Wireless Blog

Harris Corporation reported that revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 27, 2008, increased 19 percent to $1.4 billion, compared to $1.2 billion in the prior-year quarter.

BOSTON : U.S. authorities on Tuesday charged 11 people from five countries with stealing tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers from major U.S. retailers in one of the largest identity-theft schemes ...

Intel are preparing their next-generation notebook platform, named Capella, for a launch in Q3 2009, according to a DigiTimes report .

Micron announced Tuesday that it will soon begin delivering 256GB solid-state drives for notebooks and servers. SSDs have quicker access times and consume less power than standard SATA or SCSI hard drives.

The 256GB drives could begin showing up in laptops and notebooks this winter along with 32GB and 128GB versions. But Micron spokesperson Beth Gregg said that due to demand, "The next crop of sample drives will not be available for seven to eight weeks."

Micron's RealSSD 256GB drive is 2.5 inches, while the 32GB and 128GB drives are 1.8 inches. Mass production is scheduled for late 2008.

Notebooks and Servers

Micron said the SSD drives are specifically targeted for notebooks, subnotebooks, enterprise servers and disk arrays and will reduce weight and power consumption while boosting performance. It added that the drives are nearly twice as fast as traditional SATA or SCSI drives.

The company also said the drive is 10 times faster than traditional drives when accessing transactional processing data, since traditional drives have a long latency period when they "spin up" to retrieve data. And Micron said the drive delivers more than 250MBps in sequential read/write speeds, making it possibly the fastest commercial SSD available.

SSD Competition

SSD technology has been around since the 1990s, but reliability and especially prices have held it back. Even today, SSD drives cost nearly 10 times as much as traditional disks, but reliability has improved significantly, Micron said. Traditional drives have a mean rating of 1.7 to 2 million hours between failures, while SSD drives now approach 1.5 million hours.

Micron's SSD competitors include Seagate, Texas Memory Systems, and Samsung. Samsung announced its own 256GB SSD drive in June with a 200MBps access time -- similar to Micron's specs. Small-quantity prices for this capacity are between $500 and $600. Alienware, Dell, Sony and Hewlett-Packard offer Samsung's SSD.

Micron officials...

The goal of the project WALTER (Wireless Alliance for Testing Experiment and Research) is to implement and validate testing technologies for Ultra Wideband (UWB) devices in Europe. Implementation of a pan-European interconnected test bed will speed up the development of interoperable UWB peripherals. (via Press Release from Walter Project - August 5, 2008) Ispra, Italy - [...]

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly admitted to the company's employees that its MobileMe launch was "not up to Apple's standards." His internal corporate e-mail reportedly acknowledged flaws in the performance and launch of the "simple way to keep everything in sync," as Apple describes MobileMe.

Jobs reportedly pointed out the need for more testing, and said the MobileMe services should have been rolled out slowly, such as over-the-air iPhone syncing first, then applications one at a time.

A 'Mistake'

Jobs also reportedly wrote that it was a "mistake" to launch the MobileMe service in essentially the same time window as the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 2.0 software, and the App Store.

MobileMe is intended to update data on an iPhone, iPod touch, Mac or PC. A subscriber with a Mac at home, a PC at work, and traveling with an iPhone or iPod touch could keep e-mail, contacts and calendars coordinated across the devices.

It is supposed to work with the leading applications of each type, such as Microsoft Outlook on a PC or Mail, Address Book, and iCal on a Mac. When changes are made in these applications on one device, MobileMe is intended to send those changes to the other devices. A user could also access and manage e-mail, contacts, calendar, photos and files at me.com.

Since so many customers have multiple devices, coordination of frequently used information is also being offered by Google, Microsoft and others. The MobileMe service replaces the previous .Mac online service.

MobileMe's Problems

MobileMe has been plagued with problems. Apple has, for instance, acknowledged that a significant portion of users were not able to retrieve information and files, which it said stemmed from problems with the mail servers. Some users reported transferring e-mail addresses and previous e-mails from other accounts, only to have the e-mail lost. Others noted wrong time...

iPhone owners planning to add the newly available 2.0.1 software update need to be careful or they could end up with a dud.

When Apple launched its App Store and iPhone 2.0 software along with the iPhone 3G, users of both the 3G and upgraded first-generation iPhones with the 2.0 software faced several problems. Users reported slower synchronizations, dropped applications, unexpected reboots with both the iPhone software and downloaded applications, and problems with core GPS functions.

On Monday Apple responded with a 2.0.1 update that is expected to solve many of the performance-related issues the company described as bugs. Some changes included the ability to drag application icons across several pages in one motion, quicker keypad loads, and a better user interface.

No Permanent Fixes

But users are having problems installing the 249.2MB update and then connecting to services. And they are being warned to not put the iPhone in airplane mode, or they could lose more than connections.

