Telecommunications

U.S. Airlines slow to offer internet access

By Mike Hanlon

August 6, 2005 A recent survey of American domestic airline passengers found 97% carry at least one electronic device, while 65% of business travelers have their laptops on flights. So why are American domestic carriers so reluctant to offer internet access? Leading magazine Information Week has an interesting article on the problems associated with offering internet access and why American airlines are wireless laggards compared with their international counterparts. Read More

Motorola’s Ruggedised Phone

By Mike Hanlon

August 5, 2005 We can’t believe the lack of fanfare for the Motorola i560. The i560 offers advanced Walkie-Talkie services, Java capability, an external display and MMS but the thing that makes it waaay special is that it is a mobile phone built to take serious punishment – not the sort dished out by your average klutz, but the sort of extreme treatment you can encounter from tradesmen, firemen, public safety workers or on a building site or even in a war zone. The Motorola i560 is actually certified to meet military standards for dust, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, low pressure and solar radiation. Its external display allows information such as incoming calls, time and date to be quickly viewed without the need to open the phone. Why has a phone of this ilk taken so long? We predict a best-seller!!!! Read More

New software enables FREE international phone calls with any mobile phone through Skype

By Mike Hanlon

August 3, 2005 – iSkoot is a new mobile Internet phone company you’ll probably hear a lot about in the near future. iSkoot has introduced software that facilitates mobile access to the tens of millions of Skype Internet phone users. iSkoot enables complete access to Skype for both making and receiving calls from any mobile phone. iSkoot does not require any special hardware, custom phone, or Wi-Fi hot spot. iSkoot is offering free trial downloads at its website now. Read More

The RAZRBERRY: Motorola’s answer to the Blackberry

By Mike Hanlon

July 26, 2005 Actually, it’s not called the RAZRBERRY but we really like the name cos it says Motorola and Blackberry functionality. It’s called a Moto Q and it is thin, light, cool and QWERTY, smart, powerful, and devilishly good-looking — delivering a fully-loaded package of email, voice, and entertainment in one amazingly rich but thin device. Like its cousin the RAZR, the Q’s superior voice quality makes it a stand out from the competition. Boasting flexible mobile email featuring Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software, advanced cellular phone technology, rich multimedia capabilities and an easy-to-use one-handed navigation thumbwheel, the Moto Q is unique. An all-in-one handheld designed to deliver true seamless connectivity, the Q will help mobile professionals improve productivity through the power of seamless mobility. Read More

ADAPTIX Demonstrates Early Pre-WiMAX Mobile System

By Mike Hanlon

July 25, 2005 ADAPTIX has been demonstrating mobile WiMAX capabilities in an automobile to clients in recent weeks, where it simultaneously receives mobile Voice over IP calls, streaming video content such as feature-length movies and the transfer of large files, at throughput of up to 2.5 Mbps while travelling at vehicular speeds through the coverage area. The technology is based on the forthcoming 802.16e wireless standard, expected to be ratified by the WiMAX Forum and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) later this year. Read More

Text messaging world record

By Mike Hanlon

July 23, 2005 The Live8 concerts of July 2 will forever mark the beginning of interdependence consciousness and hopefully we will develop a more civilized world based on what was crystalised by the event. More than a million people attended concerts across four continents to demand that the Group of Eight (G8) wealthy nations cancel the debts of poor African countries and boost aid at a summit in Scotland. Many records were set as people across the globe joined in a way we haven’t seen before but one which we feel compelled to acknowledge from a sheer technological viewpoint was that of the London-based Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) which set a new world record and a benchmark for efficiency by enabling the biggest ever text lottery of its kind in history. The lottery received 2,060,285 responses and has been officially recognised by Guinness World Records. At the peak time during the Live 8 lottery, MIG was receiving 611 SMS messages per second through its gateway. Read More

Machine-to-machine communications market grows

By Mike Hanlon

July 20, 2005 Machine-to-machine (M2M) is one of the world's fastest growing communication segments, and electronically connecting the world's 50 billion machines has the potential to dwarf everything that has come before it in the communications space and we expect a significant proportion of Gizmag readers will be interested in the developments – so here’s a significant new resource to add to your bookmarks - M2MUpdate.com caters to the rapidly changing landscape of this marketplace with free news, white papers and reports. M2MUpdate is published by telematics conference organizer and publisher of telematics news Telematics Update. Read More

Wireless Alarm Option For Hobo Weather Stations

By Mike Hanlon

July 20, 2005 Primary producers and researchers will jump at the thought of this new innovation – a solar-powered wireless transceiver that can send weather alerts via text or email message. SolarStream works with HOBO Weather Stations for measuring temperature, relative humidity, dew point, rainfall, soil moisture, photosynthetic light (PAR), solar radiation, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, 4-20mA, 0-5VDC, and pulse outputs. So you can now set the alarms you want and be informed immediately a trigger point is reached. And the weather stations can collect data on all of the above for analysis via BoxCar Pro software. Read More

