929-120 MCPA is the highest performance Powerwave product to date
for this market and its multi-protocol capability provides network operators
with a path from GSM to W-CDMA without requiring a change or upgrade to the
amplifier. Full story Press
Release 3/22/04
Move over 3G, here
comes WiMAX
Just when European mobile operators are finally getting their costly third-generation
(3G) networks up and running, semiconductor giant Intel is putting its formidable
weight behind WiMAX, a powerful wireless technology that offers lightning fast
wireless data communications over distances as far as 50 kilometers. Full
story Reuters 3/19/04
Plug Power's GENCORE?
hydrogen system is supporting a remote cell tower in the United Kingdom
?This breakthrough means we
will be able to extend our network to new areas not presently covered," said
Ian Guthrie, Operations Manager for Orange in Scotland.? "We are
also pleased that we have been able to do this in a cost-effective way,
while minimizing the environmental impact to the surrounding area.? Full
story Press Release 3/18/04
Siemens to cooperate
with Ericsson, Motorola
German technology conglomerate Siemens said it would cooperate with rivals
Motorola and Ericsson to develop a standard for so-called "push-to-talk" technology
that allows handsets to be used like walkie-talkies. Full
story Reuters 3/16/04
China won't back down:
Wireless encryption rules to stand despite Intel complaints
Chinese officials said Thursday that they would not back down on a plan to
require computer makers to adopt a new standard for encrypting wireless communications
despite a pledge by the chipmaker Intel to halt sales of its Centrino technology
in China. Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, will stop sales of the wireless
communications chipset after balking at government demands for alterations
before June 1. A quarter of all laptops sold in China last year used the chip,
including those made by Legend Group, the country's largest personal-computer
maker. Full
story Bloomberg News/International Herald Tribune 3/11/04
Rivals work on mobile
internet registry
Leading mobile phone and computer firms Nokia, Microsoft, Vodafone, Orange,
Sun Microsystems, Samsung and the GSM Association have teamed up to create
a domain registry for mobile internet sites. Although not yet approved by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the directory
aims to make wireless internet-based services simpler by offering a common
naming and registration standard. Full
story vunet.com 3/11/04
Wireless Sensor Networking: $7 Billion Market by 2010
More than half a billion nodes will ship for wireless sensor applications in
2010 for an end user market worth at least $7 billion, according to a recently
released report by emerging wireless research firm, ON World. Full
story Press Release 3/9/04
Reliance IndiaMobile
introduces India's first Wrist Watch phone
Reliance IndiaMobile has launched Telson TWC 1150, a wristwatch designer phone
with plug-in camera from Telson Electronics, for the first time in India. A
next-generation mobile phone with 'cybertic' design, Telson 1150 can be worn
on the wrist and is the world's lightest CDMA2000 1x phone. Telson TWC 1150
is a RUIM enabled phone. Full
story Press Release 3/3/04
Built-in WiFi a challenge
for standalone products
Intel wants desktop PCs to double up as network hubs and video recorders, a
move that could make life tough for the companies that produce those standalone
products.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker will begin midyear by adding wireless
networking technology Wi-Fi to an upcoming pair of desktop chipsets. When manufacturers
choose a specific version of one of the two new chipsets, they will be able
to add the foundation for a built-in Wi-Fi access point nearly for free. Full
story NEWS.com/MSNBC 3/3/04
Canadian wireless industry
announces inter-carrier Wi-Fi® agreement
Canada’s national wireless carriers announced they have signed an inter-carrier
agreement that establishes common standards for roaming and interoperability
of the public Wi-Fi® hotspots they operate. In addition, the carriers have
joined together to create a common brand identifier for Wi-Fi hotspots in Canada.
Today’s announcement by Bell Mobility, Microcell Solutions (Fido®),
Rogers AT&T Wireless and TELUS Mobility serves as confirmation of the carriers’ commitment
to develop Wi-Fi in Canada. Full
story Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association
3/1/04
February, 2004
New Edge Marries Wireless,
DSL
New Edge Networks is offering Wi-Fi networking connectivity as a standard option
to its DSL customers. The company believes it is the first national broadband
provider to offer a combined DSL and Wi-Fi device as a standard business option. Full
story news@2 direct/Wireless Week 2/25/04
Alcatel and SK Telecom
jointly introduce the world's first Photo-Music-Video service
Alcatel and SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in Korea, jointly introduced
the world's first photo-music-video (PMV) service at the 3GSM World Congress
2004 in Cannes, France.
With this service, end users can produce and send personalized video content
to mobile phones or an email address. Full
Story Press Release 2/24/04
Agilent announces new
solutions at 3GSM that help wireless service providers manage 3G networks
and increase revenue
Three new Agilent solutions,
announced at the 3GSM World Congress event held Feb. 23-26 in Cannes,
France, help wireless service providers effectively manage quality of
service (QoS) across the entire service life cycle. Full
story Press Release 2/23/04
Intel outlines broadband
Wi-Max vision
Broadband wireless technologies
will help bring the next five billion users to the Internet, an Intel
Corporation executive explained today at the Wireless Communications
Association (WCA) annual symposium. Sean Maloney, Intel executive vice
president and general manager of the Intel Communications Group, outlined
the company's plan to work with the industry to dramatically drive down
the cost and increase the availability of broadband wireless technologies,
including 802.11 wireless local area networking (WLAN) and 802.16 wireless
metropolitan area networking (WMAN). This effort will help attract the
next wave of Internet users, particularly those in emerging markets such
as China, India and Latin America.? Full
Story? Press Release 2/23/04
NSA is taking on a
host of new security challenges as wired, wireless and IP-based networks
grow more interoperable.
The National Security Agency (NSA) has spearheaded a number of initiatives
to tackle the toughest network security problems ever, from Internet interoperability
and network convergence to wireless vulnerabilities. They include the GSM and
CDMA wireless networks, the Public Switched Telephone Network with Internet
Protocol-based networks, and wireless with wired networks. Full
story Military Information Technology 2/9/04
3rd Wave Wireless for
Europe
Fourteen CEOs from key players
within the mobile communications sector today set out more than twenty
recommendations on steps needed to support and sustain the rollout of
mobile networks and services across Europe. This involves action on research,
standards, content, security, spectrum, international co-operation and
regulation. Full
story 3G.co.uk 1/12/04
Home News
Index 2005
Wireless News 2004 July to December
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