AUSTIN, Texas-Qualcomm Inc. donated 125 Code Division Multiple Access digital phones to aid in relief efforts after tornadoes destroyed neighborhoods in Jarrell, Texas, in a joint effort with Sprint PCS.The donation includes 100 of Qualcomm's QCT-1200 fixed wireless phones and 25 QCP-1900 personal communications...
New lawsuit filed on Motorola patentsMotorola Inc. last week filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc. in San Diego federal court, claiming all of Qualcomm's wireless phones violate Motorola patents.The infringement claims are against Qualcomm's Code Division Multiple Access Q phone, five...
WASHINGTON-"The current infrastructure lets us find you, but it's eroding every day, step by step," commented Dr. Ricardo Martinez, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at last week's Call to Action for Implementation of Wireless 911. "By the year 2000, there will...
WASHINGTON-Ed Jose, winner of this year's VITA*award for Crimestopper from the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, couldn't be on hand to accept his award last week in Washington. He was testifying in the kidnapping case he helped solve, the case for which he won the...
BOSTON-The New England Journal of Medicine published an article last week that says wireless phones can disrupt heart pacemakers but do not pose health risks-findings that are not new.Detecting interference between wireless phones and pacemakers has been established in a few different studies. Last...
DALLAS-While admitting the growth of wireless communications is unbridled, challenges still lie ahead for the industry, particularly when it comes to marketing.Speaking at the recent Wireless Marketing Summit, co-sponsored by RCR Publications Inc., Lynn Upshaw, principal of Upshaw & Associates, listed some of the...
WASHINGTON-Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) was informed by the Food and Drug Administration last week that neither federal government nor cellular industry-funded scientists have conducted large-scale radio frequency radiation bioeffects research in the four-and-a-half years since a lawsuit first linked cellular phones to cancer. Markey...
Industry is working to meet the first phase of new wireless 911 requirements this year to make an Oct. 1 government deadline."Working out the exchange of information is the lion's share of work right now for implementing Phase I," said Eric Sorensen, product marketing...
NORMAN, Okla.-A six-month study now is underway at the Center for the Study of Wireless Electromagnetic Compatibility in Norman, Okla., to see if wireless phones interfere with cardiac defibrillators.Researchers expect to finish experiments by the end of May and conclude the study in September....
During the past several months, a series of articles has appeared in RCR addressing the important question of potential health effects from the use of wireless phones. Included have been discussions of the type of research being conducted, particularly the efforts being undertaken by...
WASHINGTON-Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) last week launched a congressional investigation into the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of the struggling cancer research program funded by the cellular telephone industry, a move that signals renewed congressional interest in the controversial issue.The probe by Markey, top...
WASHINGTON-A key hearing in Illinois state court early next month could determine whether a major case proceeds in which consumers claim cellular pocket phones cause brain cancer and accuse pocket phone companies of conspiring with the industry-funded bioeffects research group to cover up alleged...
A Minnesota cryptographer said the cellular industry knows the cryptographic algorithms used in U.S. cellular digital systems are inadequate and were watered down by U.S. military pressure-and the industry is trying to hide that information.Bruce Schneier, president of Counterpane Systems, and several colleagues last...
One clear strategy in marketing wireless phones to consumers is keep it simple. The phone is not just a business tool but an easy, fun device that keeps you in touch and could save your life.But how simple is it?Industry is challenged when it...
When confronted with the question of why there is no radio frequency radiation bioeffects research after four years and $15 million, embattled Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. head Dr. George Carlo passionately replies that his critics-those in the wireless industry and in the scientific community-just...
WASHINGTON-Wireless industry-funded cancer research will last longer and cost millions of dollars more than originally planned and the Food and Drug Administration will assume a bigger role in establishing the remaining scientific agenda, according to key individuals associated with the program.This week two significant...
NEW YORK-A bill that would mandate hands-free cellular phone use while driving cleared the Executive Committee of the Illinois General Assembly March 12 and now goes to the full house.The vote was 10-4, said State Representative Robert Bugielski, a member of the Executive Committee...
SAN FRANCISCO-Saying the timing is right to pursue the Code Division Multiple Access technology-based handset market, Nokia Mobile Phones Inc. announced it plans to build phones for the CDMA market.Nokia said it has designed its own chipset to be used in its handsets, the...
The University of Vermont's Law School Environmental Law Program recently held a conference called "Unplugged" dealing not with MTV, but with the wireless phone revolution-particularly the issue of antennas and their environmental impact. The organizers made an attempt to provide a wide range of...
ELGIN, Ill.-The National Cellular Safetalk Center, a nonprofit wireless industry advocate, has introduced a car phone safety public education program.The new program is based on Safetalk's successful high school driver education program sponsored by 11 carriers in 16 states and one Canadian province, Nova...
WASHINGTON-Motorola Inc. planned two years ago to collaborate with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. to downplay potentially damaging scientific findings on possible health risks from portable telephones, according to a December 1994 internal Motorola memo.The memo, first reported by...
This is the third installment in the exclusive RCR five-part series highlighting the results of the 1997 National Wireless Opinion Poll conducted by TynanGroup Inc., of Santa Barbara, Calif., in December. This article explores public attitudes on tower siting and NIMBY (Not In My...
Paging for personal use is increasing, and personal users-among all paging users-show the most interest in advanced paging services, reported the Yankee Group in a recent study, "Wireless Segmentation: Strategies for the Consumer."The Boston firm also reported 75 percent of personal users would use a...
This is the second installment in the exclusive RCR five-part series highlighting the results of the 1997 National Wireless Opinion Poll conducted by TynanGroup, Inc., of Santa Barbara, Calif., in December. This article explores the public attitudes on wireless technology in detail. Six hundred...
