Digital dividend: 600 MHz band and geographic interleaved spectrum | Ofcom
Ofcom is consulting on the 600MHz band which will become free as part of the UK's Digital Dividend as analogue TV is switched off in 2012.
This consultation aims to:
* update stakeholders on spectrum availability, how developments have changed this and how technical considerations may affect spectrum use.
* seek stakeholders' input on potential uses of the spectrum and on their level of interest in acquiring it. This information will help us develop proposals on how best to make the spectrum available.
Ofcom originally published what it was going to do in 2008, but the market has changed since then and other European countries have decided to refactor the upper end of the 800MHz band and this has knock-on effects for the lower half of the 600MHz band (some paring was to take place).
There's potentially many uses for the spectrum which include Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and mobile broadband as well as mobile multimedia services (MMS e.g. mobile television), program making and special events (PMSE), broadband wireless access (BWA) and communications for the emergency services.
Ofcom expect to publish proposals for further consultation when they are more certain about what spectrum will be available for award.
Though Ofcom has some autonomy on these matter, unfortunately radio signals do not honour national boundaries and thus they have to act in a manner that is friendly to the UK's neighbours.
The consultation closes on 28/04/2010
2010/02/17
Seesaw tips the balance
IPTV company Seesaw has launched as a completely free service in the UK. It has programs from BBC, 4oD and Five available 24 hours a day and available to anyone without a sign-up etc.
They have 3,000+ hours of content available for viewers to watch including current series on terrestrial TV and it's streamed in Flash 10 video.
All the videos (even BBC - which comes from WorldWide) come with pre-roll adverts (i.e. before the program starts adverts are run).
For UK viewers Seesaw is a great catch-up free TV service with some good content.
They have 3,000+ hours of content available for viewers to watch including current series on terrestrial TV and it's streamed in Flash 10 video.
All the videos (even BBC - which comes from WorldWide) come with pre-roll adverts (i.e. before the program starts adverts are run).
For UK viewers Seesaw is a great catch-up free TV service with some good content.
2010/02/16
BlackBerry - BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express
BlackBerry - BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express
RIM has announced an 'express' or free version of it's Blackberry Enterprise Server or BES. The feature set seems to be a slightly reduce version of the standard BES allowing up to 75 Blackberry devices to be connected.
BES Express must be installed on the same server as Exchange (versions 2003 SP2, 2007 SP1, 2010) or Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 which will limit things due to server resourcing.
BES Express is also configured through a web interface giving access to the following: -
* Manage smartphones including resetting passwords, or remotely wiping lost or stolen smartphones pick from 35 IT policies.
* Define policy settings using IT policy templates.
* Delegate tasks with 6 preconfigured IT administration roles.
* Deploy and manage applications over-the-air.
* Schedule device, application and IT policy updates.
* Update BlackBerry Software wirelessly without users having to bring the device to IT.
This will be really useful for companies who have Exchange or MS SBS who can use Activesync for free with MS Mobile devices (and even iPhones) and should bring Blackerry devices back into the realm of start-ups and small businesses (MS SBS can be obtained very cost effectively for a start-up) giving full access to push email, calendering and all the other BES features.
RIM has announced an 'express' or free version of it's Blackberry Enterprise Server or BES. The feature set seems to be a slightly reduce version of the standard BES allowing up to 75 Blackberry devices to be connected.
BES Express must be installed on the same server as Exchange (versions 2003 SP2, 2007 SP1, 2010) or Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 which will limit things due to server resourcing.
BES Express is also configured through a web interface giving access to the following: -
* Manage smartphones including resetting passwords, or remotely wiping lost or stolen smartphones pick from 35 IT policies.
* Define policy settings using IT policy templates.
* Delegate tasks with 6 preconfigured IT administration roles.
* Deploy and manage applications over-the-air.
* Schedule device, application and IT policy updates.
* Update BlackBerry Software wirelessly without users having to bring the device to IT.
This will be really useful for companies who have Exchange or MS SBS who can use Activesync for free with MS Mobile devices (and even iPhones) and should bring Blackerry devices back into the realm of start-ups and small businesses (MS SBS can be obtained very cost effectively for a start-up) giving full access to push email, calendering and all the other BES features.
2010/02/15
Nokia and Intel to go Mee (or MeeGo)
Intel who drove the Moblin initiative (as in MOBile LINux) have joined forces with Nokia's Maemo Linux OS and come up with MeeGo a combined effort taking parts of both.
The system is expected to run on multiple architectures and not just Intel processors (many mobile devices are based on ARM chips).
Moblin hasn't really gone anywhere yet, while Maemo is used on Nokia N700/800/810 tablets and the recently released N900 smartphone.
