Wireless Blog

Embattled cellphone maker Motorola Inc. said Tuesday it is eliminating 400 more jobs, which will help add $25 million in pre-tax charges to the company's fourth-quarter results.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has backed off his plan that would require free wireless broadband license holders to filter for smut.

EarthCam will webcast the annual New Year’s Eve Times Square celebration live from New York City.

The 2009 Times Square event, now in its 13th year, will feature more than 25 live cameras. Additional cameras in New York include views from Midtown and Columbus Circle. Cameras in other locations include London, Moscow and Prague, along with Las Vegas, Seattle and Chicago, among other cities. Live and archived views of national and international celebrations are also scheduled.

EarthCam.net is dedicated solely to providing professional level webcam technology and services, as well as a portal site for clients of EarthCam’s Control Center Software.

EarthCam Mobile is designed for mobile phone users and offers a wireless application (m.earthcam.com) with an online companion website (mobile.earthcam.com).

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is reportedly dropping plans for free, national broadband service that would block access to porn.

An experimental program called Aspirnauts (aspire, seek, achieve) connects school kids on a school bus, connected to the Web through donated laptops.

It was started by Vanderbilt University medical scientist Billy Hudson, who was looking for a unique way to give back to his hometown. One day he tagged along for the bus ride - upwards of an hour and a half each way - and realized a lot of time was not being utilized.

Hudson passed out 15 laptop computers, donated by Vanderbilt, for middle and high school students to use during their 60- to 90-minute bus rides to and from school every day. Broadband Internet access is supplied via cell-phone towers.

The Magic Bus may already exist in your community. It could be self-actualized with a simple plan. Imagine a mobile studio for live events. Cheaper than loft space, better than a classroom.

To wit:

• My friend Alex Williams bought a school bus to be used as a “blogger bus”. He takes friends and goes on adventures (see below).
  
  the magic bus rides again from alex williams on Vimeo.

  

• My friend Joe Christenson has a complete multi-camera video streamcasting setup. He streamcast Cyborgcamp on December 6th. Here’s a fascinating video with Ward Cunningham (the brains behind Wiki). Joe uses a New Tek Tricaster studio in a box with a couple of Sony robot cameras.
• Free Geek might stock it with a dozen laptops while Clearwire’s Mobile WiMAX service can provide high capacity backhaul.

  

• I’d get a couple of interesting people to host. It’s hard to go wrong with people like Rick Turoczy and Dawn Foster.
• Funding could come from event services (like the Waterfront Blues Festival), mobile classes (like digital photography in the park), and field trips (such as gathering environmental sensor data). It wouldn’t move without $300 upfront.
  

The bus might also be drafted in the event of natural disasters or alien invasion. The first 12 episodes might be bankrolled for $12K with funding from local newspapers, foundations, tech firms and schools.

Is it worth a Ning discussion and a 12 page pitch? Sure. Let’s get this show on the road.

UPDATE: Matthew Klug tells me he’s on the bus. The Babbs had the Furthur 2 bus up at his place last summer. Prankster style (below).

Related Dailywireless articles include; The Virtual Set, CNN’s News Bureau in a Bus, Election Web Coverage, Election Maps, Live Mobile Coverage, Webcasting Concerts, Emergency Communications Applications, Emergency Communications SimDay, Eye-Fi Now Geotags, Super Bowl XLII, 2008 Summer Olympics: On Demand, WiMAX for TV Remote Feeds, Mobile WiMAX: Live in Idaho Falls, Mobile Livecasting, Webcasting Concerts, Emergency Communications Applications, Emergency Communications SimDay, WiFi Camera Adapters, Geocoding Content, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse & Emergency Communications, Kyocera KR2 Mobile Router, Mobile Mashup, Livable Streets Network, Inmarsat F3 Successfully Launched, Chrysler Offers Internet Access and Morphing Sports to Games - Live.

"As always, the more out the rumor is, the less likely it's going to come to pass," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy at Jupitermedia.

