Wireless Blog

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Motorola Inc has sued a former executive for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement and threatening to reveal its trade secrets by taking a job with Apple Inc's iPhone division, the cell phone maker said in a lawsuit.

Michael Fenger accepted "millions of dollars in cash, restricted stock units, and stock options" in exchange for agreeing not to join a competitor for two years after leaving Motorola, where he oversaw mobile devices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the lawsuit said.

DARPA wants to electronically RFID tag US combat soldiers so they can then be swiftly found and rescued if they get into trouble.

The “Individual Force Protection System“, is being persued by contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

According to this presentation (pdf), given last year by DARPA officials, IFPS would consist of a small, three-inch lightweight tag attached to a soldier’s uniform and a variety of vehicle-borne or portable receivers. The tag does not need to have GPS, allowing its battery to last much longer.

Meanwhile, xFortress Technologies announced this month that it has been selected this week as part of the team to support the DoD’s identity protection and management program. The contract, awarded to Telos, runs for one year with four, one-year options and has a potential value of $582 million, if all options are exercised.

Fortress will enable a secure wireless link between handheld devices and a DMDC database. The handheld devices will be used at U.S. military checkpoints worldwide to scan Common Access Cards, the standard identification card for active duty military personnel, selected reserve, DoD civilian employees, and eligible contractor personnel for real-time authorization.

DMDC maintains an archive of personnel, manpower, training, security, and financial data for more than 28 million individuals currently and previously connected to the DoD, said Dana Kuntz, Vice President, Federal Sales, Fortress.

The Emergency Management One smart card, available only to first responders, will be available with either the 125 KHz proximity chip, which has no storage, or the 13.56 MHz DESfire contactless chip with 4K or 8K storage capacity. Data on the DESfire chips can be encrypted with the Triple DES algorithm. Omnilink Systems uses a combination of gps, RFID and situation-specific sensors to transmit real-time information using commercial cellular networks for house-arrest programs.

Super RFID technology uses long-range radar responsive (RR) tags. Originally, the active 430 MHz tags were designed using technology derived from a radar device requiring line-of-sight for reading. Since then, Sandia has modified the technology to its current form, which employs RFID to transmit ID numbers instead of radar.

Whether it could be interrogated by space radar like Lacrosse is unknown.

AT&T issued its second mea culpa in the last two months, retracting a free Wi-Fi notice that had been posted on the AT&T Web site.

Morgan: [scoffs] That's wishful thinking if ever I heard it. Julian Osborne: I'm not against wishful thinking.

Cities have gone wireless for Safety and Surveillance, observes NPR. Cities are mapping out vast wireless zones to create safety nets, says National Public Radio’s Joshua Brockman. Public internet access has nothing to do with it.

• Oklahoma City rolled out a municipal network covering 555-square-miles last month. It links hundreds of video surveillance cameras across the city enable police officers and firefighters to view real-time images of locations throughout the city. The $5 million network was paid for with sales taxes and improvement funds. Mark Meier, IT director of Oklahoma City, says the project first formed six years ago to upgrade the public safety system.
• A 232-square-mile Chicago wireless network, built with Firetide gear, has several hundred cameras installed in its central business district, using $35 million in funding from a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
• Chicago has also installed the largest network of bus surveillance in the U.S., with cameras on its entire fleet of more than 2,100 buses. On July 21, Chicago’s Bus Tracker will have a new look, based on Google mapping features. Customers can choose which routes to view on the map and get details about estimated arrivals by hovering the mouse over buses or bus stops.
• New York City’s Wireless Network, one of the largest of its kind in the world, is known as Nycwin. It was built by Northrop Grumman (pdf) for exclusive use by first responders and should be completed by summer’s end. It cost $500 million
• Dallas is deploying wireless video surveillance networks in specific areas.

EzWireless designed and built a mobile, secure, broadband and web-based network covering 700 square miles in Eastern Oregon five years ago. It enabled local fire & police departments in seven cities, parts of three counties and two states. It’s still the largest WiFi system in the United States.

ABI predicts this global market alone will grow from $16 billion today to $45 billion eight years from now.

Skeptics point out that England studied 14 CCTV systems across the UK in 2005 and concluded that “most systems revealed little overall effect on crime levels” (pdf). An analysis by the ACLU concluded that “video surveillance systems in the U.S. show little to no positive impact on crime.”

DailyWireless has more than 650 related Municipal Wireless stories including; Muni-Fi’s Got Trouble, Who the MuniFi MAN?, Municipal WiFi: What Would You Do?, Wireless Silicon Valley: Would You Believe a Dozen Hotspots in San Carlos?, Free Grass Roots Wi-Fi: It Works in Portland, Starbucks Adds AT&T Wi-Fi, Earthlink Gets Out, MetroFi Vs Portland, Meraki Proposes Free SF Wi-Fi Network, OpenAirBoston Regroups; Becomes Open, Sacramento WiFi on Slow Track, Sacramento Approves WiFi, SoCal Wireless: Toast?, MuniFi: What Now?, MuniFi: Not Dead Yet, Earthlink Restructures, MuniFi Holds Breath, San Francisco WiFi Dead?, Earthlink Tweeks WiFi Business, New York’s 750 sq mile Cloud, San Francisco WiFi Dead?, Wireless Houston: Size Queen?, State-wide Wireless Broadband Access, Ten Cities Under Colorado Cloud, FiberNet for Calif Schools, Washington’s 1500mi Cloud, Sprint WiMAXing NYC, Connecting the Nation, WiFi Vs WiMAX in Windy City, New York’s 750 sq mile Cloud, Will “N” Rescue MuniFi?, Aeris + PacifiCorp: CDMA Meter Reading, M2Z: Free Internet Now!, Sprint’s WiMAX Cities, San Francisco: Now it’s the Antennas!, WiFi War in San Francisco, Houston + Earthlink to Build Huge MuniFi Network, El Paso Unwired + Most of California, Green Light for Philly WiFi Expansion, City Clouds Turn On, Minneapolis Goes Local, Digital City Winners, Anaheim Turns On, New Orleans Gets Earthlink Cloud, Portland Chooses MetroFi for 134 Mile Cloud, Milwaukee’s $20M Cloud, Dvorak: Muni WiFi Will Die, The World Largest WiFi Cloud, Rain on SF Cloud, Google WiFi SitRep, San Mateo: 1st Silicon Valley Cloud, Sacramento Approves WiFi, Cloud for Silicon Valley, Wireless Silicon Valley Proposals, Park City: Solar WiFi, Solar Powered Solstice, GoogleFi: Ads or Not?, Google WiFi Interview, Portland Chooses MetroFi for 134 Mile Cloud, SF WiFi: Bad Deal for Poor?, SF Cloud: It’s Google/Earthlink, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse & Emergency Communications and Philly Chooses Earthlink.

Oops, again. AT&T once more announced free hotspot access for iPhone owners early Friday on its Web site, but then quickly removed the posting. The exclusive carrier for Apple's iPhone made a similar blunder in May.

The now-removed notice reportedly read, "AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi hotspot network with more than 17,000 hotspots, including Starbucks. Now users can relax and access music, e-mail, and Web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their favorite location."

AT&T confirmed that the notice was posted in error and removed. A spokesperson said the company does intend to offer the service in the future.

Starbucks has announced plans to close 600 stores nationwide, so AT&T's figure of 17,000 hotspots could be a bit high. Besides Starbucks, the company said the hotspots include more than 8,000 restaurants, 31 hotels, 12 airports and 18 convention centers.

In May, the company reportedly backed off its announcement after discovering that anyone could get free access by using the iPhone's Safari browser.

Top vendors including Hewlett-Packard , Lenovo and Fujitsu have announced consumer and business laptops that will use Intel's new Centrino 2 platform, which is being introduced on Monday.

AT&T has mistakenly announced free Wi-Fi for iPhone users…again, says CNet’s Marguerite Reardon and Om Malik

For the second time in less than six months, AT&T mistakenly published a notice on its Web site indicating that Apple iPhone users would get free access to the wireless operator’s more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots around the country.

News of free access to AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots was reported on several blogs Friday morning after it was discovered that a notice had been posted on AT&T’s Web site. The notice, which was still live at 8:30 a.m. PDT but then was removed by 9:30 a.m.

Wes Warnock, an AT&T spokesman, told CNET News that the notice was published in error.

“We have not made any announcement regarding free Wi-Fi and iPhone,” he said in an e-mail. “The Web page was posted in error and is being removed.”

But Starbucks does offer ALMOST free Wi-Fi access. It’s available to customers who purchase a minimum $5 reloadable Starbucks Card, and use the card at least once a month. Users get two free hours daily.

AT&T also enables qualifying LaptopConnect customers (using HSPA) to access more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots free of charge, including Starbucks. When not in a hot spot, AT&T LaptopConnect cards operate on AT&T’s wireless network, which provides DSL-like speeds in more than 275 markets in the U.S.

Still, Starbucks and Barnes and Noble Wi-Fi hotspots are expected to provide free internet access for iPhone users. Panasonic’s DMC-TZ50 Wi-Fi enabled camera ($450) includes twelve months of free access to T-Mobile’s Hotspots, after which time continued access requires a subscription. The $129 Eye-Fi Explorer SD card has a similar deal.

Glenn Fleishman once said; Free Wi-Fi from Starbucks? Ha! Ain’t. Gunna. Happen.

Talks have intensified in recent days between the two satellite radio companies and FCC officials, says Reuters. Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told Sirius he would provide a potentially decisive approval vote of their merger with XM if the companies met a stringent set of conditions designed to protect consumers and preserve competition.

As of Feb 28,2008 XM claims over 9 million subscribers, while Sirius claimed 7.6 million as of October 30, 2007.

A spokesman for Adelstein confirmed trade press reports that he had spoken with Sirius officials by telephone and laid out conditions for his support that go beyond those that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has already proposed the agency impose on the companies.

Martin has proposed that the five-member commission approve the deal as long as the companies make available to consumers radios that receive both Sirius and XM, cap prices for three years, offer programming on an “a la carte” basis, and make 24 radio channels available for noncommercial and minority programming, among other things.

Under Adelstein’s proposal, the price caps would be extended to six years, the number of set-aside channels would be increased to 25 percent of the companies’ total capacity, and any new satellite radio receivers on the market that were subsidized by XM and Sirius would have to be built with technology enabling them to also receive high-definition terrestrial radio signals.

In addition, the companies would have to disclose technical specifications that would enable independent manufacturers to make and sell satellite radios, and they would be barred from passing on increases in programming costs to customers.

Sirius service currently provides 69 streams (channels) of music and 65 streams of sports, news and entertainment to listeners.

XM service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional traffic and weather channels and 23 play-by-play sports channels.

Both satellite radio companies offer premium traffic services:

• SIRIUS broadcasts traffic data to 30 major U.S. metropolitan areas. It provides real-time information on accidents, traffic flow, construction, and road closures for $3.99/month, when added to your existing SIRIUS Satellite Radio subscription. It has contracted with traffic information service Navteq to provide live traffic data for 30 U.S. metropolitan areas.
• XM Traffic and Weather is available in 21 major metropolitan markets plus several interstate corridors nationwide.

The two satellite radio services use different (incompatible) technology and satellites to deliver their services.

XM’s Boeing built “Rock” and “Roll” satellites were designed to provide digital audio directly to cars, homes and portable radios coast to coast. But both satellites had power degradation problems caused by a solar array design flaw. In July 2004, XM reached agreement with insurers that covered 80% of the amount insured, so two replacement satellites, XM-3 (”Rhythm”) and XM-4 (”Blues”), were sent up.

Sirius has 3 satellites up, built by Space Systems Loral (FM-1, FM-2, FM-3). The fourth satellite (FM-4) is a ground spare. Sirius hoped that FM-6 could replace FM-1 and FM-2 but that request was rejected by the FCC.

While XM operates from geosyncronous space, Sirius operates in an elliptical orbit (perigee of 23975 km and apogee of 46983 km), inclined at 63.4 degrees.

Satellite radio uses the 2.3 GHz S band for Digital Audio Radio (DARS) in North America and generally shares the 1.4 GHz L band with local Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) stations elsewhere. Local repeaters enable signals to be available even if the view of the satellite is blocked, for example, by skyscrapers.

Sirius uses 12.5 MHz of the S band between 2320 and 2332.5 MHz. XM uses 12.5 MHz between 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz. Presently, music is compressed to 44 kbps; voice, 20 kbps; and 16 kbps for low quality audio such as traffic and weather.

XM uses terrestrial repeaters to fill in coverage and better reach inside cars and buildings, a sore point with local broadcasters who say their 2000 watt repeaters have popped up everywhere and unfairly compete with “free” radio.

Satellite radio companies say combining resources will reduce duplication and save everyone money. They claim that competition from terrestrial HD Radio (via IBiquity), iPods, mobile television (via MediaFLO and ICO), cell phones and even Mobile WiMAX will prevent monopoly pricing.

They may have a point.

Pandora’s streaming radio application is the fourth most popular free app on the iPhone (next to Apple’s remote, AIM, and weather).

According to TechCrunch, a streaming music service exclusively for indie music, StumbleAudio, is launching today with a catalog of over 120,000 artists and 2 million songs. StumbleAudio is designed to help listeners discover new music, rather than find their old favorites. It’s similar to streaming music services like Jango and Pandora. Users are asked to name one of their favorite bands,then the site generates a new “station” comprised of similar artists.

OrbitCast, Satellite Radio TechWorld and RadioWorld cover the beat.

San Francisco’s unfolding cliffhanger, with a city network administrator holding the city’s network hostage, sound’s like a “B” movie plot –- but it represents the real threat that IT departments face, says Network World.

Terry Childs, 43, is accused of creating a single password and denying any other administrator access to the system. He has refused to give anyone else the password, authorities say.

City prosecutors and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom were still seeking to resolve the crisis by having experts try to take back the city’s compromised network from Childs, who was arrested when he refused to relinquish network control.

There’s worry that Childs, who has worked for the city for five years but faced firing for alleged poor performance, may have installed the means to electronically destroy sensitive documents.

Terry Childs was locked up in lieu of $5m bail last weekend, after the city accused him of creating a super password for its new FiberWan network, and locking out other users.

The Network World article also lists some potential vendor solutions for IT managers.

It probably doesn’t bode well for San Francisco’s draft feasibility study for “fiber-to-the-premise” networking, either.