First Googerola Fallout?

Samsung, a major Android partner, appears to be hedging...

...evidenced bythe company's announcement today of three new, non-Android, handsets as a lead-up to IFA Berlin -- Europe's premier consumer electronics trade show opening Friday.

Based upon Samsung's own Bada OS, the three new Wave phones boast NFC connectivity and several other innovative new features.

Could this signal a move away from Android? More likely, a shot across Googerola's bow:

'Watch it Google, we do have options!'

Apple Killer?

Here's an interesting take on the Googerola wars -- from the Globe & Mail too! Imagine: Give it a read!

"... it’s a throwback to a battle over personal computers that Apple found itself involved in – and ultimately lost – 25 years ago."

© 2011 CBS Interactive

Here's the link: Tech News - The Globe and Mail

The Internet's Dark Underbelly

"There is a dark underbelly to the diversity of content and services that the internet has brought us, ... "

... one that leaves it more vulnerable to centralization, not less. The Internet with its uniquely open design has led to a moment when all other information networks have converged upon it as the one "superhighway," to use the 1990s term. While there were once distinct channels of telephony, television, radio, and film, all information forms are now destined to make their way increasingly along the master network that can support virtually any kind of data traffic. This tendency, once called "convergence," was universally thought a good thing, but its dangers have now revealed themselves as well. With every sort of political, social, cultural, and economic transaction having to one degree or another now gone digital, this proposes an awesome dependence on a single network, and a no less vital need to preserve its openness from imperial designs."

From:
The Master Switch : The Rise and Fall of Information Empires,
Copyright © 2010 by Tim Wu, pg 318

Read my brief review.

'Heads' Up!!

Tablets becoming popular bathroom activity, survey finds. (Network World)

"30% also report using tablets at restaurants"

"With the market flush with hot-selling tablet computers, it shouldn't bowl anyone over to learn that many users are taking the plunge and bringing their devices to the bathroom."

Here's the link:

Tablets becoming popular bathroom activity, survey finds:

Navigating Convergence: Charting Canadian Communications Change and Regulatory Implications

"An ongoing point of debate among analysts, consumers and stakeholders is the degree to which regulation is needed to foster sustainable competition." - CRTC

Hot Off The Presses! This new report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) provides in-depth analysis of many of the trends, opportunities and challenges facing the Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting industries going forward. More specifically, the report:

• Examines the evolution of networks, including both fixed and mobile.
• Considers the impact of convergence on consumer behaviours and the associated challenges with the creation of Canadian content, and
• Outlines challenges and opportunities faced by consumers in this rapidly changing and increasingly complex world of convergence.
• Provides follow-up to the 2010 report of the same name. 

Here's the link to the HTML version:

Navigating Convergence: Charting Canadian Communications Change and Regulatory Implications:

PDF Version: HERE

Says It All

"Wonder When My Motorola Xoom Will Arrive?"

2011 Second Quarter Smartphone Sales

"Hewlett-Packard Co.’s webOS barely registers and is listed under “Others.”

For those who really, really care: Gartner's latest worldwide smartphone marketshare numbers published this morning by the Washington Post.

HINT: Apple is number three -- by a mile!

Here's the link:
Second-quarter smartphone sales by operating system - The Washington Post:

Brain-like Processors ...

Prototype Cognitive Computing Chip

"Today, IBM researchers unveiled a new generation of experimental computer chips designed to emulate the brain’s abilities for perception, action and cognition."

Connected or what?
(And why am I hearing the theme from ...
The Twilight Zone?)

Here's a link:
IBM Unveils Cognitive Computing Chips - HotHardware:

Springsteen and Others Soon Eligible to Recover Song Rights - NYTimes.com

"When copyright law was revised in the mid-1970s, musicians, like creators of other works of art, were granted “termination rights,” which allow them to regain control of their work after 35 years,"

Wow! Complex or what? Who ever said copyright was easy?

Never one to fall asleep at the switch, once again the new York Times comes up with information that is not just entertaining, but useful!! An intriguing article for anyone who writes and/or performs anything.