The combined effort seems more of a defensive move against Android which is making headway in the smartphone arena (and Google giving away Nexus One phones to pretty well any conference it is involved with doesn't hurt it's popularity).
MeeGo does pose interesting questions about the future of Symbian (which is still the most popular phone operating system with an installed base of about 330m phones). The Symbian Foundation recently put all of the OS into the public domain as Symbian^3 with promises for Symbian^4 later this year. There were similar worries when Nokia said Maemo would be used for high end smartphones, so it's likely that this strategy will continue, Symbian for lower end phones and MeeGo for high end ones.
Though MeeGo might be a good OS it will have a struggle with Android, though the biggest loser might well be Windows Mobile 7 which is also due to be announced at Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona this week.
The system is expected to run on multiple architectures and not just Intel processors (many mobile devices are based on ARM chips).
Moblin hasn't really gone anywhere yet, while Maemo is used on Nokia N700/800/810 tablets and the recently released N900 smartphone.
The combined effort seems more of a defensive move against Android which is making headway in the smartphone arena (and Google giving away Nexus One phones to pretty well any conference it is involved with doesn't hurt it's popularity).
MeeGo does pose interesting questions about the future of Symbian (which is still the most popular phone operating system with an installed base of about 330m phones). The Symbian Foundation recently put all of the OS into the public domain as Symbian^3 with promises for Symbian^4 later this year. There were similar worries when Nokia said Maemo would be used for high end smartphones, so it's likely that this strategy will continue, Symbian for lower end phones and MeeGo for high end ones.
Though MeeGo might be a good OS it will have a struggle with Android, though the biggest loser might well be Windows Mobile 7 which is also due to be announced at Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona this week.
2010/02/11
Innovate and get into the top 100
Innovate 2010 is a competition for start-ups in technology, media and telecommunications.
There are various "slam pitch" events in Europe (London March 3rd - entry fee $75) and North America later in the year. Starups selected will get: -
* Coverage in some of the world’s most influential business and technology media
* Incisive feedback from select investors, technology executives and successful entrepreneurs
* Qualified introductions to world-class partners and investors.
One company will also get free participation in the Connections Program.
It looks like a good start if you're selected, but expensive if you're not.
There are various "slam pitch" events in Europe (London March 3rd - entry fee $75) and North America later in the year. Starups selected will get: -
* Coverage in some of the world’s most influential business and technology media
* Incisive feedback from select investors, technology executives and successful entrepreneurs
* Qualified introductions to world-class partners and investors.
One company will also get free participation in the Connections Program.
It looks like a good start if you're selected, but expensive if you're not.
2010/02/09
DBVu goes live
DBVu has gone live, well the website has at least.
DBVu is a MySQL monitoring, analysis and reporting service that will help start-ups and small companies grow/scale their MySQL databases by reporting on issues before they become problems. Reports will be suitable for both management (easy to understand) and technical users who can drill down and see what's happening in the depths.
Customers install some simple client software on a public facing server, which is securely polled by DBVu and gathers the information from the MySQL database.
Once live customers will be given 30 days of completely free usage, after which the service will drop to basic monitoring and reporting. If a customer signs-up during the first 30 days then full reporting will be continued after the free period expires.
As all the analytics and reporting is performed centrally, bug fixes, new features etc can be added without the customer making any changes. Also as value add features are added, customers will easily be able to upgrade.
In future value add services will be database replication and back-up with increased support for new database types such as Postgres, Oracle and MS SQL.
Currently DBVu is looking for friendly beta testers.
DBVu is a MySQL monitoring, analysis and reporting service that will help start-ups and small companies grow/scale their MySQL databases by reporting on issues before they become problems. Reports will be suitable for both management (easy to understand) and technical users who can drill down and see what's happening in the depths.
Customers install some simple client software on a public facing server, which is securely polled by DBVu and gathers the information from the MySQL database.
Once live customers will be given 30 days of completely free usage, after which the service will drop to basic monitoring and reporting. If a customer signs-up during the first 30 days then full reporting will be continued after the free period expires.
As all the analytics and reporting is performed centrally, bug fixes, new features etc can be added without the customer making any changes. Also as value add features are added, customers will easily be able to upgrade.
In future value add services will be database replication and back-up with increased support for new database types such as Postgres, Oracle and MS SQL.
Currently DBVu is looking for friendly beta testers.
2010/02/05
Application for a variation to 3G licences (and consequent proposal to vary draft 2GHz MSS/CGC Base station licences) | Ofcom
Application for a variation to 3G licences (and consequent proposal to vary draft 2GHz MSS/CGC Base station licences) | Ofcom
Ofcom is holding a consultation on raising the power limits on 3G basestations which the mobile network operators(MNO) have requested in order to increase mobile coverage.
