Google VoIP will still be Free of Charge in 2011

Google Dec. 20 said it will continue to make its Gmail calling capability free through 2011, a sign that the company wants to make sure more of its Webmail users embrace the technology.

Google launched its Call Phones from Gmail feature in August, leveraging the company's popular Google Voice phone management software.

Google said the tool would let U.S. users call anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for free through 2010 and make international calls for pennies per minute. Gmail users took up the service with gusto, logging 10 million calls through the first week.

"In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year, we're extending free calling for all of 2011," Google software engineer Robin Schriebman said in a blog post.

To access the feature, users must download Google's voice and video plug-in. Gmail users may then click the "Call Phone" tab in the chat section in the left menu bar.

This action will pop open a window with a virtual keypad to the right of the screen. The feature will display Google Voice users' numbers in outbound calls.

Gmail calling is certainly one way to get more users to use Google Voice. AllThingsDigital's Liz Gannes said she uses the feature as her primary landline at home.

What Google should do, in addition to making Google Voice available to its Gmail users all over the world, is layer the phone calling capability across all relevant services, including Google Docs, Sites and all other Google Apps.

Moreover, adding calling across its dozens of consumer Web services could help the company as it looks to build out its social networking communications capabilities in 2011.

This would alsocounter Facebook's integration with VOIP giant Skype.

(source eWEEK Des 2010)

Analog TV antennas deliver rural broadband

As the GSM Association and the Wimax Forum lobby for LTE and Wimax as the top option for bringing wireless broadband to areas underserved by DSL (or not served at all), there is at least one other option in the works: converting old analog TV antennas into wireless data receivers capable of 12-Mbps download speeds.

Australian government research body CSIRO - one of the pioneers in Wi-Fi that won a patent battle last year over the 802.11 wireless standard against IT heavyweights such as Microsoft, Intel and Dell - last month unveiled a wireless technology that does just that. It's called Ngara, and it combines OFDM-based Wi-Fi and beam-forming transmission techniques.

CSIRO says any rural property capable of receiving an analog television signal today would be able to use the technology through a new set-top box and a slightly modified version of their existing TV aerial.

Ngara enables multiple users to transmit simultaneously without compromising individual transfer rates of 12 Mbps, as the beamforming technology allows the towers to focus beams on individual homes, explains CSIRO ICT center director Ian Oppermann.

"Someone who doesn't live near the fiber network could get to it using our new wireless system," Oppermann said in a statement. "They'd be able to upload a clip to YouTube in real time and their data rate wouldn't change even if five of their neighbors also started uploading videos."

Ngara offers more than ten times the spectral efficiency of the industry's minimum standard, Oppermann says. Six users can be served with 12-Mbps connections in the space of one 7-MHz television channel, representing an efficiency of 20 bps per Hz.

CSIRO developed the technology under its Broadband In The Bush project with the proposition that it could be used to provide connectivity to the 7% of Australia's population that are too remote to reach via fiber via Australia's NBN rollout. NBN Co plans to use both wireless and satellite technologies to connect these places.

Analog television services in Australia are currently being switched off in phases, with the last signal due to go off in late-2013. That process will free up a contiguous block of spectrum from 694 MHz to 820 MHz.

However, regulator ACMA plans to follow ITU guidelines and use most of this frequency range for LTE.

The GSM Association is pushing hard to have digital dividend spectrum worldwide allocated for LTE usage. Its latest argument for "spectrum harmonization" cites a report co-authored by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) that projects that turning digital-dividend frequencies over to mobile could increase Asia-Pacific GDP by $729 billion and tip $131 billion in taxes into government coffers by 2020.

CSIRO acknowledges that most digital dividend spectrum will be used for mobile networks but says it's developing Ngara "on the reasonable assumption that, in regional and rural areas, these services are not likely to take up all the available spectrum."

Meanwhile, wireless access is just the first phase of Ngara's development; CSIRO is also developing wireless backhaul using the same technology, aiming to combine isolated available channels into a single link ten times faster than the current 150-Mbps microwave backhaul links serving Australia's rural towns.

Source:

Telecom Asia

Dylan Bushell-Embling and John C Tanner

Why rush to LTE if there is no Handset for LTE?

3G was a huge disappointment for customers. It took seven to eight years for what many operators are calling the "true 3G experience" to be delivered via HSPA+. Two upgrades later. And what happened to video telephony, promoted as a key capability of "3's" first 3G models back in 2004.

The iPhone homepage states prominently that "video calling is a reality" with FaceView. But not with 3G! Read the fine print -- that of course is over Wi-Fi. So there's still a ways to go there.

It's hard not to get that "oh, here we go again" feeling as operators rush toward LTE.

Adrian Scrase from the 3GPP said yesterday at the LTE Asia conference in Hong Kong that 22 operators are due to launch commercial LTE networks by the end of the year. With only three rolled out to date, that's 19 in less than 17 weeks.

At lot of it is about being first in a market. But that doesn't make for a very good business case.

Voice-centric LTE handsets are still two years away, according to Ovum's consulting director for Asia Pacific, CW Cheung.

3G device shipments are now just starting to surpass those of 2G.

Lars Bandelind, Huawei's VP of wireless marketing, asked the audience: "Why launch if there are no handsets?" (Soure:Joseph Waring -telecomasia.net)

The challengers to APAC IPTV market

Apple has upgraded its Apple TV device, dropping the price to $99, with the intention of developing a larger installed base. Apple's strategy is to take a share of video on demand (VoD) revenues. This contrasts with Google's TV aspiration, which is primarily aiming for the broadcast advertising market.

Unlike Apple's first-generation device, the new Apple TV has no internal hard drive, being purely a streaming media receiver for content from other computing devices on a home network, or from Apple's (and selected partners) own walled-garden service. Apple TV allows sharing of content from iDevices (iPods, iPhones, iPads) which Apple hopes will help drive demand for Apple TV. Apple has consequently moved to a rental model for content within the Apple TV store in conjunction with Netflix, a partner with existing content rights.

Google's approach to the market is to capture a greater share of total adverting revenues through indexing all the services vying for audience attention on the TV screen, providing a single unified UI and controlling the advertising. Google is already making progress expanding into the mobile market with Android, and this is the next step in its strategy to leverage its data analytics and advertising targeting across multi-screens.

The existing traditional TV broadcasters and IPTV players in the Asia-Pacific TV market need to watch Apple and Google very carefully. Two bellwether Asia-Pacific markets with very different local market structure and competitive dynamics are Hong Kong and Singapore.

Two models

PCCW in Hong Kong was a world pioneer in IPTV services, introducing the service in 2003 and transforming the traditional telco into a dynamic convergence player. Its IPTV service is posing a significant threat to the cable-TV service and surpassed them in terms of customer numbers mid-2009. A very competitive market, both in telecom and TV, Hong Kong has achieved a higher than 50% household penetration of IPTV.

PCCW built its early customer base with innovative packaging and pricing options, rather than restricting customers to pre-determined bundles. From its launch, PCCW focused on capturing the rights to key content, placing strong pressure on its rivals. PCCW has also been able to tie content and services across its quad-play bundles, reusing the same premium content with its mobile services.

Even Google and Apple will find it challenging to enter such a strongly competitive market with high existing IPTV take-up, with customers already having set-top boxes and tied into packages. They will need to focus on extending and working around the existing services rather than direct competition.

In Singapore, StarHub had dominated the pay-TV market until SingTel launched its IPTV service in mid-2007. SingTel's strategy was to use the IPTV service to strengthen its position as a converged player. Conversley, StarHub has expanded from its cable-based pay-TV service, into converged pay-TV and telecom services.

The IDA in Singapore has developed its NGN initiative to deliver an open access high-speed network due to reach 95% completion by 2012. This network will assist in accelerating bandwidth intensive services such as high-definition IPTV.

Additionally, IDA and MDA are consulting with industry to foster an open access video delivery platform, NIMS, including common standards and interoperability. The importance of this project is that it will improve competition in interactive and video services by both lowering the barriers to entry for a new player through access to the wholesale platform as well as removing customer lock-in.

This means that new players to the Singapore market, such as Google and Apple, will find it easier to enter, providing more competitive pressure to the existing IPTV players.