68 million web sites and counting …

By Mike Hanlon

July 4, 2005 There was a time when a dozen radio stations and half a dozen television stations seemed too much choice but things are changing rapidly. The internet is in only its eleventh year of commercial activity, yet it has already had a boom, a crash and now a second coming. What is now very clear is that every business in the world will eventually find its way onto the internet and looking at the latest statistics, that might not take long to happen. Netcraft’s monthly internet hostname survey for the month of June indicates 2.76 million domains were registered, bringing the number of domains on the internet to 67,571,581 sites. The only larger gain was a 3.3 million hostname increase in March 2003, which ended months of stagnation and kicked off 30 consecutive months of positive growth for the Web. Interestingly, the number of people using the internet globally is still less than a billion. Read More

China's Internet users top 100 million

By Mike Hanlon

July 3, 2005 It is often joked that when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. Consider then the severe dependence the world might have on China fifty years from now as the world’s most populous nation begins to flex its economic superpowers. The numbers are difficult to comprehend. The margin for error in calculating the Chinese population is greater than the entire American population. Already there are more English speakers in China than there are in America. The Sleeping Dragon is not only awakening, it is also getting wired and officially as of this week, has more than 100 million internet users. America invented the internet and still uses it more than any other nation with 220 million users. But America’s internet usage has plateaud at around 70% penetration while China’s modest 7.3% penetration will continue to grow rapidly for many years, making it the world’s largest internet population within a decade. Read More

British Telecom launches World's first combined fixed and mobile phone

By Mike Hanlon

June 16, 2005 British Telecom (BT) launched the world's first combined fixed and mobile phone service - the new service is to be call "BT Fusion" and is somewhat of a milestone in the ongoing telecommunications revolution. BT Fusion works just like a mobile phone when you are out and about, but switches automatically and seamlessly onto a BT Broadband line when you get home. That means you get all the convenience and all the features of a mobile phone but with fixed lines prices and quality. BT Fusion will offer savings by allowing calls to UK landline numbers to be charged at BT landline rates of 5.5p for up to an hour for all off-peak calls and 3p a minute at peak times. Read More

Broadband-in-Gas (BiG) technology offers massive bandwidth for little infrastructure investment

By Mike Hanlon

May 15, 2005 Delaware-based communications company Nethercomm Corporation has announced a new broadband technology promising massive bandwidth with minimal additional infrastructure investmentment required. Nethercomm’s Broadband-in-Gas (BiG) carries enormous amounts of data through existing subterranean gas pipes instead of over the air (with constraints and interference), to offer much greater bandwidth and hence access to content and services beyond that which has been available to date.

BiG (note that acronym – you’ll certainly hear more of it) uses Ultra Wideband technology to wirelessly broadcast information in a way that is both safe and reliable by using the private spectrum isolated within natural gas pipelines. Read More

The rise and fall and rise of the Internet

By Mike Hanlon

May 7, 2005 The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) this week released the Internet Advertising Revenue Report including final numbers for Q3, Q4 and full-year 2004. If there was any doubt that the internet was back as a major force in the world of advertising and communications, it was dispelled by the reportThe report states that Search, Classifieds, Display and Rich Media continue to grow at a healthy rate. Overall industry revenues rose nearly 33 percent over 2003 totaling over US$9.6 billion and exceeded the previous revenue record in 2000 by nearly 20 percent. Q4 2004 revenues totaled a record US$2.69 billion, marking the highest quarter ever reported. Read More

Worldwide Carrier VOIP equipment up 36% To US$1.7 billion in 2004

By Mike Hanlon

February 23, 2005--Worldwide telecom s service provider next generation voice product revenue totalled US$1.71 billion in 2004, a healthy 36% gain over 2003, setting a new high, according to Infonetics Research's quarterly market share and forecast service, "Service Provider Next Gen Voice Equipment." Infonetics projects next generation voice product revenue to reach $5.9 billion in 2008, a five-year CAGR of 36%.The report also forecast that North American VOIP subscribers would grow from 1 million in 2004 to 17 million in 2008. Read More

All-in-One Instant Communications Software released - contains Instant Messaging, Blogging, Photo Sharing, File Sharing and Desktop Search

By Mike Hanlon

February 15, 2005 Silicon Valley start-up imeem has introduced some innovative new communications software that might be a forerunner to the Personal Communications suite of the future. The software is a combined secure suite of products for communication on the web and combines instant messaging, blogging, photo sharing, file sharing and desktop search all into one package. The free software will give users new power to find any content they want and new control over whom they share it with over a network that offers the speed and security that rivals many corporate networks. Read More