The MNOs have requested to increase the EIRP limit to 65dBm while Ofcom are suggesting 68dBm, the current limit is 62dBm EIRP i.e. an increase of 6dBm which is about 1585W going up to 3981W almost double the power.
Though Vodafone made the original request Ofcom are proposing that the limits be increased for all operators.
This will allow bigger cell sizes and therefore will be good for rural areas, though (if there any any) health risks will be increased too.
The consultation closes on 19/03/2010.
Ofcom is holding a consultation on raising the power limits on 3G basestations which the mobile network operators(MNO) have requested in order to increase mobile coverage.
The MNOs have requested to increase the EIRP limit to 65dBm while Ofcom are suggesting 68dBm, the current limit is 62dBm EIRP i.e. an increase of 6dBm which is about 1585W going up to 3981W almost double the power.
Though Vodafone made the original request Ofcom are proposing that the limits be increased for all operators.
This will allow bigger cell sizes and therefore will be good for rural areas, though (if there any any) health risks will be increased too.
The consultation closes on 19/03/2010.
Facebook get's Hip and Hop
Facebook Rocks the PHP World with HipHop - Application Development from eWeek
Facebook have introduced their HipHop technology which allows PHP code to run more efficiently. It's not a compiler but a language translator, PHP is translated to C++ which is compiled using the g++ compiler. There's a C++ runtime to go the with compiled code.
Some elements of PHP have been removed, but the core elements and various extensions are supported.
Facebook say that the code runs 50% more efficiently (which is massive reduction for a site like Facebook which delivers 400 billion pages every month).
HipHop is being released as open source and was made available on GitHub servers yesterday for all to get access too.
PHP is still used on many sites and it will take a while for HipHop to be adopted, though high volume sites will probably looking at using it in the very near term if it will save CPU's, though it wont be for all as PHP is very easy to understand and make modifications to (as it's interpreted any modifications will be actioned next time the page is viewed). Now much more formal procedures will be required as in change the PHP source, translate to C++, compile and send to the the server. Larger sites will have some kind of source/update control in place anyway so they'll just need to incorporate the extra steps into their processes.
Facebook have introduced their HipHop technology which allows PHP code to run more efficiently. It's not a compiler but a language translator, PHP is translated to C++ which is compiled using the g++ compiler. There's a C++ runtime to go the with compiled code.
Some elements of PHP have been removed, but the core elements and various extensions are supported.
Facebook say that the code runs 50% more efficiently (which is massive reduction for a site like Facebook which delivers 400 billion pages every month).
HipHop is being released as open source and was made available on GitHub servers yesterday for all to get access too.
PHP is still used on many sites and it will take a while for HipHop to be adopted, though high volume sites will probably looking at using it in the very near term if it will save CPU's, though it wont be for all as PHP is very easy to understand and make modifications to (as it's interpreted any modifications will be actioned next time the page is viewed). Now much more formal procedures will be required as in change the PHP source, translate to C++, compile and send to the the server. Larger sites will have some kind of source/update control in place anyway so they'll just need to incorporate the extra steps into their processes.
2010/02/01
Carphone Warehouse to split into TalkTalk and New Carphone Warehouse
Carphone Warehouse (CPW) the telecoms and broadband operator is to demerge its two operating units by the end of March. TalkTalk will deal with all telecoms and broadband services, while New Carphone Warehouse will deal with the retail outlets (incorporating 50% of Best Buy Europe and 47.5% of Virgin Mobile France). Both TalkTalk and New CPW will be traded on the London Stock Exchange.
Charles Dunstone will become Chairman of both companies while Dido Harding will be CEO of TalkTalk and Roger Taylor (who is current CEO of the combined entities) will become CEO of New CPW.
This should allow both companies to specialise in their particular areas and both can feed each other at arms length.
Charles Dunstone will become Chairman of both companies while Dido Harding will be CEO of TalkTalk and Roger Taylor (who is current CEO of the combined entities) will become CEO of New CPW.
This should allow both companies to specialise in their particular areas and both can feed each other at arms length.
There's a new play on words and it's called SeeSaw
The quite cleverly named new IPTV player has gone into private beta. The service is called SeeSaw (get it?) allows TV programs from the BBC, 4oD and Five to be delivered on your PC.
There are various categories: -
Comedy
Drama
Factual
Lifestyle
Entertainment
Sport
Or you can select by channel: -
BBC
4oD
Five
There's quite a lot of content available with new shows like Skins from 4oD and also a lot of Dr Who from the BBC (both past and present) and things like the Gadget show from Five, there also lots more. The content uses DRM and Flash Video.
