Eideard

You might not even use all the accessories

Within the next month, the BBC is set to roll out an iOS app that will allow field reporters to broadcast live from their iPhone using nothing but the 3G service to carry the data transmission, an article from Journalism.co.uk states.

The app will also allow BBC field reporters to file still photos, video and audio directly into the BBC content management system from any iPhone or iPad.

As Journalism.co.uk points out, the ability to broadcast right from an iPhone would mean that reporters could no longer have to carry cumbersome satellite or codex equipment.

Martin Turner, BBC’s head of operations for newsgathering, told Journalism.co.uk, “Reporters have been using smartphones for a while now, but it was never good quality. You might do it when there was a really important story. Now it is beginning to be a realistic possibility to use iPhones and other devices for live reporting, and in the end, if you’ve got someone on the scene then you want to be able to use them. That capability is a really important one.”

Interesting as all get-out. The choice of device and carrier is up to reporter and IT department preferences. There will be alternative platforms and combinations available soon – if they aren’t already. But, this really fills a long-term demand by field reporters in broadcast journalism. Close to the ultimate in portability.

Yes, it’s pretty funny to have the Beeb quoting an article from another source – about changes at the BBC.

Wireless opponent Arthur Firstenberg wants a new round of public hearings on last month’s upgrades of AT&T’s cellular-phone system in Santa Fe.

Firstenberg, who says he is hypersensitive to electromagnetic signals from wireless devices, drew headlines last year by suing his neighbor over her use of an iPhone and a Wi-Fi system. A judge has thrown out the iPhone claim, but the Wi-Fi claim is set for trial on March 21. Do you believe it?

Now, Firstenberg is asking for a judge to require AT&T to apply for a special exception from the city to increase the intensity of its signals. Otherwise, he contends, AT&T should be forced to shut off its new system in 30 days…

AT&T’s implementation of 3G service “vastly increased the bandwidth of their radio emissions,” constituting “a change in the intensity of use,” according to Firstenberg’s pro-se petition for a writ of mandamus…

Attached to Firstenberg’s petition are letters from more than a dozen people asking the Board of Adjustment to reject the changes because they are concerned that their health, or that of others, is being damaged by the proliferation of electromagnetic signals.

Angela Werneke of Santa Fe wrote that she has immune deficiency, chronic fatigue and chronic migraines. Although she has not been diagnosed with electromagnetic sensitivity, she wrote, she is “deeply concerned, not only for my own personal health and well being, but also for all those who are being marginalized from our community by the pervasive and rapidly increasing levels of electromagnetic radiation.”

Felicia Noelle Trujillo, a Feldenkrais practitioner in Santa Fe, wrote that she has patients who are undeniably sensitive to electromagnetic radiation and will suffer from “this brutal and instant rise in the levels of EMR in their environment, when they are already in a weakened state.”

The essentially “weakened state” lies between the ears of these Dodo-birds. Certainly, they have a right to initiate lawsuits. Just as certainly the courts have a responsibility to throw them out as soon as the petitions waltz in through the door in all their frivolous glory.

No, I don’t see any more need to speak politely about this foolishness than I must when considering the threat to Homeland Insecurity from that alleged terrorist, Rumplestiltskin.

No one ever quite realizes how much traffic is engendered by an announcement from Apple and Steve Jobs. I’ll be updating this right through my usual post time of noon MST.

Yes, it is called the iPad.

Click on the photo for Gizmodo’s first hands-on experience.

Read the rest of this entry »

Plastic Logic, which is still gestating its entry in the new market for electronic reading devices, is disclosing a little bit more about its upcoming product.

After announcing earlier this week that Barnes & Noble would manage its electronic book store, the company said Wednesday that AT&T’s 3G network will provide the mobile broadband connection for the device, which is due to go on sale at the beginning of next year.

The Mountain View, Calif., company declined to disclose any more information about the pricing, or whether it will charge consumers monthly for that wireless connectivity. Amazon.com’s Kindle accesses content through Sprint Nextel’s wireless network, although users are not charged for the service and many probably do not even know their Kindle uses Sprint to download books and access the Web.

The Plastic Logic Reader, the size of a regular piece of paper, will be slightly larger than the Kindle DX and sport a touch-screen. Plastic Logic says the device will be targeted at business users, which typically suggests a higher price and the need to lure more affluent customers.

Unlike the Kindle, the Plastic Logic Reader will also be able to access Wi-Fi hotspots.

That last sentence pretty much guarantees AT&T’s 3G access will require a monthly charge.

Frankly, I’m looking forward to trying one – sooner or other.

AT&T is in the process of doubling the capacity of its 3G networks, using software enhancements to squeeze one last boost in bandwidth from its current generation networks before it begins its migration to evolved 3G and eventually 4G.

AT&T is increasing the downlink capacity on its high-speed packet access (HSPA) from 3.6 megabits per second to 7.2 Mb/s through software upgrades at the base station, said Scott McElroy… AT&T currently has the enhanced networks running in two test markets but plans to extend those capabilities to its entire network. Later this year, AT&T plans to start migrating its 3G networks to evolved-HSPA (or HSPA+), which would triple peak speeds.

Theoretically HSPA can support up 14.4 Mb/s of capacity over a 5-MHz downlink, but when the technology was first introduced, commercial equipment wasn’t able to meet HSPA’s full potential. The results have been a series of iterations in the HSPA standard that operators have been implementing as vendors release both the upgrade modules needed at the base station and the enhanced device chipsets required to support the increased capacities. AT&T, then Cingular, launched its network in 2005, supporting 1.8 Mb/s, but boosted that capacity to 3.6 Mb/s by 2008. Most of the laptop cards and smartphones AT&T sells, including the iPhone, have the silicon necessary to access that additional capacity.

All this is wonderful – if you believe and, especially, if you live in an urban focus of wireless communication. I don’t qualify for either.

No doubt there are boffins whose general livelihood is grounded in being on the right side of AT&T – who can explain the difference to me. I think it makes more sense to continue to sit out any commitment to AT&T. Wait and see what T-Mobile is sliding into my neck of the prairie at the end of summer. Then, decide if there’s any good reason at add 3G anything to my life?

AT&T is rushing to rollout a major upgrade to its 3G mobile data service in anticipation of a tenfold increase in network traffic from new iPhone hardware expected to go on sale in June.

Apple’s exclusive mobile service provider in the US has already laid out plans to upgrade its 3G data network on multiple fronts. Last month AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said in an interview that “we have the infrastructure capability to go to 7.2 [Mbit/s], and we’ll have the capability to go 14.4 and 20 in the next couple of years, so I think there’s coverage we’re going to improve, there’s quality we’re going to improve, and there’s speed that’s also going to get improved.”

The current iPhone 3G only supports a maximum of 3.6 Mbit/s, so AT&T’s plans to achieve the full potential of its current 3GPP Release 5 network technology would require new iPhone hardware to fully exploit. However, the wireless link between the phone and the cell tower is only part of the network speed equasion. Another factor is the speed and capacity of AT&T’s network backbone.

Reports have already indicated that about half of the mobile data traffic AT&T handles is related to the iPhone. Web statistics from Net Applications also show that more than two thirds of all US mobile web data traffic is used by the iPhone, which also makes use of WiFi.

AT&T’s coverage sucks badly enough in critical areas that some folks – like in San Francisco, crucial to the Tech World – are dropping iPhones and going back to Blackberrys.

But, PR-based stories like this should step aside for a moment and include a little reality.

AT&T is to partner with Radio Shack for a new 3G netbook offering, in which the US electronics retailer will begin carrying the Acer Aspire device in its stores at a cost of $100.

In exchange, users will have to sign up for a two-year 3G data contract with AT&T. Without the contract, the Aspire One would sell for $350. The promotion is set to run in the US from 14 December until Christmas Eve.

The companies hope that the deal will further speed up the adoption of netbooks, which use wireless broadband networks for web and data connections. If successful, the programme could signal a new trend in netbook services and sales.

US telcos and retailers have long offered subsidised mobile phone deals with service contracts, but the tactic has yet to catch on in the burgeoning netbook market.

It’s a great idea – what is often termed the razor-and-blade model – if you’ve been around sales and marketing long enough.

Early reports are that we could be hearing quite a lot of big news this week about the next generation operating system used the world over. Windows 7? Well, yeah. But really keep your eyes on Ubuntu 8.10.

Canonical Ltd. announced the upcoming availability of Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition for free download on 30 October.

Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition is designed for the pervasively connected digital lifestyle. With new 3G network support, users can move smoothly from wired and WiFi networks onto 3G cellphone networks while traveling. Ubuntu 8.10 is also built to be shared – users can start a quick “guest session” on the fly and let someone use their computer to surf the web or check email, while maintaining the security and integrity of their own data. And if that person really enjoys their brief session as an Ubuntu guest, they can put Ubuntu on any USB key and take it home to install on their own computer rather than having to burn a CD.

Configuration of a 3G account in a wireless deployment of Ubuntu 8.10 appears to be incredibly simplified. First appearances show that there are enough new features in this version of Ubuntu to make it worth a good, long look.

I have at least one family member already running on 3G networks via XP – who has Ubuntu living on his notebook. I’ll nudge him about the upgrade and see how it plays.

So while Microsoft news may consume a lot of oxygen throughout the technology industry this week at its developers conference, a nice bit of action could very come from the Ubuntu 8.10 launch.

The latter is a lot more interesting to me.

Apple has sold 1 million new iPhones in its initial weekend, on par with estimates set by analysts, sending its stock rising more than 2 percent.

The original iPhone, introduced in late June 2007 in the United States only, sold about 270,000 units in its first two days. Sales topped 1 million by early September. The new device sells in 21 countries…to start.

“IPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. “It took 74 days to sell the first 1 million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world…”

“We don’t yet know the breakdown of how many phones were sold to new customers and how many existing iPhone customers upgraded, but regardless, sales during the first weekend were very impressive,” said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications analyst, in a note.

I find the critter interesting as a mobile platform – more so than as a smart phone. I don’t travel on business anymore; so, I don’t plan on getting one. Yet.

Reflecting that broad range, the new iPhone App Store downloaded 10 million apps over the first weekend.

Seeking to be one of the world’s first to grab the new-generation iPhone, fanatical Apple fans around Asia are queuing up two days before its launch, undiscouraged by rain or freezing temperatures.

The July 11 launch will be the first chance for Asian consumers to own an iPhone, and related websites have been swamped with inquiries and early orders…

“The big appeal (of the iPhone) is that this is an Apple product,” said Hiroyuki Sano, a 24-year-old graduate student who early on Tuesday arrived in rainy Tokyo from Nagoya, 225 miles west of the capital, to be first in line.

“I’ve told my professor I was going to go buy an iPhone, and he gave me permission,” said Sano, wearing a T-shirt with an Apple logo. “He is an Apple-lover too, and he sent me off cheerfully…”

Tee hee. Don’t you just love stories about people who wait in line for anything.