Everything Everywhere sells spectrum to Three (but they cant use it)

Everything Everywhere (EE) the combined company made up to Orange and T-Mobile has sold off some of their 1800MHz spectrum to Three UK (3). The terms of the deal have not been specified.

EE has 2 x 60 MHz bands in 1800MHz and they were forced to relinquish some of this spectrum by the European Competition Commission (2 x 15 MHz chunks) and they have no done this by selling it to 3.

However there's a twist as 3 won't actually get hold of the spectrum until 2013 (which is pretty much the maximum time frame the Competition Commission allowed), which gives EE a whole year to offer 4G (LTE) services in the 1800MHz band and be a UK monopoly for 4G services (Ofcom granted EE a license variation to allow 4G services in EE's 1800MHz band earlier this week).

All of the other mobile network operators have cried foul play as they have to wait for spectrum to become available in 800MHz and 2.6GHz as part of the digital dividend, but Ofcom won't auction the spectrum until 2013 and it's not expected to be available until at least the end of 2013.

By offering LTE services it's likely devices such as the iPhone 5 and other smartphones and tablets will be able to use these frequencies as they're already used in Australia and some Asia Pacific countries. Though UK Broadband is also offering LTE on their spectrum, it's in a band that's not commonly used for LTE and they are having specific devices made to use it.

Amazon now offer Glacial storage

Amazon have announced their Glacier storage system that competes with traditional off-line storage such as tapes. Storage can cost as little as $0.01 per MB per month (so about $10 per TB) and though archival is relatively quick, retrieval can take 4 or 5 hours. Amazon expect users to utilise their notification service so that retrieval jobs are run in the background and users will be notified when the job has been completed. This should be extremely compelling for companies who want to archive data but don't want to invest in network attached storage or slow tape backup solutions. Users should note other charges will be added such as data transfer charges (which can quickly add up).

CS Odessa adds AWS components to Concept Draw Pro/Office

CS Odessa produce a drawing package that is compatible with Microsoft's Visio called Concept Draw Pro (also included in Concept Draw Office which also contains Concept Draw Project and Mindmap). As part of these packages they provide network diagrams and now have released a compete set of Amazon Web Services components allowing users to design and document their AWS configurations. The pack will cost $29 but is available free for a while for registered users of Concept Draw Pro or Office.

Everything Everywhere is allowed to offer LTE services

Everything Everywhere the merged efforts of Orange and T-Mobile have been allowed by Ofcom to operate LTE (Long Term Evolution) or 4G services in its 1800MHz spectrum.

All of the other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) didn't want EE to be able to do this, but Ofcom have decided that it's in the public interest for them to do so, even though it may give EE a short-term competitive advantage. O2 have published their disappointment in this result.

EE currently have 2 x 60 MHz bands in 1800MHz though under the agreement with the competition commission they have to divest 2 x 15 MHz as part of its merger (leaving them with 2 x 45 MHz). Ofcom have allowed EE to utilise LTE on the full bands, not just the bands that EE will retain after the digital divide auctions expected next year (Ofcom will auction the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands and EE's spectrum will become available as part of this).

It is rumoured that devices such as the iPhone 5 will be able to use LTE services in this band, so EE will be the only UK operator that allows full use of the iPhone's data capabilities.

Ofcom has also published a statement on the interference of LTE in the 800MHz bands which could affect TV services in the future, though their testing has shown that actual interference should be minimal for real use scenarios.

Ofcom's full statement is here.

iECG my new start-up idea

I'm developing an ECG monitor that uses a new chip/sensor that allows ECG measurements to be taken by placing the sensors on or near the body.

Some hardware will be developed that will do the filtering/digital signal processing work based on ARM CPU and the clean signal can be displayed on consumer hardware such as an iOS or Android phone/tablet or even a PC. There are many consumer applications such as heart rate monitoring for general health, sports activities and such like. The system could also be used to monitor babies by placing the sensors into a cot and check for things like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). There's also real medical uses such as in ambulances as utilising a sensor that can be wiped clean has many cost saving advantages to current ECG pads which cost around $20 a set and are single use. Please view this video as need votes

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BERG Little Printer available to pre-order

BERG London made a bit of a splash when they announced the Little Printer, which is now available to pre-order from the Berg Cloud site for £199.00 plus £6.50 p&p.

The printer connects via wireless to a Cloud Bridge (which in turn connects to a wired network that connects to the Internet).

Once signed-up to BERG Cloud, users can then select services to subscribe to and then these will print out on the Little Printer at the scheduled time, services could be email, Facebook, calendars or events from other systems.

BERG have pblished an API for service providers so they can offer their services to the Little Printer and the specification is here.

Though the mood is positive about the device itself, the £199 price tag seems to be the sticky point as it's quite expensive for a novelty printer that display information that is available on the Internet anyway.