Craig Skinner is a senior consultant with Ovum

Source:

Telecom Asia

Craig Skinner/Ovum

Surging Data Traffic will strain 3G Networks in 2011

1. Surging mobile data traffic will continue to test 3G network capacity

As we predicted at the end of last year, 2010 was the year in which the surge in mobile data traffic, driven by the consumer smartphone boom, began to place the 3G networks under severe strain. A number of network operators have responded by introducing tiered data pricing – a trend which will undoubtedly increase – but as smartphone adoption continues apace, network capacity will be sorely tested in 2011. Tiered pricing (and the use of WiFi as capacity relief) may serve to alleviate the problem to a certain extent, but until we see mass deployments of LTE networks (and, equally important, devices that are LTE-capable), then operators face a nervous period while attempting to manage the transition.

2. Augmented reality to enhance mobile games and retail

Augmented Reality, or AR, has largely been used in local search and reference applications thus far, but is now attracting the attention of the retail industry. Given its potential to geotag products or locations with brand/campaign-specific information, as we near the end of 2010 a raft of major retailers and brands are releasing apps with an AR element. Brands on the bandwagon include eBay, H&M and Carlsberg. With Apple opening its accelerometer and gyroscope APIs to mobile Safari developers, there is also an opportunity for AR-enabled web-based apps. Also expect to see an increasing number of AR-based games – THQ Wireless’ forthcoming Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner likely to be the first of many such titles.

3. Cloud-based operating systems will launch

So far mobile operating systems have followed their PC-based cousins, the structure for which was formulated when the web was in its infancy. Consequently, with the web having taken-off, for some time now industry figures have been talking about the potential for applications to run from a “cloud”. Google announced the start of new project, the Chrome cloud OS in 2009; and the latest is that it will be launched in early 2011. With network reach and reliability reaching a point where cloud-based solutions can be considered viable, and remote servers already being used to allow the mobile internet and email, we believe 2011 will see the launch of the first cloud OS for mobile.

4. Mobile banking will become a “must-have” when opening a new account

Banks in developed countries will harness the power of the app and the smartphone to provide their customers with a much improved and personalized service experience. The sign-up process will be a simple box to tick in account opening processes from banks that are keen to make life easier for customers by proving the ability to manage their money on the move in what might otherwise be dead time.

5. Mobile devices begin to replace credit cards

In some countries at least, using your phone as a credit card for lower value purchases will in 2011 become a reality. Google recently announced that NFC (Near Field Communication) technology will be supported in the next release of Android – 2.3 or “Gingerbread”; a natural step, given it already offers several mobile commerce apps and services including shopping, coupons and products search. Also, Nokia’s C7 handset has an NFC chip included, which will be activated in 2011, and rumors of Apple’s next iPhone including NFC refuse to die down. A word of caution: it won’t all happen at once. Stores need to deploy contactless readers, and more problematically, it is dependent on user preference. However, as with Bluetooth and cameras, we will see NFC in new devices whether we want it or not.

6. Mobile handsets become even more sensitive

Locational and sensory features on smartphones - such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS - have been key drivers in application development. Handset manufacturers will be keen to add more “killer” features to their devices to give them that edge. With the aforementioned features becoming standard, vendors are already looking to incorporate others, such as, proximity, temperature, biometrics, 3D displays, and projectors, into their handsets.

7. Mobile lottery tickets sales to soar

With lottery sales from traditional distribution channels in decline in many developed markets – notably the US – national/state lottery organizers are anxious to explore new means of distribution. Juniper Research believes 2011 is the year when mobile lotteries will hit the mainstream. As consumers across all age ranges become more comfortable with browsing for content and making purchases via the mobile handset, this major hurdle to mobile lotteries will begin to disappear. We expect a raft of mobile lottery launches across the US and Europe, while VODone’s existing service in China (which already has more than 10 million registered users) is likely to experience further significant growth.

8. Mobile-specific threats lead to demand for mobile-specific security

With the growing number of open WiFi networks, and antivirus vendor Kaspersky reporting the first virus designed to disrupt Google’s Android operating system, the risks for smartphone users will increase in 2011. Antivirus and firewalls have been a “must-have” for PC users for some time, and with mobile handset featuring a wider array of connectivity options – and less secure ones – the lure for vigilantes and criminals is even greater. In light of this, anti-virus software vendors such as Kaspersky and McAfee are likely to make a concerted effort to sell into the mobile space in 2011.

9. Buyouts take social purchasing to a new level

Google is heavily rumored to be keen on purchasing Groupon, a company which sends users offers on products and services. But rather than providing a coupon, it manages the transaction, taking a share of the proceeds. We expect a Google acquisition to have similar impact on this model as we saw in mobile advertising, when it purchased AdMob.

10. More vendors develop a GreenHeart

Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart mantra lead to the Sony Ericsson Elm, a handset made from recycled plastics and free of hazardous chemicals, and comes with a low power consumption charger, reduced packaging, some eco-aware apps and an e-manual on the phone instead of a printed guide. Given this move, we expect other vendors to go down a similar route, in order to appeal to the increasingly-environmentally conscious consumer. (Source: Juniper Research)

Lesson from Wikileaks: Cyberspace is Lawless

The most telling release from the State Department this week was not a leaked cable but its “World Press Freedom Day” announcement.

Just as the rest of the US government was hounding companies not to do business with WikiLeaks, the department hailed the ability of new media to empower citizens in “environments sometimes hostile” to freedom of expression.

“At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information,” it went on to say.

You gotta love that.

But as well as the unembarrassed hypocrisy, it reminds us that internet freedom is severely vulnerable to attacks by governments, and not just the usual culprits such as China and Iran.

A month ago the flap about China “hijacking” web traffic pointed to the fragility of the BGP routing infrastructure which underpins IP traffic management.

The WikiLeaks saga shows how the DNS system is a chokepoint and thus also vulnerable.

The DDoS attacks on WikiLeaks forced its registrar, EveryDNS, to cancel its domain registration in order to protect its other 500,000 customers.

Then the retaliatory attacks this week by hacktivists on Visa and Mastercard further demonstrated the power of DDoS to take websites off the air.

WikiLeaks is online thanks to hundreds of mirror sites, but that’s not an option for other websites that come under attack.

The lesson from WikiLeaks is that cyberspace is a lawless zone where the weak are prey to the strong.

What we need is a cyberspace police force to protect the rights of legitimate sites, and an effective judicial forum to settle disputes.

Obviously that would require the cooperation of the world’s powers, and for the US to cede its dominance. Obviously it ain’t going to happen soon. Or ever.

But the US assault on WikiLeaks has exposed giant cracks in web governance. They will only get bigger.

Enterprise Mobility: Apple, Google, Sprint Among Winners in Yankee`s 2011 4G Predictions

• Prediction: '4G Will Be a Drop in the Ocean'

  By the end of 2011, only 25 percent of North American consumers will understand what 4G means, says Yankee Group. Incumbent operators, such as Vodafone and AT&T, will win out, as they'll "be able to align 4G investments with pragmatic adoption forecasts." Pictured: A new Vodafone ad campaign starring F1 driver Jenson Button, indie rock darling Florence Welch and supermodel Lilly Cole.

• Prediction: 'A Denial-of-Service Attack Will Take Down a 4G Network'

  Speeding to deployment, some security corners may be cut that will cost operators in the long-term. AT&T's struggle, says Yankee, is "particularly poignant," as it works to rollout 4G while supporting its iPhone customers on 3G.

• Prediction: 'Chinese Vendors Will Beat 3G Incumbents'

  Tier 1 players shouldn't dismiss Chinese vendors as offering inferior solutions, says Yankee. The competition they pose over the next five years will be considerable. Pictured is China-based Huawei's testing center.

• Prediction: '4G Users Will Spend Twice as Much Time on the Mobile Web as Their Non-4G Counterparts'

  By the end of 2011, 4G users are expected to spend more than 36 minutes a day browsing the mobile Web. The new Microsoft ad campaign for its Windows Phone 7 phones, features the tag line: "It's time for a phone to save us from our phones." Pictured: the WP7-running Dell Venue Pro.

• Prediction: 'Mobile Video Will Not Drive Consumers to 4G'

  Mobile video is constrained not just by bandwidth but how much attention users can spend on video. Instead, mobile apps and Web browsing will for now lead 4G use.

