Ofcom has announced plans to make spectrum license exempt in the 3400 to 3800 MHz band and the 2GHz band.
The 3400 - 3800 MHz band can be used for personal locator beacons on land, wireless road safety systems and wireless access terminals, while the 2GHz band is used for mobile satellite services.
Also terminals used for the 2012 London Games Tetra Network are also license exempt.
28 Aralık 2011 Çarşamba
20 Aralık 2011 Salı
The Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative to secure mobile devices
Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, SanDisk, Sony and Toshiba have teamed up to form the The Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative which will put DRM (Digital Rights Management) on to mobile devices and memory.
This should allow content providers to put their content on mobile devices securely, allowing Blu-ray HD films to be copied on to a mobile device and played.
The system uses public key infrastructure to ensure robust copy protection.
If they achieve their aims, then the technology should be available on Flash memory such as SD Cards and on Google's Android, connected TVs and Blu-ray players.
This should allow content providers to put their content on mobile devices securely, allowing Blu-ray HD films to be copied on to a mobile device and played.
The system uses public key infrastructure to ensure robust copy protection.
If they achieve their aims, then the technology should be available on Flash memory such as SD Cards and on Google's Android, connected TVs and Blu-ray players.
Ofcom mandates battery back-up for FTTP services
Ofcom has published a statement mandating battery back-up for fibre provided broadband. The Communication Provider must provide at least 1 hour's battery back-up time.
When broadband is provided over copper (using standard ADSL/2/2+) or even when the service is FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) where cabinet to the premises is over copper (using VDSL/2/2+) then the copper pair is powered from the cabinet and even if the premises suffers a power-cut, then line will still be powered and phone calls can still be made.
With FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) then fibre goes all the way to the customer premise and there is now power. Telephony services are provided over the fibre, so if there's a power-cut to the premise both broadband and telephony services are lost. If the premise end of the fibre has equipment that is battery backed, then at least calls can be made.
Ofcom recognises that FTTP deployments at are an early stage in the UK and will monitor the situation and amend if necessary.
When broadband is provided over copper (using standard ADSL/2/2+) or even when the service is FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) where cabinet to the premises is over copper (using VDSL/2/2+) then the copper pair is powered from the cabinet and even if the premises suffers a power-cut, then line will still be powered and phone calls can still be made.
With FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) then fibre goes all the way to the customer premise and there is now power. Telephony services are provided over the fibre, so if there's a power-cut to the premise both broadband and telephony services are lost. If the premise end of the fibre has equipment that is battery backed, then at least calls can be made.
Ofcom recognises that FTTP deployments at are an early stage in the UK and will monitor the situation and amend if necessary.
iTunes Match, great, but SLOW
Apple seem to have sorted the initial problems with iTunes Match and it's now up and running, the service costs £21.99 per annum.
The first thing it does is scan your music collection to see what tracks are available in the iTunes Store, it then marks them and makes them available through iTunes.
Then comes the slow bit, any tracks it can't directly match get uploaded to iCloud and that takes a LONG time.
My music collection consists of around 11,000 tracks, of which around 8,000 were matched to iTunes Store tracks. That leaves just over 3,000 unmatched tracks which have to be uploaded - and iTunes seems to upload around 300 per day, so it's going to take a while (around 10 days of leaving the computer on and continuously uploading). Hopefully Apple will track users' uploaded tracks and if it spots identical tracks from other users will use those for matching purposes.
The first thing it does is scan your music collection to see what tracks are available in the iTunes Store, it then marks them and makes them available through iTunes.
Then comes the slow bit, any tracks it can't directly match get uploaded to iCloud and that takes a LONG time.
My music collection consists of around 11,000 tracks, of which around 8,000 were matched to iTunes Store tracks. That leaves just over 3,000 unmatched tracks which have to be uploaded - and iTunes seems to upload around 300 per day, so it's going to take a while (around 10 days of leaving the computer on and continuously uploading). Hopefully Apple will track users' uploaded tracks and if it spots identical tracks from other users will use those for matching purposes.
15 Aralık 2011 Perşembe
Apple's iTunes Match comes to UK (sort of)
It's now possible to purchase Apple's iTunes Match in the UK (in iTunes, go to Store, then Account - which appears at the top right corner under 'Quick Links' - then there should be a setting for Match and then purchase the service for £21.99pa, then 'add this computer').
Unfortunately it seems very random as to whether all or any of it works (except for the actual purchase). Adding this computer sometimes is there and if clicked may re-appear after. If the actual Match tab appears in the left, it doesn't seem to do much (last night it just went to a Genius page and then disappeared again). There's obviously a few teething problems or it was just launched early (or even by mistake).
This is very untypical of Apple, usually when things are officially launched they're pretty polished, if services are made available early it's usually to the developer community who are much more forgiving of bugs and errors.
If this is the shape of things to come now that Steve Jobs has gone, it's a slippery slope.
Unfortunately it seems very random as to whether all or any of it works (except for the actual purchase). Adding this computer sometimes is there and if clicked may re-appear after. If the actual Match tab appears in the left, it doesn't seem to do much (last night it just went to a Genius page and then disappeared again). There's obviously a few teething problems or it was just launched early (or even by mistake).
This is very untypical of Apple, usually when things are officially launched they're pretty polished, if services are made available early it's usually to the developer community who are much more forgiving of bugs and errors.
If this is the shape of things to come now that Steve Jobs has gone, it's a slippery slope.
Duedil raises second angel round
Duedil, the company that offers free information about UK and Ireland companies and company directors has raised a second angel round from Jonty Hurwitz, the founding CTO of Wonga followed by Passion Capital and Federico Pirzio-Biroli.
