NVidia Tegra4i chip upgraded before it's released

NVidia has upgraded it's all-in-one system-on-chip the Tegra4i to support Category 4 LTE before it's even been commercialised.

Category 4 LTE supports 150Mb/s download speeds and is already being implemented by other vendors.

This should give NVidia a better chance against its main competitors (in the Smartphone markets) Qualcomm, Broadcom and LTE-only specialist Altair.

NVidia gained LTE experience by acquiring UK company Icera which uses a software defined architecture and though this technology has been used alongside Tegra4 CPU devices as a separate package, the Tegra4i integrates the technology on to the system as the Tegra4. As Icera's technology is software defined, no actual hardware modifications were required to implement the enhancements.

Currently no mobile networks actually support Category-4 LTE (or LTE Advanced), though Japan's NTT Docomo has said they'll be announcing services by the end of the year.

Qualcomm's Mirasol may have a reprieve

Qualcomm last year said it was not pursuing direct sales of it's colour e-ink solution Mirasol and would license the technology to partners.

Mirasol uses MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) technology and is very low power, works in direct sunlight and low light conditions though it has been criticised for washed out colours.

At the SID Display Week event in Canada last week, Qualcomm seems to have reversed its decision and was very publicly displaying the latest version of the Mirasol technology and said it could appear in devices with small screens later this year (less than 1.5 inches - speculation is on some form of smart watch).

There was also a demonstration of a 5.1 inch screen with a resolution of 2560x1440 which equates to a pixels per inch (ppi) value of 577, while Samsung's Galaxy S4 has a resolution of 1920x1080 with a ppi of 440.

The Mirasol technology is really nice and it would be a shame if Qualcomm didn't maximise its market position and push the technology out soon.

EE and 3 may share 800MHz spectrum

Both EE and 3UK won 2 x 5MHz chunks of 800MHz spectrum in the recent UK spectrum auction for deploying LTE/4G mobile services. O2/Telefonica and Vodafone both won 2 x 10MHz chunks (with O2 having a coverage obligation).

EE currently has deployed LTE in their 1800MHz spectrum and they will relinquish some of this (2 x 15MHz) to 3UK by the end of 2013 when 3UK can deploy their own LTE services.

Generally the minimum requirement to deploy LTE is a requirement of at least 2 x 10MHz, so the two lots of 2 x 5MHz may cause EE and 3UK issues, so they are considering joining their efforts and sharing their joint spectrum, giving them access to a joint amount of 2 x 10MHz.

Currently this is just in the planning stage and it may not be technically feasible, though there is no reason why it shouldn't be.

Obama Administration Releases Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health (MATCH)

Article:
The Obama Administration Has Released The Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health (MATCH)

Steven Chu: Climate Change is the #1 problem. We're already in trouble.

Steven Chu says Climate Change is the #1 problem, and we're already in trouble. Please see more information in Steven Chu's latest Q&A in the link below along with his Stanford talk logistics tonight.
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2013/pr-steven-chu-qanda-051513.html

Google up storage to 15GB

Google announced on Monday 13/05/2013 that it was increasing the storage for GMail and GDrive customers to 15GB (this is shared if both are being used) and the upgrade will be rolled out over the next couple of weeks. Google App users also get an increase to 30GB as standard.

This should suit users who have say small mailboxes, but large image files or vice versa.

Customers can still upgrade and 100GB is $4.99 per month, or 200GB is $9.99 per month.

This will surely put pressure on other cloud storage providers such as Dropbox - who only offer 2GB as standard (though this can be increased by referring people and other methods to around 25GB).

Camden to offer 'free' WiFi

Camden Council in partner ship with Arqiva will offer WiFi throughout the borough, with roll-out starting in June/July 2013.

The roll-out will take place in 3 phases, with the 1st phase covering South Camden (highest footfall), with phase 2 covering Camden Town and Kentish Town and phase 3 moving to Kilburn, Finchley, Hampstead and Belsize Park. The service is expected to be fully finished by the end of 2014.

The WiFi access points will be attached to lamp posts in streets and public places and Camden is aiming to make the borough "one of the most connected place in the country".

The first 30 minutes of access are free and following that users can elect to pay for more time, though access to Camden's own services can be accessed at any time.

Users will have to register their devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones) in order to use the WiFi, which must be in order to limit abuse which can occur through open WiFi networks.

Arqiva have a 10 year contract with Camden to provide enhanced digital services and the WiFi access points may well be enhanced int he future with 3G/4G small cells etc to offload traffic from the mobile network operators (assuming Arqiva gain access to licensed spectrum).

Camden are leading this effort which will eventually encompass 17 other Councils.

Ofcom consults on License Exempt spectrum in the 2.4GHz band

The 2.4GHz band (2400MHz through 2483.5MHz) is used by license exempt devices as it's an international ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) harmonised band. Common uses for this band in the UK are WiFi and Bluetooth devices.

The Government is hoping to free 500MHz of spectrum by 2020, mainly by re-allocating spectrum currently held by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The first part of freed up spectrum is in the 2300MHz band (2350MHz to 2390 MHz) which should be released in 2014.

Though Ofcom will issue a technology neutral license, it's expected that the spectrum will be acquired for Long Term Evolution (LTE) services.

Ofcom is requesting that stakeholders in the 2.4GHz band let Ofcom know how releasing the 2300MHz band might affect them.

The statement is on-line here and stakeholders may respond using an on-line form.

The consultation closes at 5pm on the 19th June 2013.