• Prediction: 'The Web Will Not Save Operators in the Mobile Apps Market'

  Unfortunately for operators, says Yankee, "Apple and Google own the most popular mobile Web browsers and are well-positioned to optimize these for app discovery and search." Pictured is Apple's new store in Shanghai, China. (Image courtesy of Apple.)

• Prediction: 'MVNO Hype Will Build, but Most of It Will Lead to Nothing'

  In theory, the 4G MVNO business should be a successful one, says Yankee, "but it won't be." To succeed, the MVNO can't compete with its host in any meaningful way. The Kyocera Loft, pictured, is offered by the MVNO Virgin Mobile.

• Prediction: 'Pricing Will End in Tiers'

  Goodbye, flat rates. In 2011, 4G mobile data plans are expected to be tiered. Where the business model supports it, however—as with the Amazon Kindle—connectivity will come as a built-in standard.

• Prediction: 'Carrier VOIP Will Still Be AWOL, Despite 4G'

  Most operators are still planning their 4G networks and won't support VOIP on 4G in the short-term. Only T-Mobile and other operators using HSPA+ offer voice support on their "4G" networks. The new T-Mobile myTouch 4G is pictured.

• Prediction: 'Google Will Take the Wheel in Mobile Data'

  More bandwidth means more data traffic, says Yankee, and "Google is the most successful company at monetizing that traffic." Pictured is Google's Dublin office.

Google upgraded the Google Voice application it wrote for the iPhone to enable phone-management capabilities on Apple's iPad and iPod touch.

Google Dec. 14 said it augmented its Google Voice phone-management application for the iPhone to run on Apple's iPad and iPod touch.

U.S. users may download the new version of Google Voice to send and receive free text messages and enjoy voice mail transcription, listen to live messages left on voice mail and other communications perks.

Users cannot make calls with the Google Voice application from the iPad and iPod touch, which lack calling capabilities. However, users may still manage their Google Voice inbox and enjoy the Click2Call feature.

This feature will trigger Google Voice calls from the iPad and iPod touch devices to mobile, home and work phones users have set up to work with Google Voice. Google Voice will call the line that users select and connect the call.

Google finally saw its native application for Apple's iPhone approved for Apple's App Store in November, putting an end to a 16-month rift between two companies competing in the mobile phone market.

Apple had blocked Google's original Google Voice application submission from its App Store because it competed with its iPhone features.

To mitigate the lack of Google Voice support on the iPhone, Google launched a Web version of Google Voice for iPhone based on HTML5 in January. However, the Web application lacked push notifications to alert users to new voice mail or text messages.

The new native version of Google Voice for the iPhone, which Apple blessed after easing its developer terms of service, offers push notifications. These alerts have just been improved.

As of today, when iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users turn push notifications on in the Google Voice application, Google will automatically disable text forwarding so users don't see duplicate notifications.

Users may also send all callers straight to voice mail by turning on the “do not disturb” function in the settings tab.

Users can also place calls from the address book more conveniently by adding a dedicated contacts button to the dialer tab.

The Google Voice application is available to download from Apple's App Store now for the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS 3.1 or later. The application requires users to have a valid Google Voice account, available only in the United States.

The introduction of Google Voice for the iPad and iPod touch comes one day after Google launched a native Google Latitude friend-finding application for the iPhone.

Will PT TELKOM buy CamGSM Cambodia's largest mobile Operator?

PT TELKOM Indonesia will be holding its Special Shareholders' Meeting today, Friday, December 17, 2010. The company will appoint new executives for the next 5-year period, its new Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners. Among its Meeting Agenda, includes the decision to sell its subsidiary division, Telkom Flexi CDMA Semi-fixed Wireless Division, and the acquisition of Cambodia's largest GSM Operator, the CamGSM for a value about US$500 million. The following is the latest news from telecomasia.net :

Jakarta. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Indonesia’s biggest telecommunications company, said on Wednesday that it was in talks to acquire a majority stake in Cambodia’s largest mobile operator CamGSM in a deal that could be worth over $500 million.

The planned acquisition, which values CamGSM at about $1 billion according to a source with knowledge of the deal, would be Telkom’s first major acquisition overseas after a failed bid to acquire Iran Telecommunication Company last year.

“I hope that the process of acquisition will be completed by the first quarter next year,” said Tanri Abeng, Telkom’s chief commissioner.

“We’ve made it through the bidding process and we’re now in talks to get financial details done, but we are surely going to take a majority stake,” Abeng said, declining to give any financial details.

CamGSM, established in 1996 between Millicom Group and Cambodia’s Royal Group, is the largest mobile operator in Cambodia through its Mobitel and Cellcard brands.

Mobitel’s CEO David Spriggs declined to comment on the deal.

Millicom sold its 58.4 percent stake in the firm last year to Royal Group for $346 million in cash.

Telkom’s plan to acquire a majority stake in CamGSM is part of the company’s strategy this year to find acquisition opportunities in the region as the once-buoyant Indonesian market is starting to mature

ID-WIBB launched Indonesian Broadband Roaming Facilities

November 23, 2010 – To encourage WiMAX™ growth in Indonesia, ID-WiBB, an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to promote national vision through the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products in Indonesia, announced today the launch of an Indonesian broadband roaming facility to serve the many wireless broadband service providers throughout the region.

This will enable roaming between WiMAX and Wi-Fi and possibly future LTE operators, creating a unified 4G wireless network across the nation.

“Our goal is to encourage further wireless broadband adoption and growth of the broadband ecosystem by establishing an automatic networked ID authorization that will allow anyone – regardless of their service provider – to tap in to the benefits of wireless broadband from anywhere, at anytime,” said Kanaka Hidayat, ID-WiBB. “Today’s announcement takes us one step closer to uniting the Indonesian market under one wireless broadband umbrella.”

To date, three operators awarded WiMAX derived Wireless Broadband licenses in Indonesia have signed up to become roaming partners.

Aptilo Networks, the global leader in integrated solutions for control of billing, user services and access in wireless networks including Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE, has been selected by ID-WIBB to enable this multi-access roaming. The award-winning Aptilo Service Management Platform™, which will serve as a AAA proxy for the authentication, authorization and accounting of roaming users between the different WiMAX and Wi-Fi service providers. The Aptilo solution will keep track of roaming subscribers’ consumption of resources (time and/or data) in any visiting network and provide the required statistics to allow ID-WiBB to serve as a neutral accounting party. The addition of LTE support to the Aptilo platform in 2011 will expand opportunities for ID-WiBB for future revenue streams.

“Aptilo is dedicated to full compliance with wireless standards, and is unparalleled in our commitment to interoperability testing with vendors in the wireless broadband arena including WiMAX,” said Jan Sjonell, Managing Director Asia/Middle East, Aptilo Networks. “We are proud to have been selected for this important project. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with ID-WiBB in encouraging growth of the wireless broadband ecosystem in Indonesia.”

ITU Ratified LTE-Advanced as IMT-Advanced

4G Americas Applauds 3GPP and ITU

November 23 2010

BELLEVUE, Wash. –

4G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the 3GPP family of technologies, today applauds the final ratification of LTE-Advanced as an IMT-Advanced technology by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

In its October meeting, ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Working Party 5D, which is responsible for defining the IMT-Advanced global 4G technologies, completed the assessment of six candidate submissions and reached a milestone by deciding on LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced for the first release of IMT-Advanced. Final ratification of the full IMT-Advanced technology family took place at the ITU-R Study Group meeting on November 22 and 23 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The future is bright for LTE, with nine official commercial launches already in 2010, and an additional 11 expected before the end of the year. More than 250 companies have publicly expressed interest in deploying LTE networks, including Greenfield, CDMA, WiMAX and GSM operators. LTE is expected to be the leading choice for next-generation OFDMA networks over the next decade for all wireless carriers.

As the future evolution of LTE, LTE-Advanced will be poised as a pre-eminent ITU-sanctioned 4G mobile broadband solution for information, communications and entertainment. By offering a full suite of integrated 3G (IMT-2000) and 4G (IMT-Advanced) ecosystems, the 3GPP technology family supports the evolving and expanding mobile broadband needs of the expansive international base of mobile operators and their customers. IMT-Advanced provides a global platform on which to build the next generations of interactive mobile services that will provide faster data access, enhanced roaming capabilities, unified messaging and broadband multimedia.