If SeeSaw manage not to annoy too many people (like BSkyB) and keep the service going there'll be compelling content for viewers (it seems you have to be in the UK to view it). How the commercial models will work is yet to be seen. Hopefully it wont go the same way as its predecessor Kangaroo.
There's a private beta request sign-up on the front-page.
There are various categories: -
Comedy
Drama
Factual
Lifestyle
Entertainment
Sport
Or you can select by channel: -
BBC
4oD
Five
There's quite a lot of content available with new shows like Skins from 4oD and also a lot of Dr Who from the BBC (both past and present) and things like the Gadget show from Five, there also lots more. The content uses DRM and Flash Video.
If SeeSaw manage not to annoy too many people (like BSkyB) and keep the service going there'll be compelling content for viewers (it seems you have to be in the UK to view it). How the commercial models will work is yet to be seen. Hopefully it wont go the same way as its predecessor Kangaroo.
There's a private beta request sign-up on the front-page.
2.6GHz Spectrum Auction delayed until 2011
2.6GHz was going to be the figurehead of Ofcom's spectrum auction policy. It would be auctioned on a technology neutral basis with at least a national license allowing the possibility for innovative new 3G services, LTE or even WiMAX (i.e. a technology neutral basis). Ofcom would be the regulator that other countries would strive to follow. This was all going to happen in 2007.
The 2.6GHz band was originally allocated as a IMT-2000 (i.e. 3G) 'expansion band' and Ofcom might have allocated it to a 6th operator had the 5th 3G operator (i.e 3) failed.
Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and T-Mobile and O2 (both UK bits) challenged Ofcom that a realistic price could not be set unless Ofcom determined what would happen with GSM spectrum refarming (the current licenses only allow 900MHz to be used for GSM, the GSM operators wan to use it for 3G and the PCN operators i.e. Orange and T-Mobile think they should get some of it). The situation is further muddied as the MNO's with 900MHz spectrum say they should have access to 800MHz spectrum if they give up some of their valuable 900MHz. The reason 900MHz (and 800Mhz which is currently analogue TV) is so valuable is that it has very good transmission characteristics and goes into buildings well, while 1.8GHz (PCN) and more so 2.1GHz (3G) radio signals tend to get absorbed by concrete etc.
The situation has subsequently got even more complicated with the proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile which would break existing spectrum caps.
BT are also interested in the 2.6GHz band as they could deploy WiMAX in rural areas and 3G services in urban areas. The WiMAX service would allow them to provide high speed broadband connections to communities where fibre/VDSL wont reach and in urban areas where they have good broadband coverage, they could offer their own 3G services to compete in the mobile business markets.
It was hoped that the auction would take in 2010, but now it seems 2011 is the earliest possible date and Ofcom still have a lot of mess to clear-up.
The 2.6GHz band was originally allocated as a IMT-2000 (i.e. 3G) 'expansion band' and Ofcom might have allocated it to a 6th operator had the 5th 3G operator (i.e 3) failed.
Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and T-Mobile and O2 (both UK bits) challenged Ofcom that a realistic price could not be set unless Ofcom determined what would happen with GSM spectrum refarming (the current licenses only allow 900MHz to be used for GSM, the GSM operators wan to use it for 3G and the PCN operators i.e. Orange and T-Mobile think they should get some of it). The situation is further muddied as the MNO's with 900MHz spectrum say they should have access to 800MHz spectrum if they give up some of their valuable 900MHz. The reason 900MHz (and 800Mhz which is currently analogue TV) is so valuable is that it has very good transmission characteristics and goes into buildings well, while 1.8GHz (PCN) and more so 2.1GHz (3G) radio signals tend to get absorbed by concrete etc.
The situation has subsequently got even more complicated with the proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile which would break existing spectrum caps.
BT are also interested in the 2.6GHz band as they could deploy WiMAX in rural areas and 3G services in urban areas. The WiMAX service would allow them to provide high speed broadband connections to communities where fibre/VDSL wont reach and in urban areas where they have good broadband coverage, they could offer their own 3G services to compete in the mobile business markets.
It was hoped that the auction would take in 2010, but now it seems 2011 is the earliest possible date and Ofcom still have a lot of mess to clear-up.
2010/01/28
TotalHotspots goes free
Total Hotspots today have dropped the price of their iPhone app to a free download from iTunes.
The app which uses the Rummble API for trust relationships between users etc allows users to search for WiFi locations and also rate them, other users can then search for nearby WiFi hotspots and get a user rating.
The app works with both free and paid for hotspots and has various WiFi databases as well as user supplied entries.
If you're using an iPhone then it's a sensible app to download if you're ever in need of a WiFi location. Of course all the data is available through the website too.
The app which uses the Rummble API for trust relationships between users etc allows users to search for WiFi locations and also rate them, other users can then search for nearby WiFi hotspots and get a user rating.
The app works with both free and paid for hotspots and has various WiFi databases as well as user supplied entries.
If you're using an iPhone then it's a sensible app to download if you're ever in need of a WiFi location. Of course all the data is available through the website too.
Apple release their tablet or is it a sanitary pad
Apple has released their long rumoured tablet (well announced it anyway, it's not actually available for a couple of months in WiFi only versions or 3 months for the 3G version) and it's actually called the iPad.
It comes with an Apple designed 1GHz CPU called the A4 (using the skills of the chip design company Apple bought recently) which is ARM based. Apple don't specify how much memory (RAM) it comes with, but storage comes in 16/32/64 GB of Flash.
The screen is a very crisp 9.7" LED backlit IPS display which is of course (multi) touch sensitive. Battery life is 10 hours of use and it comes with a 30pin dock connector. WiFi is 802.11n.
Unfortunately the iPad is more like a big iPhone rather than a MacBook and uses the iPhone OS. Developers need to download the new iPhone SDK version 3.2 to take advantage of the new features and directly support the iPad (it will run existing iPhone/iPod Touch apps out the box). It syncs with a PC/Mac using iTunes just like an ipod Touch.
Apple have released a version of iWork for the iPad that's compatible with the Mac versions but optimised for a touch screen. iWork actually means Numbers, Pages and Keynote and the iPad versions cost $9.99 each available from the App store.
The iPad itself costs $499 for the 16GB, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB. 3GB versions come in at $130 more (which is $629, $729 and $829 respectively). There's not yet any European pricing or availability.
As a suped-up iPhone/iPid Touch, the iPad also doesn't have multitasking capability (yet) and there's also no on-board camera though these can be added as accessories through the dock (a Keyboard/iPad dock will be available on launch). Once nice feature is the iBook store which allows iPad users to download books, papers and magazines. The eBook element of the iPad has been done nicely so tapping the right of the screen flips the page forward - this might actually be the killer app, though you could also buy a Kindle (who now also allow writing apps) or a Nook.
It comes with an Apple designed 1GHz CPU called the A4 (using the skills of the chip design company Apple bought recently) which is ARM based. Apple don't specify how much memory (RAM) it comes with, but storage comes in 16/32/64 GB of Flash.
The screen is a very crisp 9.7" LED backlit IPS display which is of course (multi) touch sensitive. Battery life is 10 hours of use and it comes with a 30pin dock connector. WiFi is 802.11n.
Unfortunately the iPad is more like a big iPhone rather than a MacBook and uses the iPhone OS. Developers need to download the new iPhone SDK version 3.2 to take advantage of the new features and directly support the iPad (it will run existing iPhone/iPod Touch apps out the box). It syncs with a PC/Mac using iTunes just like an ipod Touch.
Apple have released a version of iWork for the iPad that's compatible with the Mac versions but optimised for a touch screen. iWork actually means Numbers, Pages and Keynote and the iPad versions cost $9.99 each available from the App store.
The iPad itself costs $499 for the 16GB, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB. 3GB versions come in at $130 more (which is $629, $729 and $829 respectively). There's not yet any European pricing or availability.
As a suped-up iPhone/iPid Touch, the iPad also doesn't have multitasking capability (yet) and there's also no on-board camera though these can be added as accessories through the dock (a Keyboard/iPad dock will be available on launch). Once nice feature is the iBook store which allows iPad users to download books, papers and magazines. The eBook element of the iPad has been done nicely so tapping the right of the screen flips the page forward - this might actually be the killer app, though you could also buy a Kindle (who now also allow writing apps) or a Nook.
2010/01/26
Getting Google Voice in the UK
Well in theory it's not possible to get a Google Voice account in the UK. Even if you get an invite, which you respond to, Google comes back with "Sorry Google Voice is not yet available in your country".
So Google know where you are and do sensible things, or do they?
If you happen to have bought an unlocked Google Nexus One phone which has been dutifully shipped to the UK, then it comes with an Android (obviously) version of Google Voice pre-installed. Ensure all the Google settings have been set-up (i.e. your Google Mail address and all the other nice info Google wants from you) then just run the Google Voice app.
The app does all the magic and sets the account up and then tries to configure voicemail, which instead of being your normal network's voicemai, sends calls to your Google Voice account. This fails as the UK networks don't like sending voicemail to a US number, but no worry at least the Google Voice side of things is set-up and you get a US number (which you can change to a nicer one for $10 if you wish).
Going back to the web and trying to configure personalised greetings then doesn't work, as normally Google does this sort of thing by phoning the registered phone (the Google Voice app nicely passes all the phone info to Google) and it wont phone a UK number (unsurprisingly).
So though you now have a Google Voice account, it's almost useless. It does give you a US number where people can leave you messages which will then get transcribed and sent as email (which also can have an attachment of the recording), but not much else.
So Google know where you are and do sensible things, or do they?
If you happen to have bought an unlocked Google Nexus One phone which has been dutifully shipped to the UK, then it comes with an Android (obviously) version of Google Voice pre-installed. Ensure all the Google settings have been set-up (i.e. your Google Mail address and all the other nice info Google wants from you) then just run the Google Voice app.
The app does all the magic and sets the account up and then tries to configure voicemail, which instead of being your normal network's voicemai, sends calls to your Google Voice account. This fails as the UK networks don't like sending voicemail to a US number, but no worry at least the Google Voice side of things is set-up and you get a US number (which you can change to a nicer one for $10 if you wish).
Going back to the web and trying to configure personalised greetings then doesn't work, as normally Google does this sort of thing by phoning the registered phone (the Google Voice app nicely passes all the phone info to Google) and it wont phone a UK number (unsurprisingly).
So though you now have a Google Voice account, it's almost useless. It does give you a US number where people can leave you messages which will then get transcribed and sent as email (which also can have an attachment of the recording), but not much else.
2010/01/25
Asterisk gets an app store (almost)
Asterisk the open source IP PBX from Digium now gets an app store of sorts.
Asterisk Exchange is a site where vendors can upload product information on products that work with Asterisk. These may be physical products such as telephony cards and phones etc or software.
Software may be end-user software such as soft-phones, Asterisk add-ons that increase functionality or distinct apps that work with some aspect of VoIP.
Some of the sections already available are: -
Asterisk Components
Desktop Tools
Interface Cards
IP Phones
Network Components
Platform Hardware
Solutions
Though not really an app store, Asterisk Exchange allows people to search a single resource for Asterisk related products (much of the information is already available, just harder to find as it's spread on to lots of sites). This can only be a good thing for the large Asterisk community.
Asterisk Exchange is a site where vendors can upload product information on products that work with Asterisk. These may be physical products such as telephony cards and phones etc or software.
Software may be end-user software such as soft-phones, Asterisk add-ons that increase functionality or distinct apps that work with some aspect of VoIP.
Some of the sections already available are: -
Asterisk Components
Desktop Tools
Interface Cards
IP Phones
Network Components
Platform Hardware
Solutions
Though not really an app store, Asterisk Exchange allows people to search a single resource for Asterisk related products (much of the information is already available, just harder to find as it's spread on to lots of sites). This can only be a good thing for the large Asterisk community.
Mobile Premiere Awards Innovation Finalists
The Mobile Premiere Awards are being held in Barcelona on February 15th 2010 (during Mobile World Congress).
The 20 finalists for the Innovation Award" will pitch or present at the event.
The initial submissions went through local Mobile Monday groups and the finalists were selected by a jury of Mobile Industry Experts.
The finalists are: -
MobileMonday Austria - Mobilizy
MobileMonday Barcelona - fonYou
MobileMonday Berlin - spendino
MobileMonday Bogota - RedSalvavidas
MobileMonday Chennai - mobiSiteGalore
MobileMonday Copenhagen - Cepa Mobility
MobileMonday Edinburgh - Mobile Acuity
MobileMonday Estonia - TaxiPal
MobileMonday Lithuania - SendFlow
MobileMonday London - Audioboo
MobileMonday Milan - Soundtrckr
MobileMonday Munich - Aloqa
MobileMonday New Delhi - Voicetap Technologies
MobileMonday New York - PercentMobile
MobileMonday Oslo - Bipper Communication
MobileMonday Rest of EMEA - Layar
MobileMonday Silicon Valley - CloudMade
MobileMonday Slovenia - Visionect
MobileMonday Stockholm - MoSync
MobileMonday Tel Aviv - waze
The Mobile Premier Awards are the point of reference in startup premiers during the Mobile World Congress on February 15, 2010 in Barcelona and are organized in collaboration with some of the main networks in the industry including MobileMonday, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), MEX, MobileActive.org, Women 2.0 and the Women in Mobile Data Association.
The 20 finalists for the Innovation Award" will pitch or present at the event.
The initial submissions went through local Mobile Monday groups and the finalists were selected by a jury of Mobile Industry Experts.