Duedil is different from most other sites in that they link the information from the 7m original data points on companies and directors (so they have over 30bn data connections) so if you look at a company and list the directors, then you can click on any of the directors and see what other companies they are (or have been) associated with.
They also link to other data sources for information about County Court Injunctions, any legal actions etc, with more data sources being added all the time.
Hurwitz sees the vast potential for business growth in big data analytics and will bring his technical and strategic expertese to Duedil, which he hopes will develop into the premiere source of business information in the world.
Though currently all of Duedil's information is free, they must be developing paid for models or the company will haemorrhage cash as licensing the business information costs a lot of money. They must also be at risk from existing companies such as Credit Expert (Experian) who could build similar services on top of their existing data, though Duedil has developed an extremely nice UI which would take time to duplicate.
Duedil is different from most other sites in that they link the information from the 7m original data points on companies and directors (so they have over 30bn data connections) so if you look at a company and list the directors, then you can click on any of the directors and see what other companies they are (or have been) associated with.
They also link to other data sources for information about County Court Injunctions, any legal actions etc, with more data sources being added all the time.
Hurwitz sees the vast potential for business growth in big data analytics and will bring his technical and strategic expertese to Duedil, which he hopes will develop into the premiere source of business information in the world.
Though currently all of Duedil's information is free, they must be developing paid for models or the company will haemorrhage cash as licensing the business information costs a lot of money. They must also be at risk from existing companies such as Credit Expert (Experian) who could build similar services on top of their existing data, though Duedil has developed an extremely nice UI which would take time to duplicate.
Maggies Hope Page is Million Dollar Homepage v2
Alex Tew famous for the Million Dollar Homepage site, has now set-up another site Maggies Hope Page in order to raise funds to support his cousin Maggie and her family as she has cancer and they are faced with mounting medical bills.
People can buy 10 x 10 pixels for £5 which is suitable for a small icon/image, though of course larger blocks can be purchased for larger images.
Maggie was diagnosed in January 2009 with breast cancer which has now spread and she now has 25 tumors on her lungs, liver, spine, hips, ribs and brain. She has divested her life savings and remortgaged her house to pay for alternative remedies, but though knowing her husband David will have to raise Liam, Danny and Anne, David, Cian and Fintan by himself and under huge debt.
Anyone going to the site buying blocks of pixels will be helping the family.
People can buy 10 x 10 pixels for £5 which is suitable for a small icon/image, though of course larger blocks can be purchased for larger images.
Maggie was diagnosed in January 2009 with breast cancer which has now spread and she now has 25 tumors on her lungs, liver, spine, hips, ribs and brain. She has divested her life savings and remortgaged her house to pay for alternative remedies, but though knowing her husband David will have to raise Liam, Danny and Anne, David, Cian and Fintan by himself and under huge debt.
Anyone going to the site buying blocks of pixels will be helping the family.
13 Aralık 2011 Salı
New look GMail has chat and calls
It seems that the new version of Google's GMail has re-instated free calling into the web based email service.
It has been available to US users since launch as part of Google Voice and appeared briefly in other markets, but now it's come back (at least in the UK version).
Your Google Talk contacts appear (if they're on-line) but there's now also a call icon when clicked brings up a popup with the ability to dial numbers.
If this stays, then there's a good chance their going to introduce Google Voice outside the US and can compete with Skype.
It has been available to US users since launch as part of Google Voice and appeared briefly in other markets, but now it's come back (at least in the UK version).
Your Google Talk contacts appear (if they're on-line) but there's now also a call icon when clicked brings up a popup with the ability to dial numbers.
If this stays, then there's a good chance their going to introduce Google Voice outside the US and can compete with Skype.
9 Aralık 2011 Cuma
Buy a Watch, Plant a Tree
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| WeWood |
I firmly believe you can do well in business by doing good.
WeWood Watches also have a similar philosophy. A tree is planted for every watch purchased. Made of 100% natural wood, these high-tech timber timepieces fill the forest, as WeWood plants one tree for each watch sold. WeWood's tree-planting partner, American Forests, is the nation's oldest non-profit conservation organization that works to protect and restore the environment by planting and caring for trees. Their goal is to plant 100 million trees by 2020. You can purchase them here.
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| WeWood |
7 Aralık 2011 Çarşamba
Cardmunch, probably the most useful iOS app in the world
Cardmunch (now Cardmunch by LinkedIn) is an iPhone app (though it will work on an iPad or iPod Touch) is a business card reader that gets the details off the card and put them into your address book (and if wanted, request the user to connect on LinkedIn).
That doesn't sound very exciting, but what actually happens is that a picture of the card is sent to a real person (similar to Amazon's Mechanical Turk) and they type in the details they can read and at some point later the application notifies you that the card is ready.
This means that you get back the card data which tends to be pretty clean and accurate (without having all the graphics data there too).
Once in your address book, it's easy to search for new cards as they all have "scanned by Cardmunch ..." and any oddities can be easily fixed.
Once you use it, you'll never look back.
That doesn't sound very exciting, but what actually happens is that a picture of the card is sent to a real person (similar to Amazon's Mechanical Turk) and they type in the details they can read and at some point later the application notifies you that the card is ready.
This means that you get back the card data which tends to be pretty clean and accurate (without having all the graphics data there too).
Once in your address book, it's easy to search for new cards as they all have "scanned by Cardmunch ..." and any oddities can be easily fixed.
Once you use it, you'll never look back.