Ofcom consults on future use of 700MHz band

Ofcom , the Super regulator is holding a consultation on the future of the 700MHz band (694 - 790 MHz). This band is being used for Wireless Broadband in several countries and the EU is proposing to harmonise this band across the EU for the same purpose.

The band falls within spectrum used for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) also know as the UHF band IV and V which spans 470MHz through 862MHz. After the digital switchover the 800MHz band was cleared (channels 61 through 69) and this was recently auctioned off for use by mobile network for 4G/LTE services.

The lower end of the band (channels 21 through 30) starting at 470MHz is used for interleaved spectrum, local TV broadcasts (from 2013), Program making and special events (PMSE) and whitespace services (from 2014).

The band between channels 31 to 37 - the 600MHz band was cleared as part of the digital switchover.

Channel 38 is used for PMSE exclusively and now allows high power devices in the lower end of the spectrum.

The current 700MHz DTT band extends from channel 39 through channel 60 and will also be used for whitespace services from 2014.

If this spectrum is made available for mobile broadband use, it will have very good propagation characteristics and be good for rural broadband and other uses.

Though Ofcom is consulting now, the 700MHz band won't be available until 2018 at the earliest as use of the band must be in-line with International policy.

Ofcom have produced a nice picture describing the changes.

Ofcom has a duty under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 to have regard to: -

• the extent to which the electromagnetic spectrum is available for use, or further use, for wireless telegraphy
• the demand for use of the spectrum for wireless telegraphy
• the demand that is likely to arise in future for the use of spectrum for wireless telegraphy.

and using the 700MHz band falls into these duties.

Unfortunately it does mean all DTT transmissions will have to move into the cleared 600MHz (channels 31 through 37) band and the lower end of the current 700MHz band (channels 39 through 48) so in 2018 there is likely to be a second TV switchover. It's also likely that set top boxes will have to use DVB-T2 and MPEG4 (rather than the less efficient DVB-T and MPEG2 that is currently used by standard definition broadcasts today, though DTT in High Definition or HD already uses DBV-T2 and MPEG4).

The full statement is on-line here and stakeholders may respond through an on-line form.

Ofcom announces Whitespace trial

Ofcom the super regulator is planning to hold a Whitespace trial later in the year. Whitespace is just spectrum that is not used in certain areas as it may interfere with other services in neighbouring areas (such as TV station broadcasts, the country is divided into areas such that neighbouring TV broadcasting transmitters don't use the same frequencies as their neighbours).

The unused spectrum is therefore 'wasted', but with careful management, can be used for localised services such as wireless broadband.

Neul is a technology leader based out of Cambridge (spun out of Cambridge Silicon Radio or CSR, now owned by Samsung) and already have systems available to use whitespace frequencies. Neul even have a chipset available for end-user devices.

There are (and have been) several whitespace trials, but these have been limited to localised technology trials.

One of the features that is required for whitespace to work is a centralised database of locations, frequencies and power levels. Generally there will be a central base station which will have to contact the database and report its position and it can then use that information to select the frequencies and power levels to use. End-user devices will just scan the whitespace bands and look for a carrier and can just use that as a base, from which it can then retrieve information about what other frequencies to use.

A quirk of the system is that Ofcom has mandated a kill switch so that if interference with commercial TV or other is found, all devices using whitespace can be shut-off in an area.

Ofcom has not specified how the database should be implemented, just the queries and responses that should be supported, it will be up to the market to decide how to implement. Database operators will be able to charge for running the service (again not specified, but it may be based on queries of the database).

This trial will again test the technology but also database implementations etc.

Ofcom's statement is on-line and any interested party wishing to take place in the trial can email TV.WhiteSpaces@ofcom.org.uk

Ofcom consultation on Automotive Short Range Devices

Ofcom is holding a consultation as it is proposing changing the Wireless Telegraphy Act for Automotive Short Range Devices (SRDs) that currently operate in the 24GHz band in line with EU harmonised spectrum policy.

Current SRDs operate in 24 GHz (21.65 to 26.65 GHz) and existing devices in vehicles can continue to use these frequencies until 2018, however new equipment will now have to support the range 24.25 to 26.65 GHz.

The current license exemption for 21.65 to 26.65 GHz SRDs will be revoked on 30 June 2013, except for devices that were installed in cars between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2013 in which case they can continue to use this band.

After 30 June 2013, SRDs will need to operate in 24.25 to 26.65 GHz and this band will be made license exempt.

The full statement is available here and the on-line consultation for interested stakeholders here.

Android apps must play nicely

Google has updated its terms and conditions so that all apps on the Play store must use Google's update mechanisms and are not allowed to directly update themselves.

This will directly affect Facebook's Android app, which had a persistent message displayed to users that a new version was available and took the user to a download link directly from Facebook.

Forcing users to only update through Google Play is a good move as it also allows Google to ensure apps can be removed from the store and thus users will no longer be able to access updates, which is especially useful if they are found to have malicious code or break other T&Cs. It also allows Google to track downloads etc.

Duedil goes premium

Duedil, the site that is becoming the site to visit for company information has started offering premium payment options for access to some of it's services. It has been possible to download company reports on a pay-as-you go basis, but now it's possible to download company credit reports, official company documents, CSV financial table downloads and more using pre=paid credits. Members who subscribe are also given an ad free experience.

It's possible to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis which give the following options: -

Feature	Monthly £24.99 pm	Annual £249.99 pa
Document downloads	500 pm	unlimited
Credit Reports	15 pm	180 pa
CSV account downloads	5- pm	600 pa

All of Duedil's basic services will remain free and users can still access a wealth of information without paying for anything, however the new paid for services will now give the company a nice revenue stream which should see them well into the future.