The finalists are: -
MobileMonday Austria - Mobilizy
MobileMonday Barcelona - fonYou
MobileMonday Berlin - spendino
MobileMonday Bogota - RedSalvavidas
MobileMonday Chennai - mobiSiteGalore
MobileMonday Copenhagen - Cepa Mobility
MobileMonday Edinburgh - Mobile Acuity
MobileMonday Estonia - TaxiPal
MobileMonday Lithuania - SendFlow
MobileMonday London - Audioboo
MobileMonday Milan - Soundtrckr
MobileMonday Munich - Aloqa
MobileMonday New Delhi - Voicetap Technologies
MobileMonday New York - PercentMobile
MobileMonday Oslo - Bipper Communication
MobileMonday Rest of EMEA - Layar
MobileMonday Silicon Valley - CloudMade
MobileMonday Slovenia - Visionect
MobileMonday Stockholm - MoSync
MobileMonday Tel Aviv - waze
The Mobile Premier Awards are the point of reference in startup premiers during the Mobile World Congress on February 15, 2010 in Barcelona and are organized in collaboration with some of the main networks in the industry including MobileMonday, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), MEX, MobileActive.org, Women 2.0 and the Women in Mobile Data Association.
2010/01/22
To BT Infinity and beyond
BT has launched its Fibre to the Cabinet / Premise (FTTx) offering known as 40Mb BT Infinity Broadband. The FTTC offering uses a variant of VDSL to the home over normal copper.
The service is being rolled out across the UK and BT hopes to have 40% population coverage by 2012. This will of course exclude most rural users as it will only work in densely populated urban areas where the distance between the cabinet and the home is short (VDSL/2/2+ only works up to about 100m). Around 4m homes are expected to be within coverage on the launch.
BT Infinity Option 1 costs £19.99 a month with a £50 set-up fee. The user gets 40Mb/s downstream, 2Mb/s upstream and a 20GB data usage allowance.
BT Infinity Option 2 costs £24.99 a month with no set-up fee. The user gets 40Mb/s downstream, 10Mb/s upstream and unlimited data usage. Unlimited in this case means 'fair use' which gives BT the option of cutting users off or charging them for bandwidth.
Both come with an engineer install and a BT Home Hub.
More information is available from BT's Product Pages which have an address checker which shows what speed Broadband is available to the customer - if it's below 40Mb/s then it's an ADSL or ADSL2+ package.
Now could be interesting times as neither BSkyB nor Carphone Warehouse (TalkTalk) have announced their fibre plans, but both are allegedly planning fibre roll-outs to compete with BT (they should co-operate and build a single network to compete with BT, but that's another story) with Sky already testing new IPTV set-top boxes.
BT have definitely got a lead and a huge existing network and existing infrastructure on which to build a FTTx network, will BSkyB, CPW be able to roll-out fast enough to compete?
The service is being rolled out across the UK and BT hopes to have 40% population coverage by 2012. This will of course exclude most rural users as it will only work in densely populated urban areas where the distance between the cabinet and the home is short (VDSL/2/2+ only works up to about 100m). Around 4m homes are expected to be within coverage on the launch.
BT Infinity Option 1 costs £19.99 a month with a £50 set-up fee. The user gets 40Mb/s downstream, 2Mb/s upstream and a 20GB data usage allowance.
BT Infinity Option 2 costs £24.99 a month with no set-up fee. The user gets 40Mb/s downstream, 10Mb/s upstream and unlimited data usage. Unlimited in this case means 'fair use' which gives BT the option of cutting users off or charging them for bandwidth.
Both come with an engineer install and a BT Home Hub.
More information is available from BT's Product Pages which have an address checker which shows what speed Broadband is available to the customer - if it's below 40Mb/s then it's an ADSL or ADSL2+ package.
Now could be interesting times as neither BSkyB nor Carphone Warehouse (TalkTalk) have announced their fibre plans, but both are allegedly planning fibre roll-outs to compete with BT (they should co-operate and build a single network to compete with BT, but that's another story) with Sky already testing new IPTV set-top boxes.
BT have definitely got a lead and a huge existing network and existing infrastructure on which to build a FTTx network, will BSkyB, CPW be able to roll-out fast enough to compete?
Firefox 3.6 is here
The latest version of Mozilla's Firefox web browser has been released now supporting new CSS attributes, new DOM and HTML 5 specifications and full-screen video (which both YouTube and Vimeo are starting to support).
Javascript should speed up by about 12% and web pages load about 20% faster than Firefox 3.5. More calls have been made asynchronous, so the whole system should feel 'snappier'.
There are also security enhancements to report out of date old plugins (and the ability to single click to download an updated version) and the browser will no longer automatically download plugins.