“This day is a milestone to remember for mobile broadband connectivity,” said Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas. “4G Americas is excited about this new era of wireless communications and extremely pleased that 3GPP Release 10 and beyond – LTE-Advanced – mobile broadband technology has been approved by the ITU. The future for mobile broadband technologies has never been brighter to help progress societies in the Americas and throughout the world.”

LTE-Advanced technology will now move into the final stage of the IMT-Advanced process, which provides for the development in early 2012 of an ITU-R Recommendation specifying the in-depth technical standards for these radio technologies.

Pearson added, “Congratulations to ITU, 4G Americas’ member companies and 3GPP for their great work efforts in making this moment a reality.”

4G Americas is a Market Representation Partner of 3GPP.

For more information on LTE-Advanced, download the Rysavy Research white paper, Transition to 4G: 3GPP Broadband Evolution to IMT-Advanced.

###

About 4G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Mobile Broadband Technology
4G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment and adoption of the 3GPP family of technologies throughout the Americas. 4G Americas contributes to the successful commercial rollout of 3GPP mobile broadband technologies across the Americas and their place as the No. 1 technology family in the region. The organization aims to develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 4G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas. More information is available at www.4gamericas.org.

4G Americas' Board of Governors members include: Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, Andrew Solutions, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Gemalto, HP, Huawei, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Openwave, Powerwave, Qualcomm, Research In Motion (RIM), Rogers, Shaw Communications, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.

BlackBerry Playbook will become a tough challenger for iPad

Research In Motion (RIM) today redefined the possibilities for mobile computing with the unveiling of its new professional-grade BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry® Tablet OS. Perfect for either large organizations or an “army of one”, the BlackBerry PlayBook is designed to give users what they want, including uncompromised web browsing, true multitasking and high performance multimedia, while also providing advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a breakthrough development platform for IT departments and developers. The incredibly powerful and innovative BlackBerry PlayBook is truly a game-changing product in the growing tablet marketplace.

“RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world's most robust and flexible operating systems,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry PlayBook solidly hits the mark with industry leading power, true multitasking, uncompromised web browsing and high performance multimedia.”

The Tablet You'll Want to Take Everywhere
This beautifully designed and incredibly powerful tablet is ultra portable, ultra thin and super convenient for both work and play. Measuring less than half an inch thick and weighing less than a pound, the BlackBerry PlayBook features a vivid 7” high resolution display that looks and feels great in your hand. With such a unique mix of utility, performance and portability, you’ll want to take it everywhere.

The New Benchmark in Tablet Performance
At its heart, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a multitasking powerhouse. Its groundbreaking performance is jointly fueled by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and the new BlackBerry Tablet OS which supports true symmetric multiprocessing. Together, the abundant processing power and highly sophisticated OS enable the BlackBerry PlayBook to provide users with true multitasking and a highly-responsive and fluid touch screen experience for apps and content services.

Uncompromised Web Browsing
With support for Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, Adobe® Mobile AIR® and HTML-5, the BlackBerry PlayBook provides customers with an uncompromised, high-fidelity web experience and offers them the ability to enjoy all of the sites, games and media on the web. For more than a decade, the mobile industry has worked to bridge the gap between the “real web” and mobile devices through various apps and technologies and, in fact, a significant number of mobile apps today still simply serve as a proxy for web content that already exists on the web. The BlackBerry PlayBook closes that gap and brings the real, full web experience to mobile users while also opening new and more exciting opportunities for developers and content publishers.

High Performance Multimedia
The BlackBerry PlayBook features premium multimedia features to support high-quality mobile experiences. It includes dual HD cameras for video capture and video conferencing that can both record HD video at the same time, and an HDMI-out port for presenting one's creations on external displays. The BlackBerry PlayBook also offers rich stereo sound and a media player that rivals the best in the industry.

BlackBerry Integration
For those BlackBerry PlayBook users who carry a BlackBerry smartphone*, it will also be possible to pair their tablet and smartphone using a secure Bluetooth® connection. This means they can opt to use the larger tablet display to seamlessly and securely view any of the email, BBM™, calendar, tasks, documents and other content that resides on (or is accessible through) their smartphone. They can also use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data. This secure integration of BlackBerry tablets and smartphones is a particularly useful feature for those business users who want to leave their laptop behind.

Enterprise Ready
Thanks to the seamless and secure Bluetooth pairing experience and the highly secure underlying OS architecture, the BlackBerry PlayBook is enterprise ready and compatible (out-of-the-box) with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. When connected over Bluetooth, the smartphone content is viewable on the tablet, but the content actually remains stored on the BlackBerry smartphone and is only temporarily cached on the tablet (and subject to IT policy controls). With this approach to information security, IT departments can deploy the BlackBerry PlayBook to employees out-of-the-box without worrying about all the security and manageability issues that arise when corporate data is stored on yet another device.

QNX Neutrino Reliability
The BlackBerry Tablet OS is built upon the QNX® Neutrino® microkernel architecture, one of the most reliable, secure and robust operating system architectures in the world. Neutrino has been field hardened for years and is being used to support mission-critical applications in everything from planes, trains and automobiles to medical equipment and the largest core routers that run the Internet. The new BlackBerry Tablet OS leverages and builds upon the many proven strengths of this QNX Neutrino architecture to support a professional grade tablet experience and to redefine the possibilities for mobile computing.

An OS Built for Developers
The Neutrino based microkernel architecture in the BlackBerry Tablet OS delivers exceptional performance, high scalability, Common Criteria EAL 4+ security, and support for industry standard tools that are already familiar to hundreds of thousands of developers. The OS is fully POSIX compliant enabling easy portability of C-based code, supports Open GL for 2D and 3D graphics intensive applications like gaming, and will run applications built in Adobe Mobile AIRas well as the new BlackBerry® WebWorks™ app platform announced today (which will allow apps to be written to run on BlackBerry PlayBook tablets as well as BlackBerry smartphones with BlackBerry® 6). The BlackBerry Tablet OS will also support Java enabling developers to easily bring their existing BlackBerry 6 Java applications to the BlackBerry Tablet OS environment.

Key features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook include:
• 7” LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi - 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
o Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
o Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

Availability
The BlackBerry PlayBook is expected to be available in retail outlets and other channels in the United States in early 2011 with rollouts in other international markets beginning in (calendar) Q2.
RIM will begin working with developers and select corporate customers next month to begin development and early testing efforts.
The BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK is planned for release in the coming weeks and developers can register for early access at www.blackberry.com/developers/tabletos.

For more information, visit www.blackberry.com/playbook.

*Bluetooth support required.

Twitter is becoming a Powerful Tool for Political Communications

Twitter, which was created by a 10-person startup in San Francisco called Obvious, is a heady mixture of messaging, social networking, "microblogging" and something called "presence," shorthand for the idea that people should enjoy an "always on" virtual omnipresence.

Twitter's rapid growth made it the object of intense interest and a fair amount of ridicule, as it was derided as high-tech trivia or the latest in time-wasting devices. But its use in Iran in the wake of the disputed presidential election of June 2009 to organize protests and disseminate information in the face of a news media crackdown brought it new respect.

"Twitterers" or "tweeters" send and receive short messages, called "tweets," on Twitter's Web site, with instant messaging software, or with mobile phones.

When a user is logged in through the Web or a cellphone, it asks one simple question, "What are you doing?" Users answer in 140 characters or fewer. While some of these tweets have the profundity of haiku, most are mundane, like "Sure is pretty out tonight" or "My eyes itch. I am very aggravated."

Unlike most text messages, tweets are routed among networks of friends. Strangers, called "followers," can also choose to receive the tweets of people they find interesting.

In April 2010, Twitter rolled out a much-anticipated plan for making money from advertising, finally answering the question of how the company expects to turn its exponential growth into revenue.

The advertising program, which Twitter calls Promoted Tweets, will show up when Twitter users search for keywords that the advertisers have bought to link to their ads. Later, Twitter plans to show promoted posts in the stream of Twitter posts, based on how relevant they might be to a particular user.

In its short history, Twitter has become an important marketing tool for celebrities, politicians and businesses, promising a level of intimacy never before approached online, as well as giving the public the ability to speak directly to people and institutions once comfortably on a pedestal.

