The Wireless Report

Do we need uncompressed wireless high-definition programming wirelessly beamed between out entertainment gear? Sure we do -- and a group of industry heavyweights are trying to form a standard around that very concept

The goal of WirelessHD is to enable high-speed streaming of audio and video content wirelessly between consumer electronics devices. These devices -- such as DVD players, game consoles and HDTVs -- already have simplified cabling structures, but wires still present a mess for many normal people who would love to have the flexibility of wireless connections between their pieces of gear. The new WiHD standard will operate in the unlicensed 60-GHz frequency band.

Looks like the planned union of Symbol Technologies and Motorola is leaving a bad taste in some of the shareholders of Symbol. The reasons -- right now -- are unknown, but perhaps Symbol shareholders thought that $3.9 billion was not enough for the company?

In any case, Symbol says that is will defend itself vigorously (of course) and believe the multiple shareholder lawsuits are completely without merit. This is a common occurrence when a major technical merger is announced, so this is not really that surprising.

After researching Nokia's new Wibree short-rage wireless standard a little yesterday, I am just about as confused as anyone on why Nokia thinks the world needs another short-rage wireless standard. Isn't Bluetooth just fine? I think it is, but apparently Nokia wants a much lower-power spec on the map -- and for whatever reason I don't have a clue.

Yes, the new spec does 10 Mbits/second and has a much lower power consumption than Bluetooth. What kinds of applications need 10 Mbits/second these days in such short order (like within 20 feet)? I have a feeling that Nokia's Wibree standard is so the industry can try to connect all kinds of things that really don't need connecting, like wristwatches and computer keyboards.

Is the value add here that much more significant over what Bluetooth offers? Probably not, and just like Nokia's N-Gage device, this spec may meet a quick death if Nokia is not able to convince the world that replacing Bluetooth -- already in so many phones, computers and headsets -- with another standard. The request will fall on deaf ears. It should. I may be jumping the gun here, but we'll see what happens. Although Wibree won't directly compete with Bluetooth, what is the major differentiating customer factor here? I sure can't see it.

In what looks to be some kind of replacement (?) for Bluetooth technology, Nokia has unleashed details on a new short-range wireless communications technology called Wibree. The new standard is meant to offer local wireless connectivity to smaller electronic devices like phones, wristwatches and PCs.

From Nokia's description, this sounds almost identical to Bluetooth, which is finally becoming an accepted standard in common wireless electronics these days. Although the new Wibree standard is designed for ultra low-power applications and will be available as a standalone chip or a dual-mode Wibree/Bluetooth chip, I continue to wonder -- why in the world is Nokia launching yet ANOTHER short-rage wireless protocol?

Is Bluetooth not powerful enough or low-power enough? This sounds great, but it's hard to me to imagine any specific reason why another market standard (ever heard of simplicity?) is better than Bluetooth. I'm all ears for a detail explanation, but Nokia's is rather weak at this point.

With the public safety airwaves causing a bit of turmoil and batting between camps these days, the FCC says it will put out a petition by Cyren Call to have feedback about its proposed public safety network using the 700MHz band.

Cyren Call has petitioned the FCC and the U.S. Congress to set aside 30MHz of radio spectrum to be used for a public safety network. This network would be built by the wireless industry and would be shared for use with first responders to accidents and disasters.

We are pleased to bring you the fifteenth regular installment of The Wireless Report Podcast. We'll be talking about a recent, dirt-uncovering "fastest wireless high-speed national network" feature post that pits Cingular Wireless against Sprint Nextel first up to bat. Remember -- truth in advertising is not just a forgotten concept.

Mike and I will then segue into the need for priority-based emergency wireless networks with live, on-the-fly information being needed by first responders and emergency personnel. New York City and the U.S. Army are making great strides in this area.

Finally, we'll wrap things up with a semi-review of Immersion's VibeTonz haptics technology, which I recently reviewed. I'll be honest -- this technology may be the next big thin in mobile entertainment. It was wild, and very cool.

There are several ways to receive The Wireless Report podcast: Subscribe via iTunes, subscribe to our RSS feed, or just hit the MP3 file directly -- your choice!

Receive TWR Podcast using one of these methods:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast directly in iTunes
[RSS] Add The Wireless Report Podcast feed to your RSS feedreader and have it delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the podcast directly

Hosts
Mike Sciannamea and Brian White

File Format
1:02:24 length, 28.5MB size, MP3 format (64kbps)

Podcast Timeline

2:45 The Cingular Wireless vs. Sprint Nextel "fastest wireless high-speed data network" boxing match. See who won in Round 1, with more rounds to come in the future. Hey, networks never stop evolving, right?

27:58 The need for emergency wireless systems based on priority for first responders and the need for constant and live wireless informational updates to emergency personnel when disaster strikes

45:45 My take on Immersion's VibeTonz technology for mobile handsets -- this is killer software, folks. Simple "on/off" vibrating motors have nothing on this.

58:35 Wrap-up and conclusion

MediaFLO, the "forward link only" media transmission protocol that Qualcomm hopes will become the standard for media transmission over newer, high-speed wireless data networks, will debut in Japan sometime in 2008. Once the frequencies are allocated for mobile television and media use, expect MediaFLO to take Japan by storm.