Wi-Fi VoIP handset market hits US$45M in 2004 with healthy growth projected

By Mike Hanlon

February 10, 2005-Worldwide Wi-Fi VoIP handset revenue totalled US$45 million in 2004, with annual revenue and unit forecasts projected to show dramatic growth in coming years as enterprises take advantage of the opportunity to offer their employees flexible mobile access over different forms of wireless networks. Read More

VoiceWing offers customised broadband phone calls

By Gizmag Team

November 26, 2004 The transformation of the telephone industry by Voice Activated Internet Protocol (VOIP) continues with Verizon's VoiceWing home broadband phone service now offering customised digital functions that were once restricted to call centres and paging services.

The VoiceWing allows users to make unlimited local and domestic long-distance calls - with far greater call management functionality than available in standard lines - for a set monthly price, using their own phones, an adapter and their DSL or cable modem connections. Read More

Innovative SMS home price guide launched

By Gizmag Team

November 5, 2004 The trend towards ubiquitous mobile information continues with Australian home buyers and market watchers now able to access home price sales data anywhere, anytime with the launch of LegionONE and Australian Property Monitors' (APM) Home Price Guide 19 SMS HPG service. This promises to better inform buyers of real time market conditions and supply vital property information to home buyers when they need it most - like at auctions and inspecting properties. Read More

Pioneering SMS exam stress relief service launched

By Gizmag Team

November 5, 2004 The Australian-based Inspire Foundation has successfully piloted an SMS based exam stress service for young people to help them manage their final year exams.

The service delivered 13,500 messages of assistance and information to more than 2,000 final secondary year students around Australia who subscribed to the pioneer study. In Australia these exams determine tertiary education entry scores and are hence very important in determining future prospects. Read More

Analog Adapter updates legacy phones and faxes

By Gizmag Team

November 3, 2004 Niche IT distributor Logical Connections has announced the availability of a telephone and T.38 compatible fax adapter for connecting regular analog telephones or fax machines to IP networks. The low cost MultiVOIP MVP130-FXS Analog Adapter is a single port device that connects to an IP network via 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and, using an FXS interface, to a phone or fax machine via a standard RJ11 connector. This new device turns legacy analogue telephone and fax apparatus into new IP communication equipment over IP telephony networks. Read More

Artificial Life offers live SMS to TV shows

By Gizmag Team

October 29, 2004 The 'killer app' to create interactive terrestrial television may have arrived with Hong Kong-based company Artificial Life, signing a license agreement with Swiss-based Black Pencil Entertainment to sell, customise and distribute a TV/SMS interaction technology called "SMS Galaxy". SMS Galaxy allows TV viewers to send SMS messages to live TV shows and interact with the show and its host through the SMS message. Read More

One Million Simultaneous Users on Skype

By Mike Hanlon

October 20, 2004.

Today Skype reached a new milestone and had more than 1 million simultaneous users globally connected to each other at the same time. As of Tuesday, October 19, Skype has served more than 2 billion minutes of free Skype-to-Skype calling.

Skype is the fastest growing, globally av... Read More

Landline free homes increasingly young, upscale

By Mike Hanlon

October 14, 2004 After years of coexistence between cells and landlines, cellphones have recently begun to contribute to the desertion of the landline service according to research from the United States.

According to a new analysis from Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI), 8.1% of U.S. households do not have landline telephones, up sharply from just 4.2% in the spring of 2000. Read More

The Bluetooth shopping centre

By Mike Hanlon

October 12, 2004 A new location-based Bluetooth customer service system will begin operation later this week in Sydney. The bluepulse system enables people within the shopping centre to use their mobile phones to get useful information they want about their surroundings.

Broadway Shopping Centre in central Sydney will become the first Bluetooth-enabled shopping centre on Friday, October 22, allowing retail outlets in the Broadway Centre to communicate with 'bluepulse' subscribers as they walk through the centre by giving consumers access to relevant and valuable information and offers through their mobile phone. Read More

The sale of Telstra in 2006

By Mike Hanlon

October 12, 2004

Respected Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde writes that the sale of Australia's dominant telco Telstra will quickly rise to the top of the list of government priorities now Australian voters have given the Coalition a mandate for another term of government.

The fact that the majority of the Australian people is against the sale might slow down an otherwise speedy process.

Expect another report from the government, before the middle of 2005, which will announce that all telecoms guarantees for regional and rural Australia are in place.

This will allow them to push Senate approval through later on that year.

Read the full story at TechnologyBrief.com Read More