But someone has to do all that writing, even if each entry is barely a sentence long. In many cases, celebrities and their handlers have turned to outside writers - ghost Twitterers, who keep fans updated on the latest twists and turns, often in the star's own voice.

It is not only celebrities who are forced to look to a team to produce real-time commentary on daily activities, but also politicians like Ron Paul, who have assigned staff members to create Twitter posts and Facebook personas. Barack Obama's presidential campaign used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

In 2009, people in Iran and Moldova created their own searchable tags on Twitter to organize protests against their governments and share information with each other and the world. In April, Moldovans used the network to rally more than 10,000 young people against their country's Communist leadership. And in June, Iranian opposition supporters angry over presidential election results used Twitter and other forms of new media to share news on rallies, police crackdowns on protesters, and analysis.

With the authorities blocking text-messaging on cellphones, Twitter has become a handy alternative for information-hungry Iranians. While Iran has also tried to block Twitter posts, Iranians are skilled at using proxy sites or other methods to circumvent the official barriers.

In a notable moment during the Iranian protests, State Department official e-mailed Twitter to request a delay in scheduled maintenance of its global network, which would have cut off service while Iranians were using Twitter to swap information and inform the outside world about the mushrooming protests around Tehran.

Twitter complied with the request and briefly postponed its upgrade. The episode demonstrated the extent to which the Obama administration views social networking as a new diplomatic tool. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talks regularly about the power of e-diplomacy, particularly in places where the mass media are repressed. (source: The NY Times)

Android is gaining Users faster than expected. It may overtake Symbian soon

I suppose that it's just as well that Apple's Steve Jobs is used to being at the bottom in terms of market share, because it's about to happen again. According to Gartner research it will happen by the end of 2010, when the Android mobile OS will have surpassed both Apple's iOS and Research In Motion's BlackBerry operating system to reach second place behind only Symbian. By 2014, according to the report, Android and Symbian will be approximately equal in market share.

Interestingly, this growth to parity with Symbian is happening about two years sooner than Gartner had predicted in 2009. What's happened, of course, is that Android has been adopted by a wide variety of manufacturers this year, and it's selling a lot of those devices at prices far lower than Apple sets for the iPhone. In the United States, where Nokia's presence is relatively low, Android is expected to reach the top spot by the end of 2010. (source; eWeek)

There are many reasons for the explosive growth of Android phones. In the United States, there are a lot of users who can't use the sole iPhone carrier, AT&T, and a lot who could but don't want to, either because they're happy with whatever company provides their wireless service now or because AT&T's service has gotten a poor reputation due to problems with iPhone service.

Android phones, on the other hand, are available from every carrier in the United States, and they're made by nearly every company that builds smartphones.

This wide range of choices means that you don't have to do things Apple's way if you don't want to. And you don't have to use your smartphone in any particular way because of the number of form factors and interfaces available for Android devices. Giving users a range of choices has always worked well, and it works even better when that range of choices is also less expensive than the alternative.

Apple is trying to combat the market-share erosion caused by Android devices by letting other carriers sell the iPhone. In the United States, it appears that T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless will be getting the iPhone in the near future. However, the chance of Apple actually pulling off an Android upset is remote. The iPhone is too expensive for many buyers who are looking for a phone that's smart enough, but still affordable. Android can offer that, while Apple has been going after the high end of the market and that isn't going to change.

It's the long run that's the most interesting, however. Just as Gartner missed the mark on Android growth last year, it's very likely the predictions are also too conservative this year. The reason lies in the nature of the Symbian market and Nokia's smartphones. Symbian has a large market share due to a preponderance of legacy devices, legacy here being another term for "old." While much of the world has a much lower level of turnover than happens in the United States and Western Europe, old phones are still going to be replaced when they die or when they fail to meet their users' needs. Nokia, with its aging phone population, faces that turnover much sooner than does the Android world.

So what's going to happen is that a portion of those old Nokia phones are going to be replaced with Android devices, while a much smaller portion of Android devices will be replaced with Symbian phones. Nokia's market share will sink while Android's market share grows. I think the crossing point will happen sooner than predicted in 2014 and could happen as soon as the end of 2012.

At that point, Android devices will be tops in market share globally, not just in the United States. Nokia's share will continue to erode, as will RIM's and Apple's. Unless Apple can find a way to step up its development rate or provide a broader choice in models, it's likely that the popularity of iPhones will decline fairly quickly. RIM will have a similar problem with the BlackBerry, but not to the same extent. RIM has a solid business base that the other makers don't and can't get a part of. But that's not going to keep RIM at the top of the heap, either.

There is, of course, a wild card. Microsoft is getting ready to release its new phone and its new Windows Phone 7 operating system. If the Redmond team can get past the clunky interface and vague models showed in earlier versions of Windows Mobile and the ill-fated Kin line, and if the company can sell those phones at a highly competitive price, then you may see Microsoft gaining significant market share. Right now we don't know what will happen, but remember, one reason Windows has such a huge part of the computer operating system market today is because Microsoft let anybody sell Windows, and machines running it were far cheaper than those running the Mac OS.

If Microsoft does the same thing with phones, then it could be a factor that upsets all of those carefully (or not-so-carefully) thought-out predictions. We'll have to see, but I think Android is still going to come out on top.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media.

Posted on Wed May 6 2009

There are a million ways for businesses to use social media well, and only a handful of ways to do it horribly wrong. So why do companies keep falling into the same traps?

The answer is easy: human nature. And as we all know, humans are constantly beset by malicious temptations.

So as a public service, I've decided to break down the Seven Deadly Sins that make social media go sour. (Click on any one of the tips to learn more.)

1. Lust: Loving your customers is great, but take it slow.

2. Gluttony: Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

3. Greed: It’s hard to shake hands while you’re reaching for someone’s wallet.

4. Sloth: Always avoid the temptation to “set it and forget it.”

5. Wrath: There are a lot of people out there itching for a punch in the nose, but you’re not the one to give it to them.

6. Envy: Don’t be dissuaded by other people “doing it better than you.”

7. Pride: Stay humble, rock star.

If you're a glutton for insight, read on after the jump.

1. Lust: Loving your customers is great, but take it slow. In the ribald days of 2006, a business would sign up on MySpace and then start “friending” everyone with a pulse. These days, lusting after fans like that will get you labeled as desperate — or even as a spammer. So keep it in your pants and truly get to know the first people who connect with your brand. In return, they might just love you for life.

2. Gluttony: Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Once companies decide to take a seat at the social media table, they often dig in with gusto. The downside: They want to be everywhere at once, spreading themselves across the Web instead of being strategic and focused. You don’t need accounts on all social networks — just the right ones.

3. Greed: It’s hard to shake hands while you’re reaching for someone’s wallet. We’d all like to make money through social media, and if your business is strong, it’ll happen. But if all you do on your Twitter feed or Facebook page is spout off sales messages, no one’s going to stick around. Be yourself. Be helpful. Be a good listener. Then the money will come to you.

4. Sloth: Always avoid the temptation to “set it and forget it.” Starting a blog or creating a presence on a social network? That’s easy. Keeping it alive and growing? That takes commitment, adaptability and good-old effort. You would never open a storefront, then close shop two weeks later because of low turnout. Go for the long term, and plan accordingly.

5. Wrath: There are a lot of people out there itching for a punch in the nose, but you’re not the one to give it to them. Once you’re active online, you’re bound to get a few critics. Some will offer valuable feedback. Some will shout obscenities. You won’t have a hard time telling the difference, so focus on the ones who deserve a response. And no matter what, never lash out. Your scathing “private” e-mail will probably end up on 100 blogs before breakfast, and the Internet has a long (if not infinite) memory.

6. Envy: Don’t be dissuaded by other people “doing it better than you.” Someone will always have more followers, more blog comments, more write-ups in Wired. Focus on who you are and what your business has to offer, not on what the other guy is doing. And when you must steal an idea (because hey, it happens), find a way to make it so much bigger and better, no one can even recognize the original.