High on the rumor list is the iPhone nano, a wishfully more affordable version of the iPhone. Already manufacturers have posted photos of silicone cases and other accessories.

Not far behind is a rumor that a new iPhone 3G with more storage capacity is in the works. In fact, the rumor has Apple engineers working on a 32GB iPhone. An old rumor that Apple's inventory of 8GB iPhones would be sold at a low price has come true. AT&T is selling a version for $99 while Walmart has one for $150.

Does Not End There

Picasa, anyone? Another rumor has Google coming out with a Mac version of Picasa, a photo storage, editing and organization program. Jason Toff of Google's Mac team increased expectations with a recent blog post.

"At any given time, there will be plenty of Googlers at our booth available to answer questions about any Google software made for Mac or iPhone," Toff wrote. "Demo stations will be placed throughout the booth so that attendees can try out Google software on their own and, in many cases, talk to the people who helped create that software."

"I'd look at things such as a 32GB iPhone or a Picasa as things that are certainly probable," Gartenberg said.

Upgrades, more storage -- how about an all-out fantasy iPhone? Some iPhone owners have been dreaming up their own ideas -- the iPhone Pro or iPhone Elite, which would have 60GB of...

Vaja, a case manufacturer, listed the iPhone nano on its Web site among products for which it provides accessories. Since reports of the listing hit the Internet, however, the iPhone nano listing has disappeared.

While it remains only speculation, cases made by XSKN in China also seem to confirm the rumors. On its Web site XSKN lists the iPhone nano as a product for which it manufactures cases. When a user clicks on the link, however, it goes to a registration page.

Getting Stronger

Other accessories have also been surfacing, such as the iPhone dock developed by North Carolina-based Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO), which produces a line of computer and digital-music accessories, including for the Apple iPod and iPhone. Requests for comment from DLO were not answered in time for publication.

"The iPhone nano rumor has been around for a while, but with two case vendors now advertising cases for a nonexistent and non-announced device, the rumor does get stronger," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia. "Like the iPod, it's likely the iPhone will fragment into a family of devices at different price points and features at some point in the future."

Some believe the rumors have no truth, and manufacturers are simply rolling out products in anticipation of the device; others say it's safe to presume that these manufacturers would not be working on accessories they didn't believe would be bought by consumers.

"Presumably, they need specs from Apple," Gartenberg said. "Prior to the last revision of the nano, there were similar leaks of pending cases that proved accurate,...

Moreover, the chipmaker's financial woes are far from over. Earlier this month, AMD warned investors that it expected a 25 percent fall in revenue for the fourth quarter this year "due to weaker than expected demand across all geographies and businesses, particularly in the consumer market."

Betting on Shanghai

What's more, AMD said it expects to incur an investment-impairment charge of approximately $20 million related to its investment in flash-memory manufacturer Spansion. And the company said "further cost-reduction actions will result in additional charges in the first half" of next year, "which the company cannot estimate at this time."

AMD also told the SEC that the long-term financial outlook for its ATI Technologies business has further deteriorated, and it expects to record an unspecified material, noncash impairment charge in the new business year. AMD already racked up an $800 million impairment charge in the company's June quarter for the graphics chipmaking business it bought for $5.4 billion in October 2006.

Just last month, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer promised investors that the struggling chipmaker would make progress toward sustainable profitability. "In 2009, we plan to remain focused on executing our new product road maps, extend our leadership in graphics technology, refresh all our existing computing platform offerings, and introduce innovative new platforms targeting key growth opportunities like ultra-portable notebooks," Meyer said.

According to AMD, the company's new 45nm quad-core Opteron processor, formerly code-named Shanghai, delivers up to 35 percent more performance with up to a 35 percent decrease in power consumption at idle. AMD said it...

Airspan Networks, Inc. , a leading provider of WiMAX-based broadband wireless access networks, announced today that Okinawa Telemessage Co.