I can say that the cultural experience of watching video and television in Japan is completely different that in the U.S., where customers -- at this time -- have little interest in mobile television. In Japan, there is a huge demand for this kind of technology, so MediaFLO should prove fruitful once released.

With the London terrorist bombings last summer, the concern of ensuring wireless signals were able to traverse through layers of the earth became an important priority. Well, Vital Alert Technologies of the UK has partnered with Los Alamos National Laboratory in the U.S. to develop radio services which can work underground be transmitting through solid earth.

The new technology uses Very-Low Frequency (VLF) to transmit radio signals carrying compressed audio and data signals through layers of the earth and is apparently very inexpensive to build, according to the Los Alamos engineer who originally developed the technology.

A gathering of executives and experts in the wireless industry got together recently at the Wireless Communication Association conference in Washington, D.C. to discuss ways on how to leverage wireless communications in the event of disasters, both natural and man-made.

Since the tsunami in 2004, international relief agencies are relying more on mobile technologies to coordinate efforts on the ground and communicate with headquarters. In addition, in poorer countries, especially in Africa, where the existing communications infrastructure can be described as "spotty" at best, these same experts say that wireless technology can improve service at a lower cost, making it affordable for just about any country.

Of course, this has to go beyond the talk stage and to actual implementation. Will the big wireless providers invest the time, resources, and money to improve wireless communications on a global scale? If it can help improve their profile and bring in some money, sure. Will they do it out of the goodness of their hearts? It remains to be seen...

Motient, apparently seeking a buyer for its DataTac network who could take on liabilities and other issues and quash them, has sold that network to Geologic Solutions for the hefty sum of $1. Darnit, I would have bought it for that! Well, maybe not.

The DataTac network must have zero worth to be given away like this. Sure operating costs will chew your profits down and anger shareholders, but with a annual revenue stream of only $2 million, most likely the DataTac network was extremely unprofitable. That happens after 30 years of changes in the wireless business.

Just a few podcasts ago, I was talking about how nice it would be to have a "cable-free" home network solution for consumer electronics and audio/video gear. Well, in steps Tzero, a Silicon Valley company that seems to have a solution for this exact problem.

The Tzero chipset features UWB (ultra wideband) technology to interconnect home consumer electronics gear that meets the stringent wired specifications for transfer and interference set forth by the large consumer electronics companies. It's good to see that UWB, as a technology, is not dead yet, and this appears to be a perfect solution to the home electronics debacle of wires most consumers face.

With up to 480Mbps transfer rate, everything from hi-def video to 6-channel surround audio should be no match for Tzero's UWB chipset. Thank you, thank you. Now, if we can just get *any* manufacturer to start implementing this!

While RFID continues to make inroads into all-things-trackable, the mass-production cost target of $0.05 still has not been reached, according to this article. Wll, that's all fine and good, but what is driving the specific price reductions?

Has the volume not reached a point where cheaper RFID product is not possible, or are suppliers keeping prices artificially inflated for as long as possible (not going into heavy-volume movement) while trying to squeeze out every last quarter-penny? Who knows.

Greetings folks,

We are pleased to bring you the fifth installment of The Wireless Report Podcast. We'll be talking about the upcoming FCC wireless auctions (some of the most important auctions to come along in quite some time), North Dakota being the first state to have more wireless telephone numbers than landline telephone numbers, the deal with E911 and why the major wireless carriers still have not implemented this technology -- and finally, we'll cover the need for wireless connectivity options for stereo and home theater equipment.

There are several ways to receive The Wireless Report podcast: Subscribe via iTunes, subscribe to our RSS feed, or just hit the MP3 file directly -- your choice!

Receive TWR Podcast using one of these methods:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast directly in iTunes
[RSS] Add The Wireless Report Podcast feed to your RSS feedreader and have it delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the podcast directly

Hosts
Brian White and Mike Sciannamea

File Format
59:39 length, 27.3MB size, MP3 format (64kbps)

Podcast Timeline
1:50    The upcoming FCC advanced wireless services (AWS) auctions -- what's going on?
19:30  North Dakota now has more wireless numbers than landline numbers
34:00  E911 -- what is taking so long with 911 services for wireless carriers?
40:23  Wireless connectivity for home theater and stereo equipment -- still no solutions for the home
56:12  Wrap-up and conclusion

Two incredibly promising technologies -- one already in full use and the other gaining steam -- UWB (ultra wide band) and Zigbee (commercial deveice wireless communication standard) are starting to see more and more attention and adoption, which leads to record-breaking chipset shipments with the technology of both standards.

This article talks about how both standards are creating record chipset shipments based on customer demand. The customer in the Zigbee market is most likely commercial/industrial at this time, although automated home control connectivity is not that far on the horizon. UWB, which is needed more than anything, could replace USB and FireWire on PCs as well as the the rat's nest of wires for home stereo and surround setups, which we need more now than ever.

So, you want to get your poker or hold 'em game on with a handheld wireless unit? You're about to be in luck, as these wireless gambling devices are soon to infiltrate restaurants and other venues where physical casino betting is impossible to have available. I mean, the Vegas casinos need to grow their revenue, right? How better than to make handheld gambling fit into every possible supervised public area in Sin City.

The regulations are new, the technology is new and the audience will soon be developing (most likely, males in their 20s and 30s), so watch out the next time you visit the city in the middle of the desert. You'll be able to order a NY strip steak and potatoes while playing Blackjack on the menu, or at least close to the menu.