BERG London are offering consultancy top help companies make their services available to the Little Printer and can offer a custom services for people to offer 'private' services.

Samsung demonstrates Exynos 5 processor

Samsung has announced its Exynos 5 processor based on an ARM Cortex-A15 design and has 2 cores running up to 1.7GHz using a 32nm process. The ARM Cortex-15 design can actually support up to 16 cores running at 2.5GHz, but Samsung has used a dual design to reduce power consumption for mobile applications. The Exynos 5 also has an ARM Mali T604 graphics processor with four cores supporting a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and can also support stereoscopic 3D. It also supports panel self refresh allowing for lower power as the display will only be refreshed when pixels change. The chip also supports USB 3.0 for high speed data transfers. Samsung expect the chip to be in tablets and other devices in early 2013 and is set to directly compete with Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors (which are already being fabricated using 28mm process).

Nokia dumps Qt

Nokia has sold the Qt business to Digia including 125 staff mainly from Oslo and Berlin. Digia had already purchased the Qt licensing business from Nokia in March 2011.

Qt is a cross platform set of libraries allowing developers to use the same front-end code for MacOS X, Windows and Linux (as well as other embedded system like Symbian, INFINITY, VxWORKS and QNX). Qt was originally developed by Trolltech which Nokia bought in 2008.

Nokia has lost its way in recent years having dropped its lead in the mobile phone markets (though it still has a large base in 3rd world countries) as is now concentrating on a smartphone market using Microsoft Windows Phone.

Digia is hoping to further develop Qt which has been used by over 450,000 developers and Digia is hoping to rapidly support MS Windows 8, Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

The commercial version of Qt will be maintained at Digia and the open-source variant at Qt-Project.

Bhutan Environmental Leader Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji Speaks at Global Tiger Day + Special Interview

Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji

Did you know there are only an estimated 3,200 Tigers left in the wild, falling from 100,000 a century ago and 20,000 in the 1980's, mainly due to poaching and human-wildlife conflict?

Bhutan's Environmental Leader Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji presided at Bhutan's Global Tiger Day Sunday July 29, 2012 and gave an inspirational speech to the residents of Trongsa, Bhutan asking the people "to please cooperate as we can do nothing/achieve nothing without their consent, cooperation and participation" to save the tiger.

His Country Service is extensive with posts as Chief Justice of Bhutan, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Social Services, Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Deputy Minister of National Environment Commission, and now Special Advisor, National Environment Commission.

Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji also Founded Bhutan’s First Environmental NGO, the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN), is Founder/President of the Bhutan Ornithological Society and Founder/President of the Bhutan Ecological Society.

We met during Global Tiger Day and discussed and demo'd the work our Global Health Research Foundation (GHRF) Team is doing on a mobile health and environmental application called Patient Outcomes and Environmental Monitoring System (POEMS) specifically developed with Bhutan. He asked me to be on his Radio Show the following day where I also spoke about our Project.

During our Radio Interview, I learned much more about the forward-thinking and significant environmental work Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji has done and continues to do in Bhutan. He also mentioned he saw the signs of Climate Change in the 1970's.

By the way, many people I talked with in Bhutan are seeing unusual weather patterns, and some can plant rice in areas they couldn't in the past. I also received a book produced by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Wangchuck Centennial Park entitled: Climate Change: Vulnerability Assessment of Wangchuck Centennial Park, Bhutan, and Kinzang Namgay, Country Representative WWF Bhutan describes Climate Change as a "grave concern for Bhutan's people, wildlife, and ecosystems as it challenges efforts to protect and conserve biodiversity and also reduce conditions of poverty". In addition, "Together with the risk of landslides and soil erosion, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) threaten Bhutan. In 1994, Bhutan experienced a catastrophic GLOF in Punakha Valley."

Learning about Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji's work during our Interview was greatly inspiring to me,  therefore, it was my turn to ask Dasho Benji for an interview.  :)

I asked him what inspired and influenced him to start and continue his wonderful work, and I'm sure you'll be impressed with the insights he gives below. Please see the Video Interview in 2 Parts as well as his Speech from Global Tiger Day (in the Dzongkha language for Bhutanese speakers).

Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji: The Earth thanks you for the important work you do!

Also see below a recent World Wildlife Fund Bhutan Tiger Video of a Mother Tiger and her Two Cubs taken in the Spring of 2012.

Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji Interview Part 1 of 2


Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji Interview Part 2 of 2

Dasho Paljor Jigmie Dorji Speaking at Bhutan Global Tiger Day 2012 (Dzongkha language)


WWF Bhutan Video showing a Mother Tiger and her 2 cubs this Spring 2012.
More information about WWF Bhutan's Tiger Conservation efforts are here.

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