Here's the link:

Springsteen and Others Soon Eligible to Recover Song Rights - NYTimes.com:

Google Acquiring Motorola Mobility

Big surprise! Smart move? BIG numbers! I'm sure you've heard the news: $12.5 billion (Google's largest-ever deal). 17,000 existing patents with 7,000 more in process (no tough feelings over the Nortel deal, I guess). Perhaps we should have seen something coming back in January when Motorola split in two ('Mobility' and 'Solutions').

© 2011 CBS Interactive

Here are links to the official releases:

Google Investor Relations Announcement.

Google Blog - Letter from CEO Larry Page.

Motorola Mobility Release.

Business Insider- Early Analysis.

Early thoughts on the matter? This will greatly expand Google's hardware footprint and perhaps decrease Far East dependence by bringing the bulk of design and manufacturing home.

The deal will free Motorola to focus on what it does best - business and mission-critical communication communications products and services.

Near-Field Communications and Smartphones

"The biggest problem confronting NFC is practical: It may require new phones as well as new point-of-sale terminals, plus software that serves up targeted offers. It’s the mother of all chicken-and-egg scenarios,"

NOT just another article about smartphones!

In this lengthy, insightful, and entertaining, article Bloomberg Businessweek's Brad Stone and Olga Kharif provide a wealth of information:

• an understandable introduction to Near-Field Communications (NFC)
• a good look at new-tech development cycles
• a peek at life inside a small sliver of the payments world
• a great bit of recent history
• a heads-up into what Google, Visa, Mastercard, Square, Apple, Nokia, RIM and many other leading-edge players are working on.
• it's also an entertaining read.

HERE'S THE LINK:

Pay as You Go with Smartphones - BusinessWeek:

Ford Considers Mesh Wi-Fi Car Network

"Existing in-car systems currently use established wireless broadband networks, but Ford is considering embedding vehicles with technology turning each car into part of a massive Wi-Fi mesh network."

Should have seen it coming! For years now the developing standard for next-generation Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) has envisioned roadside APs every several hundred yards along all transportation corridors. Mesh technology could bring a lot to the party -- at least in an urban environment.

Here's the link: Mobile Mesh. DSLReports.com

And a heads-up for those with the ITS bug: A Joint ISO/ITU Workshop on Standards on ITS Communications will take place on 24 August 2011 in Kyoto, Japan

Something New for The Cloud.

Microsoft Demonstrates Practical Homomorphic Computing

Slashdot - Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 09, @08:08AM

"Homomorphic computing makes it possible to compute with encrypted data and get an encrypted result, something that could make cloud services more secure.

"Such systems have so far been mathematical proofs, but researchers at Microsoft now say that stripped down versions able to only compute certain mathematical functions are efficient enough to be used today. They built prototype software capable of calculating statistical functions using encrypted data and say it could be used for processing medical data while protecting privacy."

More in-depth information here.

Huawei - How You Say???

It is possible that today's single largest technology conundrum is how to pronounce that interesting Chinese name:

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

and it's subsidiaries etc

A quick Web search provides several answers. Here's the definitive one, right from the horse's mouth:

"Hwa-way"

But take note: The 'H' is almost silent -- "hWa-Way". And each of the two syllables has equal emphasis.

Click the "Hwa-way" link above (should you desire confirmation). It points to the company's corporate information page. Once there, click the embedded video. The official pronunciation is used several times.

Xris

A Telling Cartoon

Thanks to J. David for sending this one...

Mike Luckovich© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6:55 pm March 18, 2010

The End of Plain Old Telephone Service?

"... the Australian telecommunications giant Telstra late last month released its plan to bring a close to the old telephone world. Telstra announced it will decommission its copper customer access network and stop offering fixed line telephone service to retail customers after July 1, 2018."

Hot off the presses: This short Network World column broaches the idea of life without copper telephone networks. The U.S. is reportedly heading there. Could Canada be far off? Here's the link:
Moves afoot in U.S., elsewhere to end PSTN copper lifeline:
Net Insider By Scott Bradner, Network World , August 03, 2011 11:26 AM ET

Interesting Facts - Global Mobile Use

The latest statistics from the International Telecommunications Union

"In 2002 there were just two countries in the world with mobile cellular penetration over 100% . Eight years later, almost 100 economies had mobile cellular penetration over 100% – and 17 economies had penetration rates above 150%"



To see more click this link:
ITU StatShot - August 2011:

The ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology.