Ofcom clears the way for 700MHz broadband

Ofcom, the Super Regulator, has published a statement that will clear the 700MHz band (694 MHz - 790 MHz) for use by mobile broadband services (likely to be additional bands for LTE services).

It is expected that the auctioning of this band will raise significant revenue for the treasury as well as having a positive economic benefit by allowing mobile network operators (MNOs) access to increased spectrum allowing them to provide better data services. The 700MHz band has very good propagation properties (i.e. signals pass through walls etc well) which should improve mobile coverage in rural areas.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) services will continue to operate in the 600MHz band, though multiplexes will use MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 technologies (any tuner that can decode Freeview HD will work with these technologies).

The main users affected by this will be Programming and Special Events (PMSE) radio microphones, who will have to move to other bands.

Whitespace technologies may also be affected, however these haven't really taken off in a big way and even Neul that has built equipment to utilise whitespace have recently concentrated on licensed spectrum (and have been purchased by Huawei).

This may seem daunting, but Ofcom is not proposing that these changes come into effect until 2020 (and maybe 2 years earlier in 2018), this is in-line with European harmonised spectrum strategy.

Must Read: Rewilding Our Hearts by Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has written a new inspirational and constructive book called Rewilding our Hearts, Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence.

"We live in a wounded world that is in dire need of healing," as he makes an impassioned call to reverse unprecendented global losses of biodiversity and habitat by changing ourselves. Rewilding means "to make wild again" and it is frequently used in wildlife conservation to refer to re-creating wildlife habitat and creating corridors between preserved land for wildlife to travel through, thus allowing declining populations to rebound. Bekoff applies the Rewilding concept to human psychology and attitudes. We need to rewild both ourselves and other nature, Bekoff claims. He details the growing, global compassionate conservation movement and gives action oriented advice to individuals, city planners, governments, and business leaders.
I highly recommend you read this book and share with friends, business colleagues, political leaders, and on digital media. Let's all work to help rewild our hearts and make sure all of our decisions incorporate all species.
Purchase on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Rewilding-Our-Hearts-Compassion-Coexistence/dp/1577319540

REGISTER: November 8 - 9 Chesapeake Climate Data Hackathon

Chesapeake Conservancy, Intel, Old Dominion University, Esri Host Weekend “Coding for Good” Event

WHO:    Old Dominion University Students

             Experienced Coders

             Representatives from the Chesapeake Conservancy, Intel and Esri

WHAT:   Climate Data Initiative: Chesapeake Bay Hackathon

WHEN:   November 8-9, 2014, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. each day

WHERE: Old Dominion University’s Virginia Beach Center 1881 University Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23453

WHY:   The weekend event will bring together some of the area’s brightest minds in the high-tech industry, including students and professionals, to brainstorm and develop data-driven solutions that will help government officials better  understand and track flooding problems caused by climate change and sea level rise in the Hampton Roads region. Coders and students will create apps using many different data sets (forecasts, real time environmental and road closure data, public facing maps, etc.). These new tools will provide planners and managers with the information they need to make informed decisions and the public with the tools they need to understand when and where flooding will affect their daily lives.

REGISTER: http://www.chesapeakeconservancy.org/chesapeake-hackathon

Jawbone introduces Move and UP3

Jawbone the company that specialises in Bluetooth devices has launched two new activity trackers, the Move and the UP3.

The Move is a disk like (made out of anodised aluminium) and comes with a clip so you can attach it to your trousers, tie, bra or wherever you feel comfortable. It has a tri-axis accelerometer, 12 White LEDs, 1 Orange LED, and 1 Blue LED to indicate movement time, charge states, progress and current status. To be honest it seems very similar to the Misfit Shine. It uses a replaceable CR2032 battery which lasts up to 6 months. It only costs £39.99 which definitely puts it in the affordable bracket.

The UP3 on the other hand seems to be a vast improvement on the UP24 (and Jawbone known for being a Bluetooth company really shouldn't have released the original UP without Bluetooth support). It has a tri-axis accelerometer and uses bio-impedance to measure heart rate, respiration, Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). It also measures skin and ambient temperature. There are three single color LEDs: Blue for sleep, orange for activity, and white for notifications. It's also water resistant down to 10m (which means that it's suitable for swimming) and the rechargeable battery lasts about a week. It's £149.99 which isn't cheap, but the electronic sensors that measure your conditions are definitely better than the usual LED/pulse-rate detectors that most other devices use and can potentially allow the UP3 to do more accurate and advanced monitoring.

Though Fitbit dominate the tracker market (and though they are also launching new devices), the Move is a cheap and cheerful device for the low end market, while the UP3 has some nice advanced features and should give them a run for their money.

The Kilogram moves from Platinum/Iridium to a Plank

In October the Kilogram turned 125 and the current International Prototype Kilogram based on a 4cm rod of Platinum and 10 Iridium is going to be phased out in favour of a new Kilogram based on a fundament constant of nature.

The IPK is based at the International Bureau of Weights in Sevres, France with 6 copies spread across the world, but time is having an effect and the weights do not agree with each other and the disagreements are increasing (each time measurements are taken the IPK has to be handled).

The new Kilogram will be based on the Plank, which will be measured using a watt balance (in a vacuum, developed by the National Physics Laboratory in Teddington) and is worked out by measuring how much current is required to move the balance, this will also mean redefinition of the ampere (which will be based on the charge carried by a single proton), but if gravity is known at the measuring point, it all works out from there.

This won't happen overnight and assuming all goes well the new standard will come into force (sic) in 2018.