Participants on Apple's support forum are complaining that they lost all wireless functionality, while others say the update bricked their handsets. Users who paid to have their iPhone 3Gs unlocked by Vodafone are also complaining that they are not able to reconnect to the service after the update.

Users having problems installing the 2.0.1 update are advised to attempt the install several times, as the iPhone may fail to update on the first try but should succeed on additional attempts.

Squashing Pwnage

The update was reportedly expected to do more than improve the user interface and increase sync times. According to some reports, one goal was to squash and make useless the jailbreaking Pwnage Tool, which opens up the iPhone's file system.

Calls to Apple for comment were not returned in time for publication.

To download and install the update, users need to connect their iPhone or iPod...

Airlines have hit fliers with a lot of extra charges these days. They charge for food, drinks and checking bags. JetBlue even said it would dispense with complimentary disposable pillows and start charging $7 for a take-home pillow-and-blanket set.

On Tuesday, however, Delta Airlines announced a service that few people should complain about paying for: Wi-Fi. While a number of other airlines have been trumpeting Internet availability, so far that's been a special service available only in business class and first class. Delta is the first airline to offer Wi-Fi in coach.

The cost will be $9.95 for a flight of three hours or less, or $12.95 for a longer flight. Service will be provided by Aircell, which is also working with American Airlines and Virgin America to provide wireless Internet access. The system, which will be available on all continental flights, will be rolled out by fall, Delta said.

Air-to-Ground Technology

Aircell's Gogo system will allow Wi-Fi-enabled devices -- smartphones and PDAs such as Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, as well as laptops -- to access the Internet and corporate virtual private networks, and perform SMS texting and instant messaging.

The deal signals Delta's commitment to "maximize the time our customers spend with us onboard by offering them even more productivity options," said Delta CEO Richard Anderson. "Our customers asked for in-flight connectivity, and we're responding by rolling out the most extensive Wi-Fi network in the sky."

The boom in Wi-Fi in the air is the result of air-to-ground technology, according to Jack Blumenstein, president and CEO of 17-year-old Aircell. The technology has "made broadband connectivity in the cabin economically viable for the first time for commercial airlines," Blumenstein said. "The game has changed."

Cell-Phone Ban

Aircell's technology not only offers Wi-Fi throughout the cabin, but provides the infrastructure for advanced video, audio, television and other entertainment...

AT&T wireless, WHERE, and uLocate announced today GPS-enabled services to find the cheapest gas, find restaurants or breweries by downloading a widget to their phone. A version is also available for devices not equipped with GPS.

The GPS applications available to AT&T customers include:

• Yelp — Get reviews for everything local, including restaurants, shopping, night life, events, salon and more, in your area.
• StubHub — Fans can buy and sell tickets for sports, concerts or Broadway shows at the largest ticket marketplace in the world.
• GasBuddy — Easily find the cheapest gas prices in your city.
• Skymap — Conveniently explore the current sky from your location.
• Pubwalk — Find local pubs, bars and late-night eating to let you plan a night out with your friends.
• Quibblo — A location-aware quiz application that enables users to take polls and surveys.
• Eventful — Discover, promote and share local events with Eventful. From art to music, sports and food, consumers can find everything that is happening nearby.
• Buddy Beacon — Users connect and find friends through shared location information.
• AT&T Store Locator — Locate the AT&T stores closest to you as well as find out which stores carry the latest exclusive handsets.

WHERE GPS widgets make it easy for you to customize your phone. You can add and delete them by dragging and dropping them to your phone from your account on where.com or by adding them directly from your phone.

Some of their widgets include:

• local — search locally for points of interest around you
• directions — get directions and maps from where you are to where you want to go… or from anywhere
• saved places — save your favorite places to easily access them in the future and share them with friends
• location notes — write notes about the places you’ve been for others to find, or keep them private if you don’t share well
• weather — get the local weather for your location
• ski report — local ski reports
• earthquake! — find the most recent earthquakes by proximity
• world largest — a fairly comprehensive list of America’s huge roadside attractions
• fore! — golf course finder
• roadside help — towing service and repair shops
• state parks – enjoy your local state parks
• winery finder — take a wine tour at your local wineries
• rent a car – you know you want to
• brewery finder — get to know your local breweries
• nexrad radar — see your local nexrad radar

Applications are developed by third parties through the WHERE Developer Program. They provide AT&T customers with personalization through location-driven information, entertainment and communication.

Related Location Services articles on Dailywireless include; Location Services: $3.3B by 2013, License to Print Money, Earthquake Twittering, Verve: Newspaper Salvation?, Location Apps: Here. Now., Google Walking Maps, Tracking Soldiers, Marketing 101: It’s The Phone, Open Warfare at OsCon and Open the Box.

Wired travelers will soon be able to keep tabs on their inboxes and anything else on the Internet while flying around the country.