7. Pride: Stay humble, rock star. Successful social media really is easier than you’d think. If you plan ahead, pace yourself and listen more than you talk, you’ll strike a chord with existing customers and potential fans alike. It will open new opportunities and enhance your brand in ways you never imagined. But don’t let it go to your head. There’s always more work to do. (source:thesocialpath.com)

Texas Authority probes Google Search Engine Results Ranking

The Texas attorney general has opened an antitrust investigation into how Google ranks search results, the first United States case to strike at the heart of the company’s main search business.

The issue at hand — referred to as search neutrality — is whether Google manipulates results to thwart competitors and advance its own businesses. Some companies worry that Google has the power to discriminate against them by lowering their listings in search results or charging higher fees for their paid search ads.

“This whole issue of how Google treats these vertical competitors, that’s a big issue now,” said Gary L. Reback, a lawyer at Carr & Ferrell in Palo Alto, Calif., who has advised small companies that have brought antitrust cases against Google.

Google announced the inquiry by the Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, on Friday after Search Engine Land, an industry blog, reported on it. Lauri Saathoff, a spokeswoman for Mr. Abbott, confirmed the existence of the investigation but declined to give more information because the review was not complete.

Don Harrison, Google’s deputy general counsel, wrote in a company blog post that Google’s responsibility is to its users, not to Web sites, and that the company’s priority was to “provide the most useful, relevant search results and ads for users.”

“Given that not every Web site can be at the top of the results, or even appear on the first page of our results, it’s unsurprising that some less relevant, lower-quality Web sites will be unhappy with their ranking,” Mr. Harrison wrote.

In his post, he said the Texas attorney general asked the company for information about a number of companies. It listed three — Foundem, a British shopping comparison site; SourceTool, a business search directory; and myTriggers, which collects shopping links.

Foundem is involved in the European Commission’s antitrust investigation of Google. The other two sites have each brought private suits against Google; a federal judge dismissed SourceTool’s suit this year.

In the blog post, Mr. Harrison also suggested the three companies were connected to Microsoft. He pointed out that Foundem belonged to the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace, a European group co-founded by Microsoft, and that SourceTool and myTriggers were clients of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the law firm that represented Microsoft on antitrust issues.

Industry analysts expect Google to continue to attract broader and deeper antitrust scrutiny as it dominates the Web search business and expands into new areas.

“We’ve got an investigation in Europe, and now we’ve got an investigation by one of our biggest state enforcement agencies,” Mr. Reback said. “The next question is, why isn’t the Department of Justice investigating this?”

There may be other companies involved in the Texas investigation, and the Department of Justice is looking at issues of search fairness related to Google’s acquisition of ITA, the flight information company. The company has also faced antitrust inquiries over advertising deals.

Google was contacted by the Texas attorney general in August, said Adam Kovacevich, a Google spokesman on policy issues. (source: The New York Times)

Google's VoIP is a Challenge to Skype

Google unveiled a new VOIP service on Wednesday that integrates directly into Gmail. The feature is quite simple and allows users to place free calls to phones in the United States and Canada. For now, few folks have been able to fully test out the service, so there's no telling if there are any bugs that could cause some users to switch to an alternative. But at first glance, with some basic use, placing calls in Gmail provides a robust experience.

Going forward, Gmail's new phone service is undoubtedly taking aim at Skype, the leader in the VOIP market. And although some might say that Gmail won't be able to match Skype just yet, some see it a different way. Phone calling on Gmail might not be perfect right now, but it effectively puts Skype on notice that Google is ready to steal market share. Take a look at the ways Gmail's VOIP service poses a huge challenge to Skype's Internet phone service.

1. It's readily available

One of the issues facing Skype now that Gmail has VOIP is that it's no longer the only readily available solution on the market. Every Gmail user now has the ability to place calls by clicking one option and dialing. They don't need to open a special program or wait for a service to load after downloading the plug-in. They need only to click the phone option and call someone. That convenience could hurt Skype.

2. It's coming to more places

Google Voice is quickly making its way to more and more platforms. Having it available on the Google Voice page and on Gmail is one thing, but now that users can place calls on the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-based devices, it doesn't bode well for Skype. Admittedly, the VOIP company does have several mobile options available to customers as well, but Google has far more clout among users. And the more places its service is available, the worse it is for Skype.

3. Google Voice offers more options

Google Voice delivers far more options to users than Skype. At first glance, it might just be a service that allows folks to place calls, but it can also provide voicemail-transcription service, free text messages and the ability to work on several phones with a single number. Gmail phone integration isn't that advanced, but if it gets users thinking about Google Voice, the search giant will already find itself in the lead.

4. Free calling in key areas

One issue with the phone-calling service in Gmail is that it doesn't provide all the international-calling options that Skype boasts. But the vast majority of users will likely only want to place calls around the United States and Canada anyway. It might not be ideal, but right now, Google is delivering a viable experience with its U.S. and Canada support for the vast majority of its customers. Those who want to chat overseas will move to Skype.

Verizon offers Droid X to counter iPhone 4

Google and US cellco Verizon Wireless has unveiled their challenger to Apple’s iPhone 4 – the Android-powered Droid X smartphone, made by Motorola.

The Droid X – which features a 4.3-inch display and can run Flash software - will cost $199.99 on a two-year contract and will be released by Verizon in the US on July 15, WSJ reports.

That’s one day after rival AT&T is due to ship pre-ordered iPhone 4 devices.

AT&T and Apple opened pre-orders for the newest iPhone last week, selling more than 600,000 iPhone 4’s by the end of the day.

Andy Rubin, vice president engineering for Android developer Google, countered by saying that 160,000 Android-powered devices are activated in some 49 countries daily.

“That’s nearly two devices every second,” Rubin said on the Google blog. “In some instances, Android devices are selling faster than they can be manufactured,” he wrote.

Rubin announced that Google is now open-sourcing its new 2.2 version of Android, called Froyo, to smartphone vendors. (Nicole McCormick - telecomasia.net)

“Customers will enjoy great new features and improved browser performance,” Rubin said on Froyo.

He said developers will benefit from new tools such as Android cloud-to-device messaging.

Fedora 13 New Enhancements

Red Hat's Fedora 13 open-source software can serve in a full gamut of Linux roles, as long as users are prepared to upgrade their systems about once a year.

Since its first version, in 2003, Red Hat's Fedora Linux has been the best place to track what's on the leading edge of Linux and open-source software. Of course, the trouble with running on the leading edge is that it's easy to get cut, and the Fedora distribution's fast development pace has required a certain amount of bug-squashing tolerance from its users.

Fedora 13, which began shipping in late May, boasts many of the leading-edge enhancements—and few of the rough spots—that I've come to expect from the popular Linux-based operating system. In particular, I appreciated the work the Fedora team has done in the area of security and permissions, with progress toward more granular rights management through Fedora's PolicyKit framework, and an implementation of the SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) framework that remained, for the most part, tucked away unobtrusively in the background.

In addition to serving as a sort of first look at the latest and greatest in Linux and open-source software in general—and future Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) releases in particular—Fedora 13 can serve in a full gamut of Linux roles, as long as Fedora-embracing users are prepared to upgrade their systems about once a year.

For this reason, smoother edges notwithstanding, enterprises in search of a more long-lived Linux distribution for production roles would do best to turn to RHEL, or, for organizations prepared to provide their own support, the freely available RHEL clone CentOS.

The fast-moving nature of Fedora 13 fits best with desktop and developer workstation roles, where users are most likely to appreciate the up-to-date versions of the desktop-oriented open-source software that ships with the distribution, including Version 2.30 of the GNOME desktop environment, Version 3.2 of the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and Version 3.6.3 of the Firefox Web browser.

Resource Library:

Fedora 13 is available as a free download from http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora, with separate versions that support the x86 and x86-64 platforms. Beginning with Fedora 13, the Power PC CPU architecture has been reduced to secondary architecture status, where its ongoing development will depend on volunteer efforts.

Fedora 13 in the Lab

I tested the x86-64 version of Fedora 13 on a Lenovo ThinkPad T60 and on virtual machines running under Fedora 13's implementation of the Linux KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) virtualization host.

The x86 and x86-64 versions are available as DVD or CD images that comprise the entire distribution, as well as in Live CD and Live USB images that may be used to try out Fedora without modifying your hard drive. With the Live USB images, it's possible to save data from the live sessions on USB sticks, which makes them more convenient to use than the CD images.

