The Bush administration's top telecom advisor John Kneuer is stepping down later this month, ending a rocky tenure characterized by the Democratic-led Congress' intense oversight of major public-safety, spectrum-reform and digital TV programs.Kneuer has headed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a unit of...
AS WILDFIRES RAGED throughout southern California in recent weeks and hundreds of thousands were evacuated from their homes, wireless networks in the area saw dramatic increases in usage as well as some damage from the blazes. The increased usage included first responders who reported...
The buzzword du jour: presence. "Presence" is getting a lot of play, from the focus of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's opening keynote address on Tuesday to a panel discussion Wednesday. But what the heck does it mean? Like most buzzwords, that depends on...
RCR Wireless News met with PacketVideo's VP of Marketing Gretchen Griswold for five minutes on the show floor to see where the multimedia software company is tapping into the wireless industry and what it sees coming down the pipeline. Q: Where is PacketVideo experiencing...
In the past, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has managed now and then to wrestle away the spotlight (albeit temporarily) on major telecom-tech issues of the day from the Federal Communications Commission. NTIA, a Commerce Department unit that serves as the principal adviser...
As capital flows into the wireless space, the companies who are lucky enough to reap the benefits span a wide range of wireless ventures, from infrastructure to content. Among recent deals are those of Conterra Ultra Broadband Inc., which provides wireless connectivity for K-12...
You might call it industry's summer of discontent. Where to begin?The Federal Communications Commission saw fit to attach conditions-public safety and open access, specifically-to a tad more than half of the cherished 700 MHz spectrum anxiously anticipated by the wireless industry and first responders...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
Clearwire Corp. may not have the father of WiMAX under its wing in Chief Strategy Officer Scott Richardson, but he could very well be considered the father-in-law of WiMAX, Richardson said in a keynote last week at WiMAX World USA in Chicago. Clearwire's mission...
Looks like Apple is warning (read: threatening) its iPhone users with a statement about the horrors of unlocking the device. Key, terror-inducing phrases like "irreparable damage," "permanently inoperable" and "voided warranty" are littered throughout the company's missive on the topic. Our question is: Should...
In contrast to his flashy music video bestowing the progress of WiMAX (a funny video that borrowed heavily from Radar Love to produce WiMAX Love) Intel's Sean Maloney made a couple of sobering points in yesterday's opening keynote.Maloney said that the Internet (with its...
WiMAX operators will have to weave around many issues they're sure to run into as they build out their WiMAX networks, but one glaring obstacle stands out among the pack: in-building coverage.LGC Wireless, which provides in-building coverage solutions for wireless operators, sees mobile WiMAX...
With a mobile WiMAX soft launch just around the corner and a nearly nationwide deployment planned for the coming year, Sprint Nextel Corp. and its many partners are working feverishly on what many consider will be a two-to-three-year time-to-market advantage in rolling out next-generation...
VERIZON WIRELESS AND VODAFONE GROUP PLC will move toward a common network technology path for their respective networks and specifically mentioned the use of LTE technology without a formal commitment to that choice, according to remarks by company executives last week.Arun Sarin, CEO of...
Digtial video broadcast-handheld technology appears to be securing its place as the No. 1 broadcast mobile television technology. The technology has scored at least 47 trials in 22 countries, according to the DVB Project.Twelve of those trials have been completed, and at least eight...
The Federal Communications Commission took dramatic steps to improve the location accuracy of wireless 911 service, but the mobile-phone industry and some telecom regulators complained the agency was taking action before the completion of FCC studies on emergency calling.The agency clarified that cellular carriers...
As IMS makes its way from hype to reality, one of the crucial steps along the way for the technology involves testing various parts of the architecture, as well as the applications and services that are to run over the Internet Multimedia Subsystem networks.Since...
Dear Editor:We would like to raise an issue about the methodology and claims cited in the Aug. 13 article, "The MMS disconnect" by Colin Gibbs.The article used assertions of two third parties, 4INFO Inc. and RealNetworks Inc., along with Mr. Gibbs' own tests of...
Are cellphone carriers becoming the New York Yankees of then wireless world? Or is it worse?● A federal judge last week said it was ridiculous that AT&T Mobility (then Cingular) had a clause in its customer contracts that said customers cannot sue the carrier...
Dear Editor,It is with great interest that we read the article, "The MMS disconnect," (RCR Wireless News, Aug. 13). Sybase 365 believes that the article has many inaccurate assumptions and misleading statements, and would like to clear the air about several points.MMS interoperability in...
Digital security company Gemalto is teaming with NXP Semiconductors to push contactless payments toward commercial viability.The companies last week said they'd work together to define standards for SIM-based Near Field Communications products and ensure interoperability with MIFARE, a contactless smartcard technology for mass-transit authorities....
Gemalto unveiled a collaboration with NXP Semiconductors to develop SIM products for existing payment and public transportation systems.The companies hope to define standards for SIM-based Near Field Communications products and ensure interoperability with MIFARE, a contactless smartcard technology for mass transit authorities. Gemalto and...
Dear Editor,It is with great interest that we read the article, "The MMS disconnect," (RCR Wireless News, Aug. 13). Sybase 365 believes that the article has many inaccurate assumptions and misleading statements, and would like to clear the air about several points.MMS interoperability in...
The nation's first, and so far only, carrier to announce plans for a nationwide mobile WiMAX network now faces the successful completion of tens of thousands of construction projects before it reaches reality.Just a few weeks after announcing plans to collaborate on the development...