This is a must have upgrade for anyone running v3.5 of Firefox.
At the moment downloads are reasonably fast but as more people learn about the upgrade, there's likely to be some congestion as the USA wakes up today.
It can be downloaded from here or via the Help/update in Firefox itself.
Javascript should speed up by about 12% and web pages load about 20% faster than Firefox 3.5. More calls have been made asynchronous, so the whole system should feel 'snappier'.
There are also security enhancements to report out of date old plugins (and the ability to single click to download an updated version) and the browser will no longer automatically download plugins.
This is a must have upgrade for anyone running v3.5 of Firefox.
At the moment downloads are reasonably fast but as more people learn about the upgrade, there's likely to be some congestion as the USA wakes up today.
It can be downloaded from here or via the Help/update in Firefox itself.
Amazon Kindle becomes a tablet
Amazon have released an SDK for the Kindle range of eBooks allowing and an app store (with the same 70:30 split that Apple offer to developers through its app store).
Apps that use less than 100KB of data will be offered as a 'one off' purchase, if the app uses more than 100KB then there's a monthly rental. If an app is less than 1MB in size it can be offered for free.
This is a recent Kindle development and is seen as a way to protect themselves against Apple's forthcoming tablet as Apple are rumoured to be negotiating content deals that will mean Apple's device will be an eBook as well as offering iPhone features.
Though specifications of Apple's tablet have not been made public, it's suspected it will use an ARM core (like the iPhone) and be based on iPhone OS v4. At least a version will have 3G connectivity. This will mean iPhone apps written for the iPhone itself will run natively on the tablet. The tablet will therefore appeal to computer users who want to run basic apps on the device and the eBook community who gain an eBook with processing capabilities.
It's likely they'll be another slew of announcements from the new eBook entrants such as Plastic Logic, Barnes and Noble etc about their new app stores and SDKs.
Apps that use less than 100KB of data will be offered as a 'one off' purchase, if the app uses more than 100KB then there's a monthly rental. If an app is less than 1MB in size it can be offered for free.
This is a recent Kindle development and is seen as a way to protect themselves against Apple's forthcoming tablet as Apple are rumoured to be negotiating content deals that will mean Apple's device will be an eBook as well as offering iPhone features.
Though specifications of Apple's tablet have not been made public, it's suspected it will use an ARM core (like the iPhone) and be based on iPhone OS v4. At least a version will have 3G connectivity. This will mean iPhone apps written for the iPhone itself will run natively on the tablet. The tablet will therefore appeal to computer users who want to run basic apps on the device and the eBook community who gain an eBook with processing capabilities.
It's likely they'll be another slew of announcements from the new eBook entrants such as Plastic Logic, Barnes and Noble etc about their new app stores and SDKs.
2010/01/21
Vodafone Home Gateway drops in price and becomes Sure Signal
Vodafone has renamed its home femtocell system from Vodafone Home Gateway to Sure Signal while also dropping the price from £160 to £50 for a one off payment. It's also possible to rent the Sure Signal box for £5 pm.
Femtocells are an easy way for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to reduce their backhaul requirements as they create small coverage areas with the femtocell which uses the customer's broadband connection to connect back to the MNO. As the femtocells are 3G, they'll see what frequencies are available in the area and use free channels thus co-operating with whatever the MNO has there in the macro network (2G femtocells are much more complicated and require frequency planning).
Though Vodafone haven't said why they're suddenly pushing femtocells again (the Home Gateway has been poorly marketed), it is likely that it coincides with the launch of the iPhone on their network and the considerable increase in data that it produces. By being able to alleviate the 'home' data use issue, they may be successful in maintaining the overall network stability.
In future Vodafone may even give Sure Signal devices away for free (and put them in busy areas like shops etc), they may even offer 'free' calls to home users to encourage them to install the gateways.
Femtocells are an easy way for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to reduce their backhaul requirements as they create small coverage areas with the femtocell which uses the customer's broadband connection to connect back to the MNO. As the femtocells are 3G, they'll see what frequencies are available in the area and use free channels thus co-operating with whatever the MNO has there in the macro network (2G femtocells are much more complicated and require frequency planning).
Though Vodafone haven't said why they're suddenly pushing femtocells again (the Home Gateway has been poorly marketed), it is likely that it coincides with the launch of the iPhone on their network and the considerable increase in data that it produces. By being able to alleviate the 'home' data use issue, they may be successful in maintaining the overall network stability.
In future Vodafone may even give Sure Signal devices away for free (and put them in busy areas like shops etc), they may even offer 'free' calls to home users to encourage them to install the gateways.
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