Fedora 13 ships with a new, optional user management utility, called AccountsDialog, which will eventually replace Red Hat's system-config-users tool. The new tool puts a graphical face on some of the work that Red Hat has been doing to whittle away at the all-powerful superuser account in favor of more granularly parcelled permissions. For instance, where the existing utility runs as the root user from the get-go, the new tool launches without requiring administrator rights and asks for rights elevation as needed.

Red Hat has been moving in this direction over its past few releases, removing the requirement for administrative applications to run entirely with superuser rights, and tapping the PolicyKit framework to handle the permission-granting. What caught my eye in the new user tool is the option to configure users as Standard, Administrator or Supervised, with the unfamiliar-looking Supervised bucket as the default.

While the primary user account I'd created remained in the Supervised bucket, applications that supported the PolicyKit framework would ask for my system's root password when they required rights elevation. When I shifted my account to the Administrator class, the system asked instead for my account password. This change in permissions management sets the stage to give certain administrative rights to certain users, thereby allowing for finer-grained control over the system.

The move toward embracing PolicyKit within Fedora is still going on, and many tools still require root permissions. I used a command line utility, pkexec, to elevate my permissions to run some of these applications, but this tool does not work with graphical applications. For more information on the changes involving the user management tool and PolicyKit, see this mailing list thread: tinyurl.com/23d8xxq.

Elsewhere in the release, I was pleased to find that Red Hat's handy network management framework, cleverly known as NetworkManager, has picked up a command line interface to go along with the graphical tools to which it's been limited so far. The new utility, called cnetworkmanager, should be a welcome sight for those who work with headless Fedora servers and would like to use the same network configuration tool they've become accustomed to on GUI-based systems.

Another cool Fedora 13 feature that caught my eye was BFO, a Fedora take on the BKO (boot.kernel.org) project that enables administrators to boot a machine from a very small disc image and run or install Fedora from the network. I installed one of my test VMs using a svelte 626KB BFO image and found the process more streamlined than with previous Fedora network installation attempts. I recommend editing the boot command from the GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) screen to point to a nearby mirror of Fedora. I typically opt for the kernel.org mirror here in San Francisco.

I mentioned at the top of this review that my tests using Fedora 13 were nearly free of SELinux issues: The mandatory access control framework, which comes enabled on Fedora, typically gives me some trouble during tests. This time around, all was smooth until I hit Bug 566332 while connecting to my BlackBerry 8330 phone via Bluetooth. On the bright side, this snag gave me the opportunity to see Fedora's new SELinux trobuleshooter panel icon, which is modeled after an automobile's check engine light. (source: Jason Brooks - eweeks.com)

Kindle and Nook eBook Device Price cut as a result of iPad Success

The extraordinary success of the iPad has forced specialist ebook readers Kindle and Nook to cut their prices.

Barnes & Noble, the producer of the Nook, yesterday offered the 3G version of the device at $189, $70 off its previous price, and unveiled a Wi-Fi only reader for $149.

Rival Amazon responded hours later by also knocking $70 off the price of the Kindle to $189.

Other makers of e-readers, like Sony Electronics, may also have to cut their prices, a Standard & Poors analyst told Reuters.

However, by playing both the software and hardware sides of the street, Amazon’s Kindle, the original e-book reader, looks the strongest-placed in the market.

As with Barnes & Noble, Amazon’s e-readers sales are just a tiny fragment of its total business. But it has also created a Kindle e-reader app for the iPad, the iPhone and Android platforms, which is driving sales from its digital bookstore.

GigaOm’s Om Malik blogged: “Unlike Amazon’s Kindle store, iBooks is going to be limited to the iPad/iPhone platform — which is not good enough for me. I like the flexibility of the Kindle app, even if it offers books to me in somewhat of a less attractive format. In other words, Amazon should be thinking about Kindle as a platform that leverages other people’s hardware.”

Apple has sold more than 2 million iPads since the lightweight multimedia tablet was launched in early April. It is expected to go on sale in Hong Kong and Singapore next month.
(source: David Clark - telecomasia.net)

Aircel India considers TD-LTE for 2.3GHz Band

Aircel considers TD-LTE for 2.3GHz

(Nicole McCormick telecomasia.net)

Indian GSM cellco Aircel could launch TD-LTE in the eight circles where it recently won 2.3GHz spectrum, according to the firm’s strategy and emerging business chief, Bharat Bhargava.

“We have multiple options at this stage,” Bhargava told telecomasia.net.

“We could deploy 802.16e, or wait and deploy TD-LTE, or rollout both [technologies].

“We could use some spectrum for Wimax, and the balance for TD-LTE when terminals become available.”

Maxis-controlled Aircel – India’s seventh largest cellco – won 2.3GHz spectrum in eight regions for 34.38 billion rupees ($749.3 million) earlier this month.

It now has both 2.3GHz spectrum and 2100MHz spectrum in eight circles, including Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, with 3G-only spectrum in a further five markets.

“We wanted 2.3GHz spectrum and 3G spectrum in the same areas….to ensure we don’t run out of spectrum in those regions since we only have 5MHz of spectrum [per circle] for 3G,” said Bhargava.

Nokia provides Skype App via Ovi Store

Nokia is the latest company to promote the availability of Skype voice over IP services, announcing on its blog March 3 that the application can now be downloaded free from its Ovi Store and is compatible with the latest version of Symbian.

The application enables users to make free Skype-to-Skype calls, receive calls to an existing Skype number, send and receive instant messages, as well as files, and to see when other Skype users are online. Nokia said it will work over WiFi or a mobile data connection.

With Skype for Nokia smartphones, more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide will be able to take the Skype features they love with them on the move,” said Russ Shaw, Skype general manager of mobile, said in a statement.

“Making Skype available direct to consumers will help millions of users to keep in contact with the people that are important to them without worrying about the cost, distance, or whether they are away from a computer,” Shaw continued.

On Feb. 17, Verizon Wireless announced that in March it would make a Skype app available to customers with data plans and handsets running the BlackBerry or Android operating systems. Verizon additionally announced that the VOIP service would be allowed to run over its 3G network, in addition to WiFi.

A Skype app for the Apple iPhone is also in the works and can be expected, Skype announced on its site in earle February, “soon.”

The iPhone app, which would also have the option of running on AT&T’s 3G network, is so far delayed, Skype said, until it can get it just right — offering “CD-quality sound,” as well as tools such as a call-quality indicator, to offer feedback and allow users know exactly what’s going on with their calls.

Nokia believes that the Skype offering will drive new traffic to the Ovi Store, which it launched in May as its answer to the Apple App Store. Called a “smart store,” Ovi learns users’ preferences as they shop, and can show them inventory based on their location — or even what their friends bought.

“We’re seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day through Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones increases the amount of downloads further,” said Jo Harlow, Nokia’s SVP for smartphones.

The Skype application is currently available on handsets including the Nokia N97 and Nokia 6210 Navigator. A complete list of compatible models is available at the Nokia blog.

On March 2, Nokia introduced the C5, a smartphone on a feature phone budget, and new naming guidelines, to help us mere mortals translate the letter and number combinations in its devices’ names. Going forward, it will offer Cseries, Xseries, Eseries and Nseries handsets, each with a number between one and nine, with nine denoting the most advanced capabilities.

Google Gears will be replaced by HTML5 Application

Google finally will replace Google Gears with application based on HTML5 script. The following is the detailed news from eWeek:

Google Gears is the search giant's innovative technology for enabling offline applications. However, toward the end of 2009, Google announced that it was lessening its focus on Gears in lieu of support for HTML5, which provides Gears' offline capability and a lot more.

In a Feb. 19 blog post entitled "Hello HTML5," Ian Fette of the Google Gears team, said:

"If you've wondered why there haven't been many Gears releases or posts on the Gears blog lately, it's because we've shifted our effort towards bringing all of the Gears capabilities into Web standards like HTML5. We're not there yet, but we are getting closer. In January we shipped a new version of Google Chrome that natively supports a Database API similar to the Gears database API, workers (both local and shared, equivalent to workers and cross-origin workers in Gears), and also new APIs like Local Storage and Web Sockets. Other facets of Gears, such as the LocalServer API and Geolocation, are also represented by similar APIs in new standards and will be included in Google Chrome shortly."
Resource Library:

Obviously the move is not trivial, particularly with a specification that is still evolving, such as HTML5. Indeed, added Fette: "We realize there is not yet a simple, comprehensive way to take your Gears-enabled application and move it (and your entire userbase) over to a standards-based approach. We will continue to support Gears until such a migration is more feasible, but this support will be necessarily constrained in scope."

In an interview with eWEEK, Dylan Schiemann, CEO of SitePen and a vocal advocate for the open Web, said, "I believe that with projects like Chrome Frame, and HTML5 native support in Firefox, Safari and Opera, Gears served its purpose in moving the open web forward. Gears was an important experiment on new ideas for making browsers better for things that were not possible in JS, at a time when browser vendors were afraid to implement features that had not yet been standardized."

Meanwhile, Fette explains Google's moves in pulling back additional support for Gears, while specifying what will be supported.

"We will not be investing resources in active development of new features," Fette said in his post. "Likewise, there are some platforms that would require a significant engineering effort to support due to large architectural changes. Specifically, we cannot support Gears in Safari on OS X Snow Leopard and later. Support for Gears in Firefox (including 3.6, which will be supported shortly) and Internet Explorer will continue."

However, a former Google engineer familiar with the project, said, "I think Gears is dead and being superseded by Chrome and Chrome Frame. All of the people I know from the Gears team are working on Chrome."

The former Googler, who asked for anonymity, added: "If you look at the Gears blog you will see that Gears' support has not been a priority. The tech leads are on to other things. One is on Google Voice; the other is on Chrome Extensions. Ever since Chrome the bet has been moved to WebKit and putting all of the effort there. Gears may trickle along, but HTML5 has all of the features from it basically, so as soon as browsers support them Gears can die."

And die it will. Added Fette to summarize his post:

"Looking back, Gears has helped us deliver much-desired functionality, such as the ability to offer offline access in Gmail, to a large number of users. Long term, we expect that as browsers support an increasing amount of this functionality natively and as users upgrade to more capable browsers, applications will make a similar migration. If you haven't already, you will want to take a look at the latest developments in Web browsers and the functionality many now provide, reach out with questions and consider how you can use these in your Web applications. Gears has taken us the first part of the way; now we're excited to see browsers take us the rest of the way."

Meanwhile, some observers view the issue as strictly evolutionary and not a matter of Gears versus HTML5. A prominent supporter of the open Web and a key developer of various well-known, standards-based Web technologies, told eWEEK:

"The word 'versus' strikes me as odd. Gears predates a lot of the APIs that are taking up equivalent functionality in HTML5 and the experience with Gears informed (and continues to inform) many of the discussions around HTML5 API designs. For instance, AppCache is a simpler-to-use version of the Gears manifest-driven app capture. As close observers have noted, the Chrome and WebKit teams are working hard to implement HTML5 features and get them deployed. Gears represented a good way to introduce new features fast. HTML5 is the standardization and maturation of many of those features. This is what the market for renderer features looks like when it's working. Nothing 'versus' about it."

This industry insider—who because of his position at a competing organization asked for anonymity—added that the move to HTML5 could actually be better for offline Web applications. However, "there aren't very many of them [offline apps]. Fewer still built by companies whose names aren't 'Google.' So it's either neutral to positive. I'm going to go with 'positive.' A standard allows people to build without fear, and multiple browsers are implementing AppCache. That's a good thing, and frankly the best-case outcome of the Gears experiment."

Patriotic Hackers from two Chinese Schools

SAN FRANCISCO — A series of online attacks on Google and dozens of other American corporations have been traced to computers at two educational institutions in China, including one with close ties to the Chinese military, say people involved in the investigation.

They also said the attacks, aimed at stealing trade secrets and computer codes and capturing e-mail of Chinese human rights activists, may have begun as early as April, months earlier than previously believed. Google announced on Jan. 12 that it and other companies had been subjected to sophisticated attacks that probably came from China.

Computer security experts, including investigators from the National Security Agency, have been working since then to pinpoint the source of the attacks. Until recently, the trail had led only to servers in Taiwan.

If supported by further investigation, the findings raise as many questions as they answer, including the possibility that some of the attacks came from China but not necessarily from the Chinese government, or even from Chinese sources.

Tracing the attacks further back, to an elite Chinese university and a vocational school, is a breakthrough in a difficult task. Evidence acquired by a United States military contractor that faced the same attacks as Google has even led investigators to suspect a link to a specific computer science class, taught by a Ukrainian professor at the vocational school.

The revelations were shared by the contractor at a meeting of computer security specialists.

The Chinese schools involved are Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School, according to several people with knowledge of the investigation who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the inquiry.

Jiaotong has one of China’s top computer science programs. Just a few weeks ago its students won an international computer programming competition organized by I.B.M. — the “Battle of the Brains” — beating out Stanford and other top-flight universities.

Lanxiang, in east China’s Shandong Province, is a huge vocational school that was established with military support and trains some computer scientists for the military. The school’s computer network is operated by a company with close ties to Baidu, the dominant search engine in China and a competitor of Google.

Within the computer security industry and the Obama administration, analysts differ over how to interpret the finding that the intrusions appear to come from schools instead of Chinese military installations or government agencies. Some analysts have privately circulated a document asserting that the vocational school is being used as camouflage for government operations. But other computer industry executives and former government officials said it was possible that the schools were cover for a “false flag” intelligence operation being run by a third country. Some have also speculated that the hacking could be a giant example of criminal industrial espionage, aimed at stealing intellectual property from American technology firms.

Independent researchers who monitor Chinese information warfare caution that the Chinese have adopted a highly distributed approach to online espionage, making it almost impossible to prove where an attack originated.

“We have to understand that they have a different model for computer network exploit operations,” said James C. Mulvenon, a Chinese military specialist and a director at the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis in Washington. Rather than tightly compartmentalizing online espionage within agencies as the United States does, he said, the Chinese government often involves volunteer “patriotic hackers” to support its policies.

Spokesmen for the Chinese schools said they had not heard that American investigators had traced the Google attacks to their campuses.

If it is true, “We’ll alert related departments and start our own investigation,” said Liu Yuxiang, head of the propaganda department of the party committee at Jiaotong University in Shanghai.

But when asked about the possibility, a leading professor in Jiaotong’s School of Information Security Engineering said in a telephone interview: “I’m not surprised. Actually students hacking into foreign Web sites is quite normal.” The professor, who teaches Web security, asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

“I believe there’s two kinds of situations,” the professor continued. “One is it’s a completely individual act of wrongdoing, done by one or two geek students in the school who are just keen on experimenting with their hacking skills learned from the school, since the sources in the school and network are so limited. Or it could be that one of the university’s I.P. addresses was hijacked by others, which frequently happens.”

At Lanxiang Vocational, officials said they had not heard about any possible link to the school and declined to say if a Ukrainian professor taught computer science there.

A man named Mr. Shao, who said he was dean of the computer science department at Lanxiang but refused to give his first name, said, “I think it’s impossible for our students to hack Google or other U.S. companies because they are just high school graduates and not at an advanced level. Also, because our school adopts close management, outsiders cannot easily come into our school.”

Mr. Shao acknowledged that every year four or five students from his computer science department were recruited into the military.

Google’s decision to step forward and challenge China over the intrusions has created a highly sensitive issue for the United States government. Shortly after the company went public with its accusations, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton challenged the Chinese in a speech on Internet censors, suggesting that the country’s efforts to control open access to the Internet were in effect an information-age Berlin Wall.

A report on Chinese online warfare prepared for the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission in October 2009 by Northrop Grumman identified six regions in China with military efforts to engage in such attacks. Jinan, site of the vocational school, was one of the regions.

Executives at Google have said little about the intrusions and would not comment for this article. But the company has contacted computer security specialists to confirm what has been reported by other targeted companies: access to the companies’ servers was gained by exploiting a previously unknown flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser.

Forensic analysis is yielding new details of how the intruders took advantage of the flaw to gain access to internal corporate servers. They did this by using a clever technique — called man-in-the-mailbox — to exploit the natural trust shared by people who work together in organizations.

After taking over one computer, intruders insert into an e-mail conversation a message containing a digital attachment carrying malware that is highly likely to be opened by the second victim. The attached malware makes it possible for the intruders to take over the target computer. (source: John Markoff -NYT)